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Talk Back Have a question or comment for Peter? Email him at [email protected] and it might be included in Tuesday’s mailbag. 9. Indianapolis (10-5). The season’s long. Week 3: Colts travel to San Francisco and crush the Niners 27-7. Got crushed a few too many times since. But this is two straight weeks that the defense showed up and looked like it did that day by the Bay. There may be some January hope for this team.
10. Kansas City (11-4). The potential return match in Indianapolis in the Wild-Card round in 12 or 13 days looks a lot worse than it did 24 hours ago.
11. Philadelphia (9-6). Just when you think you’ve got the league figured out, a week after giving up 48 point to the Minnesota Vikings the Eagles go and beat the Bears by 43.
12. San Diego (8-7). Road wins over Kansas City and Denver in the last month, and the feeling that you do not want to face Philip Rivers (69.7 percent passing, 29-10 touchdown-to-interception differential) in January.
13. Pittsburgh (7-8). Seven weeks ago the Steelers were 2-6. Just a friendly reminder that the season’s 17 weeks long.
14. Miami (8-7). This is not the morning, Dolfans, to remind me that you won at Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Not after that goose-egg-laying to the Bills.
15. Chicago (8-7). I’m open about who to put at No. 15. Ideas?
The Award Section
Bruce Arians (top left) led the Cardinals to an upset over the Seahawks, while Peyton Manning (top right) and Luke Kuechly (bottom left) had huge statistical days—including Peyton's record-setting 51st touchdown pass of the season. Meanwhile, sloppy play by the Packers late helped the Steelers cling to victory. (Stephen Brashear/AP :: David J. Phillip/AP :: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images :: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Bruce Arians (top left) led the Cardinals to an upset over the Seahawks, while Peyton Manning (top right) and Luke Kuechly (bottom left) had huge statistical days—including Peyton's record-setting 51st touchdown pass of the season. Meanwhile, sloppy play by the Packers late helped the Steelers cling to victory. (Stephen Brashear/AP :: David J. Phillip/AP :: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images :: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Offensive Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, quarterback, Denver. Manning pooh-poohed the touchdown passes record on the phone afterward, saying it would be broken as early as next season. Could well be. But two years after missing the season and not being able to throw the ball much at all because of four neck procedures, Manning became the first player in NFL history to exceed 50 touchdown passes and 5,000 passing yards in a season. And the Broncos moved within a win at Oakland Sunday of clinching home-field in the AFC.
Cam Newton, quarterback, Carolina. In the first 59 minutes of the NFC South title game at Charlotte, Newton was totally unimpactful as the Saints ground out a 13-10 lead. Then he drove the Panthers 65 yards, completing three of five passes, including the final 14-yarder to Domenik Hixon for the winning touchdown in a 17-13 victory. This was the biggest drive of Newton’s three-year career, and if he’d failed, the criticism would been weighty. But coming through in the final minute of huge games is what franchise quarterbacks do, and give Newton credit: He came through in the biggest moment of his career.
Defensive Player of the Week
Luke Kuechly, linebacker, Carolina. Never on any level of football—in nine years of high school, college or pro—has Kuechly had the kind of day he had in the biggest game of his pro career Sunday: 24 tackles and an interception in the 17-13 victory over the Saints. He had help from Thomas Davis, his partner at linebacker, and some excellent pass rushing too. But Kuechly was the big star of a threatening defense in the game in which that unit arrived.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Brad Nortman, punter, Carolina. Into the teeth of a torrential downpour in the third quarter of the NFC South championship game, Nortman, Carolina’s sixth-round pick last season, nailed a beauty downed at the Saints’ 2-yard line. On the next stalled series, Nortman booted one 57 yards to the Saints’ 3. For the game, he punted eight times for a 50.8-yard average... with a 47.0-yard net. On a day like that, Nortman was a huge player for the Panthers.
Coach of the Week
Bruce Arians, head coach, Arizona. (See above.) The Cardinals are 10-5 playing in the toughest division in football, and just handed the best team in football its first home loss in two years. This pick’s easy.
Danny Smith, special teams coach, Pittsburgh. Made the call of the day, with the game on the line in the third quarter at Green Bay, and the Steelers punting from their 44, trailing 14-10. Out of the punt formation, Smith had punter Mat McBriar roll right with the snap and throw a perfect ball, a 30-yard pass to fourth-string tight end David Paulson for a first down. A gutsy call, and a great throw. Who knew McBrian had it in him? On the next play, Ben Roethlisberger ran for a 13-yard touchdown, and the Steelers went on to win 38-31. Cool story for Smith, a Pittsburgh native and Edinboro (Pa.) State grad who is in his rookie year coaching the kicking game for Pittsburgh.
Ron Rivera, head coach, Carolina. With the Panthers 1-3 and Rivera’s job certainly in jeopardy, Rivera fretted how irrelevant the franchise had become. Even after they won a couple of games, he was bugged by how much the Panthers didn’t matter. Well, they do now. Carolina’s won 10 of 11 since the 1-3 start, and the Panthers clinched a playoff spot Sunday and will win the NFC South with a win at Atlanta or a Saints loss to the Bucs. Amazing stuff.
Goat of the Week
Nick Perry, linebacker; Don Barclay, tackle, Green Bay Packers. With the Steelers lined up at 31-all to kick a go-ahead field goal with 90 seconds left, Perry got called for encroachment. This gave the Steelers a first down and allowed them to score a touchdown instead, forcing the Packers burn their final timeout along the way. Then, after a 70-yard Micah Hyde kickoff return, the Packers drove to the Steelers’ 1-yard line and were in position to tie the game in the final seconds. But on second down, Barclay committed a false start with 22 seconds left, causing a 10-second runoff, and Green Bay was able to run only one frenetic play down the stretch instead of a possible three. The Packers lost this one as much as Pittsburgh won it.
David Robinson, state climatologist, New Jersey. On the CBS Sports Network's That Other Pregame Show, Robinson gave one of the dumbest weather predictions in meteorological history. He said there is about a 10 percent chance of snow during the Feb. 2 Super Bowl in New Jersey. "We’ve never had a big snowstorm on February 2, looking back at 80 years of records, over in Newark," Robinson said. "But just two days after that, back in 1961, there was 15 inches of snow on the fourth of February." A nonsensical point, David. Feb. 2 does not have some magical, mystical significance, and because it didn’t blizzard for a long time, that has no bearing on whether it will snow or rain or sleet or be 58 and perfect on the day of the Super Bowl.
Quotes of the Week
I
“Shoot. I must have left a couple out there on the field.”
—Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly, on the phone from Charlotte after the 17-13 win over New Orleans, referring to a couple of missed tackles. Gee, that’s a shame. Kuechly only had 24 others, plus an interception.
II
"Candlestick’s a dump. But it’s our dump."
—Former 49ers receiver Dwight Clark, who had the single biggest football play, The Catch, in Candlestick Park history, the touchdown catch from Joe Montana in the 1981 NFC Championship Game to slay the Cowboys and start the 49ers’ run of greatness.
III
"One of the great moments of my life, before a game my rookie year, I'm sitting there at my locker, praying, and I hear Willie Mays, arguably the greatest baseball player of all time, saying, ‘What the hell are you praying for?’ He said, ‘Man, look, Bob Gibson throws at my head all the time. You've just gotta go out there and play.’ And you know what? He was right. You can pray, but you've gotta play."
—Former San Francisco safety Ronnie Lott, in a very good piece by NFL.com’s Mike Silver, reminiscing about the end of Candlestick Park.
IV
"Not tell anybody."
—Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, to Ravens.com, on what he would do if he won the Mega Millions Lottery, which was at $648 million last week. Flacco stopped in a 7-Eleven to buy a ticket, and said he plays the lottery when it gets over $100 million. Flacco, of course, signed a $120.1 million contract last offseason.
https://twitter.com/enviROBmental/statuses/411670754762448896
V
"You know you can’t control destiny? Destiny is predetermined set of events. Therefore, if it’s predetermined, you can’t control it."
—Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly.
Thank you.
Stat of the Week
I’m not so stupid that I cannot learn. In the wake of the success of so many running backs picked outside the first round, and after seeing the production (or lack thereof) of Trent Richardson since his trade for a first-round pick to Indianapolis, the lot of the running back in the modern NFL should teach us all one thing: Do not use a very high draft pick on one.
Let’s go back to the 2008 draft to see why. Those backs have had time to play and prove the point, for better or for worse. I’ll separate the draft's backs into top 40, next 40 and undrafted guys.
Top 40 Pick Player Original Team 1,000-yard seasons Comment 4 Darren McFadden Oakland 1 Always hurt 13 Jonathan Stewart Carolina 1 Always in a job-share 22 Felix Jones Dallas 0 Regularly hurt, then cut 23 Rashard Mendenhall Pittsburgh 2 Nice back, not special 24 Chris Johnson Tennessee 5 Premier player Next 40 Pick Player Original Team 1,000-yard seasons Comment 44 Matt Forte Chicago 4 Terrific, durable threat 55 Ray Rice Baltimore 4 Down year, but a great back 64 Kevin Smith Detroit 0 Just a guy 73 Jamaal Charles Kansas City 4 2013’s best all-around back Among the Undrafted Pick Player Original Team 1,000-yard seasons Comment -- BenJarvus Green-Ellis New England 2 Reliable, not great -- Danny Woodhead New York Jets 0 Smurfy do-it-all guy -- Mike Tolbert San Diego 0 Solid 243-pound load
Study draft history and you’ll see down-the-line backs having consistent success. Arian Foster, an undrafted free agent, won the rushing title in 2011, and 2012 sixth-rounder Alfred Morris was second in the league last year. Then study all the top guys who were just okay, or less than that, and you’ll see it makes as much sense to draft running backs down the line, or not draft them at all.
Factoids of the Week That May Interest Only Me
I
The last Beatles concert of all time was at Candlestick Park some 47-plus years ago, on Aug. 29, 1966. Tickets were $4.50 and $6.50, and only 25,000 of 43,000 tickets to the show were sold. The Beatles told no one this was the last show ever, but they knew it. They played 11 songs, including, "I Feel Fine," "Nowhere Man," "Yesterday," and "Paperback Writer." They finished, nondescriptly enough, with "Long Tall Sally."
"Long Tall Sally." Last song ever played by John, Paul, George and Ringo in concert. Now that’s... a letdown.
After the concert, the Beatles were driven to San Francisco International Airport and flew to London. The end.
(GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images) (GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images)
The North American leg of their final tour was rather amazing. They performed 14 shows in 18 days. The first eight days, the Beatles played a show a night—in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, Philadelphia, Toronto, Boston (at the Suffolk Downs Race Track) and Memphis. They were supposed to play on a ninth straight night, in Cincinnati. But it rained so hard and the electrical equipment couldn’t be totally shielded from the rain at Crosley Field that night, so the promoter postponed the show. But 35,000 fans wanted to see the Beatles, and so the show went on the next day—at noon. It had to be at noon, because the Beatles had a show that night in St. Louis, 360 miles away. So when the show was over, around 1:30, the stuff was packed up and loaded onto an airplane, along with the Beatles, and they flew to St. Louis, where the Beatles played that night at 8:30 at the old Busch Stadium.
The Beatles played a doubleheader. In two baseball cities 360 miles apart. On the same day.
A site called Beatlesbible.com claims that was the day Paul McCartney was convinced the band should stop touring. It rained hard again in St. Louis that night, and who knows how safe it was, so the boys just thought the touring business was crazy (well, maybe they could have had a saner schedule and not fried themselves), and that tour was it.
So tonight, when the 49ers play their 350th games at the old ballyard, and you hear the poetic waxings about what great history happened in the place, you’ll know there was no greater history—not even The Catch—in the place than the night the Beatles played their final concert in the foggy chill of Candlestick Park.
II
Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker, who has practiced and performed opera in high school and college, sang "O Sole Mio," a tune more associated with Pavarotti than placekicking, at the Ravens’ rookie talent show.
"Got some applause for it," Tucker said on The MMQB Podcast With Peter King this week. "Some of the guys couldn’t believe their eyes, or their ears."
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
You know me. I’m not one to complain about little travel situations. (Oh really!) And on the scale of grand travel maladies, this would rate pretty low. But I present it to you for your delight.
Last Tuesday, returning from Sports Illustrated’s presentation of Sportsman of the Year to Peyton Manning in Denver, I was fortunate to be upgraded on my Delta flight, a good thing because I had a ton of writing to do. So when I sat down for the 8:30 a.m. flight, I thought it only slightly odd that the 40ish man next to me, informally dressed, said to the flight attendant: "Jack and Coke, please." When it was delivered, he drank it like a man being handed a thimble of water in the Sahara. Gone in an instant. Then he asked for another. So... two stiff drinks before 8:30 a.m. I see.
A half-hour after takeoff he got a third. Then breakfast came. He had the Raisin Bran. Three whiskeys and then a bowl of cereal: breakfast of champions! I assumed he’d be falling asleep at any time, but he was awake the entire flight.
Then, for about an hour, he belched. Not the loud kind of belch; rather, the modest kind with lots of air let out. Aromatic air. And I don’t mean aromatic in a good way. Every six or seven minutes, there’d be a slight guttural sound, a verbal whoooooosh, and a scent approximating a landfill. What did this guy eat Monday night? Deep-fried skunk?
And that is my travel note of the week. Happy tidings of the season! Merry Christmas!
Tweets of the Week
I
"Peyton Manning has thrown more touchdown passes this season (51) than his dad threw in his first five seasons combined (47)."
—@LATimesfarmer, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, after the Manning record was set Sunday afternoon.
II
"I'd like to see Mike Zimmer as a candidate for Detroit. If the job becomes available."
—@Lojack94, former Detroit defensive end Lawrence Jackson, tweeting about the Cincinnati defensive coordinator.
III
"The toughest decision I have to make over the next several weeks... What color to go with! pic.twitter.com/v4hoi5n22F"
Follow Us Twitter Facebook Instagram —@khuber10, Cincinnati punter Kevin Huber, attaching a photo of … well, you’ll see. He had his jaw broken on a vicious block eight days ago in the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game.
IV
a.
"Congrats to all my fellow classmates who graduated tonight! Good luck to everyone as we all part ways and take on the real world! #L1C4"
—@tdeddyb_h2o, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, upon graduating from the University of Louisville Thursday.
b.
"Sacrificed a lot of personal glory for the people around because I've always been a part of something much bigger than myself. It's my time."
—@teddyb_h2o, Bridgewater, on Friday.
In divining whether Bridgewater will declare for the 2014 NFL draft, I present two vague clues for your perusal. It’s widely considered that Bridgewater, a possible first overall pick, will enter the draft.
V
"A 2-year-old tantrum is the greatest force of nature in all humankind. No warning and no weakness. Just ride it out."
—@damonhackgc, the Golf Channel’s Damon Hack, father of triplet boys. The man speaks the truth.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 16:
a. Great open-field tackle on dangerous Denver punt-returner Trindon Holliday, Justin Tuggle.
b. Double-move of the year: Minnesota wide receiver Jarius Wright, from the Bengals 36, runs up, outside, and stops; former first-round corner Dre Kirkpatrick lunges for it, and Wright darts up the right sideline, wide open, for a perfect 36-yard TD toss from Matt Cassel.
c. Kenny Stills is going to be good for a long time—and what value, averaging 18-plus yards per catch. He was the Saints’ fifth-round pick last April.
d. Pierre Garçon, with the catch of the day, laying on his back and grabbing one of his 107 receptions for the season. Great catch.
e. And congrats to Garçon for breaking the Washington team record of 106 catches, set by Hall of Famer Art Monk in 1984. And good for the magnanimous Monk, congratulating Garçon thusly: "Having set the record myself, I understand how exciting it is, so I’m excited for him. Records are meant to be broken. I didn’t expect to have it as long as I had it, but I’m glad the pressure is off of me now."
f. Great hit by Josh Wilson, forcing the fumble that led to the Garçon touchdown catch in Washington.
g. Antoine Bethea, one of the most overlooked players in football. Always shows up, always hits the way a safety’s supposed to hit.
h. Robert Quinn, you’d come off the board in the top three of my fantasy pass-rushers list.
i. Superb camera work in the FOX game at Charlotte, showing a family in the stands enjoying the game pre-rain... then showing the same family getting drenched so hard it was hard to see them.
j. Le’Veon Bell, 124 tough yards on the Tundra.
k. Carson Palmer made his share of gaffes (share is putting it nicely), but he did come through when it counted, finding Jake Ballard (remember him?) for 17 yards to convert a key third down with the game in the balance at Seattle.
l. Imagine if Will Hill concentrated all his energy on football. See his pick-6 of Matthew Stafford at Detroit?
m. The Giants, showing up in Detroit.
n. The Chargers, the team with the longest winning streak (three) in the AFC.
o. Offensive rookie of the year: Eddie Lacy or Keenan Allen. Who've you got?
p. LeGarrette Blount will be a tough target to haul down on a New England (or Denver, or East Rutherford) day in the playoffs.
q. Great athletic deflection into an interception by Pats linebacker Dont’a Hightower.
r. Unless something quite strange happens, Julian Edelman (96 receptions, 991 yards) is going to have a 100-catch, 1,000-yard receiving season. Raise your hand if you had that in your office pool out on Cape Cod in August.
2. I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 16:
a. Punters as consistently defenseless players. I’ll be the 473rd person to ask: How can a defenseless player make a tackle?
b. You’ve got to pick up the corner blitz, Pierre Thomas.
c. You’ve got to block Greg hardy around the edge, Terron Armstead, though I also think Drew Brees shouldn’t be taking a sack and taking his team out of field-goal range either.
d. Sometimes, watching the Washington special teams, you wonder whether they practice during the week.
e. No taunting in the NFL, Kenny Vaccaro. This is your 15th game. You’ve got to know that.
f. If you’re trying to draw the defense offside on a fourth down, Thad Lewis, you don’t get up from under center and walk down the line.
g. The flop out of bounds was Geno Smith’s best play of the day against Cleveland.
h. Just what the Texans, and Matt Schaub’s confidence, needed: a dropped touchdown pass right in the chest of Andre Johnson.
i. I do not use this word lightly, but the Cowboys sure make some stupid plays. The late hit by safety J.J. Wilcox, waaaay after Washington’s Santana Moss was down, handed Washington a field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter … putting Dallas down by nine.
j. What a terrible, horrible injury for the Broncos, the apparent torn ACL for Von Miller. That’s going to play a big role in the AFC pennant race over the next month.
k. Seven three-and-outs for the Seahawks. At home.
l. Steven Hauschka clanging a 24-yard field goal try. At home.
m. I didn’t think the interception that officials said clanked off Doug Baldwin clanked off him. Looked like it hit the ground to me.
n. It’s this kind of year for the Ravens: Ray Rice can’t convert a 4th-and-1 run in the red zone, down 20-0.
3. I think the story I hope you all remember from Week 16 is what the Jaguars did with retiring center Brad Meester, playing his 208th game with the team. Coach Gus Bradley and the staff wanted to do something special for Meester, one of the great citizens of any team in the NFL. And so Meester reported as eligible on a 2nd-and-8 play from the Titans’ 13-yard-line (centers do not report as eligible but once a career—maybe), and quarterback Chad Henne threw him a nine-yard dart to convert the first down. Crowd went nuts. Teammates went nuts. Watching the highlight, you can see how much the Jaguars respect the working-class Meester. "You talk about memories you’ll take with you for the rest of your life," Meester said. "That’s one I’ll always remember." As will those who saw it.
ICYMI Highlights from the last week at The MMQB:
Cold-weather Super Bowl a bad move
—Richard Sherman
Firing Dennis Allen would be a bad look
—Jim Trotter
What makes Russell Wilson so great? Ask a teammate
—Jenny Vrentas
Bruce Arians the real coach of the year
—Andy Benoit
Time for Giants, Tom Coughlin to part ways
—Don Banks
The cut-throat recruiting process is underway
—Andrew Brandt
Why Jay Z could have a huge impact on this draft
—Andrew Brandt
From day-to-day to year-to-year for Zach Line
—Jenny Vrentas 4. I think the Jets should not fire Rex Ryan. Period. End of story. A 7-8 record with a game to go, with that team? Hardly a fireable situation. Extend Ryan one year (his contract is up at the end of next season) and push this decision off until the end of 2014. Ryan, and Jets fans, deserve that.
5. I think that was a great onside kick call by Sean Payton, despite the loss in Carolina, and it was executed by a man who does the kick as well as anyone in football, punter Thomas Morstead.
6. I think the leader in the NFL clubhouse to replace Ray Anderson as the league’s executive vice president of football operations is Merton Hanks, who currently rides herd on player conduct as executive VP of operations. The football ops job oversees all aspects of player conduct, safety and game competition. Hanks is the former 49ers safety.
7. I think you’ll enjoy this little chunk of my interview with Justin Tucker, the record-setting Baltimore kicker, from this week’s podcast:
What’s your longest field goal—high school, college or pro?
"It’s 79, pregame, in Denver, in altitude. Realistically, no head ball coach is going to send you out there in the first quarter of a game."
What happened on the 61-yarder in Detroit?
"I hit one from 70 in pregame that hit the crossbar and went in. I knew if we got to the middle of the field area, we’d have a shot... I made it a point to kind of get up there [with special-teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg, kicking coordinator Randy Brown and coach John Harbaugh] when they were discussing it. I just jumped in and interjected and asked for the opportunity: ‘I got this. Gimme a chance.’ ”
The NFL’s got to do something about kickers. [Entering Sunday’s game versus New England] You’re 65 of 70 in your career. You’ve made 33 in a row. You guys are just getting too good. Kicking’s too easy.
"I don’t think so. I think the guys around us are getting so much better. Kickers are getting more specialized. Long-snappers are snapping it back at 12 o’clock [with laces straight toward the posts]; the ball can basically hold itself. We don’t need to narrow the goalpost. That might be a discussion for someone who plays eight games in a dome. But when you’re playing out here in the AFC North, or a guy like Stephen [Gostkowski], when he kicks [in Foxboro] is so good... We’re paid to make it look easy, but it’s definitely not. I don’t think it needs to be modified at this point."
And I hear you met your fiancée at a bus stop in Austin, Texas.
"I was waiting for a bus and saw a friend from high school with a bunch of her girlfriends walking by, including this girl Amanda. I was smitten right away. Like anyone in this modern day and age, I Facebook-stalked her for a good time, and I kept bugging her... She’d be the first to tell you she didn’t like me at first. Maybe too much personality to handle."
Listen to the whole podcast, also featuring Peyton Manning, here:
[audio http://ht.cdn.turner.com/si/peter_king/audio/2013/12/19/pking_12.19.13.mp3|titles=The MMQB Podcast With Peter King |width=400]
8. I think this was a smart take on the differences between college and pro football from Chip Kelly: "The difference between college and the pros is that every single week is a challenge. You can look at some of the games you've played in college and you may hype them up that way. But in the back of your mind you know what the outcome of the game will be before it's played because there is such a big discrepancy. In this league there is no discrepancy. You've got to come to play every week. The team that executes the best usually ends up the team that's on top. But in terms of a surprise, nothing that's really come out that's been like, Well, I didn't think that was ever going to be that way.” Finally, a college coach admits he knew he was going to beat Norfolk State 66-3.
9. I think if the NFL won’t give America a Thursday night game in Week 16, the NFL needs to give America a Saturday game. Afternoon or prime time, I don’t care. But Week 16 is too naked without an extra nationally televised game. I loved the late-season Saturday afternoon games the league used to have, but realize the ratings for them wouldn’t be what a prime-time game's ratings would be. So put it in prime time Saturday night in Week 16.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. I have no proverbial dog in the fight, because I’m not a college sports guy, but are you sure you hired the right man for athletic director, University of Texas people? This Oregon writer presents a pretty damning case against Steve Patterson.
b. Loved this Grantland story on Tony Gonzalez by Robert Mays.
c. Filled with sadness at the death of Claire Davis, the 17-year-old Arapahoe (Colo.) High School senior who was minding her own business Dec. 13 when a classmate shot her in the head for no reason whatsoever. Utter madness.
d. Michael Cecere, you deserve our respect and a lifetime of good karma.
e. None of the five New York City-area winter pro sports teams—Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Devils, Islanders—has a winning record. They’ve played a total of 142 games and won 58.
f. Coffeenerdness: Diner breakfast Sunday in New York. Coffee-flavored water. Miserable. Who drinks this swill?
Talk Back Have a question or comment for Peter? Email him at [email protected] and it might be included in Tuesday’s mailbag. g. Beernerdness: Had a couple of Fire Island Red Wagon IPAs last week at The MMQB’s holiday party in the city. Very good find. Strong IPA with a distinctive malt taste. Really liked it. Never knew there was such a thing as the Fire Island Beer Company, but I’ll be looking for its offerings.
h. The thing I hate about this time of year: The 20 or so coaches and families who are on the edge of their seats wondering if they’ll have to move in a week. Sort of takes away from the joy of the season, totally.
i. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. I hope it’s a wonderful week for everyone.
Who I Like Tonight
San Francisco 30, Atlanta 10. The Niners have another milestone to think about, not just the one concerning the 350th and final (most probably) football game in Candlestick Park. Frank Gore, who is as beloved to the Niners of the last decade as Roger Craig was to his Niners, is 144 yards from 10,000, and it’s a goal the current team would love to see him reach. Said offensive coordinator Greg Roman: "Frank’s just an amazing person, an amazing player. You kind of wish everybody, all the fans, could be around him just to see how special a guy he is, how committed he is to his team and it’s from the heart. It’s not a bunch of fake rah-rah. This guy lives it, breathes it, and it means so much to him. A lot of those yards have been tough yards, really tough yards. Coming to work with Frank is an honor. We’d love to see him get to 10,000 here."
The Adieu Haiku
So long to The ’Stick.
Seems every step I took there,Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Moscow that it would lose a lot if it destroyed its friendship with Ankara, adding that his country would not remain patient in the face of violations of its air space by Russian warplanes.
Turkey on Thursday said it summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara for a second time after a new incursion by a Russian fighter jet on Sunday.
"Our positive relationship with Russia is known. But if Russia loses a friend like Turkey, with whom it has been cooperating on many issues, it will lose a lot, and it should know that," Erdogan said.
Russia's embassy in Ankara said it was looking into the fresh allegation.
The first reported violation of Turkish airspace took place on Saturday, prompting a sharp warning from Turkey that future violations could lead to an implementation of the rules of engagement and condemnation from NATO.
Turkey is a member of the alliance.
Has Russia saved the Assad regime from collapse?
The Russian embassy confirmed that "such an incident took place", according to the Interfax news agency.
Russia last week began bombing what it says are Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group targets in the Syria, though the air strikes seem to be largely hitting different opposition groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
The strikes seem to be focused on frontline areas where Assad's forces are facing losses to the rebel factions, especially in the provinces of Idlib and Hama in the north.
These areas have no ISIL presence.
Russia is a firm backer of Assad, while Western nations and Turkey say Assad has lost the legitimacy to continue in power over the longer term.
Russia has also been accused by Western officials and activists on the ground that many of the targets since the beginning of its campaign on Wednesday were civilian.
Russia denies the claim.
Strikes in Palmyra
On Tuesday, Russian jets hit ISIL targets in the Syrian city of Palmyra and the northern province of Aleppo, Syrian state television and a monitoring group said.
The strikes destroyed 20 vehicles and three weapons depots in ISL-held Palmyra, state television said, quoting a military source.
In Aleppo, they hit the towns of Al-Bab and Deir Hafer, about 20 km east of a military airport currently besieged by Islamic State fighters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group tracking Syria's conflict, said the Palmyra strikes killed 15 ISIL fighters.
ISIL forces captured Palmyra in May, an advance which brought them closer to the core of government-held territory in western Syria. It also put the city's Roman-era ruins under the their control.
Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said on Sunday Islamic State fighters blew up Palmyra's Arch of Triumph, one of the most treasured monuments in the 2,000-year-old city. They had already destroyed temples and other antiquities.Active protection systems (APS) have been an important topic when it comes to enhancing the protection of modern combat vehicles since a number of years. Combat in Iraq, Yemen and in Syria has proven the vulnerability of main battle tanks (MBTs) to handheld and/or guided anti-tank weaponry. While many people pretend that active protection systems are a rather new development, many can be traced back to the 1980s and 1990s. One of the earliest APS was tested in 1969 in Germany - that's 48 years ago! The first APS adopted in military service was the Soviet Drozd system from 1977/1978, that was fitted to a number of T-55 and T-62 tanks. According to unconfirmed rumors Drozd was used in Afghanistan.
A more commonly known APS is Trophy, which has received huge orders by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and was adopted on the Merkava 4M MBT and the Namer armored personnel carrier (APC). Aside of the hardkill active protection systems, which actually destroy incoming threats using countermeasures, there is also the less popular category of softkill systems such as the MUSS, which has been adopted on the Puma and is being tested by the British Army
But what types of active hardkill protection systems exist? What makes an APS good? What are the drawbacks of each specific system? This blog post tries to dive a bit deeper in the topic of APS, but due to the secret nature of many details and characteristics it ends up being not more than a somewhat superficial overview of some types of active protection systems that have been developed in the past decades.
In general the following characteristics are essential to evaluate the performance of an active protection system:
detection range
minimum defeat distance (MDD)
system reaction time (SRT)
the distance to the interception point (IP)
multi-hit capability
short-time multi-hit capability
simultaneous threat defeat
The system reaction time is the time required for the system to detect, engage and defeat an incoming threat. In includes the time to detect, track and defeat the threat. The smaller the system reaction time, the greater are the systems capabilities.
The minimum defeat distance is closely related to the SRT; it is the shortest distance from where a threat can be fired, so that the APS has still enough time to react and defeat it. If the time of flight of a RPG is smaller than the SRT, the APS will fail to protect.
The distance to the interception point is not identical with the MDD. The MDD defines how far away a threat has to be in order to be defeated, while the interception point defines the possible collateral damage. The smaller the distance to the IP
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, once swelling to a crowd of almost 30 for CPCIV, nearly filling a Q25 bus.
PART FOUR: OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES
Not every CPC went as swimmingly as the first and second, though. In fact, very strange things happened on the third and fourth. I entered CPCIII in a really bad mood, exhausted from breakups and neverending work travel. For some reason, the staff of the Sports Garden, which was always the last bar on the CPC, adopted me. They really, really wanted to teach me about their favorite musician, Meat Loaf. At first, they gave me free gin-and-tonics, and then they started making me their “house special.” Though I asked what that meant several times, they would not divulge the secrets of College Point mixology. The drinks tasted as though they were made with cough syrup, Red Bull, and cheap rum. I paid for nothing, and I drank many drinks.
At some point the entire CPC crew left me at this bar because they wanted to see what would happen. The bartenders and their friends took turns playing Meat Loaf songs on the jukebox, lovingly talking me through the early years of his discography. There was a person referred to in my notes as “townie cougarlawyer,” who talked to me a lot, and her hockey-coaching suitor, who made fun of my hat and did not seem to appreciate the attention I was receiving. Somehow I made it out alive, but I only remember falling off the roof of a medium-sized U-Haul truck during the walk home. That hurt a lot.
On the next CPC, held two years later, that long-predicted hospital visit could not be avoided. In an attempt to win a second round of CPC Bingo, a game my brother invented, one CPCer took it upon himself to climb the fence of my elementary school, St. Fidelis. (As an aside, St. Fidelis is pronounced SAYNT FIDEAHLIS locally. It was my pronunciation of that name that prompted a high school English teacher to make me self-conscious of my horrible Queens accent.) The St. Fidelis schoolyard looks more like a prison recreation area than a place for children: it’s a concrete lot surrounded by a high chain-link fence. Our friend fought the fence, and the fence won. The ill-fated CPCer took a trip to Flushing Hospital in a livery cab and received 26 stitches. Amazingly, this was the first CPC to feature some of my co-workers, one of whom graciously accompanied the fence victim to the ER. Still, that didn’t keep people from returning to form the skeleton crew for CPCV, held the Monday after Christmas 2011 to keep the tradition alive. Hell, CPCV spawned at least one long-term relationship.
PART FIVE: CHANGE IS GOOD
As the crawl evolved, so did the neighborhood. Bars changed hands, names, and atmospheres. Some, like the Point Bar and Grill, disappeared altogether. German culture once had a strong influence on CP, but the last German bar shut down, taking with it the cheapest Spaten brews in North America and the ability to order pretzels or spaetzle with each beer.
New waves of immigration were transforming not just Flushing but all of America, and it was clear that those waves were spreading to CP. Hispanics, particularly Colombians, moved into the south part of College Point, which offers lower rents and quicker access to the subway. The waterfront, once strewn with vacant lots and abandoned factories, teemed with new condominiums. As soon as new waterfront properties were completed, they seemed to be populated by successful Asian-Americans who no longer wanted to live in a Chinatown.
The New York Times, that guarantor of safeness and social acceptance for its largely unadventurous audience, began to pay more attention to College Point. First, it wrote a profile of College Point real estate … in which it called the neighborhood “College Park.” The piece featured old-stock suburban-style homes as well as the new waterfront condoplexes that had begun to appear. The piece also chronicled the townspeople’s concerns about overdevelopment and mentioned plans for a retail complex at the old rubber factory.
The Times then included at least thee separate mentions of InSpa World, a five-story spa and pool complex built in CP by Korean investors, ” just north of the ‘valley of ashes’ in ‘The Great Gatsby,’ and hard by an industrial park.” And, as the Asian food scene exploded in Flushing, the paper began to review the restaurants of “Flushing’s Chinatown.”
Meanwhile, many of the Original White People of College Point fled to the suburbs. Unlike urban flight in the Rust Belt, CP flight was not caused by the death of industry or a spike in crime. The diversity of the city was finally exploding in the streets of College Point, and this terrified many longtime residents. Geographic isolation, impossible commutes, overdevelopment, and traffic also drove people away. Many moved to suburban bubbles where they could retire, live a more relaxed life, and/or attempt to perpetuate their culture of ignorance and angry racist homogeneity. My own parents retired to the Hudson River Valley, putting an end to the use of our ancestral home as the official CPC crashpad.
The large-scale changes in College Point and Flushing meant one thing for the CPC: much better food. Sichuanese — that’s a regional Chinese cuisine marked by its use of fresh ingredients and extremely bold flavors, including hot chili peppers and a spice that possesses mildly anesthetic properties — became the new official starting meal of CPC. Cold cucumber in chili oil, “enhanced pork,” and cumin lamb will always defeat General Tso.
On CPCIV, we dined at Times-sanctioned Spicy and Tasty, located in Downtown Flushing. The following year, we visited a place called Little Pepper that had moved north from Flushing to College Point. The Village Voice would later rank it the best Sichuanese restaurant in New York City. There are some new Colombian places in CP, too, but they seem to close early. There’s always next year’s CPC.
As a bit of Flushing spread into College Point, so too did the CPC spread southward into Flushing. The Roosevelt Sports Bar opened near the 7 Train terminus and serendipitously became the meeting point for CPCers arriving from afar. And the Xinjiang Barbecue Cart, a 24-hour food cart specializing in skewered meat marinated and grilled in a style developed by the Uyghur people of Northwest China, began to keep us entertained as we played Bus Roulette. That’s when we see whether the Q25 or the Q65 emerges from darkness first; the winning route determines the starting point of the true CPC.
The CPC continues to expand its geographic and social footprint. The 2012 edition should see a bunch of first-timers, plus more CP dwellers. There may even be a visit to the College Point Yacht Club’s mythical bargetop bar.
PART SIX: WHO’S AFRAID OF THE CPC?
Born of mockery and contempt, the CPC has become an annual event that celebrates the growth of the New York City neighborhood where it began. More importantly, doing the CPC with my friends has helped me tease out the most important lessons I’ve learned from a decade of travel: that exploration fosters understanding and empathy. Both are a hell of a lot more complex, more interesting, and more rewarding than hatred, avoidance, and willful ignorance.
I’m grateful that the CPC remains an opportunity for me to continue applying these lessons to the neighborhood where I grew up. For the friends, family, and co-workers who trek to CP each year, I hope the crawl is a little more than just a night to get plastered. Maybe it’s an opportunity for them to delve deeper into the unknown, to have a great meal or an eye-opening conversation that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. At the same time, the CPC could just be a fun night out in a relatively unknown part of town… though the Times, in typical condescending fashion, just did its first-ever travel feature on Queens this month.
The Sixth Annual College Point Class Conflict Pub Crawl, or CPCVI, happens tonight. All are welcome.
December 28, 2012
Want more CPC? Read The Ghosts of College Point Past, Present, and Future: Tales from the College Point Pub Crawl.
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Powered by Facebook CommentsSony has detailed some of the changes due to be implemented to PlayStation Plus with the arrival of PlayStation 4, telling VideoGamer.com that both auto-updates and the "social features of PS4" will not require a PlayStation Plus subscription to access.
Catch-up TV and online movie services will continue to be free to all PS4 users, although an additional fee may be required to access back-catalogue PS3 titles once the Gaikai streaming service is introduced next year.
A PlayStation Plus account will also be required to access PS4's online multiplayer functionality - something Sony says will allow it to "invest significantly" in PlayStation Network to help lower downtimes and improve its performance.
"It is time to charge, but it is time to charge and still continue to deliver phenomenal value," SCEE UK & Ireland MD Fergal Gara told VideoGamer.com during E3.
"A PlayStation Plus subscriber for PlayStation 4 comes away with a hell of a lot. First of all, the subscription applies across all three platforms [PS4, PS3 & PS Vita], so if you have the three platforms then you have an instant game collection on all three. So that's hugely powerful in its own right. But it is true to say that the online multiplayer element for PS4, you do require the subscription in order to [make use] of that.
"If you choose not to subscribe we are still gating relatively little in many senses, so access to online catch-up TV and online movie services sit outside of the gate, for example. The social features of PS4 and PS4 games sit out of the subscription service... things like auto-updates on PS4 sit outside of PlayStation Plus, so we're trying to be as balanced and as fair as we possibly can. If you choose to pay the subscription, yes, you get one important element of modern-day gameplay, but you also get fantastic value in games, including the PlayStation Plus Edition of DriveClub."
Auto-update functionality had previously only been available to PS Plus subscribers on PS3, and though it isn't yet clear what Gara means by PS4's "social features", it's possible he could be referring to the console's broadcasting and video upload features.
The service seems relatively more open than Microsoft's Xbox LIVE service, too, which blocks users from accessing services like Netflix and 4OD unless they're an Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber.
Whether PlayStation Plus users will be required to pay an additional fee for access to PS3 title streaming through Gaikai, however, is still undecided.
"In short, we haven't decided," said Gara when asked whether the firm plans to introduce additional PlayStation Plus tiers to accommodate backwards-compatibility streaming. "The Gaikai developments are exciting. The Remote Play feature which we're particularly excited about not just benefits PS4 but PS Vita - that uses some Gaikai technology.
"But secondly, the full cloud gaming service comes a bit later - we announced that 2014 will start to see that introduced for PS3 titles in the US, and we'll start to see a gradual increase in consoles, titles, devices and countries involved as we go forward, so there is a plan there to bring the PlayStation experience to more devices out of the cloud using the Gaikai that will broaden over time.
"Will that be part of PlayStation Plus? I genuinely don't know. Will that require some other, different charging mechanism? Perhaps. We just haven't sat down to answer that question yet."
PlayStation 4 launches worldwide this Christmas.CHANDIGARH: Call it a craze or trust in power of numerology. Mahant Chhotu Nath, a priest of Shri Guru Gorakshnath Sidh Hanuman Mandir in Sector 19 here, won the bid for CH01-AR-0001 registration number for his Rs 60 lakh worth Audi Q7 by paying Rs 10.5 lakh at an auction on Monday. He defeated seven others who vied for the number.The mahant's act surprised everyone at the auction. Soon after winning the number, the priest left the registration and licensing authority office along with his two aides who refused to let the media speak to him.Clad in a saffron-coloured robe, Chhotu Nath reached on time to participate in the bidding which took over 20 minutes. After the first number in the series, no other number could fetch more than Rs 5 lakh. Number 0100 received the second-highest bid of Rs 4.20 lakh and 0009 was auctioned for Rs 4 lakh, followed by 0002 for Rs 3.5 lakh.Monday's auction fetched Rs 70.82 lakh for the registration and licensing authority. Out of 157 numbers put up for the bidding, 147 were auctioned. RLA had received applications from 816 people of whom 560 were to participate in the auction. The remaining 256 persons had applied for "choice" numbers.Earlier this month the Michigan Department of Transportation held two public meetings to gather feedback regarding stretches of U.S. 131 and I-96. The department is responsible for the preservation of both highways and said that, while no construction timeline has actually been set for either stretch of roadway, it will be necessary in the future.
The meetings are part of initial steps toward any future projects.
“We basically wanted to get their input and their concerns about those two corridors,” said John Richard, communications representative for MDOT.
MDOT is in the middle of an approximately $1 million study considering the stretch of I-96 between Fruit Ridge Avenue and Leonard Street, and between 100th Street and M-57 along U.S. 131. The stretch of U.S. 131 being reviewed receives approximately 100,000 to 120,000 vehicles per day — the highest volume of traffic in the state outside the greater Detroit area. The stretch of I-96 sees volumes of between 40,000 and nearly 60,000 per day.
It is expected the study will be completed within 12 to 18 months. At that point, MDOT will make recommendations for next steps.
During the well-attended meetings, several Grand Rapids residents, including Josh Leffingwell, communications director at West Michigan Environmental Action Council, expressed an interest in seeing an expanded study of U.S. 131 to look at the potential economic benefits of changing the highway’s route so it doesn’t run through downtown Grand Rapids, something MDOT said is not feasible at this time, primarily because of lack of funding.
Leffingwell, however, points out that any monetary investment in the highway should be viewed through a long-term lens.
“What we want to know is, if we are going to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on this project over the next 20 years, before we invest all this money into this highway shouldn’t we find out what the true cost of doing that is?” he said.
“Right now, their study is very small,” Leffingwell said. “It’s just looking at the highway and what it would cost to rebuild it, and once it’s rebuilt, what people want. Maybe they want a new off-ramp or maybe this off-ramp wider or on the other side of the street.
“We are saying, ‘Let’s take a moment, step back, and really take a look at all the ramifications of this.’”
Leffingwell said he would like to see MDOT look at other possibilities besides rebuilding U.S. 131, such as the economic development opportunities that might exist if the highway didn’t run along the river through downtown.
“We want to say, ‘Imagine if 131 wasn’t there and that was just a boulevard or a street,’” he said. “How many buildings could go up, how much real estate could become active in our city, what would that do socially by connecting the west side to the river?”
He said his group is not necessarily asking to tear down U.S. 131 or bury it, but rather that MDOT take a look at what could be.
“We just want all options to be on the table,” he said. “If they are going to expand the study and they find that the opportunity costs are high, then look at what it would cost to bury it, to have a boulevard, to divert the highway — what ramifications would that have.
“But if we begin the conversation with ‘This highway is staying and it doesn’t matter what economic differences are, societal differences are — it doesn’t matter,’ we are starting at a point where we’ve already assumed a lot of things.”
Dennis Kent, MDOT planner, doesn’t seem opposed to additional studies but said there isn’t any money to conduct them.
“We don’t have the money to do anything right now other than preservation,” he said. “To make a major change to U.S. 131 from a freeway to something other than a freeway will require looking at transit options, what would happen to the city street grid and the county roads. I think there is some interest in doing some sort of economic study of what would happen to the land around it. It’s way beyond what we are capable of doing.”
Kent said he couldn’t begin to estimate the cost of the studies Leffingwell and others are requesting, but noted that just a full environmental study of the area would cost millions of dollars.
“Last year in Gov. Snyder’s State of the State address, he was calling for an additional $1.3 billion of new annual revenue for not only MDOT but also the county road commissions, the cities and the villages, and that additional $1.3 billion is just to maintain the system we have,” explained Richard.
He added that bringing the stretch of U.S. 131 and the interchanges at Hall, Wealthy and Franklin streets up to current standards has an astronomical price tag, noting they were constructed originally in the 1950s.
Kent said those interchanges have been identified as opportunities for possible upgrades, but he acknowledged that right now, there isn’t any money for those projects either.
“If we had additional revenue we would be maybe doing something different to the Wealthy and Franklin Street interchange areas — that has come up as a problem area quite frequently. There are other areas north of West River Drive toward Rockford that people have had interest in. We have a new outlet mall going in south at 84th and 131; 54th and 131 comes up periodically as an issue.”
Richard said the state has been losing $100 million in revenue each year for the past decade as a result of people driving less. He also said the gas tax has not been increased since 1997.
“What many people don’t realize is, we get 18 cents per gallon,” he explained. “It’s not a percentage; it’s a flat tax. So when gas is $4 a gallon, we still get 18 cents a gallon.”
Kent said as vehicles continue to get better gas mileage and drivers switch to alternative fuel vehicles, as the use of public transportation increases and material costs — such as the price of road salt — go up, the gas tax revenue continues to decline.
“It’s the perfect storm of increases in costs and declining revenue,” he said.
Michigan is currently ranked last in the nation in funding for roadways per capita.
“The main thing is that this study in itself is probably more limited in scope than what people are expecting,” Kent said. “It’s disappointed some people.”
He said that to do a more thorough study in line with what Leffingwell and others have requested would take multiple agencies and significantly more resources and time.
“The intent was not to look at a major change to the transportation system of Kent County and beyond,” he said. “That’s a much broader question. It involves more people and more agencies and it’s very long term.
“That is something that we don’t have the money to study right now, and the cost to actually construct something like that is beyond what we have any money for at the moment.
“In the meantime, we still have to keep up what we have,” he said.The Voynich MS - General Introduction
cumque in mea Bibliotheca Sphinx quaedam, Scripturae incognitorum characterum inutiliter occupasset locum,
...
Ex pictura herbarum, quarum plurimus est in Codice numerus, imaginum diversarum, Astrorum, aliarumque rerum, faciem chymicorum arcanorum referentium, conjicio totum esse medicinalem; (1)
In 1639 the Prague citizen Georgius Barschius wrote a letter to the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher in Rome, which included the above lines. He explained that he owned a mysterious book that was written in an unknown script and that was profusely illustrated with pictures of plants, stars and chemical secrets. He could not read the text, and he hoped that Kircher would be able to translate this book for him. As far as we can tell, Kircher did not succeed in this.
This book later passed through various hands and it ended up in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University. It is now known as the "Voynich Manuscript (MS)". It is a medieval handwritten book of almost 250 pages, and even today the text cannot be understood. It has become quite famous, and it is recognised as one of the main unsolved problems in the history of cryptography.
While nobody has been able to find an explanation for the text, the book just seems to be waiting for someone to achieve this. In fact, there are plenty of people who believe that they have done this. Many new translations of parts of the MS, individual pages, or even individual words are proposed each year. The problem is that none of these is sufficiently convincing to be accepted.
The book is preserved in the Beinecke Library since 1969, where it is officially known as MS 408, but it is better known by its nickname. It was named after Wilfrid Voynich, an antiquarian book dealer who brought it to light in 1912. We may use his own words to describe this event (2), although we have to keep in mind that not all of his statements are necessarily reflecting the truth. This is because he bought the MS under the condition of absolute secrecy about the details of the sale.
In 1912 [...] I came across a most remarkable collection of preciously illuminated manuscripts. For many decades these volumes had lain buried in the chests in which I found them in an ancient castle in Southern Europe
[...]
While examining the manuscripts, with a view to the acquisition of at least a part of the collection, my attention was especially drawn by one volume. It was such an ugly duckling compared with the other manuscripts, with their rich decorations in gold and colors that my interest was aroused at once. I found that it was written entirely in cipher. Even a necessarily brief examination of the vellum upon which it was written, the calligraphy, the drawings and the pigments suggested to me as the date of its origin the latter part of the thirteenth century. The drawings indicated it to be an encyclopedic work on natural philosophy.
[...]
the fact that this was a thirteenth century manuscript in cipher convinced me that it must be a work of exceptional importance, and to my knowledge the existence of a manuscript of such an early date written entirely in cipher was unknown, so I included it among the manuscripts which I purchased from this collection.
[...]
two problems presented themselves - the text must be unravelled and the history of the manuscript must be traced.
[...]
It was not until some time after the manuscript came into my hands that I read the document bearing the date 1665 (or 1666) (3), which was attached to the front cover.
[...]
This document, which is a letter from Joannes Marcus Marci to Athanasius Kircher making a gift of the manuscript to him, is of great significance
The Prague physician and scientist Johannes Marcus Marci had been a faithful correspondent of Athanasius Kircher for 25 years. Sometime before his death he sent the manuscript to Kircher. The MS was accompanied by the letter mentioned by Voynich (see note 3), in which Marci explains how he had inherited the manuscript from a close friend, who had tried to decipher it until the end of his life, and had also asked for Kircher's help. This friend was Georgius Barschius, whose letter was cited above.
Voynich took the manuscript to London in 1912, and later (January 1915) to the United States. He always called it his 'cipher MS', and occasionally he provided photographic copies of pages of it to experts in various disciplines. The manuscript became famous when, in the 1920's, William Romaine Newbold proposed a spectacular partial translation of its text. This'solution' was disproved by John M. Manly in 1931.
The manuscript has attracted the attention of the code-breaking experts ever since 1917, and in the 1940's and 1960's the eminent cryptanalysts William F. Friedman and Elizebeth Smith Friedman made several valiant attempts at deciphering its text. They were aided by groups of codebreaking experts, but also they did not find any solution.
In 1961 the book was bought by the famous antiquarian H. P. Kraus for the sum of $24,500. He tried to sell it for $160,000 but was unable to find a buyer. Finally, in 1969 he donated it to the Beinecke Rare Book and MS Library of Yale University.
In 2009 one of the many questions surrounding the manuscript could be resolved. The parchment of the manuscript was radio-carbon dated resulting in a date range of 1404-1438 with 95% confidence.
What does the Voynich MS look like?
The following is only a very brief description of the MS. A more extensive description is provided on the next page.
The Voynich MS is a parchment codex of 22.5 x 16 cm, with its leaves numbered up to 116, of which 14 are now missing. Its cover, also parchment, is blank: it does not indicate any title or author. The manuscript is written in an elegant, but otherwise unknown script.
The text, written from left to right, appears to be arranged in short paragraphs. The manuscript is profusely illustrated, and from these illustrations it appears to be a scientific or medical work from the middle ages. Illustrations of similar type are mostly grouped together in the manuscript, and one may tentatively identify the following sections, based on these illustrations:
A herbal section, with drawings of herbs, some of which look realistic, while others appear imaginary;
An astronomical section, with illustrations of Sun, Moon, stars and zodiac symbols;
A cosmological section, with mostly circular drawings;
A so-called biological section, which contains some possibly anatomical drawings with small human (mostly feminine) figures populating systems of tubes transporting liquids;
A pharmaceutical section, so called because it has drawings of containers, next to which various small parts of herbs (leaves, roots) have been aligned;
A recipes section, which contains over 300 short paragraphs, each accompanied by a star in the left margin.
What does the Voynich MS say?
The text of the manuscript is still a mystery. It is tempting to assume that the text relates to the illustrations, but this is not certain. There have been many suggestions about the historical importance of the Voynich MS, ranging between opposite extremes, including:
early discoveries and inventions by the 13th century friar Roger Bacon, witten in a very complicated code;
nonsense written by a medieval quack, to impress his clientele;
a rare prayer book from the Cathars, not destroyed by the inquisition, written in a pidgin version of a Germanic/Romance creole;
meaningless strings of characters cleverly composed by John Dee and/or his associate Edward Kelley, for monetary gain.
This list could be extended further. So far, we are not able to answer the most basic question, namely whether the text is plain language, encrypted language, constructed language or entirely meaningless. It is not the purpose of this web site to address all possible interpretations that have been proposed. While there are numerous web sites presenting a great variety of proposed solutions, occasionally accompanied by long discussions, none of these can be considered correct. A correct explanation of the text should be easily recognised as such, and not require a lot of explanation or discussion.
The manuscript continues to attract people from all over the world, primarily because of the mystery of its unreadable text, but there is more to it. For some reason, it allows just about everyone to recognise something in it. It has something that makes so many people believe that they can solve this mystery. Anyone reading this, who believes that he/she has found the solution, please see the last question in the FAQ.
Voynich once stated that the book would become more valuable as soon as it has been deciphered, but this is hardly true. Its mystery and its resistance to translation is what makes it special (4).
Table of contents
In addition, there are a detailed Table of Contents, and a Site Map with further information about this site.
NotesFollow John
2013 Ram 1500 - engine start-stop system
Start-stop systems have finally started to arrive on U.S. new cars in noticeable numbers.
The systems, which simply turn off a car's engine when it's sitting stationary and then switch it back on as the driver's foot starts to lift off the brake, are now fitted to 7 percent of new cars sold in the U.S.
DON'T MISS: Ford To Have Start-Stop On 70 Percent Of Vehicles By 2017
That calculation comes from industry analyst IHS Automotive, as cited in The Detroit News.
But IHS projects that by 2020, more than half of U.S. new cars will include start-stop.
Ford Auto Start-Stop fact sheet
It's all due to automakers' quest to squeeze every last drop of efficiency out of passenger vehicles to meet steadily rising corporate average fuel economy rules stretching out to 2025.
In the article, the Detroit News writer refers to anecdotal driver resistance and confusion over the new function.
ALSO SEE: No Start-Stop For 2015 Honda Fit To Avert Acceleration Lag: Report
While hybrid drivers have been accustomed for 15 years to their engines switching off while the car is at rest, it's largely a new experience for drivers of more conventional cars.
And, if not properly explained by the dealership, it could certainly lead to the worry that something is wrong with the car that causes it to stall at traffic lights.
That's the reason Honda officials gave for not including it on the new 2015 Honda Fit, which includes start-stop in other markets. (Though the 2015 Fit still achieves a 36-mpg combined EPA rating, so the need also isn't as great.)
2015 Honda Fit, test drive around Ann Arbor, Michigan, Apr 2014
Still, we suspect that over time, those worries will abate as the feature becomes more prevalent.
It's least noticeable in the priciest and most luxurious vehicles with the best sound insulation, but it is being introduced by most automakers in a variety of vehicles and segments.
MORE: Will Ultracapacitors Save Start-Stop Systems From Consumer Wrath?
Customers quoted in the piece said they eventually got used to the feature, but dealers noted that it's not a feature car buyers request--most likely because it hasn't been widely publicized or promoted.
The fuel savings from start-stop depend greatly on the driving cycle. It saves no fuel during high-speed highway travel, but in urban stop-and-go traffic, it can reduce fuel consumption 10 to 15 percent.
And as steadily rising CAFE requirements start to bite, automakers will be using any and all technologies possible to boost gas mileage.
So expect to see start-stop on a lot more of the cars you drive in the coming years.
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Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.BHOPAL/JABALPUR/DELHI: Thirty terrified passengers on a SpiceJet coach at Jabalpur airport on Saturday reportedly jumped off their bus as an Air India aircraft came too close and they feared getting hit by the same. Luckily for them, the AI subsidiary alliance air's plane wing passed very close to the stationary bus without hitting it.The aviation regulator has issued a warning to Air India as the ATR-72 aircraft was allegedly not being marshalled to the parking bay by a trained personnel but by a helper.The unprecedented sight of flyers fleeing from a bus to avoid being hit by a plane was witnessed at Jabalpur's Dumna airport when an Alliance Air (AA) ATR landed into the city 15 minutes ahead of the schedule time and was taxiing to its parking bay. At the same time, SpiceJet passengers had flown in from Delhi on another turboprop (Q-400) and were boarding a coach to be taken to the terminal."At 11.58 am, SpiceJet ramp staff noticed that AI flight is passing by our coach without maintaining standard distance. Ramp staff tried to seek attention of AI captain (but plane kept proceeding)... One of our passengers saw this and started rushing from the coach, followed by all passengers coming down from coach," said the incident report filed by SpiceJet.Dumna airport director Ramtanu Saha said SpiceJet has lodged a complaint which is being probed and the report would be sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)."As per protocol, AI pilots should have reported the matter to ATC officials. We have got a written submission from SpiceJet station manager and drivers," Saha told TOI.An Air India official said: "There was safe distance between our aircraft and SpiceJet Q400. However, after parking the SpiceJet captain got physically abusive with our technician. A CCTV footage is available with ATC."However, a senior DGCA official said "prima facie" the fault may have been of AI. "The AI aircraft was not being marshalled to the bay by either a trained marshal or technician. This work was being done by a helper.This is not acceptable and the same has been conveyed to the AI top management by DGCA acting chief B S Bhullar. Jabalpur does not get too many flights and airlines must ensure their personnel are present in time for handling flights to avoid situations like these," said the official.However, the DGCA official added only the probe report will shed light on exactly what happened in Jabalpur.The SpiceJet flight had arrived from Delhi on its way to Mumbai.Robert Brady (born 14 January 1992) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger and a left-back for Premier League club Burnley and the Republic of Ireland national team.
Brady began his career in the Manchester United academy. However, after featuring just once for United's first team, he joined Hull City initially on loan and then permanently in 2013. He made 124 appearances for the Tigers, helping them reach the 2014 FA Cup Final. In July 2015, he joined Norwich City for £7 million where he suffered relegation to the Championship with the club in 2016. He returned to the Premier League where he became Burnley's record signing in January 2017 when he completed a transfer for a fee reported to be around £13 million.
Brady has represented Ireland at all youth levels. After becoming their highest under-21 scorer of all time with seven goals, Brady made his senior international debut against Oman in 2012, scoring and setting up two more goals in a 4–1 victory. He has earned over 30 caps for his country and represented them at UEFA Euro 2016, scoring two goals during the tournament.
Club career [ edit ]
Early career [ edit ]
Born in Baldoyle, Dublin, Brady attended Pobalscoil Neasáin and was part of their under-16 All-Ireland Championship winning team. He was spotted by Manchester United scouts while playing for St. Kevin's Boys, and joined the club's academy shortly after his 16th birthday in January 2008.[3] He made his first appearance for Manchester United in an under-18s match against Liverpool on 19 January 2008.[4] His reserve team debut came just two months later, in a 3–1 win over Newcastle United.[5]
In July 2008, Brady signed on as an academy scholar, and cemented his place in the under-18s throughout the following two seasons, as well as playing for the reserves. In the 2010–11 season, Brady graduated to the reserve team on a permanent basis.[6] He was named as an unused substitute for the first team's League Cup Fourth Round win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26 October 2010.[7] He made his only appearance for Manchester United on 26 September 2012, coming on as an 86th-minute substitute for Alexander Büttner in a 2–1 victory over Newcastle United in the third round of the League Cup.[8][9]
Hull City [ edit ]
On 19 July 2011, Manchester United loaned Brady to Championship club Hull City until 31 December.[10] He made his debut in the first match of the season on 5 August 2011 at the KC Stadium in a 1–0 defeat to Blackpool.[11] Three weeks later, he scored his first competitive goal for the Tigers in a 1–0 win against Reading at the KC Stadium.[12] The loan was extended until the end of the 2011–12 season on 5 January 2012.[13] On 21 January, Brady scored in a 1–0 win against Reading at the Madejski Stadium.[14]
On 5 November 2012, Manchester United loaned Brady to Hull until 2 January 2013.[15] He came off the bench the following day against Wolverhampton Wanderers as a replacement for Liam Rosenior.[16] Brady scored his first goal since returning to Hull on 8 December 2012 against Watford; he scored with a 25-yard free kick that went in off the crossbar, making it 2–0 to Hull.[17]
On 8 January 2013, Brady was signed by Hull on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee.[18]
Brady scored a first-half penalty in Hull's opening home Premier League match on 24 August 2013, giving them a 1–0 win against Norwich City.[19] He went on to score two more goals in the Premier League the following month. He then underwent two separate groin operations which made him miss most of the rest of the season.[20]
Brady scored three goals during the 2014–15 campaign including two goals in the second leg of the Europa League play-off round tie against Belgian Pro League side K.S.C. Lokeren on 28 August. Hull won 2–1 on the night but lost the
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limits, and the scope of the limitation on fundraising cost exemptions.
RE-UPDATE: [Feb 2, 2015] On further examination of the legislation, Elections Canada lawyers believe the daily pro-rated value of the central and candidate expense limits should be increased by 1/36th for every day the writ period exceeds 37 days, not 1/37th.
Re-Up-UPDATE: [moments later] Never mind; 1/37th is the correct amount of the daily pro-rate. Mea culpa.
Anyone still debating the question of an early election date, versus a fall election date as planned, is completely missing the point. The question nowadays – thanks to a little-noticed amendment buried in the Fair Elections Act – is not what day the election will be held. It's what day the election will be called.
Until now, most of the conventional wisdom has sounded a lot like the unnamed Liberal source quoted by Paul Wells the other day:
“They’ve got $40 million to spend,” my Liberal source said of his Conservative foes, who are still winning each quarter’s fundraising competition. “They can only spend $25 or $26 million in a writ,” that is, during a formal campaign period, because Elections Canada monitors these things closely. “Why would they go now?”
The reason it sounded that way is because – until now – such a calculation would have been right.
It depended on the fact that, while there was no legal limit on the length of the writ period, there was a hard limit on how much could be spent during an election campaign, regardless of its length.
A fixed expense ceiling, but no fixed length to the campaign. That was the system we used to have. Then we added a fixed end to the campaign period in the Accountability Act, but no fixed beginning. Still, the fixed expense ceiling served as a financial incentive not to drag it out too long, and keep the campaign affordable enough for every party to be on the same level playing field – at least during the writ period. If, as they say, "campaigns matter", then at least there was reasonably affordable parity for serious entrants during the period that mattered.
But the fixed expense ceiling was ended in the Bill C-23 (Fair Elections Act), as part of its massive rewrite of "Part 18 – Financial Administration" of the Canada Elections Act. The version adopted by Parliament is now published as Chapter 12 of the 2014 Statutes of Canada, and although its provisions haven't been consolidated into the online version of the Act yet, they did come into force on December 19, 2014. Here's the relevant section:
Maximum Election Expenses 430. (1) The maximum amount that is allowed for election expenses of a registered party for an election is the product of (a) $0.735 multiplied by the number of names on the preliminary lists of electors for electoral districts in which the registered party has endorsed a candidate or by the number of names on the revised lists of electors for those electoral districts, whichever is greater, and (b) the inflation adjustment factor published by the Chief Electoral Officer under section 384 that is in effect on the date of the issue of the writ or writs for the election. Election period longer than 37 days (2) If an election period is longer than 37 days, then the maximum amount calculated under subsaection (1) is increased by adding to it the product of (a) one thirty-seventh of the maximum amount calculated under subsection (1), and (b) the number of days in the election period minus 37.
A campaign has to be a minimum of 37 days – the day it's called plus 36 more. But it has no maximum length. So, in the olden days, you would have to take the campaign expense ceiling and make it last the length of the campaign, which meant that for well-funded parties with control over the election calendar, they'd delay the dropping of the writ as long as possible, and outspend in the pre-writ period trying to lay down the campaign narrative and define their opponents, knowing their less well-funded opponents had to keep their powder dry for the campaign whenever it came.
The extra-long campaign that spanned the Christmas holidays in 2005-2006, however, really stretched some parties' budgets. The need to make a fixed campaign budget last for a longer campaign led to a lot of the improvising that resulted in so-called In-and-Out scandal.
So naturally, the thinking would go, if you had a longer campaign you ought to be able to have a higher spending limit, right?
Except that having an unlimited pro-rated election campaign expense ceiling – without a limited campaign period – opens a huge back-door for a well-financed political party that controls the timing of an election to spend its opponents into the ground.
Setting a fixed election date in legislation was supposed to equalize the power over election timing between the government and the opposition. Everyone would know when the election was, and could plan accordingly. It didn't matter that no fixed beginning was set down in law, because the fixed election spending ceiling would keep the campaign relatively short.
But now, what's to stop the Prime Minister from calling the election on July 1st for October 19th? "Under the Canada Elections Act, nothing" replies Elections Canada spokesperson John Enright. "And the expense limits for parties and candidates would be pro-rated 1/37th per day for each extra day."
Wrap your mind around the implications of that one for a minute or two.
Suppose the national party's expense ceiling for a 37-day campaign works out to $26 million, as realistically ball-parked by Wells's source. The new provisions in the Elections Act mean that for every day longer than 37 days the writ lasts, the spending limit goes up by roughly $700,000.
For every extra week, then, it would increase by $4.9M.
An extra month? Add on another $21M.
Tack on the whole summer, for argument's sake, and suddenly you're looking at a 110 day campaign with a national expense ceiling of $77 million dollars to be competitive. Spending at those levels, given Canada's restrictive fundraising laws, is no longer an equalizer – it's a blunt instrument to beat your opponents to death and into bankruptcy with, and would leave the bankers to decide which of the government's foes to finance to the max to try and compete even remotely fairly.
And that would not even be the real limit, because the Act also exempted fundraising costs from the ceiling, and you can pack an awful lot of messaging and voter contact into fundraising, as anyone on the year-end party email lists could attest. [UPDATE: That was wrong. It exempts the costs of running a fundraising activity like a cocktail party, but the provision on telephone/email etc solicitation for funds was dropped.] (Not a lot of serious policy gets discussed, however, adding to the woes already identified by Chantal Hébert). And there would be no requirement to spread that spending out over the entire campaign period – instead you could just hold your fire and then dump millions and millions of dollars more in advertising into the final 3 weeks.
With $40M on hand – and remember that the Fair Elections Act did not impose any limits on the 50% rebate of those paid election expenses either – the Conservatives could now leverage that $40M with bank loans of a further $40M (secured by their rebate) to spend the limit, and still have money left over to transfer to their candidate campaigns … who now would also have to cope with expense ceilings of three times their previous amounts. In other words, the typical candidate spending limit of $80K would in that hypothetical situation become nearly a quarter of a million dollars
And those candidates would have a much harder time than the parties to secure financing for the difference, thanks to the ridiculous and unworkable loan provisions also written into the Bill against the advice of such wild-eyes radicals as the Canadian Bankers' Association, who would have to administer them. The new regime requires bank loans to be guaranteed by a consortium of individuals each guaranteeing no more than their annual contribution ceiling MINUS the amount they'd already actually contributed in cash. No bank or credit union wants to issue a loan for $45,000 guaranteed by 30 people for $1,500 each. Not going to happen. So, if the riding association didn't already have most of the limit banked ahead of time, their candidate would be put impossibly behind the 8-ball in a mega-length campaign.
Now, there would be some down-sides to a mega-long election campaign from the governing party's perspective. For one thing, once a writ drops, most government advertising would have to cease, and most government-funded ministerial travel along with it. Cabinet ministers still managing complex, sensitive or risky portfolios (defence, security, or anything to do with financial markets or the price of energy are some contemporary examples) might have their attention impossibly distracted from either their role or their re-election. It would blow a huge hole into Elections Canada's own election budget, so I suppose there could be some public backlash as well, though the bet would be on it dissipating after a day or two. And long campaigns can be risky for incumbents.
But they're just as risky for challengers, especially ones who haven't personally experienced the pressure-cooker of a national campaign before. And the challenge of suddenly needing to raise and spend three times what you'd planned on might be insurmountable. Plus, Auditors-General don't usually release reports during election campaigns; just sayin'.
A final wrinkle is that the so-called "third parties" – groups who are not registered political parties, but who want to advertise during the election campaign, did NOT have their ceilings pro-rated. So, each group will have a hard $150K ceiling to work with for the entire writ period nationally, plus $3000 for any riding it wants to specifically advertise about, no matter how long or short the campaign. I expect a number of third parties – LeadNow.ca for example, or the pro-pipeline groups – have planned more expensive pre-writ ad campaigns that are not subject to those ceilings. But if the writ were issued early, all those ad buys would have to stop in their tracks. [UPDATE: of course those third party spending limits spelled out in the Act are at least subject to the inflation adjustment, so the Third Party national limit, for example is now over $200K.]
We'll get an early taste of what's to come with the required launch of the Peterborough by-election, which must be called by May 6. It has to be called by May 6, but the only restriction on voting day is that it be on a Monday at least 36 days after May 6. The first Monday at least 36 days after May 6 is June 15, but the Prime Minister could do what was done in Ottawa Centre before, which was to call an early by-election that then got folded into the general election campaign. This means the candidates in Peterborough should now expect to have to spend 4 1/2 times the old spending limit to get from May 6 to October 19. Same goes, though at a slightly lesser rate, for candidates in Sudbury (although notably, the Chief Electoral Officer still has not been notified by the Commons Speaker of Glenn Thibeault's January 5th resignation, so the clock hasn't started ticking on that riding's federal by-election just yet).
How the parties come out of this election financially will be critical to the future health of our democracy. Justin Trudeau has already signalled that he intends to turn his back on Jean Chretien's election reform of the per-vote subsidy. And unless any one party wins a majority of the 338 seats in the next House of Commons, the country could be back into an election again in 2017.
A democracy without a robust party system is a prime takeover target for monied interests. This is why all citizens should care so deeply about the fairness of elections. It sounds like it's all just dickering over inside baseball by party insiders, but it isn't. The political parties are the (for the most part, voluntary) bodies who identify, recruit, train and finance the candidates we all get to choose between on the ballot. Take away their level playing field, and you are only an election or two away from losing any real effective choice for yourself on that ballot.
Just because the Prime Minister could in theory call an election for the fixed election date early and spend his opponents into the ground, doesn't meant that he should, or would. A true leader is marked not only by his actions, but also his restraint and wisdom. Even though we fully expect the PM to vigourously contest the next election, he is no doubt also mindful of the fact that he's heading into the legacy stage of his reign.
For myself, I think the next Parliament should amend the Canada Elections Act again, to set a maximum length alongside the minimum length for a federal general election campaign period, and I hope to see that plank in one or more of the parties' election platforms.
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As for all the #TeamSpring vs #TeamFall nonsense, I cannot bring myself to believe that the federal Conservatives would want to run an election campaign concurrently with either or both of the expected Alberta provincial election (mid-March call for a mid-April vote is the prevailing wisdom), or the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership contest which concludes the first weekend of May.
I also remember how all the expected fuss over the tell-all book by Julie Couillard on Maxime Bernier in during the 2008 election campaign amounted in the end to nothing more than a half-day story at most, so I think the potential impact of Senator Duffy's trial is being highly-overrated by people who spend too much time living and breathing the Ottawa narrative.
Everyone I've spoken to who's in a position to know, or who knows someone in a position to know, says that the next federal general election will be held on Monday, October 19, 2015 as stipulated in the Canada Elections Act. Until now, however, no-one's thought to ask them when it will be called. Hopefully that can be rectified soon.An experienced police officer has revealed that 14 of the 15 culprits arrested so far who were involved in the mass sexual molestation of women in Cologne on New Years Eve were newly arrived Syrian migrants.
In an interview with Express.de, the officer reveals that 15 men were arrested, of whom 14 were from Syria and one was from Afghanistan. The men had arrived in Germany within the last few days or weeks, according to the officer.
“14 were from Syria and one from Afghanistan. That’s the truth. Although it hurts,” said the officer.
A separate official confirmed to Express.de that this was accurate, according to the report.
Police initially claimed that the suspects were not newly arrived refugees, although quite how the men being supposedly ‘assimilated’ immigrants would be a better scenario makes little sense.
The identity of the culprits is now “under lock and key and secret,” according to the officer, suggesting that authorities are keen to keep the information under wraps.
Paramedics and emergency physicians who attended to the injured on the night could also confirm the identities of the men, according to the officer.
The officer also explained how he had, “young women weeping beside me, who wore no panties, after the crowd had spat at them.”
Police were overwhelmed and unable to protect the victims because sufficient forces were not dispatched to the scene, according to the officer, an account that is backed up by another eyewitness – a hotel bouncer who was working in the immediate vicinity of Cologne Cathedral.
Evidence of a police cover up is already unraveling. Authorities issued a press release on New Years Day claiming the previous night was “peaceful” and without incident. It took the German media days to report on the story, with top broadcaster ZDF later apologizing for the delay.
As we previously highlighted, German police have been accused of covering up crimes and sexual assaults committed by migrants so as not to “legitimize” critics of mass immigration.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.Focus on Value @ Precise Shooter - 2015-06-04
Precise Shooter's modus operandi is bringing our Seattle area customers the best prices in the firearms market. Sure, we can get you anything that's in stock at our distributors, and at the lower-than-the-Internet prices, but where we really shine is finding particularly good deals when our distributors have sales, and passing the savings to our customers.
The prices on firearms often vary quite a bit, month to month, season to season. There are gluts and shortages, particularly in foreign imports and surplus guns - an importer might bring in literally a warehouse worth of stuff from Serbia, and then for a month or two this particular AK is cheap and available everywhere - but when the warehouseload is gone, the prices go up $100 or more. This is even more true for surplus equipment - if you are old enough, you may remember the era of a $80 Russian SKS - which sells for $500+ today.
So when an opportunity presents itself, we typically buy a very large number of guns, and then sell them cheaply while we have the inventory. This is how we are the last place in the country where you can buy a new CZ 452 UltraLux rifle, and this is why we have the best prices in the area for many, many firearms.
In this weekly update we will take you around the store with an eye on particularly good deals - or particularly rare popular guns that are just impossible to find elsewhere.
Without much ado, let's take a look!
Century Yugo underfolders
Current distributor prices on this rifle approach $600, yet ours are only (currently unavailable). The reason? We bought a few dozen when they sold for under $500 wholesale - CAI imported a really large number and prices temporarily went through the bottom - and never raised the prices. We have a limited supply still in stock.
Century C308 CETME Clone
This rifle was briefly available, but went out of stock quickly. We've got just two, and if you are looking for a budget priced CETME - this is your opportunity ($599.95 (special order)).
I.O. Inc AK-47 Economy Sporter
Another budget AK-47. Not sure if there actually IS a place anywhere in the country where you can get an AK for only (currently unavailable).
Mossberg MMR Hunter
Mossberg has been edging into the AR-15 space, and for a while they had their MMR series on huge sales. Today the lowest internet price we could find is $664 (plus shipping & transfer). At our store, it is only (currently unavailable).
For this price, it's a steal, because it comes with a great free-floating handguard and a nice barrel.
Mossberg MMR Tactical
This Friday (6/5) ONLY - Mossberg MMR Tactical would be available for pre-order @ $569.95. The rifle is 65014. It comes with a fantastic free-floating rail which alone typically sells for over $100. This is a one-day only sale at the distributor, and you need to call on Friday - only - to order yours. Normal distributor price on this rifle is $676-$678.
DPMS Oracle
This is our - and the Internet's - least expensive rifle. The lowest price we could find on the Internet was $485 + $22.52 shipping + $25 transfer = $532.52. Our price is $539.95 (in stock). While it is just a tad below the cheapest on the 'Net, you get to walk away with it that same day, and you get our support for the firearms that you buy through us - if you will ever need the warranty service, we will handle the transfers for free.
CORE MOE M4
While this is not a particularly cheap rifle per se, we sell it CHEAP ((currently unavailable)) compared to the Internet, where the absolute lowest price I could find was 900.83, plus 3% credit card fee, plus transfer. Remember, Precise Shooter does not upcharge for credit card usage!
Mossberg MVP Varmint with Bipod and Scope
We've got this rifle at a distributor's closeout sale event, so we sell it at slightly below wholesale price ((currently unavailable)). The lowest price on the Internet is $638 plus cc upcharge, shipping, insurance, transfer,... Bonus: it takes AR-15 magazines!
Mossberg Shotguns
Inexpensive shotguns at the store - Mossberg 500 Wild Hog ((currently unavailable)), 500 Just-in-Time 2 Cruiser ((currently unavailable)), and, most importantly, 500 Just-in-Time Cruiser Kit ($384.95 (special order)) for only $10 more. On the Internet, these shotguns go for at least $50 over our prices, when you account for shipping and transfer fees.
Glocks
We sell Glocks at MAP (Minimum Advertising Price). This works as follows: Glock requires distributors to police their dealers, making sure that no one advertises prices lower than the minimums that Glock defined. The policy itself is here, you can read it yourself. One can actually SELL Glocks for less, but nothing - web site, sticker, label - can show the lower price. If a dealer does not comply, Glock punishes the distributor (who would presumably be incented to drop the offending retailer).
So you cannot find prices - online or locally (especially locally :-)) - which are lower than the prices we charge. And of course with us there is no shipping, transfer fees, or credit card surcharges.
The only Glock that we sell for more than MAP is Glock 17L. This is a special run pistol which is only made once every couple of years. We ask for MSRP for that one.
To compensate, however, we carry a large selection of surplus Glocks, including Glock 21s and 23s, which are typically very hard to get in the surplus market - but we have a distributor which always carries a large selection, and so do we.
When in store, ask Jim or Ryan to show you one of the surplus G23s with Storm Lake's 9mm barrel and Ghost ultimate trigger kit. You won't believe what you'd be seeing. For $552.85 you would be getting two pistols in one - a range 9mm and trail 40S&W. It has night sights, too.
A few Glocks to pay special attention to.
17L - the famous Longslide. We are the only ones who have them. MSRP on this one, but still beats buying it from ZEV for $3000.
23C - compensated. No longer made. Really nifty gun!
Rebuilt 35 Gen 4 - a chance to own the Practical Tactical for far less than MAP (which is $635).
As we pointed out above - our surplus Glocks are great price, and mechanically like new!
Here are Glock handguns in stock as well as available for special orders, along with the prices.
Sig P229 Extreme
I honestly think that this is THE best deal in the store right now. I really do. The wholesale price on them is $889. Our price: (currently unavailable)
Reason? Distributor sale a few months ago. We bought a ton, and we're almost out.
Canik 55 pistols
As you may know, I am a huge fan of CZ design. And we have a huge number of CZ guns in stock, including CZ 75 SP-01 pistols and even CZ 452 UltraLux rifles.
CZ 75 in particular is one of the world's most accurate pistols, and also - the world's most copied gun. One of such copies are by Turkish company Canik 55. These guns fell out of favor with the importers for some reason (I strongly suspect that the reason are CZ lawyers, because I have no idea how what Canik was doing was even legal), bug we still have a bunch - when I heard that they were no longer imported, I bought 50 or so that the distributor had. This was some months ago, and though they sell briskly, I still have a dozen or so in stock.
You can read my review of S-120 and Stingray. In my testing these pistols were every bit as accurate, and matched or exceeded real CZs on every parameter, except for the price, being about $150 cheaper.
And here is one of them customized by someone on Gunbroker:
Here are the Caniks we have. If it' not here - we can't get it, don't ask. That ship has sailed.
Anschutz Rifles
Can I have an Anschutz for under $1000? You, you can! We found a particularly good deal ($709.95 (special order)) on this 1517D in 17HMR:
But the rifle you REALLY should be looking for is this:
This is a heavy competition rifle in the same class as Remington 40x or Winchester 52. This is currently the golden standard for CMP rimfire matches. The distributor has just lowered the price, so we can offer it for only (currently unavailable).
Another noteworthy - though definitely budget - Anschutz that we have is this 1517 American Varminter 18" Threaded Barrel:
Only 100 made in this unique configuration, this rifle is impossible to describe, and must be examined in person. Amazing two stage trigger, incredible balance with the 18" threaded muzzle resting in a super-ergonomic, yet beautiful, stock.
Price: (currently unavailable)
Walther PPX M1/M1 SD
During the Christmas season Davidson's had a sale on these pistols. They are now out of stock everywhere, but we still have them, in 9, 9 threaded, and 40. They come with Davidson's Lifetime Guarantee!
Walther PPX 9mm (currently unavailable)
Walther PPX 9mm SD (currently unavailable)
Walther PPX 40S&W (currently unavailable)
Bersa Thunder pistols
These PPK clones are better quality than modern PPKs made by Smith & Wesson. We try to keep them in stock as much as possible - they are extremely accurate, well made, and great, great value!
Read our review here.
Last but not least - AR15 parts!
We carry a BUNCH of AR-15 parts which we source from providers who provide the best value on their parts. Most AR-15 components (excluding triggers and barrels) are pretty generic, so there is very little reason to overpay for them. We have a bunch of extremely well-priced components in our AR-15 parts store, including budget receivers from Anderson's, parts from DelTon, and more.
Here, for example, is the list of what you need for a budget AR build under $460. Start small, and then you can customize as you go!
Anderson Manufacturing Lower (currently unavailable)
Anderson Manufacturing Lower Parts Kit (currently unavailable)
Anderson Manufacturing Lightweight Sporting Upper (currently unavailable) - this receiver does not need an upper parts kit!
- this receiver does not need an upper parts kit! Barrel nut kit $20.95 (in stock)
M4 contour barrel $81.95 (in stock)
Carbine handguards (currently unavailable)
M4 handguard cap (currently unavailable)
High rise gas block (currently unavailable)
Carbine gas tube (currently unavailable)
A2 Muzzle Break Kit (currently unavailable)
Charging handle (currently unavailable)
Bolt & carrier assembly (currently unavailable)
The total, as of this writing, is $414.94. You will need a stock. We could not find one cheaper than what you can buy on Amazon or eBay for about $35, delivered, which brings the total cost of the rifle to just under $460.WASHINGTON—As the Supreme Court hears oral arguments today on President Obama's health care reform law, plaintiffs aiming to strike down the legislation are citing the U.S. Constitution's Kids-With-Pre-Existing-Conditions-Can-Go-Fuck-Themselves clause, which decrees that children who suffer from debilitating illnesses prior to acquiring health insurance "should just go straight to hell." "It explicitly states in Article 4, Section 9 that 'children with extant disorders unable to pay exorbitant premium fees can just fucking die for all we care, especially the ones with leukemia.'" attorney Paul D. Clement told the nine jurists during his opening statement. "Thus the current law is on its face unconstitutional. The Founding Fathers clearly wanted to force doctors to turn away youth with acute asthma so the nation's children would turn blue in the face, go into cardiac arrest, and die in their own homes." Legal experts noted that if this argument fails, plaintiffs would undoubtedly cite the 24th Amendment's If-You-Don't-Have-Health-Insurance-Already-You-Must-Be-A-Poor-Fuck-Who-Doesn't-Deserve-It-Anyway provision.A post shared by Lyn Fox (@foxyphish73) on Mar 17, 2017 at 11:06pm PDT
A post shared by merylpearlstein (@merylpearlstein) on Mar 17, 2017 at 6:42pm PDT
A post shared by Jeff Porter (@jporter1000) on Mar 17, 2017 at 5:34pm PDT
A post shared by merylpearlstein (@merylpearlstein) on Mar 17, 2017 at 5:06pm PDT
H/T:
Phil Lesh and Friends finished up their three night run at the Capitol Theater last night. As Z-man said, the line-up grew in strength every night and really started to gel by the end of the run.In addition to plenty of Dead tunes, Phil and the gang covered Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing.”While John Kadlecik is a familiar face and sound on stage, Stanley Jordan might not be to a lot of Deadheads. The prodigious jazz guitarist has been on the scene since releasing his first album back in 1982. Jordan’s style of guitar playing is like no other. Instead of picking or strumming, Stanley uses a two-handing tap touch technique that really needs to be seen. The result is a soft but masterful sound.For the final night of the run, the Cap was bathed in beautiful Phil Lesh themed art and photos. The artwork was projected on the walls of the theater.1st SetCold Rain And SnowAlabama GetawayNext Time You See MeViola Lee BluesCandymanHe’s GoneCasey Jones2nd SetDear Mr. FantasyJamSt. StephenUnbroken ChainAll Along The WatchtowerMorning DewLittle wingThe WheelMidnight HourEncorePhil Donor RapU.S. BluesBand IntroductionsPhil Lesh – Bass And VocalsJohn Kadlecik – Guitar And VocalsJoan Osborne – Vocals And PercussionJason Crosby – KeyboardsStanley Jordan – GuitarMark Levy – DrumsThanks to Z-Man for the great recording Photo credit: billpattenphotographyToday we learned of a piece of electric car history that went up in flames last week. Those familiar with the early days of Tesla know that AC Propulsion’s Tzero is an important vehicle. It was a small all-electric sports car using lead-acid batteries that Tesla helped convert to li-ion cells and used the vehicle to convince investors to support their vision to build what later became the Tesla Roadster.
Only 3 Tzero vehicles were ever built and one of them was destroyed in a fire last week in Arizona – along with several of its successors, the Tesla Roadster.
Pete Gruber, CEO of Gruber Industries, a hardware company, and Gruber Motor Company, is a Tesla Roadster owner and a big fan of the vehicle. He even publishes a monthly newsletter about the vehicle. His company was buying a lot of Roadsters and refurbishing them or selling parts.
He had several Roadsters in his garage last week when it caught on fire in Phoenix. Arizona Central reported:
“A late-afternoon fire that caused the roof of a north Phoenix manufacturing building to collapse on Friday was exacerbated by lithium batteries inside, according to the Phoenix Fire Department. The blaze started just before 5 p.m. at a manufacturing building near Central Avenue and Deer Valley Road that produces batteries and motors for electric vehicles, officials said. Dozens of units responded as the department sounded three alarms.”
As the publication mentioned, the lithium batteries certainly aggravated the fire, but they were not necessarily the cause of the fire. The company was reportedly trying to repair the battery pack of one of the Roadsters using “experimental techniques” that might have caused the fire, but it’s not clear at this point. There’s a thread on the Tesla Motors Club about it.
We have reached out to Gruber for a comment. We will update if we get an answer.
Gruber posted pictures of the garage just hours before the fire and then of the aftermath (via Flickr credit to Pete Gruber):
It looks like 5 or 6 Roadsters have been lost and the Tzero. Probably over $500,000 worth of electric vehicles.
The fire also resulted in now only one of 3 Tzero vehicles left in circulation and that vehicle became priceless for some electric vehicle enthusiasts. Considering there were only just over 2,000 Tesla Roadster ever made, It also made the vehicle rarer.
Arguably, the Tzero was an important part of launching the resurgence of electric vehicles in the 2000s. It inspired the Tesla Roadster, which in turn inspired the Chevy Volt and enabled Tesla to develop the Model S, which in turn is currently inspiring a whole generation of new electric vehicles.
If you know who owns the last one, let us know.THANK YOU TO ALL OUR BACKERS ON KICKSTARTER!
We ‘smashed’ our funding goal of $20,000, reaching over $104,000 in pledges from more than 1100 backers, in just 30 days. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far. Due to this overwhelming success we reached all of our 4 Stretch Goals and will be delivering these in parallel with our Edison project plan. Kickstarter is just the beginning for Edison. You can now order EdPacks from www.meetedison.com. You can also follow the latest progress, join our EdTalk forum, sign up for our newsletter, and more...
So come and meet Edison today!
Have you ever wanted to get into robotics, but found it too difficult or expensive?
Meet Edison...
Affordable – Less than $40 each and less than $30 each for a full class set
– Less than $40 each and less than $30 each for a full class set Programmable – Free open source graphical programming software
– Free open source graphical programming software LEGO® compatible – Modular and easily expandable
– Modular and easily expandable Easy to use – Has many pre-programmed functions activated by barcodes
– Has many pre-programmed functions activated by barcodes Remote control – Learns commands from TV/DVD remote controls
– Learns commands from TV/DVD remote controls Suitable for all ages – From 5 to 95
– From 5 to 95 Built to last – Yes, the car scene in the video is real!
...so what will you invent?
Glenunga International High School students
Gizmag - Edison offers affordable and Lego-compatible robotics education
Bot Bench - Cool Kickstarter: The Edison
Geeky Gadgets - Edison Programmable Robot Launches On Kickstarter For $39
STEMblog - LEGO compatible robotics for less than the cost of a text book
Bloomberg Businessweek - This Toy Robot Injects Steroids Into Lego Projects
Into Robotics - Edison: Open-Source Low Cost LEGO-Compatible Platform
Make: - Edison: A Peek Into the Design of The Robot Anyone Can Afford
Robohub - Edison: A low cost robotics platform
Behance - Edison Robot Industrial Design
The Lead - Reducing the cost of robotics in schools
Trend Hunter - The Edison Educational Robot Helps Teach Programming and Robotics
The Brick Blogger - There are a couple of interesting new LEGO projects...
Wired (Italy) - Edison, il robot programmabile compatibile con i Lego
Robotnyheter (Sweden) - Edison – en billig Legokompatibel skolrobot
Robotikka (Spain) - Edison, la plataforma robótica de bajo coste
Techly- EDISON: THE LEGO-LIKE ROBOT TEACHING KIDS TO PROGRAM ROBOTICS
Robotics (Ukraine) - Edison – новый легко настраиваемый Lego робот для обучения детей
Interesting Engineering - Edison: an affordable LEGO robot for tomorrow’s robotics engineers
Gadizmo - Meet Edison the Programmable LEGO Compatible Robot
Mindstorms (Luxembourg) - EDISON – LE ROBOT LOW COST COMPATIBLE LEGO
Startup Smart - Robots in the classroom: Meet Edison, the Australian-designed Lego-compatible robot that smashed its crowdfunding target
CNET (Japan) - プログラム可能小型2輪ロボット「Edison」
Robotics Today - Edison Robot Raises 400% of Crowdfunding Goal
Robotics Today - Edison Project Description
Robotics Today - Edison Robot Description
Once we reach our funding target of $20,000 we will be looking at creating exciting ‘extras’ so that can you can get the most out of your Edison.
Stretch Goal 1 - $30,000 (achieved!)
A full colour illustrated EdBook1 – Your EdVenture into Robotics - containing 10 EdWare programs and a very useful guide on how to connect your Edisons together and have them communicate as an integrated robotics system. This EdBook1(in PDF format) will be made available for FREE download from meetedison,com.
Stretch Goal 2 - $40,000 (achieved!!)
A set of 10 lesson plans for teachers that takes students through a step-by-step process for programming Edison with EdWare, towards achieving key educational objectives and outcomes. Each lesson plan will include example programs, Edison tasks and student challenges – some individual and others team based.
Stretch Goal 3 - $50,000 (achieved!!!)
A special version of EdWare for Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It is a very capable small computer which can be used for electronics projects and costs approximately $50. Now that really is low cost robotics!
Stretch Goal 4 - $100,000 (achieved!!!!)
EdWare iOS and Android apps. Program Edison using either an iPad or Android tablet, using the supplied EdComm cable, that plugs into the headphone socket. These EdWare apps will be FREE to download. Mobile AND low cost robotics is about to become a reality!
Edison is for students of all ages and also for both beginner and experienced hobbyists. You can buy a single robot for under $40 and learn computer programming just like other robotics systems which can cost much, much more. Edison is a great resource for teachers as classroom sets are now very affordable for schools - it's now possible to have one robot per
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Tigress was.
The funny thing was, it was the Team who had set her up with Kate, in a sense. Artemis had met her during a drug-ring bust that Nightwing and Troia had organized—though Kate's presence there was not something Dick had planned. Batwoman had been pursuing the ring as part of her own investigation, and was more than a little pissed that Nightwing's operation had derailed her own.
Despite sharing a name and insignia, Batwoman was not really affiliated with Batman, and Dick had confessed (or perhaps lied) that he didn't even know who she was. Artemis, for her part, took Nightwing's remark as a challenge to figure it out—partly because even with the cowl, she could tell Kate was hot.
Artemis smiled. She had realized she was bisexual as a teenager, but never really had a chance to explore that side of herself because she and Wally had caught fire so young and managed to stay together despite all the danger and destruction they faced together—or perhaps because of it. The fact that the rest of the Team didn't approve of her new love life wasn't going to stop her.
When her stop came up, Artemis hopped off the train with her duffle bag, and made her way out of the subway and to a back alley. The alley wasn't far from where she had once lived with her mother, back in the early days of the Team, and it hadn't changed much. The only difference was an old out of order Soder Cola machine rusting in a back corner.
Or that's what it appeared to be. Artemis thumped a finger against the machine.
"Now what was the code again?" she muttered. "Oh right."
Artemis began tapping the drink buttons on the cola machine in a specific order, each of them not reacting, until finally the entire front of the machine popped off and slid to the side. Inside a concealed Zeta Tube rested. Artemis stepped into it and lightning sparked and flashed around her, the entire world warping until it was gone; a new scene began to resolve.
"Recognized: B-Zero-Seven, Tigress," chimed a familiar digitized voice.
Artemis stepped off the Zeta pad access ramp as her vision began to resolve.
"Hey guys I'm—"
In front of Artemis, eight other members of the team stood, staring at the Zeta tube. At the front was Beast Boy with his arms folded over his chest. Behind him stood Robin and Batgirl, with Spoiler by Barbara's side. Wonder Girl hovered over Robin resting an arm on his shoulder, while Bumblebee fluttered about beside them. At the back of the group, Conner and Megan stood, seeming more interested in their private telepathic conversation than Artemis' arrival.
Artemis had known them long enough to tell when they were doing that, even if she wasn't part of the link.
"…here," Artemis said flatly. "Why is everyone staring at the Zeta Tube?"
"You're late," said Beast Boy.
"And we were about to use it," Robin said, actually answering her question.
At the far end of the room, by the port hole that looked out onto what Artemis believed was the Great Barrier Reef, Aqualad stood, speaking into a communicator. Nightwing's sabbaticals from the team kept getting longer and longer. At this point Kaldur was more the leader than Dick was.
"I was patrolling until four in the morning," Artemis said. "Give me a break."
Beast Boy smirked. "No can do. In fact there was a bet on how late you'd be. Which reminds me."
Beast Boy extended a hand over to Batgirl. "Pay up, Babsy."
Batgirl smacked his hand aside, drawing a snicker from Spoiler.
"It's not a bet unless both parties agree to it," Batgirl said.
A rush of wind and a poke on her shoulder startled Artemis. She didn't even hveto see the red-and-yellow streak to know what was going on.
"Jesus, Bart!" she gasped.
"I bet she wasn't even on patrol. I bet she was just up all night with her wealthy new girlfriend. Did you pop the question yet? Don't let all that wealth slip out of your fingers, Artie!"
Bart was suddenly on the opposite side of her. "Kate Kane won't wait forever, especially since she's like twice your age."
Bart stumbled over Artemis' duffle bag.
"Crash!' he exclaimed. "Is this yours? It's at your feet of course it is. Let me take it to your room. Okay, done."
Bart had blasted into her room and back again before Artemis even knew he was gone, the bag vanishing from her sight in a red streak. Artemis sighed, waiting for Bart's customary flurry of pokes, and when it came on schedule, she flicked her hand out and caught Bart's wrist. Even with her superior strength, it was all she could do to thwart Bart's momentum, the friction making her hand uncomfortably hot.
"Ack!" Bart said. Finally still for a moment, Artemis grinned. It was amazing how Bart Allen, once Impulse, had grown into Wally's shoes as Kid Flash. It wasn't really a name that had suited Wally anymore anyway. "How do you do that?"
"Because your speed can't make up for the fact you're predictable," Artemis said. "It's a good thing you don't see the same supervillains every day or they'd figure out your patterns."
Artemis let his wrist go.
"And Kate is not twice my age. She's 28. I'm 22."
She cast a glance over at Conner and Megan. "We have other members of this team with a bigger age gap than that."
Conner looked at her crossly and red patches appeared on Megan's cheeks in imitation of human blushing.
Artemis made her way over to Aqualad as Beta Squad—Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Superboy, and Kid Flash—entered the Zeta Tube.
"So what's my mission, Kaldur?"
Aqualad sighed and gave an exasperated glare at the reflection in the submarine's window that Artemis sensed wasn't directed at her so much as things beyond either of their control. "Your briefing is a bit more sensitive. You'll be briefed in your room."
Artemis studied Aqualad's face. At 25 the Atlantean seemed to have hardly aged since she'd met him, but his face was so changed by the scar. An underling of Black Manta, stinging from the Aqualad's infiltration and blaming him for Black Manta falling out of favor with Savage and the Light, had sought revenge on Kaldur. She hadn't managed to kill him, but her blade had taken Kaldur's left eye. Now in its place rested a mystic replacement conjured by Tempest, a shimmering water-sphere that gave Kaldur his depth perception back.
"You're upset," said Artemis. "Is it because today marks two years since you 'killed' me?"
Aqualad's natural eye widened. "Actually I had forgotten that grim anniversary."
"Then what's wrong?" Artemis rested a hand on Kaldur's shoulder.
"Now isn't the time," he said. "I can't divide my focus when we have four squads on a simultaneous mission."
Artemis nodded and moved towards her room. Kaldur had changed too much. His face may have looked the same, eye notwithstanding, but seven years battling the Light came with plenty of other sorts of scars.
"She's not wrong, Kaldur." Miss Martian hovered near Aqualad. "I'm not prying into your thoughts, but it doesn't take a psychic to sense how on-edge you are. Is this about Nightwing?"
"It can wait," Kaldur said, pressing the button to reprogram the Zeta Tube coordinates to the orbital hangar where Megan's bioship rested. After the fall of Mount Justice, a single base always seemed too vulnerable. That was the reason their current headquarters was a repurposed sub from Black Manta's fleet: mobility.
"Just because it can wait doesn't mean it should. We don't have to hash it all out now, but just say what's on your mind." Megan landed beside him. "Confessing it is the first step to dealing with it."
Aqualad exhaled, finishing the coordinates for the bioship hangar and turning on the tube with the smash of his fist. He'd thumped the button harder than he'd meant to and hoped it didn't break.
"Artemis and Dick were the two closest people on this team to Wally," he said. "His girlfriend and his best friend. And they're the two that keep taking on these dangerous undercover missions, who keep risking their necks without the rest of the Team to back them up."
"I think that's just their way of coping," Megan said. "Wally's death hit us all hard, but they—"
"They're not coping, M'gann." Aqualad turned to her. "They're avoiding us. They want to stay on the Team without really being part of the Team. If being around us is too painful for them…"
Miss Martian nodded. "We have to let them work through their grief at their own pace, Kal. You were so devastated when Tula died that many of your best friends believed that you'd honestly given up the fight and joined your father. Maybe it will just take Artemis and Dick longer to work through their pain than it took you."
"Perhaps," said Kaldur, frowning. "I just hope it doesn't get them killed in the process."
Artemis opened the bulkhead that lead to her room, lamenting how Spartan it was compared to the personal touch of her old room at Mount Justice, or the opulence of Kate Kane's penthouse. She had little time for this, however, when she noticed that next to the red duffle that Kid Flash had deposited, a figure clad in black sat on her bed, a blue chevron striped across his chest.
"Nightwing?" Artemis said, smiling and struggling to stay mad at him. "Oh my god. It's been forever, Dick. You dick."
"Just since September," he said. "Oolong Island."
"That was six months ago. You've been so busy with Bludhaven, college, whatever else it is you do." Artemis sat down. "And no wonder Aqualad was in a bad mood if you're briefing me."
"He did approve this mission," Nightwing said. He handed her a manila folder with 'For Artemis' scribbled across the front of it in his handwriting. "But it will take you off the table for a while once it gets properly started."
Artemis looked up at him. "How far off the table. You know I'm seeing someone right?"
Dick grimaced. "If I tell you, you'll want out before you even know what the mission is."
"Fuck you," Artemis said, only half playfully. She extended her hand. "Lemme see the folder."
Dick handed it to her and Artemis thumbed through the contents. Police documents revolving around missing persons cases made up the bulk of the folder. Human trafficking or serial murder suspected; both options made her skin crawl. It didn't help that sometimes she still felt as though Spoiler were judging her for helping the Reach kidnap her, even if it was for the purpose of rescuing all the missing teens.
"How on Earth did you get this stuff, Dick? You have some dirt on Batgirl's dad?"
"Of course not. Jim Gordon is a good cop." Dick stood up and pulled what Artemis took to be a wallet from one of his belt pouches. "And now so am I."
Nightwing flipped open the leather fold to reveal a badge and a Bludhaven police department identification card.
Officer Richard John Grayson, it read. Metacrimes Division
"You're a cop?" said Artemis. "No way."
"Way." Dick sat back down. "Of course giving you all this stuff was technically illegal so keep it on the down low. I just got this job in December."
"Who would I tell anyway?" Artemis said absently. Then, something in the folder caught her eye: not another police report but a newspaper article by Lois Lane.
G. GORDON GODFATHER? The former political pundit's not-so-charitable philanthropy.
"G. Gordon Godfrey?" Artemis said. "What does that washed-up old bastard have to do with metacrime?"
Artemis remembered just two years ago when Godfrey was at the height of his popularity, disparaging Superman and the Martian race while talking up the 'peaceful' Reach invaders who were anything but. Even though Godfrey had turned on them when they revealed their fleet in their attack on War World, it didn't take long before the embarrassment over his earlier remarks on the Reach and an aggressive campaign against his advertisers led by Wayne Enterprises had put him out of a job on TV.
This article by Lois Lane was pursuing him even further: tracking donations to charities with poor reputations, his support for an ethically dubious pro-wrestling promotion, and even possible ties to metacriminal rehabilitation center that had eventually been revealed to be a scam founded by Hugo Strange prior to his coup at Belle Reve.
"If he had ties to super-crime," Nightwing observed, "then it would make his hostility the Justice League a lot more understandable. And mean he was working in the Light's favor, if not actually for them."
"And you think he has something to do with all these missing person cases?" Artemis thumbed through them again. There wasn't much in common between them; race, sex, and religion varied all over the place. The connecting tissue was minimal. They were all fairly young, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five, and they all lived in the general vicinity of a major east coast city: Gotham, Metropolis, New York, Boston.
"The common thread is something not noted in the police files," Nightwing said. He pulled a slip from the back of the folder out and held it up to Artemis' face. "All of the disappearances occurred shortly before or after an event."
The sheet displayed a shirtless strong man in a fanciful mask, cotton candy blue and pink. A logo with gold and silver text read: GLORIOUS GODZ Professional Wrestling. Presenting our East Coast Extravaganza 2018.
Dates and cities followed, promises of a spectacle and wonder.
"Pro-wrestling?" Artemis laughed. "Really?"
"How much do you know about it?"
"Well I know it's fake, for one," Artemis said. "It has a reputation for shadiness, like pumping wrestlers full of steroids and not taking enough safety precautions. Never heard about it being linked with super-crime though."
"Fake is an interesting word," Dick said. "It's fixed of course. It's like a big soap opera about combat sports, but it's performed live. No wires, no stunt doubles. But I think you'd get a chilly response if you used the word 'fake' within earshot of someone who just took a bad tumble off the top rope."
"Okay," Artemis said. "I can respect that. I know what it's like to take a blow. I guess I'm surprised you know much about it. It always seemed like a lot of macho bullshit to me."
"It can be," said Dick. "As for knowing about it, pro wrestling got started in traveling carnivals and circuses. There's sort of a shared DNA there. Mr. Haly had a lot of stories about when his father ran the circus."
"So if you know that much about it, then why aren't you the one doing this?" Artemis handed the folder back to him. She thought of Kate and the cost of an undercover mission on their relationship. It would be difficult, especially depending on how deep the cover would have to be and how long it would take.
"I have a job now. I'm investigating other leads, not to mention extra-curriculars. Plus, you're good at it." Nightwing stood up. "If you want to take some time to talk it over with Kate, or anyone else, then that's okay. But I need an answer soon."
"Tell my girlfriend that I'm doing secret undercover superhero work?" Artemis scowled.
"Ah, see that's what I mean. You almost fooled me with that," Nightwing smiled. "But I kind of figured out that Kate Kane was Batwoman when you started dating her. Red-heads in spandex is kind of your weakness."
Artemis thought about muttering that it wasn't spandex, but given that Dick had seen Batwoman take several mobster's bullets to the chest without flinching, she figured he knew that.
Belle Reve looked even gloomier than usual as the cold March rain poured down around the prison. M'gann began to wonder if criminals really were a superstitious and cowardly lot; the storm itself, its turns and crescendos, its thunderclaps, sent psychic pangs of jitteriness and paranoia through the compound. M'gann was in the unfortunate position of having to intercept them. There had been a threat delivered to the prison that morning regarding the cell of an inmate there: Arthur Brown, also known as the Cluemaster.
He happened to be Spoiler's father. That's why Spoiler was on Alpha Squad today, along with Miss Martian, Robin, and Batgirl. Spoiler's costume covered her head-to-toe, a black helmet and faceplate hiding her blond hair and blue eyes, and a bulky violet shaded cloak (Spoiler called it 'eggplant') hid her frame. There was little chance, rationally speaking, that Cluemaster would recognize his daughter in her superhero costume, yet Stephanie Brown's mind was still fluttering with a buzzing anxiety. This would be the first time she was anywhere near her father since his arrest.
But Spoiler needed to be there because short of a forcible mind-probe—not somewhere M'gann wanted to go if she could help it—Stephanie was the best qualified to gauge her father, tell when he was lying, when he was playing word games, and when he was dropping clues. Like a third-rate knockoff of the Riddler, Arthur Brown felt compelled to leave clues to his crimes, though rarely with the wit or dramatic flair of Edward Nigma. It wasn't a coincidence that Brown's crimes had never gotten him enough credibility to work with the Light.
Which is what made the nature of the threat so perplexing: a bomb threat sent simultaneously via snail-mail and email, naming nobody as a target, just Brown's cell number. And included to back it up, a sliver of weapons-grade Kryptonite. No small timer or prankster would have access to munitions like that.
Alpha Squad approached the questioning room, the two guards outside awaited alongside Amanda Waller, temporarily reinstated as the warden after Hugo Strange was revealed to be a conspirator. Though she was now national security director for President Suarez, Waller kept a close eye on the prison and the new Warden, Cameron Chase.
"Secretary Waller," M'gann said diplomatically. "I didn't expect to see you here today."
"This facility holds some of the most dangerous criminals in the United States," said Waller. In the years since the breakout attempt thwarted by M'gann and Conner, her thick Louisana accent had faded to the edge of perceptibility. "The President insisted that I oversee every step of dealing with this threat."
"Has Cluemaster said anything?" asked Robin. "Does he know who sent the threat?"
"Inmate Brown," Waller corrected. "He claims to have no idea. Suggested the sender wrote the wrong cell number down. Then he thought a moment and blamed his wife."
A grunt that M'gann wasn't sure signaled amusement, outrage, or some mixture of the two escaped from behind Spoiler's faceplate.
Stephanie, he's just taunting them, said M'gann to her through the Link.
I know, Spoiler responded. Still, where does he get off to blame my mom for it? Bastard.
"We'd like to speak with him," M'gann said. "But I don't want him to know there's a telepath present or he may be more guarded with his thoughts. Would it be… acceptable for me to assume another form?"
"If you're worried about his civil rights," said Waller, "then I'll have you know his rights end where the integrity of this facility begins. I'll not have a repeat of seven years ago."
Man, I don't like this lady, Stephanie said. Even if my dad's an asshole.
Tell me about it, echoed Batgirl. Batman isn't too fond of her either
M'gann took it that Waller was done talking and began shifting her density and appearance until she resembled a prison guard—Caucasian and nondescript, someone Brown would likely pay no notice. When they had the go-ahead, M'gann allowed Robin and Batgirl to take the point, while she assumed the guard's typical position in the corner. Spoiler waited outside the room, listening in on the conversation telepathically.
"So could Batman not take time off his busy schedule to come interrogate me himself?" Cluemaster laughed. "Sending his lackeys out for the legwork. Well I'll tell you the same thing I told Chase and Waller and every other god-forsaken stiff in this prison: I've got no idea who sent the threat, and don't know anybody but my idiot-and-soon-to-be-ex-wife who'd even want to do me in."
Fuck you, dad. Stephanie thought.
"I don't think Crystal Brown has access to Kryptonite," said Batgirl. She leaned forward placing her gloved hands down on the table. Arthur Brown was not a particularly handsome man, and his eyes betrayed a sort of cruelty and desperation, but his jaw and face were set in a way that it gave him a bit of roguish charm. He was easy with a smile and a joke, which may have explained how a nurse like Crystal Brown had fallen in with a sleazy crook like Arthur.
Cluemaster shrugged. "You'd be surprised what you can find on Cragislist these days."
"Robin," said Batgirl. "Are you sure this is the Cluemaster? Because he's sure as hell acting like the Joker."
"The Joker is occasionally funny," said Robin.
Cluemaster at back in his chair, the chain of his shackles clanking as it fell from the table.
"So we can both agree this farce isn't funny," Cluemsaster said. "Think, Boy Wonder. Why would I be in on a plan to blow up my own cell? You think I want to be pasted or irradiated? Maybe talk to that Hungarian jerk in the cell next to me. You think a former Count don't have the clout to arrange a bomb?"
"Hungarian?" Robin said. "Wait, does he mean—"
"Count Vertigo," Batgirl confirmed. "He's been held here since his diplomatic immunity was revoked because Vlatava refused to extradite him."
"I swear you made that country up," Cluemaster said.
M'gann reached out with her empathic senses, finding the mental pattern of Vertigo elsewhere in the building. She found him in his cell… asleep. She didn't buy it. After years of failed appeals, Vertigo's lawyer had successfully argued insanity. He would soon be transferred to an asylum for the criminally insane in Opal City, where he'd have a much better chance of escaping than Belle Reve.
I don't think he's lying about this, Spoiler said. He couldn't maintain a poker face like this to save his life. He's only this cool when he's telling the truth.
M'gann skimmed his surface thoughts, but realized he was only having fantasies of leaping across the table and attacking Batgirl and Robin. She retreated a moment. Filling one's mind with images the psychic would find unpleasant was a technique some people used to resist psychic interrogation, but Arthur was not supposed to know that M'gann was in the room. The attack wasn't particularly gruesome, not enough to disturb her really. Probably it was just Cluemaster trying to work out his anger. Probably.
What if we have this wrong? Batgirl thought after a moment. This may not be about killing anyone or assisting an escape. What if this is a distraction?
But what for? Robin said.
Smuggle something into the prison? Spoiler offered. The prison is on orange alert. What changes when that happens?
"Oh no," said Batgirl, out loud, with sudden realization. Before she gave away the psychic link, she grabbed Robin's arm. "What if getting Brown out of his cell was the plan all along?"
"Of course," Tim said. Then, he added mentally. Actually I'm not following.
Batgirl stood and glanced to Megan and then to the real guard on the other end of the room. "We're done here."
The three filed out and made their way into the observation room, where Waller and Chase awaited them. Whereas Waller was aptly nicknamed The Wall, a huge imposing middle-aged woman, Cameron Chase was her opposite in every way. A slight and disarmingly pretty blonde, Chase somehow managed to be nearly as imposing as Waller in spite of the huge difference in stature.
Chase stood as the four entered the room. Waller gave M'gann a nod and the Martian shifted back into her default Miss Martian form. Chase grimaced upon seeing M'gann shapeshift.
"I didn't know you'd invited an alien in here, Waller," said Chase.
Waller smirked. "This alien helped prevent the attempted breakout seven years ago, Warden Chase. If not for her there might not be a Belle Reve anymore."
Chase sighed. "Noted. Now what was this revelation you had in the interrogation room, Batgirl?"
M'gann stepped forward. "It was Spoiler's idea, actually, Warden Chase. Batgirl was covering for us to not expose our telepathic conversation to the Cluemaster."
"Spoiler suggested that this might simply be an excuse to get something in to prison," Batgirl interjected, "And then I remembered something from a case file. Six months ago we were investigating the disappearance of a metahuman, Todd Rice."
"I'm familiar with the Oolong Island incident," Chase said. "Some of the supercriminals involved in that disaster have cells waiting for them here once the extradition is complete. Todd Rice, also known as Obsidian was once a member of Infinity Inc—until he allegedly went insane and attempted to kill his father, Alan Scott."
"That name sounds familiar," said Spoiler.
"The original Green Lantern," Robin said. "His power ring was damaged when he found it and affected his physiology. And consequently, his kids inherited some strange quirks."
"What does any of this have to do with the bomb threat or Cluemaster?" Chase said. "Todd Rice was killed on Oolong Island was he not?
"Traces of Rice's DNA was found in one of the destroyed labs," Batgirl said, "his body was never recovered. Warden Chase, remind me what standard procedure in the event of a bomb threat is?"
"A sweep with bomb sniffing dogs. Spectroanalyis looking for radiation or chemical traces…" Chase blinked. "Which requires minimal electromagnetic interference including the damned lights. Son of a bitch."
Waller stood up. "Obsidian could be in any dark corner of this prison. Assuming you're right, how would we even search for someone like that?"
"I could scan telepathically," Miss Martian said. "But Obsidian's abilities would make it easy to hide from that. The only way to be sure would be to have a Green Lantern scan the facility."
Waller swore and turned to Chase. "Warden, I would suggest you contact the Justice League immediately."
"So how long would you be gone?"
Artemis eyes went from blurry, hazily looking toward a bright speck on the ceiling, to focusing on Kate's chin and lips as she talked. Artemis' head rested on Kate's lap, a porcelain-colored trio of fingers combing through Artemis' hair.
"What?" said Artemis. "I was thinking."
"How long would this one be, Arte?" Kate's other hand moved to lift Artemis' off the bed, squeeze it tightly as if clinging to a damsel just tossed from a bridge, as if she were afraid to let go. "I don't want to be clingy. I know the mission comes first—"
"Kate—"
But she ignored the interruption.
"I just mean we've got a good thing going here, and going into deep cover means you won't even be able to contact me. Unless you're infiltrating the dumbest bunch of criminals on the planet."
"You think you'll lose me because that's how Renee and you grew apart?" Artemis only knew what Kate had told her of the former GCPD detective Renee Montoya, but it was partly the periods of separation required by Renee's job that had done their romance in.
"I guess. I just don't want to repeat that part of my life. Or the drunken stupor that came after it."
Artemis rolled her eyes, flipped over, and kissed her way up from Kate's exposed belly, just above the single button in the middle of her vest, then to her chin, then her lips, staying locked in the kiss until Kate reciprocated.
"Katherine Rebecca Kane," she said in a low voice. "You're not going to lose me just because I go undercover for a bit. I won't even be in deep cover for a week or so yet, and Nightwing said the actual incommunicado part won't take long."
"He actually said that?" Kate said. "Or was he just being optimistic?"
"'She won't even miss you, Tigress'. That's what he said."
"I can already tell he's lying," Kate said leaning back and pulling Artemis down with her until the archer pinned the heiress to be bed, the space between their bodies heating up. "Or he doesn't know me very well."
Artemis had trained in a lot of things over the years: archery, hand-to-hand combat, espionage and stealth. She'd studied acting under Batman's butler and Atlantean language at university. Training in professional wrestling though, that was something she never imagined she'd have to do. She took enough bumps—not to mention cuts, abrasions, bone breaks, and the odd bullet wound—from real supervillains to ever really consider letting some oiled-up Hulk Hogan or Total Diva throw her around. But this was where Nightwing's investigation was taking him, so this was where she was going.
The drive from Gotham City to Hoboken was surprisingly traffic-free, possibly because nobody in their right mind would want to travel to either city if they could avoid it. Tucked away in a cul-de-sac a few roads off Main Street, an unassuming brownstone building bore a sign with a stylized WWA logo, below it reading Williams Wrestling Academy.
She saw Dick's motorcycle parked out front and pulled her own car up beside it, carrying her things including the falsified identification that Nightwing had provided her. Artemis Crock who? She was Tegan Lee, twenty-four, from Napa, California, raised by a single mother (half true), father dead (she wished), no siblings. Moved to Bludhaven a few years ago for University and was now on the police force.
Artemis had taken a lot of care to memorize the details of her cover identity, so it would be a shame to accidentally show the damn wrestling school her real driver's license. She moved through the door, the old building hitting her with a musty smell tinged with gym sweat. The large room off to the side housed two wrestling rings but no people, while an office at the far end was open, Nightwing sitting in plainclothes talking to someone Artemis couldn't see.
As she moved to the office, she passed by a rather large poster on the wall from an old wrestling event.
"BATMAN vs THE NATURE BOY" the poster read.
Batman? It certainly wasn't the Justice League's dour grimacer, crusading caped guy, mentor of Nightwing. The man in the picture was dressed in a huge furry bat-costume, complete with a horrific headpiece that could not have been easy to see out of. Though the poster was in black and white, it also appeared that the man in the costume was African American.
"Lee!" came the voice of Nightwing. "Stay whelmed and get in here."
Artemis broke her gaze off from the poster and moved into the office.
"I'm here, Grayson," she said as she crossed the threshold. "What's the deal with that poster out there with the big goofy Batman costume?"
"That would be me."
The voice came from the man at the desk: a huge, muscular black guy who even in a buttoned-up dress shirt seemed more than capable of pile-driving a guy into the canvas. He was a bit aged now, but the grin on his face was familiar. The man in the poster.
"Oh! I'm sorry," said Artemis. "You are?"
"Geezus, how well did Officer Grayson explain things to you?" the man said. "I'm Wayne Williams, the owner of this fine school. I'm going to be your trainer on this pro-wrestling crash course."
"Like I mentioned before," said Nightwing. "Officer Lee has the physical conditioning down already, and she's a hell of a fighter. I'm sure she could kick your ass, in fact."
"Are you now?" Williams laughed. "Well I've had my ass kicked enough by smaller guys than me to know it's not worth testing that theory. But if she doesn't even know about the Great Batman then I'm not sure I can have her ready for this little undercover operation you have for her such a short time."
"I'm a quick study," Artemis said. "But really, Batman?"
"It was, oh, fifteen years ago now, I guess." Williams leaned back. "I was just some two-bit jobber working his way up the ranks, and then Gotham City started this talk about a giant Bat-Man that swooped down and took out the crooks. I was looking for a gimmick, so that's the gimmick I took. I didn't know the urban legend from Gotham would go onto be a member of the Justice League."
"Wow. And how did you meet Dick?" Artemis bit her lip. "Officer Grayson."
"Relax, Tegan," Nightwing said. "We only just met really. But I remembered seeing him on TV as a kid, and well, his dad's picture is on the wall back at the precinct. I put two and two together."
Artemis nodded, wishing so hard that Megan were there to set up a telepathic link so they could talk about these things. She took his meaning though: Williams' father was a cop, a Bludhaven cop, killed in the line of duty.
That must be why Dick trusted him to help him out and why Williams had agreed to it.
"Oh my god," she said. "That Williams."
Wayne nodded grimly. "That Williams."
"Anyway," Wayne said. "I look forward to seeing what you can do in the ring. I'll just need you to fill out the releases, emergency contacts, etc. Class starts this afternoon at three."
After filling out the papers, Artemis grabbed her bag and started to head back out to her car. It was almost noon. She had time to grab some lunch and kill a few hours till she needed to be back at the studio, though she had no idea how to navigate Hoboken and would probably waste at least one of them getting lost. She stuffed her things into a locker, snapped it shut, and headed outside.
Before she reached her car, Nightwing flagged her down from beside his motorcycle and called her over.
"Tegan, there's been a bit of a development."
"What's up?" she eyed him suspiciously.
Nightwing pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up to her face, leaning over to her so that their heads cast a combined shadow on the screen and made the display more visible. The picture on the screen was a zoomed in shot of a wrestling match. The shot showed two wrestlers, one of them putting the other in a submission hold.
"Notice anything?"
"That's poor form for a choke hold," Artemis said.
"Not the wrestlers, the guy next to them, with his arms folded."
Artemis scanned the man's face. Oh. His hair was darker than usual but it was definitely him.
"Edward Nigma. Riddler." Artemis frowned. "He's encountered the Team before. He's worked with the Light."
"And he has an eidetic memory," Nightwing said. "He'll remember your face. And you know after you infiltrated Black Manta's cartel they'll be on the lookout for you."
"So I wear a glamour again?" Artemis said, already thinking of several reasons why that wouldn't work for this job.
"Ra's saw through it then," said Dick, naming one of them. "And he'll have told the Light what to look for. I knew all this going in, so I've got a contingency for it. I just didn't want to go that far. It's… drastic."
"How drastic?" Artemis said.
"Let's just say it's more complicated than a charmed necklace. I'll tell you more when there's a safe place to do the ritual."
Artemis blinked. "Ritual? I'm really not going to like this."
Outside Belle Reve, the rain had stopped and the afternoon languished on, though storm clouds on the southwest horizon made it seem much later, blocking light from the gulf coast sun. M'gann silently beseeched H'ronmeer, God of The Sky, for clear skies until they departed: Aqualad said the Light always monitored the prison, even when they didn't have an inside man, because so many of their agents were locked away. It would be easier to target and track her if rain was beating down on the hull.
"Green Lantern has been searching for more than an hour," Batgirl said. "If he were going to find something, you think he'd have found it by now."
"I'm in telepathic contact with him," M'gann said. "Or at least with his ring."
"Digital telepathy," observed Batgirl. "Neat."
"And?" said Robin. "What did he find?"
M
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capable of exploring the surface brightness of fainter and fainter galaxies.
For their recent experiment the observers used the GTC, which is at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Garafía, (La Palma, Canary Islands). They chose the galaxy UGC00180, which is quite similar to our neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy, and to other galaxies to which they have references, and they used the OSIRIS camera on the GTC, which has a field big enough to cover a decent area of sky around the galaxy, in order to explore its possible halo. After 8.1 hours of exposure they could show that it does have a weak halo composed of four thousand million stars, about the same number as those in the Magellanic Clouds, which are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.
As well as beating the previous surface brightness limit by a factor of ten, this observation shows that it will be possible to explore the universe not only to the same depth to which we can go using the conventional technique of star counts, but also out to distances where this cannot be achieved, (UGC00180 is 200 times further away than Andromeda). Another advantage is that this new technique can be used to explore other faint structures in the sky, whether they contain stars or not. "After showing that the technique works" says Ignacio Trujillo, a researcher at the IAC and the first author of the study, " the object of future research is to extend the study to other types of galaxies, to see whether this way of understanding their formation, predicted by the standard model, is correct or not".
###Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band: Their Famous Exploits in Sherwood Forest "The friar took Robin on his back" Illustration by Louis Rhead to
Friar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character.
History [ edit ]
Tuck is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centuries. He appears as a character in the fragment of a Robin Hood play from 1475, sometimes called Robin Hood and the Knight or Robin Hood and the Sheriff, and a play for the May games published in 1560 which tells a story similar to "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar". (The oldest surviving copy of this ballad is from the 17th century.) The character entered the tradition through these folk plays, and he was orginially partnered with Maid Marian: "She is a trul of trust, to serue a frier at his lust/a prycker a prauncer a terer of shetes/a wagger of ballockes when other men slepes".[1] His appearance in "Robin Hood and the Sheriff" means that he was already part of the legend around the time when the earliest surviving copies of the Robin Hood ballads were being made.
A friar with Robin's band in the historical period of Richard the Lion-Hearted would have been impossible because the period predates friars in England (but see Eustace the Monk, a medieval outlaw); however, the association of the Robin Hood with Richard I was not made until the 16th century; the early ballad "A Gest of Robin Hood" names his king as "Edward".
What follows is a story which includes different versions of the legend. He was a former monk of Fountains Abbey (or in some cases, St Mary's Abbey in York, which is also the scene of some other Robin Hood tales) who was expelled by his order because of his lack of respect for authority. Because of this, and in spite of his taste for good food and wine, he became the chaplain of Robin's band. In Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he was specifically sought out as part of the tale of Alan-a-Dale: Robin has need of a priest who will marry Allan to his sweetheart in defiance of the Bishop of Hereford.[2]
In many tales, from "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" to The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, his first encounter with Robin results in a battle of wits in which first one and then the other gains the upper hand and forces the other to carry him across a river. This ends in the Friar tossing Robin into the river.
In some tales, he is depicted as a physically fit man and a skilled swordsman and archer with a hot-headed temper. However, most commonly, Tuck is depicted as a fat, bald and jovial monk with a great love of food and ale, though the two are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes, the latter depiction of Tuck is the comic relief of the tale.
Two royal writs in 1417 refer to Robert Stafford, a Sussex chaplain who had assumed the alias of Frere Tuk. This "Friar Tuck" was still at large in 1429. These are the earliest surviving references to a character by that name.
Portrayals in other media [ edit ]
In the 1891 romantic opera Ivanhoe by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Julian Sturgis, Friar Tuck was played by Avon Saxon.
In the film Robin Hood (1922) he was portrayed by Willard Louis.
In the film, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) the character Friar Tuck was played by actor Eugene Pallette as a fat individual fond of food but also skilled with a sword. He was also quick to quarrel with anyone who slighted him, deprived him of his food or made fun of his girth.
In the film The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) he was portrayed by Edgar Buchanan.
In the film The Prince of Thieves (1948) he was portrayed by Alan Mowbray.
In the film Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) he was portrayed by Billy House.
In the late 1950s British television series The Adventures of Robin Hood, he was played by Alexander Gauge as a fat friar a tad too devoted to good eating. He is also clearly devoted to the Church and the poor people he serves, using his wits in order to spare them unjust taxes, provide them education or shelter them from harm. He often uses the power and rights of the Church to good effect against the forces of the Sheriff.
The 1958 Merrie Melodies animated short Robin Hood Daffy featured Porky Pig as a "fat friar", who sought Robin Hood, but refused to believe Daffy Duck was the legendary outlaw. At the end of the cartoon, Daffy becomes "Friar Duck".
In the 1966 television series Rocket Robin Hood, Friar Tuck is again depicted as a traditional fat friar with a tonsure, despite the story taking place in the year 3000. Friar Tuck is memorable for a vignette that played during each episode depicting him in front of a large feast, taking a single bite of each piece of food on the table before throwing it over his shoulder.
The veteran character actor James Hayter played Friar Tuck twice: in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) and A Challenge for Robin Hood (1967).
In the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood, Friar Tuck is a badger, voiced by Andy Devine. He is taken to be executed at the end of the film in a plot of Prince John's to lure Robin Hood out of hiding. He is rescued in time.
In the British Robin of Sherwood TV series of the 1980s, Friar Tuck was played by Phil Rose. In this version, the character reluctantly served the Sheriff of Nottingham's brother, an evil abbot, and also served as Maid Marian's confessor. He helped Marian escape and joined the band alongside her.
In the anime series Robin Hood no Daibōken, Friar Tuck (voiced by Kenichi Ogata) is an old monk who lives on the edge of Sherwood Forest and helps Robin and his friend if needed while offering sagely advice.
In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Tuck was played by Mike McShane, drawing heavily on the overweight, ale-loving interpretation.
The Mel Brooks movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights parodies the character as "Rabbi Tuckman," a self-described "purveyor of sacramental wine and mohel extraordinaire." Brooks, who also plays the character, made Tuckman Jewish (as Brooks himself is Jewish), reprising a gag from Blazing Saddles where Brooks made a cameo as a Jewish Native American.
In the video game Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, Tuck was once again portrayed as Marian's confessor. He joins the band at her request. His enjoyment of alcohol is in the game as one of his abilities involves leaving beer flasks to intoxicate the guards.
In the 1991 film adaptation Robin Hood, Friar Tuck (played by Jeff Nuttall) is portrayed as an itinerant seller of phony relics, who is first mugged and then adopted by the Merry Men. He also confesses to being on the run for killing the nephew of an abbot.
In the 1997 film The Lost World, the second movie in the Jurassic Park franchise, big game hunter Roland Tembo refers to a Pachycephalosaurus as Friar Tuck. He could not not read its proper name in his dinosaur identification booklet while traveling over rough ground towards the beginning of the film.
In the 2004 Dreamworks film Shrek 2 the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming take King Harold to a fast food restaurant called "Friar's Fat Boy". This is a parody of the American restaurant chain Bob's Big Boy and features a statue of Friar Tuck outside of the restaurant similar to the famous Big Boy statue from its real life inspiration. The fictional restaurant returns again in the 2005 Activision published videogame Shrek Super Slam as a fighting location. The game even features theme music for the restaurant, which plays in the background of the fight.
Friar Tuck is called Brother and later Father Tuck in Angus Donald's Outlaw Chronicles series - so named as "there were no friars in England at that time";[3] consisting of Outlaw (2009), Holy Warrior (2010), and King's Man (2011).
The first appearance of Tuck (in this case, not an anachronistic Friar) in the BBC show Robin Hood came in 2009 during its third series. After Robin was hurled over a ravine by Guy of Gisbourne, Tuck finds Robin further downstream. Tuck distracts Guy from the cave he is treating Robin in after Guy is told to look for Robin's body, thus saving Robin's life. He is played by David Harewood and portrayed as African.
Mark Addy plays Friar Tuck in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (2010). In the film, his hobby is beekeeping, which he uses to make mead and as a weapon against the French.
Data impersonates Friar Tuck in the episode "Qpid" (1991) from Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Next Generation series (4th season, episode 20).
He was portrayed by Michael P. Northey in the TV series Once Upon a Time and its spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
He was portrayed by Trevor Cooper in the Doctor Who Series 8 episode, "Robot of Sherwood".
In the VeggieTales show, Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men, Archibald Asparagus portrays a version of him named Friar Cluck.
He was portrayed by Tim Minchin in the 2018 film Robin Hood.
Cultural references [ edit ]
A pattern in the dermatologic disease trichotillomania (compulsive pulling out of scalp hair) has been named after this character.[4]Some Liberty University Grads Are Returning Their Diplomas To Protest Trump
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Wong/Getty Images Alex Wong/Getty Images
Updated August 22.
A group of alumni from one of the country's most influential evangelical Christian universities is condemning their school's president for his continued alignment with President Trump.
A small but growing number of Liberty University graduates are preparing to return diplomas to their school. The graduates are protesting university President Jerry Falwell Jr.'s ongoing support for Trump. They began organizing after Trump's divisive remarks about the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va.
Chris Gaumer, a former Student Government Association president and 2006 graduate, said it was a simple decision.
"I'm sending my diploma back because the president of the United States is defending Nazis and white supremacists," Gaumer said. "And in defending the president's comments, Jerry Falwell Jr. is making himself and, it seems to me, the university he represents, complicit."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Chris Gaumer Courtesy of Chris Gaumer
Trump has been criticized — including by many Republicans — for a series of statements after an anti-racist counterprotester was killed by an alleged Nazi sympathizer who drove his car into the crowd.
Trump initially responded by blaming "many sides" for the violence, and then made a statement condemning white supremacists, before eventually giving an off-the-cuff statement in which he claimed that there were "very fine people on both sides."
Falwell responded the next day with a tweet praising Trump's statement and adding, "So proud of @realdonaldtrump."
Falwell later followed up with a tweet calling white supremacists, Nazis, and other hate groups "pure evil and un-American."
In a statement Tuesday, the University said it supports its students' right to express their opinions but also jabbed at the tactic of returning diplomas:
Liberty University strongly supports our students' right to express their own political opinions, including any opposition they have to their school leader's relationship with this President of the US, just as other students may have opposed leadership of liberal institutions supporting previous Presidents. The tactic of returning diplomas has been used by students of many other schools to draw attention to various causes, but let's also remember that those same diplomas are quite helpful in helping these graduates secure well-paying jobs.
In January 2016, Falwell became one of the earliest evangelical leaders to endorse the billionaire candidate, at a time when many conservative Christian leaders were expressing concern about Trump's multiple marriages and past support for abortion rights.
Last October, some Liberty students circulated a petition opposing Trump after the release of a 2005 Access Hollywood video where he could be heard bragging about groping women without their consent. Students also criticized Falwell for defending Trump.
Falwell invited Trump to give the first commencement speech of his term as president to Liberty University graduates. During his remarks, President Trump thanked evangelicals for their support at the voting booth last November.
Falwell isn't alone among his evangelical peers in continuing to stand with the president. In recent days, multiple members of Trump's evangelical advisory board have publicly condemned white supremacy, though most have stopped short of criticizing the president by name.
A university spokesman told NPR that Falwell "wants to make it clear that he considers all hate groups evil and condemns them in every sense of the word."
In a group letter being prepared to be sent to university officials, several alumni declare their intention to return their diplomas and call for Falwell to repudiate Trump's remarks:
"While this state of affairs has been in place for many months, the Chancellor's recent comments on the attack upon our neighbors in Charlottesville have brought our outrage and our sorrow to a boiling point. During the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, white supremacists, nationalists, and neo-Nazis perpetrated brutal violence against anti-racist protesters, murdering one woman and injuring many. Instead of condemning racist and white nationalist ideologies, Mr. Trump provided equivocal and contradictory comments. The Chancellor then characterized Mr. Trump's remarks, which included the claim that some of the persons marching as white nationalists and white supremacists at the rally were'very fine people,' as 'bold' and 'truthful.' This is incompatible with Liberty University's stated values, and incompatible with a Christian witness."
toggle caption Courtesy of Georgia Hamann
Georgia Hamann, a 2006 alumna and an attorney in Phoenix, Ariz., helped pen the letter.
"We're asking that Liberty University return to its stated values and accept that the pursuit of power is leading it into some dark places, and really repudiate that," she said. "The word in Baptist and evangelical circles is'repent.'... You know, truly a turning away from wrong conduct."
Alumni who can't find their diplomas are being asked to sign the group letter or write individual letters to Falwell expressing their concerns.
Some Liberty graduates see Falwell's association with Trump as both a personal liability and a moral embarrassment. Rebekah Tilley graduated from Liberty in 2002 and now works in higher education in Iowa.
"I was to the point where I didn't even want to include my alma mater on my resume when I was applying for jobs, just because I think that can be so loaded," Tilley said. "There's such a strong affiliation now between Liberty University and President Trump that you know that reflects badly on all alumni."
For Doug Johnson Hatlem, a 1999 graduate who now works as a Mennonite pastor in Ontario, Canada, Charlottesville feels like a tipping point for many alumni who have been concerned about the university's association with Trump.
"It really is a watershed moment to have people openly chanting Nazi chants... holding white supremacist signs, and carrying weapons along with all of that, and killing somebody, injuring many in the process," he said. "For there not to be an unconditional condemnation of that kind of action and behavior is just completely anathema."
Johnson Hatlem said returning diplomas is an important symbolic statement.
"I'll have to have my mom dig it out of storage," he said. "But I do plan to send back my diploma to Liberty."Imagine walking into a store you have never previously visited and a clerk walks up to you and asks, “How are those size 36 Dockers pants working out for you? Would you like another pair — maybe this time in charcoal color?” Well you’re not wearing Dockers pants and you’ll be damned if you have ever met this clerk. So, how does he know that you previously purchased size 36 Dockers pants a year ago?!?
Women of Times Square Demand Privacy From Microchipped Clothing
Most people have heard of the term “spyware”, which is essentially any technology that helps in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. The most harmful forms of spyware can collect, use and distribute your most personal information, like banking passwords and credit card numbers. But what about “spy wear,” which allows your clothing to spy on you? Some clothing manufactures are putting more than wash-and-wear labels into clothing labels. And most importantly, when you buy an article of clothing, are you consenting to be tracked and accounted without your knowledge any time you wear that article of clothing? If an undercover policeman gave you a free t-shirt that could track your movements when you wore it, would that be legal?
RFID, which stands for Radio Frequency Identification, are tiny inexpensive sensors that can be attached or embedded into almost anything, including clothes or clothing labels. The labels are useful for inventory control, but also have potential for tracking and monitoring consumers.
The size of the microchip embedded in your shirt collar and tracking your every move
According to the RFID Journal, the devices “range from the size of a grain of sand to a brick. The size depends on whether the tag uses a battery to broadcast a signal or simply reflects a signal back from the reader.” There are various types of RFID tags. The tags installed in clothing are typically passive, which have no battery, but can be “turned on” by an outside source. This is the same technology used by Easy Pass tolls on the freeways. These tags can be scanned by anyone with a scanner tuned to the corresponding signal. This signal — pulsing form the RFID chip — cannot be turned off, even if removed from the clothing. These tags provide a potent method for tracking people as they walk sales floors. More information on this technology can be can be accessed at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704421304575383213061198090
RFID tags are different from UPC or bar codes included on merchandise because they are always on, are not removed at point-of-sale, and need not be visible or even identified in the clothing. These reasons are why there is such growing concern over the tracking and surveillance aspects of these tags. The tags are not always easily removed and the existence of them is not necessarily made known to the consumer. According to the article, “Researching RFID’s Surveillance Potential,” RFID tags are a significant leap in technology because they are easily read from a longer distance. The tags do not have to be visible to be read, emit no signal until activated, and the RFID readers can be easily placed almost anywhere, such as entryways, exits, elevators, and tollbooths. The RFID tags can be scanned transparently. These features make RFID a potential tool for surveillance.” Further information on the application of RFID can be accessed here: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?1765
RFID tags are currently used extensively for inventory management and control in manufacturing and logistics, but as the cost of this technology has decreased, the tags have found their way into more and more applications, such as consumer products. The continued use of these tags in clothing, for example, is projected to expand significantly. According to a tech market research paper, three times as many clothing items had RFID tags by the year 2014 and although, “Previously limited to a small number of large-volume pilot tests, adoption of the item-level RFID is beginning to permeate throughout the apparel sector and is increasingly evolving into full-scale implementations. While installations at Marks and Spencer in the UK, American Apparel in the US, and Charles Vogele in Switzerland remain the largest contributors to the market growth, scores of companies are now in various stages of implementation. RFID in fashion apparel is undoubtedly here and now.”[1]
Make sure merchants are forthcoming in their use of RFID microchips
As this technology becomes cheaper, more powerful, and more ubiquitous, it will be used in more and more consumer goods, and those same consumers will be tracked and monitored through readers placed in their paths. Should manufacturers be allowed to do this without the knowledge and consent of the purchaser? Should consumers have a right to know if articles they are buying are outfitted with locator beacons, and should they be allowed to demand that they be disabled when the article is purchased? If consumers don’t demand this right, the manufacturers sure aren’t going to offer it.The National People’s Congress, the national legislature of China, has released draft text for a civil law code that, if implemented, would provide a legal definition for virtual property.
Following the announcement yesterday, reports began emerging that the definition could extend to blockchain-based assets including bitcoin and other digital currencies, with such speculation being set off by communications from local OTC trading firm BitKan.
However, Broad and Bright partner Roland Sun, a legal lead for blockchain consortium ChinaLedger, is now asserting that the text in question contains no specific reference to digital currencies or bitcoin, a fact other local sources indicated.
In interview, Sun said the law is rather designed to address longstanding disputes related to the theft of properties available in online gaming.
Though he acknowledged the definition could be expanded to include digital currencies, he said there is a “long way to go” before such a legal definition could be enacted.
Sun told CoinDesk:
“I don’t expect a firm legislative recognition of the property rights of cryptocurrency [holders] in the next five or six years.”
However, he said it is “a matter of time” before Chinese lawmakers will need to make a decision on how to classify digital currencies, thereby following in the footsteps of regulators in the US, Australia, the UK and Japan that have been among the more progressive internationally on the issue.
Founded in 2016, ChinaLedger is a research and development consortium spearheaded by Wanxiang Blockchain Labs and focused on blockchain technologies.
Chinese law image via Shutterstock
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled ‘BitKan’ as ‘BitKhan’. This article has been updated accordingly.I posted this pic on social media a few days ago with the question-“Which pot?”
Oh-boy oh-boy did everyone have an opinion. I already had a pot picked out for it but I thought I’d have some fun reading the responses.
The pot it’s in is obviously wrong for it. You first saw this tree in This post two years ago and I explained why I was using it. Here’s how it looked then.
Here’s was my virtual scribble.
When I potted the tree two years ago, I did say it needed a smaller and shallower pot. Now is the time.
First pot, a contemporary (but probably ten year old) Chinese pot, in a glaze they (they being the potheads of the bonsai world…..and regular potters too, or ceramists to be more precise, because those who play with clay make things other than pots, you know,like coffe mugs and tea cups and plates and stuff) call: namako.
I’m thinking, actually, that all three pots are namako (these links are blogposts from Peter Tea and Ryan Bell respectively, Here and Here, that explain what “namako” is, way better than I can, and makes me think so). Namako has brown, blue, and white in various stages of dominance depending on the clay body and the application of glaze.
They all seem to have it.
The first pot, the dark oval, is actually my favorite namako manifestation.
To me, it looks like the night sky, like one is gazing into the infinite measure of space (namako actually means “sea cucumber-ish” amazingly. Maybe the old Japanese potters didn’t look up into the depths of night much, being busy playing with mud and all).
I would love this pot for this tree except for two reasons. It’s too shallow and the drain holes are too small. I’m still thinking on it though. I do tend to use a very coarse soil mix…….
The next pot, the bright blue one, has good drain holes. Not the best but they are better placed.
It’s even a Japanese pot, I think: it has the higher quality clay I associate with Japanese production pots, and it has a chop too.
There’s even a bit of patina with this pot. I’ve used it before.
Patina? What’s that. Well, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines patina as:
“a : a usually green film formed naturally on copper and bronze by long exposure or artificially (as by acids) and often valued aesthetically for its color”
And, since we aren’t dealing with bronze or copper, we go with definition “b”
“b : a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use”
“Grown beautiful….with age or use” basically means: dirt and grime buildup from being used (for a long time) as a bonsai pot. (Here’s something funny to ponder: the word “patina” comes from Latin meaning “a shallow tray or dish”. Ironic, since I’m talking about patina on a bonsai pot, which is a shallow tray or dish. And to tie it all together, the antique Chinese bronze incense burners (remember definition “a” above) were some of the first shallow bonsai containers. It’s almost like the whole history of the bonsai pot is interconnected, or some mystical thing like that. Which illustrates the concept of Synchronicity, just for Seth.). Anyway, we try to make our trees look old. With our pots, it’s also a desirable thing for them to be old, or appear to be old. Age and provenance are things that are revered in Asian cultures. But our second pot, to me, might be too bright and clean for this tree.
Let’s look at the third pot.
Yeah, it is chipped. But look at that color! It looks like a retreating wave, a cleansing wash, the descending firmament. And, yes, it has patina.
Not like a ninety year old pot (or my hand up there in the corner) but nice. And it has the biggest drain holes yet. Very important for our ilex. Before I choose the pot, let’s get the tree ready and then look at it in sitting in the pots.
From bush-
To trim-
Hmmmmnnn……lookie here: I was pretty close! Let’s look at the roots.
Snip!
Looking good.
Not pot bound yet so I’ll be gentle.
Ok, let’s look at the tree in each pot.
Bright blue rectangle:
I could use this one, it’s not bad.
Dark night sky oval:
It also could work. Maybe not.
Next up.
Yes. I like it. The blue is muted, the chips on the rim are in the right spot and add to the overall composition (I’ll get hell for them anyway, too bad). Some people were saying the tree needed an oval pot but I think the tree is very masculine, so a rectangle works.
Some tie downs, some soil, a stand to make it pretty.
I don’t have any moss but you can use your imagination for that.
Feel free to give your opinions, you can call me stupid, or blind, or delusional, or crazy….they will all be published (well, all except political, religious, and bonsai soil opinions. Nobody ever agrees on those subjects.). I’m liking my choice and it’s my tree and my blog, so there. You do have to admit that the tree looks good though. I think it’s ready for show.The exhibition, organized by Carolyn Vega of the Morgan’s literary and historical manuscripts department, comes just after the United States publication of a splashily well-received new biography, “The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland,” by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst. The Morgan show is kicking off what will become a lively late summer and fall of Aliceiana, from the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia to the Grolier Club in New York. But the Morgan, which is drawing on its own deep holdings of Carroll material, has secured the Hope Diamond of Alice bibliography: the handwritten, hand-illustrated original manuscript, “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,” which Carroll gave as an early Christmas present to Alice Liddell in 1864 and which the British Library, its permanent home, is allowing to visit the United States for the first time in more than 30 years.
The 90-page, green-morocco-bound book rarely travels even in Europe. And when it does leave London — being almost as close to an ur-text of the British soul as Magna Carta or Shakespeare’s First Folio — it is accompanied by security measures whose details are cloaked in obfuscation befitting Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Jamie Andrews, the head of cultural engagement for the British Library, said that it was not checked on the flight over (“We don’t freight things like that”), but he would not say exactly where it was on the plane or who exactly was with it.The terror cell that killed 15 people and injured more than 130 in north-east Spain last week had created a suicide vest packed with viable explosives and were in the process of making several more when a blast ripped through their bomb factory, police have said.
A search of the rubble at the factory in a disused house in Alcanar in southern Catalonia resulted in the discovery of the vest, which had gone unnoticed on Thursday last week when the blast was initially dismissed as an accidental gas explosion.
Questions are being asked about the Catalan police response to the blast, with sources close to the judicial investigation in Madrid suggesting they may have missed an opportunity to uncover the plot before the terrorists struck later that day in Barcelona.
Quoting two sources close to the investigation in Madrid, Reuters news agency said an opportunity to uncover the plot may have been missed as a result of procedural errors and a lack of communication.
No immediate decision was made to call explosives experts to the scene of the blast, and nor was information about it passed to the national police or Civil Guard headquarters in Madrid, according to the sources.
The Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, are a source of pride for many in the region, and some in Barcelona have been applauding officers in the streets since six members of the terror cell were shot dead. The head of the force, Josep Lluís Trapero, has said he believes it is unfair to make criticisms with the benefit of hindsight.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the regional government and central government held separate meetings to determine responses to the crisis. Since then, however, they have sought to present a united front when issuing statements about the attacks and the official response.
Police have also established that the terror cell purchased about 500 litres of acetone, with which it planned to manufacture triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a highly volatile explosive that is sensitive to temperature change or impact.
The cell also bought 15 pillow cases, which police believe were going to be used to make further suicide vests, as well as detonators and nails that were to be used as shrapnel. About 120 32kg butane gas bottles have been recovered from the scene of the blast.
On Tuesday, the only survivor of the bomb factory blast, Mohamed Houli Chemlal, was brought before a judge in Madrid for a closed hearing. According to judicial sources inside the court, Houli told a judge that the cell had hoped to kill and injure large numbers of people with three bombs made of TATP and gas bottles.
Houli, 21, was brought to court in hospital-issue pyjamas, showing signs of injuries on his face, ankles and arm.
According to reports in Spanish media, he disclosed that the planned targets included the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí’s much-loved, half-finished church in Barcelona.
The cell changed its plans after the premature detonation destroyed its bomb factory, killing two people including their alleged ringleader, Abdelbaki Es Satty.
A new plan was rapidly hatched, resulting in one cell member, Younes Abouyaaqoub, driving a hired Fiat van along Las Ramblas in Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring more than 130. After stabbing to death a motorist during his escape, he went into hiding for 96 hours. He was shot dead by police on Monday after being spotted by a member of the public 30 miles west of Barcelona.
A few hours after the Las Ramblas attack, five other members of the cell were shot dead in the town of Cambrils, south of Barcelona, after driving their car into a group of pedestrians.
All six men were wearing fake suicide vests, which has led some observers to conclude that they wanted to be shot dead.
Almost all of the dead men and suspects had been living in the northern Catalan town of Ripoll, where Es Satty had been appointed as an imam two years ago, despite having served a prison sentence in Spain for drug smuggling.
On Tuesday evening, a judge in Madrid, Fernando Andreu, ordered that Houli and a second suspect, Driss Oukabir, 27, be held while police prepare charges. Andreu gave permission for a third suspect to be held for a further 72 hours, and told a fourth that he was being released without charge.
On Wednesday, French authorities disclosed that a number of the terror suspects drove to the Paris region a few days before the attacks in the same Audi car that was used in the Cambrils attack. French and Spanish police are attempting to establish the purpose of the visit.
Frédéric Molins, the Paris public prosecutor, said: “We are trying to determine the precise reason for this journey and if the terrorists were in contact with other people on our territory.”
The group, believed to be three or four men, stayed in a hotel. Molins said he would not give further information, but added that the French and Spanish authorities were cooperating closely.It wasn’t fake news and couldn’t be called that; we all watched it together.
FBI Director James B. Comey, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, said that neither the FBI or the Justice Department had any information that President Barack Obama ever ordered Donald Trump’s phones tapped at Trump Tower. “I have no information that supports those tweets,” Comey said.
In “those tweets” in the early hours of March 4, the sitting president of the United States lied, accusing his predecessor of a serious crime with no justification or evidence for the accusation.
Anyone can get things wrong; many presidents have gotten things wrong. Lying must also contain intent. And behind Trump’s continual falsehoods is intent: changing the facts with “alternative facts” and conspiracy theories that support him, his agenda, and his brand.
In a New York Times op-ed the day after Comey’s testimony, David Leonhardt made the distinction: George W. Bush thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was wrong; Barack Obama thought people would be able to keep their current health insurance program if they wanted, which also turned out to be wrong.
“They made careless statements that proved to be false (and they deserved much of the criticism they got),” Leonhardt writes. “But the current President of the United States lies. He lies in ways that no American politician has before. He has lied about, among other things, Obama’s birthplace, John Kennedy’s assassination, Sept. 11, the Iraq War, ISIS, NATO, military veterans, Mexican immigrants, anti-Semitic attacks, the unemployment rate, the murder rate, the Electoral College, voter fraud, and his groping of women.”
There is a need now for more than journalistic fact checking. Deeper moral reflection is now required.
Very alarmingly, most of the readers of this column, and probably even their children, could easily add many more Trump lies to the list: the size of his inauguration crowd, the size of his victory, the size of his wealth, the size of his business successes, and insults his opponents and anyone who dares to challenge him — as Trump has made a habit out of bullying his way through life.
Then there are the many facts that Donald Trump refuses to disclose — like his tax returns. And, of course, with the facts of Trump’s financial life hidden, he can create his own facts, to protect his personal financial interests — even if they conflict with the national interest.
Donald Trump and his team have also consistently repeated that he and they have nothing to do with Russia, have no serious business interests or history there, had no relationships with Russian foreign operatives who tried to influence the American election in his favor, and that the Russians had no impact in their interference in the United States 2016 election. Trump says, “Russia is fake news.”
But Comey says otherwise. The FBI director made the extraordinary announcement this week that an investigation is underway to see whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Comey went
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-level content makes a lot of sense, and reaching in to pull submenus out is an enticing possibility. We’re only just getting started.
We’d love to hear your ideas around interaction designs for the Leap Motion Controller. What are some other ways to think differently about accessing options, browsing content, or creating something new? Post your thoughts in our thread on the community forums.
Update 9/12/2014: Freeform has been redubbed Sculpting for V2.Stuck trying to remember the name of that cider you had last year? Debating if a beer has been at the festival before? Then check out the copies of our previous drinks lists. The information for the earlier festivals is somewhat limited – we’re filling in the gaps when we can.
Cambridge Beer Festival Winter 2018
Beer · Cider · Perry
45th Cambridge Beer Festival
Apple Juice · Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Mead · Perry · Wine
22nd Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Perry
44th Cambridge Beer Festival
Apple Juice · Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Mead · Perry · Wine
21st Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Perry
10th Cambridge Octoberfest
Beer · Cider
43rd Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Mead · Perry · Wine
20th Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer · Cider
9th Cambridge Octoberfest
Beer
42nd Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Mead · Perry · Wine
19th Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer
8th Cambridge Octoberfest
Beer · Cider
41st Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Mead · Perry · Wine
18th Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer · Cider
7th Cambridge Octoberfest
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer
40th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer · Mead · Perry · Wine
17th Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer
6th Cambridge Octoberfest
Beer · Cider · Foreign Beer
39th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer · Mead
27th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
26th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
25th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
24th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
1st Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
Beer
23rd Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
22nd Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
21st Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
20th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
19th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
18th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
17th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
16th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
15th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
14th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
Cambridge Festival of Cakes & Ale (aka Thirteenth)
Beer
12th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
11th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
(Not the) 10th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
9th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
8th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
7th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
6th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
5th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
4th Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
3rd Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
2nd Cambridge Beer Festival
Beer
1st Cambridge Beer Festival
BeerThe transgender man found badly beaten near the Barge Canal in Burlington Monday morning has died from his injuries, according to Burlington Police.
Police say 38-year-old Amos Beede of Milton was pronounced dead at the University of Vermont Medical Center on Sunday, May 29.
Beede was found on the morning of Monday, May 23 near a homeless encampment near the Barge Canal in Burlington, across from the Dealer.com headquarters building. According to police, “he had sustained facial fractures, a subdermal hematoma, and several broken ribs.”
Because of Beede's transgender status, police say they are still investigating the beating as a possible "bias incident," though Chief Brandon del Pozo said in an email to media that there may have been another motive.
"The deceased was a transgender person who identified as male. The investigation suggests motives on the part of perpetrators independent of this fact," del Pozo said. "The department has not ruled out the victim's transgender status as a possible additional motive, and will seek to determine what role if any it may have played as the investigation continues. Until the attendant facts are clarified, we will continue to view this homicide as a possible bias incident."
Burlington Police say they are looking for two "persons of interest" in connection with the killing.
Erick Averill, 21, and Myia Barber, 23, are “both transient residents of Burlington,” according to a police news release, though police did not say whether they are suspects.
“Anyone with information about the assault or the whereabouts of Averill or Barber are asked to call city police or Champlain Valley Crime Stoppers at (802) 864-6666,” the release said.
Police didn’t release news of the beating until Wednesday, when Beede’s medical outlook appeared questionable.
According to a May 29 release from police, “[t]he exact cause of death will be determined after an examination by the State’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.”One of the main arguments against licensing cyclists is the high cost it would impose on adults and children wanting to cycle.
The price of a licence may have to be high enough to cover the cost of maintaining and enforcing the scheme. Using drivers’ licences as a comparison, the cost could be between $21 and $76 a year per cyclist, or more if enforcement costs were included. "This would have a regressive impact on lower-income families,'' an RMS briefing document of late 2011 said. At one stage Mr Gay appeared to accept the advice.
''The fees for cycling licensing and registration, if introduced, would have to be renewable annually to have enforcement value, and they would have to be high enough to cover administrative costs,'' Mr Gay's former chief executive Michael Bushby wrote on the Minister’s behalf in 2011. ''The resulting financial burden on adult cyclists and parents, and the wider community if the costs were subsidised, would be substantial.'' Writing to a colleague in August 2012, Mr Gay outlined other practical problems with a licensing scheme. ''There are no precedents for mandatory bicycle registration or cyclist licensing in Australia,'' Mr Gay wrote to the Member for Vaucluse, Gabrielle Upton. ''To be effective, the scheme would need to be introduced in all jurisdictions, otherwise it would restrict access for bicycle riders from other areas who would be considered 'unregistered and unlicensed,' '' he wrote.
But the minister said in May he was ''increasingly persuaded'' by the idea of a licensing scheme for cyclists in the wake of a spate of cycling fatalities. ''If we're going to put rules in place, and I need to be tougher on car drivers, but I am increasingly persuaded that we need to look at a licence for cyclists,'' Mr Gay said. ''It's not going to worry the ones that are doing the right thing, but the bad ones that are running lights, crossing over, being aggressive, they're a large part of the statistic.'' He has indicated he is not interested in a registration scheme for bikes, only a licensing scheme. But Mr Gay’s department has struggled to find evidence in favour of this idea.
One problem is that a high proportion of cyclists are children. ''Requiring minors to be formally licensed before being allowed to ride on a public road in NSW would be without precedent,'' a briefing note says. ''If unlicensed for road riding, under existing NSW law children aged between 12 and 18 would not be permitted to ride alone on a footpath.'' Another report written by consultants Halcrow, received by the department in September 2011, found only the Canadian city of Vancouver had a licensing scheme to improve the competency of cyclists, and then only for bike couriers. Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s sister, City of Sydney councillor Christine Foster, has proposed a bike registration scheme. In response, RMS prepared advice saying such a scheme would ''require a major shift in public policy and significant changes to registration, accident and insurance law''.
Transport for NSW is currently preparing a report for Mr Gay into the prospects of cyclist licensing. Fairfax Media’s freedom of information request asked for all analysis prepared within the department into the benefits or costs of a license or registration scheme between April 2011 and May 2014. The response included no analysis in favour of a scheme. A spokeswoman for Mr Gay said: ''We are looking into the option of licensing cyclists. There is a difference between licensing and registration.'' Documents released by the FOI request:Authored by Robert Gore via Straight Line Logic blog,
Disarmed and docile Europeans pose no meaningful threat to their governments’ depredations.
All sorts of reasons have been advanced for declining birthrates. SLL spotlights Europe as an advanced case and offers a hypothesis: its testicles have gone missing.
What does it do to a continent when a country 3,000 miles and an ocean away strikes the decisive blows in two of its cataclysmic wars? What does it do to that continent when that distant power assumes control over much of its defense? At a primal level, the very essence of manhood is the ability to defend one’s self and loved ones. Perhaps ceding responsibility for doing so is not emasculation, but it made Europe the little brother who must rely on big brother to fight his battles.
Naturally, big brother calls the tune. During the Cold War, that meant accepting one’s place under the US defense umbrella and toeing the US line on the Soviet Union. Only French President Charles de Gaulle challenged US domination, and that was more show than substance. With a nuclear arsenal and geographic proximity, the Soviet Union posed an existential threat to Europe, even more than it did to the US. If the Soviet Union had invaded during the de Gaulle era, France would have quickly rejoined a US-led alliance.
European politicians had another reason for accepting US domination. They were erecting the world’s most generous welfare states. Money saved on defense spending was spent on benefits. With little protest Europeans also swallowed high and steeply progressive tax rates in return for state-provided largess.
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 posed an existential threat to the US military-industrial-intelligence complex. NATO could have been disbanded and responsibility for Europe’s defense handed back to Europe. The US could have significantly cut military spending. It took ten years and 9/11, but the complex overcame the threat and preserved the status quo. It ginned up a story that Islamic extremism posed a danger to the West of the same magnitude as the former Soviet Union.
Islam has historically been riven with sectarian strife, notably the Sunni-Shia schism. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were living in caves when the US and United Kingdom invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Not one Islamic nation, and certainly none of the Islamic non-state groups, had any appreciable industrial capacity. Only one Islamic government, Pakistan’s, had nuclear weapons, and its arsenal was tiny compared to the West’s and Israel’s. To rate the Islamic “threat” as anything but minuscule compared to that posed by the Soviet Union was absurd
The only way the West could lose to Islam was if it defeated itself (see “How to Defeat Your Enemies,” SLL). To their credit, the governments of Germany, France, and New Zealand refused to swallow the US’s concocted rationales for the 2003 Iraq invasion—that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was fomenting terrorism—or support it. Globally an estimated 36 million people protested the invasion. The Guinness Book of Records lists a protest by three million in Rome as the largest ever antiwar rally.
We’ll see what happens if the US reneges on the Iran Nuclear Agreement, but to date 2003 remains the highpoint of European opposition to big brother. If they had known the consequences of US incursions into the Middle East and Northern Africa, they would have protested even more vociferously. The US has made a complete hash of it. The war against terror creates more terrorists, and turning the area into a hodgepodge of hell holes has prompted millions to flee, often to Europe.
They find a continent that economically has seen better days. The welfare state guarantees everything but the opportunity to work hard, keep what you earn, and make a better life for yourself. State favored companies use regulation to squelch smaller, less-connected competitors and stop innovative startups before they get started. The European Union is a bureaucratic, centralizing engine run amuck, creating more daunting obstacles to companies and entrepreneurs. There’s the usual corruption that comes with centralized bureaucracies. Monetary authorities are all-in on debt monetization and interest rate suppression policies that discourage honest savings and productive investment but encourage stock, bond, property, and derivatives speculation.
No surprise then that the European economy hasn’t grown much, if it all, the last few decades. Nor that it’s eating America and Asia’s dust in high-tech. It’s not even a surprise that this state of affairs evokes little protest among Europeans. When the government provides cradle-to-grave, you shut up and get with the program. Even if means you live with your parents into you’re thirties or forties, never have a real job or meaningful occupation, never marry or start a family, and nobody can remember one memorable thing you’ve done at your state-provided funeral.
Instead of taking an honest look at why Europeans are not having babies, politicians and other well-credentialed idiots have decreed that immigration is just the trick for declining birth rates and aging populations. They’ve been lucky; big brother America’s interventionist policies have created all sorts of refugees.
Islamic immigration is a focal point for all that ails Europe. Since 2003, there’s been no real opposition to the US’s refugee-creating policies. The refugees have found not just refuge, but state-provided benefits. Europe’s so-called leaders, apparatchiks, and media assure the population that Muslims bear no animus towards Europe. The fable goes that they will readily assimilate and become part of the taxpaying work force, forestalling the impending insolvency of the welfare state.
Only actual facts and a few alternative media outlets challenge this codswallop, for the most part Europeans have bought it. Are they fooled or neutered? The continent responsible for much of Western Civilization probably didn’t get stupid in a generation, which argues for the latter.
The isolated sparks of opposition are met with opprobrium, threats, fines and criminal sentences. Not a month goes by in which a prominent European politician doesn’t call for restrictions on the internet, the one forum that’s not completely cowed (or is it steered?). A few Eastern European nations are the resistance, pariahs. It wouldn’t be the worst thing for them if Angela Merkel-led “proper Europe” cut them off entirely.
One has to wonder if Europe’s preening politicians would be quite so obliviously oppressive (having old ladies beat up to stop them from voting and the like), if Europe’s population would be so docilely delusional, and if its Islamic immigrants would be better behaved if guns were as available as they are in the US. Pseudo-intellectuals smirk that guns are “potent phallic symbols.” True perhaps, but as noted, defending one’s self and loved ones is the first responsibility of the phallically endowed. Guns are a lot more effective than Tasers, knives, baseball bats, or calling the police.
There have been odious incidents of European women being groped, stripped, and sexually assaulted by Islamic criminals in public venues, unchallenged by what passes for European manhood. Just as odious is the pressure brought to bear on those seeking to publicize such incidents. In the US, your “intellectual” credentials aren’t in order unless you hail Europe as a “model.” It’s a model all right, for what happens when governments have no fear of their citizens. Europe’s emasculation is a potent argument for full firearms freedom in the United States.INDIANAPOLIS – A local organization is helping our veterans get back to work in a rather interesting way.
They’re using art to teach them new skills, and now you have a chance to help them out.
It’s called Veterans Antiquities, and it’s an organization that actually hires local veterans for various projects, and also tries to help them find full-time work.
“A lot of people, that’s all they know coming out of the Army, that’s all they know,” said Iraq veteran Terrence Todd, who just started participating in the program. “Between the choices of college and the workforce, I’m just at a standstill, trying to figure out exactly what it is I want to.”
Founded by two disabled Vietnam veterans, they do it all to help other veterans – making all kinds of arts and crafts, even things like shelves and doghouses.
“We have young veterans that work for us (and) we have older disabled veterans,” said co-founder Chuck Mack.
“A lot of them are diagnosed with PTSD and things they don’t even know they have,” said co-founder Jeff Piper.
“For me, it’s helped a lot with my depression,” said Vietnam veteran Earl Jeffries. “I can come here a few days a week, I can build stuff or help run the store.”
“I’m very thankful,” said Vietnam vet Robert Allen. “It’s a big help, a great big help.”
“We can start them out with a simple thing like a birdhouse, next thing you know they’re doing shipping and receiving,” said Piper. “Then we’ll get another vet through and by then, this guy has finished something he’s really proud of.”
The organization held a fundraiser Thursday night at their store on East 46th Street. You can help out and learn more about their program on the Veterans Antiquities web site.We in the US tend to assume that — however awful we might think our politicians are — our political system is excellent. The Constitution is held in high esteem across the political spectrum, and Democrats and Republicans alike pay lip service to the "genius" of the Founders. But our system, combining two powerful legislative bodies with a strong executive, is pretty rare internationally. Indeed, it appears to be a weaker model than most; the US is the just about the only country to sustain a presidential system for a long period without descending into dictatorship.
We can learn a lot from other countries' models, which are often more streamlined and democratically representative than our own. The best of the bunch, in my judgment: New Zealand.
The world's best electoral system
If you pay any attention at all to American politics, you know that Republicans have a healthy majority in the House of Representatives, with 246 seats (56.6 percent) to Democrats' 188 (43.2 percent; one seat is vacant). But their popular vote margin — 51 percent to 45.3 percent — was about half the size of their seat margin.
The differential was even more dramatic in 2012. House Republicans lost the popular vote, with 47.6 percent to Democrats' 48.8 percent, that year, even as they won a sizable majority of seats. That's not a particularly common occurrence, but it does happen from time to time; in 1996, Democrats also won the popular vote for the House while not gaining a majority or plurality of seats.
The standard explanation for why this kind of thing happens is that Democratic House districts tend to be more Democratic, on average, than Republican districts are Republican. That means that Democratic votes are "wasted" running up the margins in safe districts, whereas Republican votes are spread out enough to garner more seats-per-vote. Reasonable people can differ over the extent to which this pattern is explained by gerrymandering or the fact that Democrats tend to naturally cluster together geographically (I'd argue that a fair districting system would take the latter into account but that's another matter).
But the fact that it leads to obvious injustices is hard to deny. It's not fair to Democrats living in rural Texas, or Republicans living in Manhattan that they will almost certainly never be represented by someone with their political views. It's not fair to Democrats and Republicans living in their own parties' safe districts that their votes count for less than if they lived in swing districts. It's not fair to those in swing districts who lose narrowly; if, say, a Democrat wins a seat 51 percent to 49, that means roughly half the district isn't seeing their interests represented.
This is not an inevitable feature of the political system, and as Reihan Salam noted in Slate, most other countries have devised a solution: proportional representation. There are a bunch of different ways to do this. One is creating multi-member districts, and then having voters rank candidates through a process known as single transferable vote (STV); this is what Rob Richie and the team at FairVote, the main US lobbying group on this question, advocate. The simplest system would be pure party-list representation, as practiced in the Netherlands and Israel, in which there are no districts, voters choose parties rather than candidates, and parties get roughly the same percentage of seats as they did votes; a milder version, as used in Spain and Norway, does this at the district level.
Either of these would be huge improvements over the US status quo. But neither is ideal. Single transferable vote systems are party-agnostic and can't ensure that parties are represented in proportion to the votes they received as well as a party-list system can. But pure party-list systems can lead to a destabilizing proliferation of small parties which are able to extract promises from the bigger parties in exchange for joining their coalitions.
Party-list systems make it hard for a single party to get a majority, which means that if, say, a party has 45 seats out of 100, it still needs to win over a party with 6 seats to govern. The 6 seat party then has significant power to demand stuff, out of proportion to its actual level of support. So ironically, this form of proportional representation can have patently undemocratic consequences. Stuff like this has happened frequently in Israel, with fairly deleterious results.
The best proportional representation (PR) system, then, is a twist on party-list voting known as mixed-member PR, or MMP for short. MMP has voters select both a candidate in their local district and a party they'd like to win a majority. Everyone who wins a district gets a seat, and then additional seats are given out to ensure that parties are represented in proportion to their share of the party vote. This has a number of advantages. Unlike party list representation, people still have representatives with at least some ties to their area, for whatever that's worth.
But more importantly, it means parties have to be organized enough to compete in a decent number of districts in order to have a shot. That discourages the kind of excessive party formation that happens under pure party-list representation, while still ensuring that smaller parties get some say.
Germany and New Zealand both use MMP, and the result in each case is a slightly altered version of a two-party system. It's rare for the major parties in either country to get an outright majority (though it appears the National Party might in New Zealand), but typically they have enough ideological allies in smaller parties to form a government nonetheless. Germany also has a tradition of grand coalitions between its two main parties, but New Zealand shows the system can work even when there isn't that kind of bipartisan collaboration (as, let's be honest, there wouldn't be in a hypothetical United States with MMP). Neither country has faced problems with government formation of the kind nations using purer party list systems often do. In 2011, New Zealand held a nonbinding referendum on its voting system, and voters opted to stay with MMP by a wide margin.
It's worth emphasizing how rare MMP is: only four countries (Germany, New Zealand, Lesotho, and Romania) use it. And none of the other three can claim New Zealand's other big advantage…
Unicameralism
The worst thing about the United States Senate — besides its history as a bulwark for slavery and white supremacy, its flagrant violation of the principle of "one person, one vote," and its general contempt for even the most basic norms of fairness and equal representation — is that it's totally useless. All upper houses are. Lower houses of parliament are completely capable of drafting and passing laws on their own. See: New Zealand.
New Zealand isn't alone in having a unicameral parliament. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Portugal, Denmark, Israel, Iceland, and Taiwan do as well, to name a few. But it stands out for being unicameral while still modeled after the British system. Britain's House of Lords has gradually seen its power wane over the centuries, while Australia opted to foolishly give its upper house a patina of democratic legitimacy, and thus a greater claim to power, by making it directly elected. Canada has contented itself with a Senate that's more or less always been useless. But New Zealand decided to get it over with and cut the damn thing out altogether.
This may seem like a small thing, and it certainly is compared to truly impotent bodies like the House of Lords. But even weak upper houses can typically delay legislation if they want to, and force changes on occasion. Germany's Bundesrat, for example, has an absolute veto over constitutional changes; in other cases, if the Bundesrat rejects a bill passed by the Bundestag (the lower house) with a two-thirds majority, the Bundestag has to muster a two-thirds majority itself to overrule the veto. That puts New Zealand over the top; not only does it, like Germany, have mixed member proportional representation, but unlike Germany it doesn't have a meddlesome upper house. The sole legitimate democratic institution is the one elected to proportionately represent the population.
Monarchy
This is a relatively minor point in the scheme of things, but it's worth briefly extolling the virtues of constitutional monarchy. Generally speaking, in a parliamentary system, you need a head of state who is not the prime minister to serve as a disinterested arbiter when there are disputes about how to form a government — say, if the largest party should be allowed to form a minority government or if smaller parties should be allowed to form a coalition, to name a recent example from Canada. That head of state is usually a figurehead president elected by the parliament (Germany, Italy) or the people (Ireland, Finland), or a monarch. And monarchs are better.
Monarchs are more effective than presidents precisely because they lack any semblance of legitimacy. It would be offensive for Queen Elizabeth or her representatives in Canada, New Zealand, etc. to meddle in domestic politics. Indeed, when the Governor-General of Australia did so in 1975 it set off a constitutional crisis that made it clear such behavior would not be tolerated. But figurehead presidents have some degree of democratic legitimacy, and are typically former politicians. That enables a greater rate of shenanigans — like when Italian president Giorgio Napolitano schemed, successfully, to remove Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister due at least in part to German chancellor Angela Merkel's entreaties to do so.
Napolitano is the rule, rather than the exception. Oxford political scientists Petra Schleiter and Edward Morgan-Jones have found that presidents, whether elected indirectly by parliament or directly by the people, are likelier to allow governments to change without new elections than monarchs are. In other words, they're likelier to change the government without any democratic input at all:
New Zealand would already top the list of best political systems even if it were a republic. But its constitutional monarchy only strengthens the case.The Superman prequel Krypton has been greenlit for a pilot. The show, focusing on Superman's homeworld, has been in development for some time, but SyFy has now formally ordered a pilot.
The channel announced their plans with an official synopsis for the show. It reads:
Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel’s home planet, KRYPTON will follow Superman’s grandfather — whose House of El was ostracized and shamed — as he fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos.
Krypton has been developed by David S. Goyer, who co-wrote both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Man of Steel for DC, as well as Christopher Nolan's Batman movies and the Constantine TV show. It will join SyFy's range of popular sci-fi and fantasy shows, which includes 12 Monkeys, Z Nation, and Hunters.
In an interview with Collider last year, Goyer spoke about his plans for the show. "In terms of production value, you have to pick your moments," he said. "Should we make the show, there will definitely be some big moments. It won't be wall to wall visual effects every single moment, spectacle, in the way that the film will be, but we'll also be digging into the characters and the culture a lot more."
Unlike Marvel, DC's various shows--which also include Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Gotham--do not all exist within the same universe, and are very much separate to its big screen offerings. It is unknown whether Krypton will bisect with any of the current shows, or if it will be a standalone series.Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced In West Virginia
CHARLESTON — West Virginia Del. Mike Manypenny (D-Taylor) introduced a bill Thursday that would allow state residents with debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS, to access and use medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it.
The bill, House Bill 4264, would establish a state-regulated system of medical marijuana cultivation facilities and dispensaries to provide medical marijuana to licensed patients.
The full text of the bill, which has been referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources, can be viewed here.
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“There is no longer any doubt that medical marijuana is an effective treatment for a number of debilitating medical conditions and symptoms,” said Matt Simon, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, who is a West Virginia native and graduate of West Virginia University. “No one deserves to be treated like a criminal for using marijuana to treat a serious medical condition.
“Lawmakers concerned by medical marijuana should ask themselves what they would do if a loved one was suffering from a serious illness and a physician suggested that marijuana could help.”
A survey conducted in December 2013 by Public Policy Polling found 56% of West Virginia voters support changing state law to allow people with serious illnesses to use medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it. Just 34% said they were opposed. The same survey question asked by PPP in January 2013 found 53% supportive and 40% opposed.
“A growing majority of West Virginians support this compassionate legislation, and we hope a majority of their elected representatives will join them in doing so,” Simon said. “It’s time to stop criminalizing patients for using a treatment option that can dramatically improve their quality of life.”
Twenty states and the District of Columbia have adopted laws that allow people with certain debilitating medical conditions to use medical marijuana with a recommendation from their doctors.
Tags: medical marijuanaTens of thousands of you voted, and now it's time for the results. We can now reveal your 50 Greatest Dance Tracks Of All Time. And of course, the worthy winner...
11. The Chemical Brothers 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl' [Freestyle Dust/Virgin], 1999
10. Fatboy Slim 'Right Here, Right Now' [Skint], 1999
Released at the peak of the Skint Records-led big beat explosion, at a time when 'You've Come A Long Way, Baby' was elevating Norman Cook to superstar DJ, it's now a universal anthem of strident empowerment.
9. Sasha 'Xpander' [deconstruction/BMG], 1999
Progressive house was all but dead by 1999. Sasha and Charlie May resurrected the form triumphantly with the stunning surges and tidal melodies of Xpander, named after the analogue synth it was written on.
8. PVD 'For An Angel' [Deviant Records], 1998
Originally from his PVD's '45 RPM' album, it was rediscovered, toughened up and re-released as the 'E-Werk Remix' during the Gatecrasher-led late-'90s trance boom, becoming a scene-defining hit.Abstract
BACKGROUND It has been suggested that body mass index (BMI), especially obesity, is associated with subfertility in men. Semen parameters are central to male fertility and reproductive hormones also play a role in spermatogenesis. This review aimed to investigate the association of BMI with semen parameters and reproductive hormones in men of reproductive age. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biological Abstracts, PsycINFO and CINAHL databases and references from relevant articles were searched in January and February 2009. Outcomes included for semen parameters were sperm concentration, total sperm count, semen volume, motility and morphology. Reproductive hormones included were testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol, FSH, LH, inhibin B and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate sperm concentration and total sperm count. RESULTS In total, 31 studies were included. Five studies were suitable for pooling and the meta-analysis found no evidence for a relationship between BMI and sperm concentration or total sperm count. Overall review of all studies similarly revealed little evidence for a relationship with semen parameters and increased BMI. There was strong evidence of a negative relationship for testosterone, SHBG and free testosterone with increased BMI. CONCLUSIONS This systematic review with meta-analysis has not found evidence of an association between increased BMI and semen parameters. The main limitation of this review is that data from most studies could not be aggregated for meta-analysis. Population-based studies with larger sample sizes and longitudinal studies are required.
Introduction
Subfertility is a serious health problem affecting the lives of at least 10% of the population in the developed world (Taylor, 2003). Assisted reproductive technology (ART), mostly in the form of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), is now able to treat couples with fertility problems with considerable success. However, it is accepted that ART only bypasses the problem of subfertility and, in many cases, the underlying cause of the patient's impaired fertility may never be determined or treated. Therefore, research into potential modifiable risk factors may ultimately lead to more satisfactory and cost-effective preventative and curative treatments.
Most developed nations are reporting increasing proportions of men and women in their reproductive years who are overweight and obese (Pasquali et al., 2007). These proportions are higher with increasing age. There are many negative health consequences of being overweight and reduced fertility is now recognized as one of them. This relationship has been especially well-established in women. Overweight and obese women are more likely to experience ovulatory and menstrual disorders, consequently experiencing delayed fertility (Pasquali et al., 2007). Obese women have poorer outcomes when undergoing fertility treatment, experiencing lower pregnancy rates, increased likelihood of miscarriage and requiring higher doses of gonadotrophins (Maheshwari et al., 2007). They are also more likely to experience complications during pregnancy, including gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia.
Research into the impact of body mass index (BMI), or more specifically overweight and obesity, on the reproductive health of males has been limited in comparison to the extensive research undertaken to investigate female subfertility (Pasquali et al., 2007). Studies of semen parameters are scarce, yet male factor alone constitutes approximately 25–30% of all cases of subfertility (Hammoud et al., 2006). Recently, several large-scale cross-sectional studies have reported results from a general population setting (Jensen et al., 2004; Qin et al., 2007; Aggerholm et al., 2008) alongside a number of studies from subfertile populations (Koloszár et al., 2005; Kort et al., 2006; Chavarro et al., 2008; Hammoud et al., 2008b).
Overweight and obesity are expected to be associated with changes to the male reproductive hormone profile. It is already accepted that a high BMI is associated with alterations in the levels of testosterone and estrogens (Pasquali, 2006), as well as sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) (Pasquali, 2006). The impact of obesity on free testosterone, gonadotrophins and inhibin B, however, is less well-established.
It has also been proposed that if a relationship between semen parameters and BMI exists, the mechanism for this is likely to involve, at least in part, some alteration or derangement of the male reproductive hormone profile, which might also be related to BMI (Pasquali et al., 2007; Qin et al., 2007; Hammoud et al., 2008a). Reviewing the impact of BMI on both semen parameters and male reproductive hormones may also direct further exploration into the endocrinology of spermatogenesis as well as obesity. The aim of this systematic review was therefore to investigate the impact of BMI on semen parameters and reproductive hormones in men of reproductive age from both general and subfertile populations (Fig. 1).
Figure 1 View largeDownload slide QUOROM statement flow diagram for systematic review of BMI, semen parameters and reproductive hormones, including meta-analysis of relationship between BMI and semen parameters.
Figure 1 View largeDownload slide QUOROM statement flow diagram for systematic review of BMI, semen parameters and reproductive hormones, including meta-analysis of relationship between BMI and semen parameters.
Methods
A systematic review was undertaken to investigate the impact of BMI on semen parameters and reproductive hormones in human males of reproductive age in developed countries. This has been reported according to the standards of the Quality of Reporting of Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials and Observational Studies (QUORUM, MOOSE) statements (Moher et al., 1999; Stroup et al.,. 2000). Published studies and abstracts were included. No restrictions applied for either language or date of publication. Review articles were retrieved as a useful source of references.
Inclusion criteria and outcomes of interest
The inclusion criteria were studies of participants who were all human males of reproductive age, including both adult and adolescent males.
The outcomes included were: The outcome for all eligible studies must have been related to BMI or a similar measure of relative weight, such as ideal body weight (IBW). No exclusions applied to the statistical methods used.
Any measures of sperm concentration, total sperm count, semen volume, sperm motility or sperm morphology, including composite measures of these variables.
Any basal measurements of the following reproductive hormones: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), estradiol (E 2 ), testosterone (T) and free testosterone (free T), inhibin B and SHBG.
Exclusion criteria
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latest British rescue plans. “But in the end, either banks will have to be nationalized or have their bad loans split off into another institution. That’s the only way they will be clear about their capital positions.”
Denmark late Sunday announced an $18 billion aid plan for its banks, saying it would inject the funds on condition that they increase lending.
In France, the government last year agreed to lend the top six banks
10.5 billion euros, or $13.8 billion, and Ms. Lagarde said it had authorization from the European Union to go ahead now with an equivalent amount. But she told Les Échos that banks availing themselves of the funds would have to abide by Mr. Sarkozy’s demand last week that they suspend bonuses, as a “minimum,” and that they moderate their dividend payouts.
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The credit rating downgrade for Spain, while not unexpected considering the economic crisis, nonetheless increases the pressure on European policy makers for a rapid overall response.
The downgrade reflects “expectations that public finances will suffer in tandem with the expected decline in Spain’s growth prospects, and that the policy response may be insufficient to effectively counter the related economic and fiscal challenges,” said Trevor Cullinan, a Standard & Poor’s credit analyst.
Joaquín Almunia, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs said at a briefing in Brussels that the risk of default, while always present in both the private and public sectors, was not a major concern. In the case of euro zone countries, “I don’t think the risks are high or are significant,” he said.
In Brussels, the Spanish economy minister, Pedro Solbes, sought to put the downgrade in the best possible light, noting that the new rating of AA+ “is something quite positive still.”
The European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, acknowledged Monday in Paris the year 2009 “will be very difficult.” But he said investors might now be taking an overly pessimistic view of the future.
“Having underestimated considerably the true underlying risks that were lying ahead in 2008 and 2009,” Trichet said, “it would be an error of equal magnitude for the actors of the private sector to now overestimate the risks that are lying ahead.”Find Events
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This GameBoy Arcade Mod is designed to be a home to your old Nintendo Gameboy. The mini arcade units are each hand built and ship from from China within 20 business days.
The reason it takes a while to get to the customer is that each one is hand-built after the order has been made and payment received. On the back of the arcade unit the GameBoy slides in. Below that are connections for power and sound allowing you to keep your gameboy running from the mains and listen to some louder speakers.
The front of the cabinet houses a joystick controller that has been placed over the regular D-Pad.
Although it’s quite funky, I’m not so sure it will be as playable as you hope it will be. Either way, you can pick one up and order on eBay although just be aware that a price tag of $149.99 + $25 shipping is being charged for the mini Arcade unit.
Via: OhGizmoThe Tennessee Titans refused to leave offset language out of quarterback Marcus Mariota's contact.
The Titans selected Mariota second overall in the 2015 NFL Draft, hoping he can transform the fate of the franchise.
Mariota remains the only 2015 first-rounder not to sign his rookie contract.
"We've always had offset language in our player contracts. It's nothing new," Titans president and interim CEO Steve Underwood told ESPN's Paul Kuharsky. "I think it is important where a high first-round draft pick is concerned, because it's the precedent. Everything that we do is precedential for the next round of contracts.
"So keeping the offset in place is something we want to be able to do going forward. And the minute you back away from the contract principal then you no longer are able to assert it going forward."
Offset language means that if Mariota was to be released in his fourth season, his new team would be forced to pay some of the remaining money left on his rookie contract. Without it, the Titans would foot the bill, while the Heisman Trophy winner could hypothetically suit up for another club.
"Getting a first-round draft pick, a quarterback, signed and in camp on time, it's a big deal," Underwood said. "It's something we need to be focused on. But using that or any other excuse to subvert the negotiating process, that's faulty logic.
"You still need to stick to your guns about what it is you're trying to achieve in the contract negotiation. You may need to use some fallback position. But getting your first-round draft pick to camp on time is important. Sticking to your guns about what you need to get in a contract is also important."
Earlier in the offseason, Mariota expressed patience with the contract negotiations, but it must be a jarring time to be a Titans fan, with the team ostensibly more worried about future asset management than getting its promising quarterback on the field as soon as possible.Getty Images
As it turns out, Robert Nkemdiche has more to explain to teams besides, you know, that whole defenestration thing.
The Ole Miss defensive tackle, who has already fallen out a fourth floor hotel window, lived and been charged with possession of marijuana because “no one wanted to take the fall” now wants to add another curious line to his resume.
He wants to buy a panther. Not the Carolina kind, the jungle cat, which can, of course, eat people.
In an extensive profile of one of the draft’s biggest conundrums, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham suggested to Nkemdiche that perhaps that’s a little crazy.
“No, it’s not. They’re like cats,” Nkemdiche said. “If someone comes over and is scared, I’ll put the panther away.”
Some NFL teams are scared of Nkemdiche, who can scare opposing offenses as well. He’s an extremely talented interior lineman, who has impressed with his athleticism. But he comes with plenty of questions, from the role of his brother in his life to what led to falling out the window (he said he was merely drunk, as if that makes hurtling through double-paned glass less nutty).
The profile paints a picture of Nkemdiche as an open-minded seeker of wisdom, or the kind of loose screw which process-obsessed NFL types try to avoid. It mentions that one team’s scout report said “He thinks he’s a philosopher,” and that wasn’t construed as a positive.
He can clearly play at the pro level, but teams are going to have to know they’re taking on a unique individual, and perhaps the zoo he’s bringing with him.Feb 19, 2015
In BIME, we offer the ability to create unlimited dashboards, queries and connections. This is really interesting for our clients, and we started to observe accounts becoming bigger and bigger.
The Queries Library contains all the queries the user has access to. To be able to render the library smoothly, even with a ton of queries, we added a generic implementation of an infinite scroll.
The Infinite Scroll
The main purpose of the infinite scroll is to unload the browser if a collection of items is huge. For example, if you have thousands of products in a reseller catalog, the browser will only display the first few. When the user scrolls down to the bottom of the page, the next items are loaded and added to the page infinitely (until the end of the collection). This technique is also an alternative to the pagination mechanism.
AngularJS directive for the Infinite scroll
To handle the infinite scroll, we need a container which contains the items that will be displayed. A sample div is enough. For example:
<div class="container" bime-infinite-scroll="loadNewItems()"> <div ng-repeat="item in items"> {{ item.nam }} </div> </div>
We added a custom directive bime-infinite-scroll which triggers the load of the next items when necessary by calling the corresponding method of the AngularJS controller.
Let’s have a look at this directive (Note that the code is written in TypeScript):
angular.module('bime').directive('bimeInfiniteScroll', [ () => { return { restrict: 'A', link: ($scope, element: JQuery, attr: any) => { var raw = element[0]; element.bind('scroll', <any> _.throttle(() => { if (raw.scrollTop + raw.offsetHeight >= raw.scrollHeight) { $scope.$apply(attrs.bimeInfiniteScroll); } }, 200)); } }; } ]);
We have to listen for a DOM event which is out of the Angular scope and digest. So, we listen to the scroll event of the element on which the directive is applied (the container in our case). When the scroll down hits the bottom of the page we call the function passed as an attribute value of the directive.
At this stage, we automatically call a function of the current scope when the user scrolls down and hits the bottom of the page. Let’s have a look at how we load the next items.
$scope.page = 1; $scope.items = []; $scope.loadNewItems = () => { itemsFactory.getAll({page: $scope.page}).then((items: Item[]) => { $scope.items = $scope.items.concat(items); $scope.page += 1; }); };
We have the page variable which handles the number of pages we have already loaded, items which contains all the items displayed, and the function called by the infinite scroll directive ( loadNewItems ).
The itemsFactory refers to an injected service which handles the call to the backend on the correct resource route. We heavily use restangular to manage the calls to the backend. For those of you who don’t know this library, it is an abstraction of the REST principle for AngularJS and integrates very well with a REST-based backend like Rails.
So, when this function is called, a HTTP GET call is made to the server with the current page number. When the view gets the result, we add it to the list of already loaded items and increment the page number. This way, each time the user gets to the bottom of the page, the new elements are added to the DOM. After the items variable has been updated, the double data-binding of Angular takes place and the DOM is rendered with the updated object.
Rails controller for the Infinite scroll
So far, we have implemented the view part of the Infinite scroll. However, we need a technique on the server to pull new objects based on the page number passed as a parameter. Fortunately, as we use Rails, the ActiveRecord interface contains methods that fit our needs for this specific feature. Let’s have a look at the controller handling this call:
class ItemsController < ApplicationController def index @items = current_user.items if params[:page] @items = @items.page(params[:page]).per(50) end end end
What is interesting here is how easy it is to paginate a collection with ActiveRecord. The page method indicates the starting page number and the per method specifies the number of items to retrieve.
Following this controller, a JSON view renders this collection to the view, and these new items will be added to the page.
Conclusion
Again, using a bunch of modern technologies, we can see how easy it is to get a fast implementation of an infinite scroll mechanism. This way we load only a few elements in the view even if the collection contains a ton of data. By bringing new data as the user requests them, we ensure fast performance of the application in the browser without compromising the user experience.
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Yannick ChazeThe Republican primary for a state Assembly seat on Staten Island's South Shore last year was especially nasty. A Facebook page about one of the candidates drew threats against her life, triggering a police investigation. It was not known who was running the account — until now. Our Amanda Farinacci has the details in this exclusive report.
As Republican Janine Materna ran for Assembly last year, a Facebook page emerged that looked like something her campaign might have created.
But several posts on it were out of step with Materna's conservative Staten Island district.
Like this one: "Mayor Bill de Blasio is right. We need a homeless shelter in Annadale."
Another post declared," Black Lives Matter" -- and showed a photo of Materna with former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder. It appeared to upset at least one voter, who posted, "Sorry hun you just lost my vote."
At the time, Materna claimed she was the victim of a dirty trick. "I believe that my opponent has really used a lot of smear tactics on social media against me, which I think is very distasteful," she said.
Materna's opponent in the Republican primary, Ron Castorina, denied any involvement.
Materna narrlowly lost that race, and it remained a mystery who was behind the Facebook page – until now.
Materials obtained by NY1 show local lawyer Richard Luthmann was the page’s administrator — and apparently communicated about what it should contain with Materna’s opponent.
"I have no comment," Luthmann told NY1. "And I'm gonna have to, I'm compelled to assert the attorney-client privilege."
NY1 obtained screen shots of Facebook conversations between Luthmann and Castorina in which the creation of such a site was discussed.
"Janine Materna filed a committee," Castorina begins.
Luthmann replies, "Time for a fake Janine Materna site..."
"Is there a picture of her with Hillary?" Luthmann asks.
"I’m looking for one," Castorina replies.
Eventually, a doctored photo of Clinton supposedly standing with Materna appeared on the page, with the statement. "On September 13" — the date of the GOP primary — "we will make HERstory."
In another Facebook conversation, Luthmann sent Castorina that photo of Materna and Holder, and an image linking Materna and Mayor de Blasio, adding:
"In a news feed near you very soon!"
"Good," Castorina replied. "She's a vicious animal."
"I would be disappointed if it turns out that that's what happened," said State Senator Diane Savino, when asked this week about NY1's findings.
"And I would hope that any elected official, or any would-be elected official, would think twice before they would engage in something like that type of activity."
The Materna page did contain a disclaimer, one that could easily be overlooked by Facebook users: It said, "This is an UNOFFICIAL FAN PAGE…" It included a link to Materna's official page.
Facebook records obtained by NY1 also show Luthmann is the administrator for a Councilwoman Debi Rose page. She's locked in a tight democratic primary against Kamillah Hanks.
One post talks about a fundraiser hosted by a real estate developer. It says "his campaign contributions will help me to turn this St. George property into a heroin/methadone den."
Luthman also was the administrator of a page created under the name of Michael McMahon, during his hotly contested race for Staten Island District Attorney.
Another – dubbed "Lyin' Nicole Malliotakis" — targets this year's Republican mayoral candidate.
"Politics has always been a blood sport," Savino said. "But it's going to, taken it to different levels now because of the prevalence of social media."
Materna calls these misleading pages a form of bullying, saying she’s disappointed and disgusted people engage in it. She declined an on camera interview request.Photo: Getty Images
A police dashcam video released on Monday by a Texas attorney allegedly shows authorities performing a public body-cavity search on 23-year-old Charnesia Corley, a black college student. Her attorney, Sam Cammack, told Fox 26 in Houston that the 2015 video includes 11 minutes of what amounts to “rape by a cop.”
As the Houston Chronicle reports, Corley was pulled over in Houston on June 21, 2015, for allegedly running a stop sign. After speaking with her, deputies claimed they smelled marijuana in her vehicle, though a search of her car came up clean. At that point, a female officer allegedly “slammed Corley, stuck her head underneath the vehicle and completely pulled her pants off, leaving her naked and exposed in that Texaco parking lot,” Cammack told Fox 26.
The attorney continued: “They then took Miss Corley and placed both ankles behind her ears spread eagle position and started to search for something in Miss Corley’s cavity in her vaginal area.” The probing went on for 11 minutes before she was allowed to emerge from beneath the car and cover up her exposed body, Fox 26 notes.
The Huffington Post reports investigators claimed to have found 0.02 ounces of marijuana on Corley, though she counters there was no marijuana. The Chronicle reported at the time that she was charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest and possession of marijuana, but the charges were later dropped. Soon after, Corley filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and the two officers involved in the search were charged with official oppression last year.
However, the charges against the cops were dropped on August 4, which prompted Cammack to release the dashcam video and call for an independent prosecutor, the Chronicle reports. “There has been no material change of fact,” Cammack said. “If what those officers did to Miss Corley was not mistreatment — did not amount to rape — I don’t know what is.”Evaluating the Prospects: Rangers, Rockies, D’Backs, Twins, Astros, Cubs, Reds, Phillies, Rays, Mets, Padres, Marlins, Nationals, Red Sox, White Sox, Orioles, Yankees, Braves, Athletics, Angels, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Tigers, Cardinals, Brewers, Indians, Mariners, Pirates, Royals & Giants
Top 200 Prospects Content Index
Scouting Explained: Introduction, Hitting Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6
Draft Rankings: 2015, 2016 & 2017
International Coverage: 2015 July 2nd Parts One, Two & Three, 2016 July 2nd
The A’s made a ton of moves this off-season, turning over their big league roster and moving a lot of prospect pieces around. This is a function of how Billy Beane sees prospects, which are a means to an end of winning at the big league level. Every player is available for the right price and, if you’re known as a guy willing to make trades, teams are more likely to talk to you and let you know when there’s asymmetry in how teams value various players. Since Beane is always trying to win now and thinks the future is overrated, the A’s, in general terms, tend to pounce on 25-26 year old players who aren’t on lists anymore but still have tools, while trading the shiny new object that hasn’t failed yet.
The amateur talent acquisition has been solid, but this system is more a function of what trades presented themselves in the last few years and the strength of the big league team, than a commentary on whether the scouting/player development executives are excelling. Picking low in the draft, not having a ton of extra picks and only spending what they’re given internationally means the A’s aren’t the kind of team that this sort of list-making process is likely to reward, which I’m sure doesn’t trouble them. I have them in a glut of teams around 25th in the org rankings, but I’ll work out the specific slot in a few more weeks when the lists wrap up.
Here’s the primer for the series and a disclaimer about how we don’t really know anything. See the links above for the ongoing series about how I evaluate, including the series on the ever-complicated hit tool.
Most of what you need to know for this list is in the above links, but I should add that the risk ratings are relative to their position, so average (3) risk for a pitcher is riskier than average risk (3) for a hitter, due to injury/attrition being more common. I’d also take a 60 Future Value hitter over a 60 FV pitcher for the same reasons. Also, risk encompasses a dozen different things and I mention the important components of it for each player in the report. The upside line for hitters is the realistic best-case scenario (a notch better than the projected tools, or a 75% projection while the projected tools are a 50% projection) and the Future Value encompasses this upside along with the risk rating for one overall rating number.
Below, I’ve included a quick ranking of the notable MLB players 27 and under that aren’t eligible for the A’s prospect list and Dave Cameron shares some general thoughts on the organization. Scroll further down to see Carson Cistulli’s fringe prospect favorite. Next up is the Angels.
27 & Under Big League Assets
1. Sonny Gray, RHP, Age 25, FV: 60
2. Brett Lawrie, 3B, Age 25, FV: 55
3. Jarrod Parker, RHP, Age 26, FV: 55
4. Jesse Hahn, RHP, Age 25, FV: 55
5. Marcus Semien, SS, Age 24, FV: 50 (Video)
6. A.J. Griffin, RHP, Age 27, FV: 50
7. Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Age 26, FV: 50
8. Ryan Cook, RHP, Age 27, FV: 45
9. Josh Phegley, C, Age 26, FV: 45
10. Ike Davis, 1B, Age 27, FV: 45
Organizational Overview by Dave Cameron
After expending significant resources to make a run in 2014, the A’s spent the off-season overhauling their roster, primarily focusing on getting younger. While some of the moves were a bit controversial, the A’s appear to have put a team together that can contend again in 2015 while also improving the future outlook of the club. While they lack star power, no team in baseball is as committed to depth, and the A’s have backup plans for their backup plans, limiting how far they’re likely to fall even while building for the future. They’re not a great team now and might not have the core of a great team in their farm system either, but in a world where baseball rewards serial respectability, the A’s are in a solid position for both the short-term and long-term. Let’s just not talk about the stadium, though.
50+ FV Prospects
1. Franklin Barreto, SS
Current Level/Age: SS/19.0, 5’9/175, R/R
Signed: IFA at age 16 on July 2, 2012 out of Venezuela by TOR for $1.45 million bonus
Hit: 20/55, Raw Power: 45/45, Game Power: 20/45, Run: 65/65, Field: 50/55, Throw: 60/60
Scouting Report: Barreto was known to international scouts for years before he signed for $1.45 million on July 2nd, 2012 from Venezuela. There’s something to be said for smaller kids reaching their potential sooner than the more projectable, higher upside prospects, but don’t mistake Barreto for a low upside prospect just due to his size. He’s a plus runner that very well could end up sticking at shortstop, where he plays now and has made improvements, though most scouts see his actions and size and assume he slides over to second base or out to center field. At the least, he’ll offer the ability to play all three positions in the big leagues if needed.
Barreto is well-built for 5’9/175 and his swing does a good job staying balanced for contact while also transferring his weight and giving him a chance to hit 10-15 homers per year at maturity. That said, the carrying tool here is the bat and more than a few scouts told me they have a 60 on it, even though Barreto is still 18 and hasn’t played in a full-season league yet. He has an innate feel for the bat head, above average bat speed and the speed to play small ball if he chooses and run out ground balls in the infield.
Oakland has an extensive career scouting Barreto as an amateur, going back to his days on the Venezuelan national teams when the A’s were signing fellow countryman Renato Nunez. One A’s exec compared Barreto to Rafael Furcal and doesn’t have reservations about him eventually figuring out how to stick at shortstop.
Summation: Barreto is about as polished as a kid his age can be, with his position the only question, so if Oakland wants to move him quickly. If he responds well to shortstop, that could mean he gets to High-A later in his age-19 season and being a possible call-up to the big leagues late in his age-20 season if everything continues at this rate: think Rougned Odor. More realistically, he’ll spend almost all of 2015 in Low-A and arrive in 2017 or 2018.
Upside:.280/.350/.420, 12-15 homers
FV/Risk: 55, Medium (3 on a 1-5 scale)
Projected Path: 2015: Low-A/High-A, 2016: High-A/AA, 2017: AA/AAA, 2018: AAA/MLB
45 FV Prospects
2. Matt Olson, 1B Video: Olson has some pedigree as a former sandwich pick out of an Atlanta-area high school, he had a huge year in the Cal League last year and he has some big tools, headlined by easy plus power from the left side. You may be wondering why he isn’t in the above group with Barreto, which I also was expecting when I started making calls on the A’s. It boils down to concerns about the bat. He walked a ton last year, but Olson has only average bat speed and and the Cal League is super hitter-friendly. Some scouts think Olson cheats a bit and may be a mistake hitter, feasting on bad pitches late in counts, which come less and less often as you go up the chain.
Olson was into the low-90’s on the mound in high school and has a solid average arm, so the A’s tried him in right field a bit last year. Some scouts think the body is soft and don’t think he’a great athlete or defender, while others aren’t concerned and think he’s above average defensively at first base, with the A’s thinking he might even be able to play right field. Double-A will be a huge test to see what he can do with more advanced stuff, as the ongoing question on his bat will come into more focus. One scout called Olson a literal baseball rat, which I have trouble picturing, but you know what he means: the makeup is there if the ability will hold up. Reports I’ve received on Olson have had the widest gap of anyone in the process other than Colin Moran, so that makes it inherently interesting to watch his development in the coming years.
3. Matt Chapman, 3B Video: Chapman was one of my favorite guys for the 2014 draft, a standout hitter and pitcher for Fullerton that didn’t have much 1st round buzz for reasons I didn’t understand. Then, after late buzz of a good pre-draft workout, the A’s popped him Chapman the late first round. Chapman has an 80 arm and has been into the high-90’s on the mound, but is mostly an arm strength guy with a short track record of pitching. He’s a good athlete that’s a 45 runner and projects to be above average defensively at third. Chapman also put on a show in BP for Team USA (in the linked video), flashing 65 raw power that was only second to Kyle Schwarber on the team.
The question on Chapman, like Olson, is how much contact he’ll make. Chapman has above average bat speed, some feel for the strike zone and a line drive game stroke that doesn’t quite tap into all of his raw power. Fullerton emphasized an opposite field/groundball type offensive approach, similar to Stanford but not as subtle, which explains why Chapman never dominated at the plate as an amateur. Oakland execs explain that this is why he dropped, since these tools shouldn’t be around at the 25th pick; Chapman hit balls in his pre-draft workout where only Yoenis Cespedes had hit them before. Oakland sees 55 game power and a 50 bat on the low end, with comparisons like Matt Williams, Travis Fryman and Josh Donaldson for his upside; he’s expected to head to High-A nexty year at age 22.
4. Renato Nunez, 3B Video: Like Olson, Nunez put up big numbers in the Cal League this year and at a young age (20). The Venezuelan has above average raw power and bat speed, so the tools are here to succeed offensively, while the youth doesn’t hurt and the pedigree is solid as well: a $2.2 million bonus on July 2nd, 2010. Some scouts are concerned about the approach being too aggressive and the Cal League being too forgiving, but there’s a expectation that Nunez will hit. The questions are on the defensive profile, as he’s below average defensively, though with an above average arm and Oakland officials say he’s improving. He may play right field, but more likely fits at first base, which would waste his arm and put more pressure on the offense. Like Olson, Nunez’s 2015 in Double-A should tell us if his 2014 was a function of the environment and we’ll get closer to figuring out what position he’ll play.
5. Kendall Graveman, RHP Video: Graveman was acquired in the Josh Donaldson deal and was very low profile out of college, signing for $5,000 in the 8th round in 2013 out of Mississippi State. He was a sinker/slider specialist in college that worked in the high-80’s and touched the low-90’s, but his stuff picked up in 2014. I saw Graveman in 2014 work 88-92 and hit 93 mph, flashing above average to plus run, sink and cut on the pitch, depending on where in the zone that he threw it. He also threw an 84-87 mph cutter that was average but inconsistent and an 81-85 mph changeup that flashed above average, though he didn’t throw it enough and at times he would telegraph the pitch by slowing his arm.
He worked 91-95 mph in the big leagues later in the year over 5 relief outings, so we know there are a couple more ticks of velo with adrenaline in short stints. I saw his cutter on a bad day; the mid-80’s pitch and the cut version of his fastball both were standout pitches in most of his other outings, though he isn’t the type to rack up a lot of strikeouts. On the right day, Graveman is all 50’s and 55’s with lots of grounders and some feel to pitch, so it’s easy to see a nice back-end starter as early as 2015. Oakland was pleased to hear multiple clubs ask about Graveman after the deal, further underlining his industry-wide value as a ready-made rotation type.
6. R.J. Alvarez, RHP Video: Alvarez is reliever all the way, is MLB-ready and sits 93-96, touching 98 mph with an almost all fastball-slider approach. The slider is a 60; it sometimes plays down to 55 when the feel isn’t there but peaks as a 65 for some scouts. This report is short because Alvarez has been this type of pitcher since back in college and now the question marks about risk with potential injuries has dried up. It just comes down to how consistently Alvarez can locate his electric stuff, with him likely settling in the 8th or 9th innings.
7. Dillon Overton, LHP Video: Overton was a potential 1st rounder entering the spring of 2013 at Oklahoma, but his above average stuff regressed with forearm trouble down the stretch, which allowed the A’s to scoop him up in the 2nd round. After the draft, Overton had Tommy John surgery, returning late in 2014, throwing at two short-season levels. At his best, Overton would sit in the low-90’s and hit 95 with a curve and changeup that both flashed plus at times. After returning from surgery, Overton worked at 85-90 and hit 91 mph. The curveball was 50-55 and the changeup was a 55, flashing 60 for some, which the pitchability is still there. Oddly, the feel came back quickly for Overton but the velocity didn’t, when most pitchers coming off TJ it happens the opposite way. If the velo continues to tick up to 88-92 mph, then we’re talking about a solid league average or better starter, but I can’t be more aggressive than this until we see it.
8. Sean Nolin, LHP Video: Nolin was acquired with Barreto and Graveman in the Donaldson deal. Nolin is a sturdy 6’4/230 but doesn’t have the power repertoire you might expect; while his stuff grades out around average, most scouts call it fringy in terms of what’s expected from a starting pitching prospect. Nolin got a cup of coffee in 2013, then a groin injury hindered him this year; he spent most of the year in Triple-A, got another cup of coffee at the end of the season, then headed to the Arizona Fall League to get more innings. Nolin sits 89-91 and will touch as high at 95 mph, particularly to elevate late in the count for strikeouts, with an average curveball that’s more consistent than his slider and an above average changeup to go with advanced feel to pitch.
Nolin gets good plane and deception from his delivery, but his fastball is pretty straight and when his mechanics get out of whack, he can elevate. This has made him more of a fly ball pitcher with less margin for error the higher up the ladder he goes, as he lacks a true out-pitch and that extra tick of velocity is important in the big leagues, which means Nolin can overthrow at times, leaving the ball up. He projects as a back-end starter, as there’s enough stuff and feel to stick in the rotation and he could be a #4 starter if it all goes right and his command plays up, but he’s more likely a #5 starter with some shot to be more of a long reliever if he can’t address these concerns. Nolin should be able to contribute in the big leagues in 2015 to some degree, but he could spend a good bit of time in Triple-A making adjustments.
9. Chad Pinder, SS Video: Pinder played shortstop and third base at Virginia Tech, with most scouts–myself included–projecting him for second base. He’s playing shortstop now, but probably fits more in a utility role as a profile, so the specific best position isn’t quite as important, along the lines of Matt Reynolds of the Mets, who was also a low 45 FV. Pinder still needs to clean up his plate discipline a bit and his average raw power plays down a bit in games, but the hit tool looks like it’s average or so. We’ll know better where this one will land once Pinder puts in a season out of the Cal League.
40 FV Prospects
10. Raul Alcantara, RHP Video: Alcantara was acquired with Reddick in the Andrew Bailey deal from Boston and has been a nice find until Tommy John surgery ended his 2014 season after a few starts. He won’t be back until at least mid-season in 2015, but before he went down, Alcantara was up to 95 mph with an above average changeup, average slider and average command. He was seen as a quick-moving, young-for-his-level, high probability back-end starter and now we’ll have to wait and see if he can regain that form in the second half of 2015 or early 2016.
11. Bobby Wahl, RHP Video: Wahl was a high-profile name entering the 2012 draft season with high 1st round buzz, but blisters and diminished feel led to lesser stuff and command, which caused him to slide to the 5th round, where the A’s signed him for $500,000. Oakland developed him as a starter after signing, hoping to coax out that ability, but decided to move him to relief in the 2nd half of 2014 and he should move quickly to the big leagues in that role. He sits 94-97 mph in short stints with an above average to plus slider along with the average changeup and fringy command from his starting days. He’s a potential late-inning option that the A’s see internally as similar to R.J. Alvarez.
12. Yairo Munoz, SS Video: Munoz was a bit polarizing from the sources I talked to, but they agreed there are everyday shortstop tools present. He’s an above average runner with a plus arm and a chance to stick at the position long-term with the actions you’d expect to see. Munoz hasn’t played full-season ball yet, but performed well in the
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's backer update!) short:
- in late September we had to add a handful of weeks to the schedule because of mundane issues like time and our mental/physical limits as a small team making a big weird game
- doing that in the fall, because of the holidays, basically bumps you into January.
It's actually pretty dull when you write it out like that but trust me it's been basically the most stressful time ever making those decisions and nailing the calendar down multiple times. But now we're really excited and have a lot of work to do in the next couple months to bring this beast in. Between now and release we'll be releasing a brand new trailer and some other cool stuff. Store pages will be going up very very soon. Watch our twitter for details on that!
A note about delays and public perception- by mid-2014, about 6 months after our Kickstarter, we were saying that 2016 was a distinct possibility. By that fall, not even a year into development, we were starting to get our first emails asking why the game wasn't out yet. (That's not a complaint btw!!!- it's amazing that people are and have been so enthusiastic about the game.) As of February 2017 the game would, if not for the fact that it'll be out by then, be in full-time development for only 3 years. We pretty regularly get folks talking about how the Night In The Woods has been in development for 5 years or so. During the roughest times these past few months I would sit and dream about having 5 years to make this game instead of 3-ish. But regardless of the reality, the perception is that Night In The Woods has been in development for much longer than what it has been- a pretty standard 2-3 years. And that's fine! No one is obligated to be super up to speed on that. But it makes me wonder why in that first year we jumped from "game that's been around for a few months" to "game that has been around for a few years". I want to say it's because 2014 was kind of a big coming out party for us. The E3 demo hit way bigger than we expected and got a lot of press. We also just did a lot of shows that year. And for solistice 2013 and 2014 we released supplemental games. In reality we are just pretty productive and got very lucky with people caring about the stuff we were making early on after the Kickstarter. Making things in public is weird, huh?
I mention this today in part because announcing a delay of any sort is always nerve-wracking, and when your game's development has had a sort of time-dilation in the public consciousness it's downright spooky.
But yeah! Get all kinds of hype! If you have it in you, totally wish us some luck over the next couple months. Lots and lots to do to make this thing the best we possible can.
So what have we been up to this past year? Lots of traveling (on Alec's part). Lots of shows- we did both Pax's! Those were exhausting but great and we got to meet so many of you. Alec came down to Pittsburgh twice so we could work together in person, and he spent a week in Michigan with Adam and Bekah (who make up our publisher Finji). I guess that falls under the heading of Alec traveling. Otherwise, we've made a whole lot of videogame and just kept the wheels turning in this final year. Bethany did a metric ton of research and writing, as well as keeping the shop and kickstarter running smoothly. I've done more art and writing and stuff than I can even wrap my head around this morning. We have way too much of both in this game. Alec's done so much spooky coding wizardry and music... it's stunning. This soundtrack is simply immense. Speaking of which, Alec put together some bits of the in-progress music he's working on right now. Check it out!
Infinite Fall eating some noodles
At Pax and E3 there were streams of our new demo, some of which we were ourselves on to chat about the game.
The demo was a rough work in progress chunk of an early part of the actual game, but with a lot of things blocked off and characters rearranged and so forth. People seemed to really like it! We had our first demo for so long we I think were deep down worrying that we'd just made a good demo and people wouldn't dig what we were doing in the actual game as much, but the response to the new one kinda shut those thoughts down.
At E3 we were nominated for a best of show award from IGN, and just seeing our name on a list next to the new Zelda was some sort of lifetime achievement for 11 year old me at least. Our original demo has also been on display in the Seattle EMP Museum for the past year as well. This is all kind of nuts. We're as shocked as anyone that people are so into our weird little game. We're very lucky.
Infinite Fall lurking at Pax East
And honestly that's about all my brain can even remember this morning. This update will go live 30 minutes from now. I wonder how it'll go? I hope folks are as excited as we are. We are really excited to show all of you what we've been working on for ~3 years. 3 years, huh? 3 years is a long time. It's flown by here. But it's a long time. We're different people now in a lot of ways than the people who started this game, which is part of what makes it an interesting thing I think. It's the product of us over time, in our 30s, making this together. It's a record of a place and a time. That's one of the cool things about art- it lets you grab bits of time and make something out of them. 3 years is 3/4 of high school. 3 years is kid going from birth to walking and talking. 3 years is apparently making a weird game about a cartoon animal town and a girl named Mae coming home to it, to find that it hasn't waited for her. We look forward to you joining her on January 10th.
In the meantime, stay tuned to our twitter for pretty regular updates and announcements. If you're a backer, thanks again for your support and encouragement and making this possible. If you're not, thank you for being interested in Night In The Woods. It's gonna be something alright.
That's all for now. More soon.
See you in January.
-scott, alec, and bethany
PS- In non-NITW news, Alec started a podcast on mental health that's pretty great. I'm on the first episode!
PPS- hey, want that release date art in giant, dare I say wallpaper size?If you want to give it a try, download it from here.
We are the developers of Plastic SCM, a full version control stack (not a Git variant). We work on the strongest branching and merging you can find, and a core that doesn't cringe with huge binaries and repos. We also develop the GUIs, mergetools and everything needed to give you the full version control stack.
Semantically diffing Java code Wednesday, October 16, 2013 Pablo Santos semanticmerge 0 Comments
Knuth stated that source code is meant to be read by humans, not machines. Code is going to be read by our peers more often than it is going to be modified and that’s why keeping it clean and well organized is key.
But cleaning up code very often means restructuring the sources in such a way that reviewing the changes becomes a nightmare with conventional diff tools (not to mention merging). And at the end of the day the outcome is that clean up is postponed or only performed during “refactor specific” tasks which tend to be much less frequently scheduled… negatively impacting the technical debt.
Uncle Bob to the rescue
Uncle Bob’s famous Clean Code is all about cleaning up and organizing the sources to make them easy to understand.
One of my favorite chapters covers code formatting and it states:
Code formatting is about communication, and communication is the professional developer’s first order of business.
And:
The functionality that you create today has a good chance of changing in the next release, but the readability of your code will have a profound effect on all the changes that will ever be made.
There are a couple of rules of thumb that I consider worth mentioning:
Vertical Distance: concepts that are closely related should be kept vertically close to each other
Dependent Functions. If one function calls another, they should be vertically close, and the caller should be above the callee, if at all possible.
CodeAnalyzer.java as a code rearrangement example
Chapter 5 of Clean Code shows the well written CodeAnalyzer.java code with an easy to follow “newspaper like” vertical organization: every method has the callee methods below, which makes the class easier to understand.
But let’s start with a slightly modified CodeAnalizer.java where methods have been sorted by visibility instead of following the rules introduced above. The code structure will be like this:
As you can see public methods go first followed by the private ones. While it can be an acceptable way of organizing the code it certainly doesn’t help you “follow” the story.
Fixing a bug and repairing a window
Remember “broken window” from Pragmatic Programmer? We should always prevent the code base to deteriorate by improving it at any moment.
So, suppose we have to fix a bug within CodeAnalyzer.java. We spend some time understanding the code and then we see it would be much better to organize the class in a different way, with methods vertically arranged following the “dependent functions” recommendation from above.
Suppose the final organization we follow (as described in Clean Code) is as follows:
We still didn’t modify a single line of code to fix a bug, but the file is already quite different.
Enter the diff hell
Suppose you checkin your code rearrangement right now (remember you even didn’t fix the bug yet).
Suppose that someone else from your team goes and checks your code now.
This is what a regular side by side diff tool will show:
A few changes and the text based tool trying to match unrelated blocks (like trying to match “findJavaFiles()” with “measureLine()” as shown above).
Obviously the tools are not helping here to embrace best practices...
So you don’t repair the broken windows
Confronted with the previous situation most teams will:
Forbid “code rearrange” during bugfixing to avoid “code review hell”.
As an outcome: the code will deteriorate since many opportunities to make it better will be loss.
There must be a better way
I often talk about how important “code merge” is but sometimes simple daily operations like diffing changes can greatly benefit slightly more clever tools. You’re going to be diffing much more often than merging at the end of the day, and as we’re going to see now, good diffing can help you enforcing good practices like cleaning up code when possible.
Suppose your tool instead of comparing text-blocks does something slightly more intelligent: what if it parses the code first and then compares based on the code structure instead of trying to do line-per-line text matching?
Well, the tool could be able to show you something like the following:
At first glance you’ll see methods were just moved (watch the “m” icons) and basically nothing has been modified yet from a functionality point of view. Quite easy to understand.
Better diffing means more focus on the problem to solve
Now suppose one of the moved methods was really modified. It would take a while to find out with the traditional text-based diff tool, but check what SemanticDiff can do:
Again it is very easy to find where the “real” change is and also to select the method and just diff its contents on a “subdiff” that lets you focus on the right part of the code:
In my case it was like this:
Conclusion
Our focus with SemanticMerge is not only merging but also trying to improve the toolset we have available as developers on a daily basis. Rendering changes on an understandable way can save precious time and as we’ve seen, help you adopt well-known best practices.Homer Stacy II was arrested on aggravated assault charges after he armed himself with a machete and a baseball bat during a dispute with his son about a hedgehog, deputies say.
GREENACRES, Fla. - A South Florida man was arrested on aggravated assault charges after he armed himself with a machete and a baseball bat during a dispute with his son about a hedgehog, authorities said.
Homer Stacy II, 53, was walking outside his Greenacres home Sunday, pushing a wheelchair with a baseball bat and a machete on the seat when deputies arrived, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office report.
When deputies asked Stacy why he had the items, Stacy said they were "for his protection," the report said.
Stacy claimed that he had just walked over to tell his son to come and get his hedgehog that he left at Stacy's home, and that's when his son pushed him, the report said.
As deputies were questioning Stacy, he "went back and forth between being cooperative to belligerent," the report said.
When deputies spoke to Stacy's son, he told them that Stacy had been drinking heavily and instructed him to "go and hurt" a woman, but he refused. Stacy's son said he was leaving to go see his mother when Stacy started yelling at him and stabbing a door with a knife.
Stacy's son said his father pushed him, so he left and "snuck in" later to gather his belongings, but Stacy was already gone. He later encountered Stacy outside, and they started yelling at each other. Stacy's son said his father took off his shirt, picked up the baseball bat and held it as though he intended to hit him with it.
While Stacy was sitting in the back of a deputy's car, he could see his son and began screaming at him, threatening to kill him, the report said.
Stacy was booked into the county jail on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of simple assault. He remained in jail Tuesday morning without bond.
Copyright 2017 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.Actress Farrah Fawcett died this morning after a long and difficult battle with cancer.
From People Magazine:
“Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST on Thursday at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif. She was with longtime partner Ryan O’Neal, friend Alana Stewart, friend and hairdresser Mela Murphy and her doctor Lawrence Piro. She had recently returned to St. John’s for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago.”
People is trying to keep up with the nice things others in the entertainment industry have to say about Farrah Fawcett here.
In a previous post (which included a very favorable review) I embedded video of the complete Farrah’s Story documentary, but it appears as though MSNBC has removed them from their site. Check back though, because surely they will either repost them or announce new air dates for the documentary. Also, I did a tribute post soon after I heard Farrah’s condition was worsening that includes a large drawing, some of my thoughts about Farrah and some fun scans of Charlie’s Angels trading cards.Darion Griswold, the 6'5" 255 TE formerly of the Red Wolves reportedly received an undrafted free agent offer from the Indianapolis Colts, who reportedly took the A-State big man out to lunch after Pro Day. (Why didn't y'all just draft the big guy?)
2016 NFL Draft UDFA reported signing: TE Griswold, Darion, Arkansas State to the Indianapolis Colts @FFMetrics — R.C. Fischer (@CFBMetrics) April 30, 2016
At A-State Pro Day, Big Gris measured well against the invited NFL Combine athletes. His 17 reps of 225 pounds would have ranked him tied for eighth among tight ends(with Jake McGee of Florida and Nick Vannett of Ohio State.) His 31.5 inch vertical would have placed 8th, and his 4.78 40-yd dash* would have ranked 7th fastest.
During his four year career at Arkansas State, Gris' big frame was used primarily for blocking, though the former college basketball payer did score 9 TDs in his heralded four year career. Griswold was the only Sun Belt player invited to the Reese's Senior Bowl in 2016 and was 2nd Team All Sun Belt in 2015 and 2013.
Sadly, Griswold arrived to the Colts too late to make history with Dallas Clark.So finally got permission to share this! This is one of the reasons why I’ve been a little bit quiet online I painted Hyrule Castle from Ocarina of Time, concept art for ‘The Royal Guards’, a Zelda Live Action Web Series on IndieGoGo. Creating this iconic location from the game was so fun!!! I wanted to focus on the bright colours of OoT and the massive scale of the castle.
Pledge on IndieGogo if you want to get the full copy of Season 1 and make this series a reality: (igg.me/at/Royal-Guards/x/10259… ) It’s gonna be awesome!
NOTE: Please DO NOT and REFRAIN from using this artwork anywhere as it is owned by the client. I do not own this artwork, I just painted it and wanted to show it to you cool people. Please contact Derek through his IndieGoGo page if you want permission to use it, he is the owner of this image.He has now been banned home and away for a
A Manchester United supporter has been banned from attending matches for three years after attempting to sell a ticket online.
The fan is thought to have advertised a stub for the away Europa League fixture with Fenerbahce on social media.
United told all supporters before this season started that 'tickets offered for re-sale' would constitute a three-year suspension.
Manchester United have banned a supporter for three years for selling a ticket on social media
The supporter attempted to sell his ticket for United's 2-1 defeat away at Fenerbahce
It is a 'level four offence', with only abusive and aggressive behaviour towards those in a 'working capacity' or any other criminal activity deemed worthy of harsher sanctions.
Sportsmail revealed last month that a new ticket exchange scheme is set to come into force next season to eradicate red-tape problems. They will be able to pass on to other season ticket holders with no problem if the club are informed.
Sources say there has been an increase in offering spares this year because of their Europa League campaign. Fans usually pick up away tickets at a designated spot outside that ground, but it has not been possible for the Feyenoord or Fenerbahce clashes.
Instead, United's travelling support already had their tickets when flying over and it has therefore been suggested selling them on is easier.
The supporter will not be able to watch Jose Mourinho and his team for the next three years
United's decision to ban the supporter home and away has received criticism on social media
Regardless, the decision drew heavy criticism from a section of the support when a club letter emerged on Twitter this week.
The letter read: 'Following our away game against Fenerbahce, it has come to light that the ticket registered to you was advertised for sale on social media.
'The unauthorised or suspected resale of away match tickets is strictly prohibited as stated in the terms and conditions.WARNING: DO NOT EVER EVER LET A YOUNG FILLY HANDLE DANGEROUS TOOLS AND ALWAYS LOCK THE TOOL SHEDThe Applejack version to the original comic [link] This tree is probably one of those malevolent trees in episode two. I wonder if Pinkie Pie could solve the problem.I should probably thank Raxadian and Fellmoon for their valuable ideas even though I thought of them first - What? Why are you giving me that look?Oh, and try not to close your eyes when catching something and handling sharp objects.The final comic will involve the remaining cast to wrap this all up("Another one?! Seriously?! This is getting repetitive!"). I promise it will be the last one.Update: Yeah...about that final comic. I guess it will be severely delayed due to other ideas popping in my head. Nonetheless, there will be one...very soon.Special Thanks to Equestria Daily for featuring this in their comic section.My Little Pony Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.The comic is unofficial and fan-based. Please support the official release.Breakthroughs in biometric science mean future troops will fight with weapons that understand them — inside and out.
Imagine a group of volunteers, their chests rigged with biophysical sensors, preparing for a mission in a military office building outfitted with cameras and microphones to capture everything they do. “We want to set up a living laboratory where we can actually pervasively sense people, continuously, for a long period of time. The goal is to do our best to quantify the person, the environment, and how the person is behaving in the environment,” Justin Brooks, a scientist at the Army Research Lab, or ARL, told me last year.
ARL was launching the Human Variability Project, essentially a military version of the reality-TV show Big Brother without the drama. The Project seeks to turn a wide variety of human biophysical signals into machine-readable data by outfitting humans and their environment with interactive sensors.
The Army is not alone. The Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and their special operations forces are also funding research to collect biophysical data from soldiers, sailors, Marines, and pilots. The goal is to improve troops’ performance by understanding what’s happening inside their bodies, down to how their experiences affect them on a genetic level. It’s not exactly genetically engineering soldiers into superhero Captain Americas; the U.S. military insists they have no intention of using biometric data science for anything like the genetic engineering of superior traits. But it’s close. The military is after the next best thing.
If today’s Pentagon leaders get their way, the next generation of fighter jets, body armor, computer systems, and weapons will understand more about the pilots, soldiers, and analysts using them than those operators understand about the machines they are using. The very experience of flying the plane, analyzing satellite images, even firing a gun could change depending on what the weapon, vehicle, or software detects about the person to whom the weapon is bound. To make this dream real, Pentagon-backed researchers are designing an entirely new generation of wearable health monitors that make Silicon Valley’s best consumer fitness gear look quaint. They’re discovering how to detect incredibly slight changes in focus, alertness, health, and stress — and to convey those signals to machines. Design the boots well enough and the super soldier will arrive to fill them.
Army Research Lab researchers already monitor individual subjects from six months to two years. Brooks wants to expand that to other military training environments, such as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and then to more than a dozen universities. He hopes the data will reveal how people of varied size, weight, height, health, level of alertness, etc., differ in terms of the signals they send out — hence the name “human variability.” That, in turn, will help researchers gather much more precise information on how different people interact with their environment. The ultimate goal is sensors that can tell the Pentagon how each human soldier performs, or could perform, to their best ability, from battlefield to homefront.
“It’s not just while they’re at work, but also when they go on leave,” says Brooks. “This is continuous, with the highest practical resolution that we can obtain for a long period of time. Hopefully, we would see information going into many programs” to build future gear. “A greater understanding of natural human variability would then feed pretty much any system that adapts to the person.”
Related: A Breakthrough in the Checkered History Of Brain Hacking
Related: The Military is Using Human Brain Waves to Teach Robots How to Shoot
It’s an ambitious undertaking, considering the current limitations of body-worn sensors. Over the past two years, the military bought more than $2 million worth of FitBits and other biomedical tracking devices. But it turns out that off-the-shelf consumer devices aren’t good enough for the military’s biotracking ambitions. So researchers are creating a new class of wearables, based on new research into embedding electronic components into fabric. If the electrodes are too small, the signal is worthless; too big, and they feel like an artificial electric shell separating the wearer from the real world. The connection between the environment and the human must remain seamless.
One application for such sensors is helmets that record brain activity while their wearers do their jobs. An ARL team is preparing for continous electroencephalography, or EEG, by using 3-D printing to create helmets that fit perfectly to each individual soldier’s head. But the military is not eager to embed wires and metal into gear that’s meant to protect a soldier during a massive blast. So the lab is constantly looking at new materials, solutions, and tradeoffs, inching toward sensors that collect information without getting in the way of soldiering. Lab technicians showed me one experimental electrode that they were making that was so small and soft to the touch it seemed to have no metal in it at all (they are in fact constructed of nanofibers that conduct electricity, encased in silicon.)
Merged and Monitored: The Fighter Pilot of the Future
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Helmet from Rockwell Collins. Photo courtesy of Rockwell Collins.
The Air Force, as well, needs a next generation of wearables to help tomorrow’s combat aircraft understand their pilots. Modern fighter jets expose human bodies to physical forces that are still not entirely understood. In 2010, multiple F-22 pilots reported in-flight episodes of confusion, shortness of breath, and skin-color changes — all symptoms of hypoxia, or decreased oxygen in the blood. The reason was speed.
“I pull a G in the airplane, blood has a tendency to collect in some of those dependent areas of the body, like the arms and legs and that,” said Dr. Lloyd Tripp, a program manager for aerospace physiology and toxicology at the Air Force Research Lab’s 711th Human Performance Wing. Two years later, the Air Force began to affix sensors inside the helmets of F-22 pilots to read the blood-oxygen level of their temporal artery.
Around the same time, the Russian military was also seeing confusion and skin-color changes among their pilots who pulled high G-forces, Tripp said. Lacking the same sensor technology, Russian commanders began to give pilots blood transfusions before their flights. It didn’t work. Russian pilots flying at supersonic speeds suffered hypoxia at greater rates. “They didn’t actually admit that for quite a few years,” he said. Correct diagnoses enabled the U.S. Air Force to read the problem and improve performance.
Beyond helmets, Air Force researchers are working on what they call a comprehensive cognitive monitoring system. This means exploring what sensor technologies work well for what purposes, and what signals can be detected without interfering with or disturbing the pilot — who is, after all, supposed to be flying a combat mission. Depending on what you seek to measure, they found, you may no longer need a physical sensor on the body. You can now collect incredibly intimate and important internal health data with cameras.
A certain amount of cognitive workload tends to correlate pretty highly with stress generically. You can combine heart rate with several other measures to get at workload stress; vigilance, even. James Christensen, portfolio manager with the 711th Human Performance Wing
Take cerebral oxygenation, the amount of oxygen in the tissue of specific portions of a pilot’s brain. You can measure this key biophysical signal by shining infrared light on the forehead because the blood in front of the skull is about as oxygenated as the brain tissue behind the skull wall. “If I’m shining that infrared light through the skin, I can see the amount of oxygen within the blood in that tissue. As I increase G-force, I’m decreasing the amount of oxygen that I have here and that decrease in oxygen is directly correlated back to decreases in cognitive function,” said James Christensen, a portfolio manager with the 711th Human Performance Wing.
Another research project configured simple laptop-camera lenses to detect whether a person’s hemoglobin is oxygenated, which makes blood shows up slightly redder, or de-oxygenated, which is slightly bluer. Essentially, this lets you read a person’s heart rate from a distance.
Even your breath says something about your physical state. “The ratio between oxygen and carbon dioxide will change as I become more and more fatigued. That’s important because as I’m fatigued, it takes about 24 hours for me to actually recover 100 percent,” Christensen said. “That fatigue is important because my muscles can’t strain to push the blood back to my head and so the probability of me losing consciousness increases significantly.”
Good sensors can even detect changes in metabolism that indicate weariness and stress before the person notices. When you’re stressed, you exhale fat — or rather, water-soluble molecules called ketones that your liver produces from fat. Stress is detectable by the molecular content of your breath.
“We’re working with some folks over at our materials lab and they have a couple of companies that are looking at sensors that are going to be placed in the [pilot’s oxygen] mask that’ll look at those types of fatigue-related volatile organic compounds,” says Christensen.
Your eyes, too, give you away. “Imagine eye-tracking cameras,” Christensen said. “If those can collect not just the motion data and the eye-motion data, but those are also getting heart rate and respiration, then we can have no hardware on you at all and still get all the same physiological metrics…A certain amount of cognitive workload tends to correlate pretty highly with stress generically. You can combine heart rate with several other measures to get at workload stress; vigilance, even.”
“We are comparing it, just for reference, with wet medical electrodes on the chest. Under most conditions, you can do about as well as wet electrodes,” he said. The lab is “testing the limits of how far away can you get and still get a reliable signal. It turns out, it’s mostly an optics problem.” That means cameras and lenses alone can detect those subtle changes in stress and attention. It’s just a matter of figuring out which ones.
There are privacy ramifications to collecting so much information. A simple camera can gather enough biometric data on an individual to understand how small changes in heart rate can be a sign of stress. For a fighter pilot, an analyst, or a soldier, this might help warn of decreased cognitive ability. But among the general population, stress can also be a signal of deception, depending on the context in which that stress expresses itself, such as an interview at a checkpoint. Today’s military-funded biophysical research shows that it’s possible to detect that stress response from 100 meters away, and perhaps even at longer distances. In theory, if you could create a lens that could capture infrared data at sufficient resolution (currently, only a theoretical possibility), you could measure brain tissue oxygenation from low-earth orbit. You could see stress from space.
In theory, if you could create a lens that could capture infrared data at sufficient resolution (currently, only a theoretical possibility), you could measure brain tissue oxygenation from low-earth orbit. You could see stress from space.
When performed without a subject’s awareness or permission, biophysical monitoring can be a violation of privacy. But conducted as part of an experiment with knowing volunteers, like elite soldiers eager to understand their bodies and improve their own performance, it becomes a powerful tool. One former special operations training psychologist, who currently works for a major league baseball team, said the elite soldiers he had served with were eager to improve their performance through data. In the Air Force, pilots want to improve how they fly, complete their missions, interact with their equipment, etc.
Bit by bit, this science is making its way into actual gear and weapons. In the year 2020, Navy SEAL teams and Army Rangers could take down high-value targets while wearing an exoskeleton that’s earned the nickname ‘Iron Man.’ Biophysical sensors will play a big role in the way the suit functions.
In February and March, the Air Force successfully tested a new helmet with “physiological monitoring capabilities,” as Tripp put it. Its heads-up display shows different information based on how the pilot is feeling and other factors. The goal is to give every pilot a slightly different experience based on their unique physical and mental strengths and weaknesses, as well as their physical condition at the moment. Lab researchers and contractors anticipate it will guide the design of the next U.S. fighter jet, to be launched between 2025 and 2030.
“I may do a really, really good job on a spatial cognitive task where I’m looking at a radar warning display, and maybe James doesn’t,” Tripp said. “The thought, down the road, is to quantify my performance in these decreased physiological conditions from a cognitive perspective, and then use the changes in physiology to make the airplane smart about what kind of help I need.”
Kaleb McDowell, lead of ARL’s Center for Adaptive Soldier Technologies, said there will be a fundamental give-and-take when designing the weapons of the future. People perform better when their tools are crafted specifically for them. But it’s hard to design for individuals quickly and at the scale of hundreds of thousands of troops. That’s why the design of weapons software today flows toward averages – and mediocrity. “You’re designing it to be simple for everyone,” McDowell said. “A guy that’s great spatially doesn’t use the spatial capabilities on any system that you see today. A woman that has a great math capability isn’t using that in today’s systems because no one’s conceiving of a system that actually relies on that capability. You just design it for everyone to use.”
So McDowell wants to build weapons that adapt to their users. “I want my system to be able to rely on, say a great memory, poor math capability, and a great spatial capability. I want the system to be able to say, ‘This person’s really creative. How do I tap into that imagination when doing this dull task?’”
But that also affords the military far greater insight into what job or mission they are giving to what soldier. Researchers say that that is a key benefit of the new data-collection programs. “The basic goal here is: we want to get greater precision and accuracy in predicting which people will succeed in particular job areas or missions,” Air Force research psychologist Glenn Gunzelmann said at a National Defense Industrial Association event in March.
You Can Be Programmed and Unprogrammed
What if the Air Force could use an airman’s personal history to predict how he would perform in his surroundings – even in battle? The military already keeps massive records on troops’ lives that, if structured properly, might furnish a treasure trove of mineable health data.
Col. Kirk Phillips, associate chief for bioenvironmental engineering at the U.S. Air Force, and his colleague Dr. Richard Hartman are pioneering a program called Total Exposure Health. The goal is simple: collect and analyze as much data as possible about what happens to soldiers beyond the battlefield, right down to the kinds of molecules to which they are exposed. And in the military, a lot is recorded.
“In the Air Force, for instance, if you want your house treated for an infestation, that gets recorded,” Hartman said. “We have more opportunity to interact with them [people in the military] in that total environment. Where they live and where they work. It’s something that is better known to us. They receive health care from us. We can measure their exposure at work so we can offer to measure their exposure at home. We can know what exposures are in the environment because nobody is saying, ‘Why are you measuring the amount of chemicals in the soil?’”
If you could take that information and convert it into structured data, algorithms could produce all sorts of new insights about how individuals are interacting with their environment, in real time and in incredible detail. Phillips believes that exposure science has enormous applications in the emerging field of epigenetics research.
Here’s where Phillips’ vision becomes both revolutionary and a controversial.
Epigenetics is what your genes do with the change that you experience. It’s based not on your immutable DNA, but rather on your micro-RNA, the tiny molecules that turn on or off in response to stimuli. Think of a stress hormone that your body creates in response to an event. When your stress level goes down, new micro-RNA are formed and that controls gene expression in everything from your metabolism to how well you recover from disease. But it’s incredibly difficult to understand these interactions, precisely because everyone’s genetic makeup is different. Phillips hopes Total Exposure Health will yield a fuller picture of how specific sets of experiences affect specific sets of micro-RNA inside a specific soldier.
You can be programmed and you can be un-programmed. Col. Kirk Phillips, associate chief for bioenvironmental engineering at the U.S. Air Force
“Let’s say that external stress happens to be a chemical exposure you may never encounter, or there may not even be a micro-RNA that turns that part of your gene off that it activated. You may have the gene that activates under that exposure, and I may not. You may be very susceptible to a chemical that I have very little susceptibility to,” Phillips said.
Phillips thinks that if he can detect these kinds of things for the military, Total Exposure Health could revolutionize civilian healthcare as well. It offers high specificity on individual health on a scale of billions of people.
“You’ve probably read in the newspaper that they did a big study and they looked at red wine. They tried to see whether there was a health benefit to drinking red wine. Another study says: Maybe. Another study says: Not really. That’s because it’s population-health-based,” he said. “They’re just trying to pick a random population to see a population level change. If you have a gene that’s not very prevalent in a population, then you won’t get a population result of that exposure. Precision health and medicine says, ‘I should understand your gene in a way that I can understand whether your gene is activated by red wine and whether that activation is a health benefit, or health detractor.’”
“Right now, you might go, ‘I’ve read studies about red wine and they seem to be all over the place. I don’t know whether I should do it.’ Health care of the future would look like this: your physician would say, ‘You know what? We looked at your genome. We know that red wine activates in the genome in a way that provides the health benefit. You don’t have the gene, so only drink red wine to the level that you find it pleasurable in social situations.’”
If Phillips is right, Total Exposure to Health may ultimately give millions of people an incredibly detailed understanding of how their health choices affect their future. Not just, for example, how much alcohol is unhealthy for an average person of their age, weight, etc. to consume,
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all this? Back in the days of the miners' strike, of Red Wedge, the Falklands and the poll tax, there was music, wasn't there? So where is it now? It's a question, he admits, that he's thought about a lot. The 60s generation, Bragg reckons, believed they could change the world through music, because their own lives had been changed forever by rock'n'roll.
"It wasn't that simple," he says. "You can't change the world by selling records. But in the 1980s, that helped me, and others like me. Because when Red Wedge and all that happened, the people who ran the music magazines, they'd all been teenagers in 1968. They gave us a platform. Whereas today, it's not accepted for young bands to be political. They need to feel confident, to feel they've got a base, and it's not there yet. It'll come, though. No one wrote about Vietnam until they started conscripting college-age kids."
The musicians of Bragg's generation can help, he believes, by "showing them that they're not the first to have fought the fight. That's the real role of the musician. Look at me. I wouldn't be sitting here if I hadn't once been to see the Clash. But it wasn't the Clash that changed my world. It was the audience. In the office I was working in at the time, there was a lot of casual racism. I didn't like it, but I wasn't big enough to say anything. But then I went along to Victoria Park in Hackney one afternoon, and there were 100,000 kids there who felt exactly like me. So I went back to work on Monday morning, and I knew I wasn't alone. My world hadn't changed, but my perception of it had. And that's the role of the musician."
Changing perceptions or not, Bragg's never been busier. Besides the tour and the battle of Barking, last year he refused to pay his tax bill as long as the government refused to cap bonuses at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He's visited a dozen prisons as part of his Jail Guitar Doors campaign to bring music-making into prisons; he's been working with the Featured Artists Coalition, representing artists' interests in the digital age.
He curated the Leftfield pop-and-politics tent at Glastonbury; appeared at Speakers' Corner; performed in Pressure Drop, "part play, part gig, part installation" at the Wellcome Collection; visited and inspired student sit-ins. And he was in America for the mid-terms.
As a tactical Lib-Dem voter since 2001, he feels "a dreadful sense of betrayal" now they're in government. "They had some positive things in their manifesto, and they seem to have abandoned the lot of 'em." But he is still a firm believer in the benefits of more plurality in politics, and has been active in the Take Back Parliament campaign for voting reform.
He's taken some flak, but hey, "If you stick you arse out the window, you never know if they're going to kiss it, kick it or stick a flag in it." Right now, though, wife Juliet and son Jack – who took to the stage with his dad last night – are waiting down the corridor, eager to start the drive back to Dorset.
Last year was, he says, "a galvanising year", and 2011 will be more so. "I'm excited, really. We should never underestimate the vigour of youth, and their ability to remake the world. We've got a lot to learn from them – their ability to join things up, take the initiative, not hang around and see what Marx would have said. The old men can sit and shake their heads, you know. Or they can follow the students to the barricades. I know where I'll be."
Here's wishing you a very Happy New Year, Mr Bragg.Natasha Henstridge appeared on Megyn Kelly Today to talk about her allegations of sexual harassment against Brett Ratner.
Henstridge is one of eight women who spoke about Ratner in a Los Angeles Times report. But LAT says that the number of women who have come forward to claim they’ve been harassed by the director has reached 45, Kelly told viewers.
Henstridge said her encounter with Ratner, years ago, happened when she was 19, modeling, and doing TV commercials. She only knew Ratner through mutual friends. One night she joined friends at an apartment near hers, to watch movies. She assumed the apartment was Ratner’s. After falling asleep while watching the movie, she woke up to realize she was alone with him in the apartment.
At first she thought he was merely “coming on strong” and “trying to convince me there was something between us, until I made more of an effort to get out and that’s when I realized he wasn’t playing around any more,” she described to Kelly.
“He got very aggressive.”
She acknowledged a lot of people have asked, “How does somebody force you into oral sex?”
“When you are afraid of somebody, when you physically don’t know what… they’re capable of doing, you submit and I submitted.”
After it was over, she said, she remained “pretty terrified” and ran home “feeling horribly ashamed, but also feeling dirty,” while “realizing I had nothing to do with it. I had no say in it; it was just a horrible situation.”
Asked by Kelly how it felt over the years to watch Ratner’s career take off, she responded, “Seeing him catapult into fame, I thought, ‘Wow, life really isn’t fair’.”
Kelly noted Henstridge also had a run-in with Harvey Weinstein. “Yeah, lucky me,” the actress responded, describing without detail a meeting with Weinstein at her hotel, during Sundance, after which, she said, “one thing led to another… he did some terrible things there and came on to me repeatedly.”
“I don’t know what you say on daytime television,” she said, hesitating.
“Did he pleasure himself in front of you?” Kelly asked, helping her out.
“Yes… I was then stuck in a room, he tried to get into the room… I did manage to avoid an actual physical attack by him,” Henstridge said.
“Just listening to you, it makes you feel outraged,” Kelly responded. “How many times does an actress need to go through this to be in films in Hollywood? Is this the price of doing business?!”
“We have be lulled into an idea this is kind of normal,” Henstridge acknowledged.
Kelly noted both men have denied all allegations against them and either threatened or filed lawsuits in some cases.
That’s what keeps women silent, Henstridge said. “They’re as scared as I am, and I was, two weeks ago coming out about this. You’re afraid you’re going to get sued…by somebody with a gazillion dollars. And you’re going to have your name be dragged through the mud and you’re going to be lied about.”In the small southern town of Bishopville, S.C., two high school football teams rarely cross paths. The public school is 96 percent black and the private school is 97 percent white. Once a year the Fellowship of Christian Athletes brings the teams together to share a meal. (Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. — Two school buses, one yellow and the other white and blue, pull into the rear parking lot of a forgotten building in an antique town, the engines humming as the doors slide open.
A football coach steps off the yellow bus first, into the glow of a cloudless Friday afternoon, and one by one, dozens of coaches and players — mostly black ones from the yellow bus, mostly white ones from the white-and-blue bus — begin filing out. Their voices are mostly silent, and their eyes stay fixed on the back entrance of The Opera House, a brick building opened in the 1890s, meant back then to bring together the people of a still-divided region.
So many decades later, parts of the South have been slow to adjust, hesitant to pack away past division and leave certain memories to gather dust. School segregation officially ended in South Carolina more than 51 years ago, but traces live on. There are two high schools in Lee County, this mostly rural area of about 18,350 residents. The student body of the public high school, Lee Central, is 96 percent black; the private Robert E. Lee Academy — opened in 1965, during the height of the civil rights movement — educates 335 students from kindergarten to 12th grade, and all but 11 of those students are white.
“It’s just divided,” says Danny McMillian, an African American who has spent most of his 51 years in Lee County and is the father of a Lee Central football player. “You stay on your side, I’ll stay on my side.”
Some residents choose to ignore the lingering separation, and others seem comfortable keeping things just as they have been. A growing number, though, have turned to the traditionally colorblind authority of sports — and, in particular, football — to ease leftover tension and, if nothing else, introduce the people on one side of Lee County to those on the other. Although sports teams at South Carolina public schools do not play those at private schools, for the past dozen years, the Lee Central and Robert E. Lee football teams have met for an annual pregame meal.
“The folks that I talk to around town, they’ve said: ‘This is long overdue. We’ve needed something like this,’ ” says Carroll Baker, a local Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader who suggested a dozen years ago that the teams get together.
On this day, a caterer loads gallons of sweet tea and platters of baked chicken onto a cart, pulling it through a rear door and up an elevator. Tables soon will be circled not with familiar faces but with strangers, matched by football position: skill players here, linemen over there. They will sit together where arias once bounced off the brick walls, before time eroded this and other traditions, turning the building into a furniture store, an event space, a relic of a bygone time.
But for now, as the young men find their way inside, they walk along racial lines: whites with other whites, young African Americans talking and joking only with those in matching black and gold jerseys — two groups still keeping their distance. “It has been like that forever,” says Marty Santimaw, the parent of a white Lee Central student.
1 of 23 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Where common ground is a 100-yard field View Photos In a South Carolina county, one school is mostly white, the other mostly black, and the common language is football. Caption In a South Carolina county, one school is mostly white, the other mostly black, and the common language is football. The Southern Game Part Two Dayrice Austin, 15, center left, leans in to chat with Bryce Barrett, 14, center right, as football players from the public Lee Central High School gather to share a meal with players from the private Robert E. Lee Academy. Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Creating a dividing line
Five decades ago, a young attorney named Tom Turnipseed traveled South Carolina, listening to its people and nodding his head at their worries.
In the mid-1960s, there was concern among whites, and then there was perceived crisis. “We thought the worst thing in the world was to integrate the schools,” Turnipseed, 78, says now. “We didn’t want to be seen as segregationists, but that’s what we were.”
With desegregation looming, private academies sprung up, charging tuition that many African American families wouldn’t be able to afford. Turnipseed, who says he’s the grandson of a Ku Klux Klan member, was named executive director of the South Carolina Independent Schools Association; he says he met with state officials and researched tax exemptions. He pushed to tone down defiance, preferring to keep the talk centered on smaller class sizes, specialized learning, and how the academies were, at least technically, open to anyone who could afford it.
To many of the county’s black residents, a third of whom live under the poverty line, the fees still seem aimed at creating a dividing line, feeding a perception that in places like this whites and blacks exist in different universes. Robert E. Lee Academy’s annual tuition is $4,080.
In 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the median household income among Lee County’s blacks was $24,048; sending one child to Robert E. Lee would account for more than a sixth of such an income. The median income of a white family was $40,685.
McMillian, a longtime resident, says the races get along better these days — a pregame meal involving both schools’ football teams would’ve been unheard of years ago, he says — but he believes the tuition was meant decades ago to “keep the blacks away,” though few whites today are willing to acknowledge that.
“Everybody knows it, but they don’t want to admit it,” says Turnipseed, a former state senator who refers to himself as a reformed racist; he has spent the last 40 years trying to undo many of the divisive actions of the first half of his life. “I was taught to love your heritage; that’s what you do in South Carolina. But our heritage is racist. It’s just handed down.”
The Lee Central High School football team holds after-school practice at the school. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Social gulf had grown
The sun sinks beneath the tree line, and Lee Central players stand near an end zone, on the edge of a darkened cotton field.
It is a Thursday evening, and the week’s final practice is complete. The annual meal with Robert E. Lee’s football team is one day away. “We’re going downtown tomorrow,” Lee Central Coach Baron Turner says, going over the time players should gather the next day in the locker room and which jerseys will be worn. More than four dozen faces look back at him. “Now bow your heads,” Turner says, and the eyes close, fingers curl around helmet facemasks, and each free hand finds itself on a teammate’s shoulder.
Turner, who is black, dismisses the group, and Mitch Santimaw, a 16-year-old wide receiver and tight end, slaps hands with teammates as they call it a day. He arranges his normal ride home with Jalen Simon, a fellow receiver.
Better hurry! someone calls toward Santimaw as he walks slowly off the football field. We’re leeeeaving! Santimaw shakes his head and smiles. “They love me,” he says.
Santimaw is Lee Central’s only white football player, and across town Tyson Kirven, who is biracial, is Robert E. Lee’s only player of color. When Santimaw’s family moved here about a decade ago from Syracuse, N.Y., his father researched the local history. There were two school systems, and soon Marty Santimaw learned why. Tensions had eased during the decades since desegregation, but in Bishopville, it was partly because two cultures had learned to live separately — one side mostly oblivious to the other.
“I don’t think the Lee Central kids sit out there and think about Robert E. Lee, and I don’t think Robert E. Lee kids think about Lee Central kids much,” says David Rankin, the coach at Robert E. Lee.
Although the schools sit less than five miles apart, a social gulf had grown. If a student at one school passed a student from the other school, it was rare they’d acknowledge each other. “We don’t really talk about them, worry about them,” Kirven says. To further separate the schools, the football teams have never played — and, Turner speculates, have never even practiced together.
Marty Santimaw first enrolled his son at Robert E. Lee, figuring the cost was worth a more streamlined education. But when he lost his job, he found himself unable to afford the monthly tuition payments. Mitch transferred to public school, eventually reaching Lee Central as one of a handful of white faces in a school of about 615 students.
He was quiet, Santimaw’s dad says, but then Mitch found his way onto basketball courts and football fields, where athletes are taught to depend on their teammates, no matter their skin color or background. He began inviting his new friends to play ball at his house, reserving a seat in Simon’s overcrowded car, sharing a huddle with those he once assumed he shared little common ground with.
“That’s Mitch. That’s it. Just Mitch,” Turner says, sitting in his office. “We love him just like anybody else.”
During practices and games, the receiver says, he no longer felt different. Santimaw’s new friends refer to him now as “White Lightning.” Kirven, 17, says his experience has been similar: Football has helped him to fit in, to dial back the distant perceptions of other races, to laugh instead of fight when a teammate teases Kirven about eating fried chicken. “They’ve just gotten used to me, I guess,” he says with a smile.
In the distance on this Thursday evening, the parking lot is coming alive with red dots — taillights. Mitch notices them. Before he goes, he makes one last point. “I know every single player on this field has each other’s backs. We all love each other. We’re a family. We’re a team,” he says, sprinting away a moment later to catch his ride.
Small signs of progress
The hope a dozen years ago, Baker says now, was to bring two groups together and, through the framework of football and Christian faith, sit them down and see what happened.
“It wasn’t a thing of black or white,” Baker says he has learned. “It was that they just didn’t know each other.”
Baker, a Lee County native who attended Robert E. Lee during the 1970s, became an area representative in 2002 of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a sports ministry that works alongside athletes and coaches. Almost immediately, he met with Rankin and Turner, proposing an annual pregame meal that, even for a couple hours, brought together the county’s two high school football teams. The coaches liked it, and supporters wondered why it had taken so long to stir such a simple idea. “It’s always seemed like the right thing to do,” Baker says.
After a few years of holding the dinners, Baker began seeing signs — albeit small — of progress, even after the evening programs ended and the teams went their separate ways for the next 364 days. He and the coaches began thinking that, if past generations emphasized separation, creating this environment, what would be the priorities of the next wave?
“Somewhere in the politics of this town, they’re going to meet up,” Rankin says of the young people. “At least they’ve got an idea of who’s who.”
Mitch Santimaw, Lee Central’s only white football player, said, “I know every single player on this field has each other’s backs. We all love each other. We’re a family. We’re a team.” (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Robert E. Lee Academy Coach David Rankin said, “I don’t think the Lee Central kids sit out there and think about Robert E. Lee, and I don’t think Robert E. Lee kids think about Lee Central kids much.” (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
The boundaries relax
They walk into The Opera House, keeping their eyes forward. The players from Robert E. Lee climb the stairs first, followed by those from Lee Central.
They stay quiet, staying in their lanes, following the footsteps of the past. They reach the second-floor performance hall, pull chairs from under tables, and sit and say nothing. Eyes wander, looking for familiar faces. A few players stare at their phones. An uncomfortable minute or so passes, and then without announcement, DaNarius McMillian, Danny McMillian’s son and a Lee Central linebacker and place kicker, stands and reaches a hand across the table, and a Robert E. Lee freshman named Jamie Walker leans forward and shakes it.
Everyone at the table begins greeting each other, exchanging names and asking about their teams.
“What’s y’all’s record?” McMillian asks Walker Gainey, a Robert E. Lee offensive lineman seated at his left, and soon they are chattering about games, the fact that Robert E. Lee runs a spread offense and a base 4-3 defense, and how about that, because those are the same formations Lee Central uses. They discover that they know some of the same people and that, though they seemingly come from different places, they speak the same language.
“He’ll throw them wheel routes,” Lee Central wide receiver Dayrice Austin tells Robert E. Lee quarterback Bryce Barrett.
“The deep stuff?” Barrett says.
“Like a fade.”
“Can he throw it far? About 50?”
“Over 50.”
Barrett nods. “That’s pretty good,” he says.
No one here believes moments like this will fully erase the county’s divide. But it seems like a start: As minutes turn to hours, the players talk sports and clear their plates, stand together in line to get seconds. Then they return to the tables and keep chatting, forgetting as they talk football that, the boundaries relaxed from even a few minutes earlier, they are talking. “The kinds of things I would hope to see happen,” Baker says. “Little steps, yes. Just breaking the ice, taking the little steps, acknowledging each other.”
The coaches discuss doing this more often, maybe participating in a summer football tournament or scheduling a joint workout. When the food is gone and the plates are cleared, guest speaker and former Auburn football player Foster Christy having completed his final remarks, the time has come to separate once again.
The players walk down the steps, this time a few Robert E. Lee players blended with the group from Lee Central, and when they reach the rear parking lot and head for the buses, a few of them slap hands and exchange phone numbers. Austin, the Lee Central wide receiver, jumps into the Robert E. Lee bus: “Wait for me! Wait for me!” he shouts, waving his arms and smiling. Kirven pushes his elbows through a window, watching the young men who pass, a few of them wishing each other good luck and others telling the others that maybe they’d see them again soon.ALLEN PARK -- Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was accused of fleeing the scene of an accident during a road rage incident last week.
As it turns out, Suh tried to do the right thing.
Steve Vines said that Suh sideswiped him, and then acted irrationally after the alleged act on October 11. Vines alleged that after Suh hit his car, Detroit's defensive tackle left the scene of the accident, and he was forced to call police.
However, it appears Suh was the first person to notify police, according to the 911 tape obtained by FOX2 News.
Suh called 911 at 6:28 a.m., one minute before Vines' call, and informed police dispatch that he was in an accident. Here is a portion of Suh's interaction with 911 after the accident occurred near the Lions' practice facility:
After the Dearbon Police Department responded, no tickets were issued to either driver.
Suh was heavily criticized for his lack of accountability because of the alleged incident with Vines, but it appears Detroit's defensive tackle tried to act responsibly after the accident.A graduate student at Columbia University recently published her Ph.D. thesis, arguing that “asexual microaggressions” are a form of “discrimination” against people who don’t date.
Aasha Foster, a Counseling Psychology graduate student at Columbia, developed the first “Asexual Microaggressions Scale” to gauge the frequency of microaggressions that asexual people face, such as being told that asexuality is “just a phase” and being called a “prude.”
"Asexual women and men had higher rates of anxiety than heterosexual men and women."
According to her scale, other “asexual microaggressions” include being told asexuality “isn’t real,” facing concerns that they will “live out [their] life alone,” and being told that “asexual discrimination” doesn’t exist.
[RELATED: Profs discover 5 new types of 'invisibility microaggressions']
Foster outlines 24 different types of microaggressions that asexual people face, and created a questionnaire that researchers can use to gauge their prevalence. Participants were recruited online from social media sites including “Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, and the Asexuality Education and Visibility Network,” with Tumblr comprising 67.07 percent of recruits.
Though she says that these sites are “key to recruitment in the study of asexuality,” Foster concedes that recruiting from them may skew the data “towards people who have found an online community of people who think or feel similarly and have access to more information about asexual community issues.”
Researching microaggressions is important because they can cause “psychological distress,” “emotional difficulty,” and “depressive symptoms,” Foster warns, asserting that “Asexual women and men had higher rates of anxiety than heterosexual men and women" due to the stigma and marginalization they face.
[RELATED: Prof calls for'moratorium on microaggression training']
To fight this marginalization, Foster calls for more advocacy efforts and research to normalize asexuality, saying that in addition to greater recognition of the issues that asexual people face, “further study of the impact of these microaggressions and other macroaggressive experiences would be another area of next steps.”
She also calls for future researchers of asexual microaggressions to take an "intersectional" approach, warning that her research was conducted among mostly “young white women,” and therefore cannot address the experiences of asexual individuals who also hold other marginalized identities.
“When examined through [the lens of intersectionality], asexual prejudice and microaggressions may shift in salience, intensity, and/or frequency, thus further research will help contextualize and extend the findings of this dissertation,” Foster concludes.
Campus Reform reached out to Aasha Foster for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication. Previously, her research has focused on how religious belief predicts “internalized heterosexism” among gays and lesbians.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_AiraksinenHYT has just premiered its second hydro-mechanical wristwatch, the H2, created in collaboration with AP Renaud & Papi. This is essentially a more elaborate version of the earlier H1, with added functions conceived by AP R&P like its crown function selector.
As with the HYT H1, the hours are indicated by the meniscus of two fluids in a tube running around the edge of the dial. Driven by twin bellows arranged in a “V”, the liquid instantaneously retreats back to six once it reaches six on the other side; in that way it is a retrograde display. And in the image below the time reads 10:34.
In addition to the fluid display, the H2 has a temperature indicator at nine o’clock. This tells the wearer if the fluid is at the optimum temperature range – novel but not useful. The eight day power reserve, however, is convenient.
And it has two more functions which will be familiar to those who know AP R&P movements. The first is the crown function indicator – H, N and R – at three o’clock. Pressing the crown allows the wearer to wind (R) or set the time via the crown (H), there is no need to pull it out. And “N” refers to the neutral position. Also, the minutes are indicated by a retrograde hand. When it reaches the 30 minute mark at six o’clock, it jumps back to continue at 30 minutes on the other side of the “6” marker. This allows the minute hand to avoid the bellows. A similar function can be found in the Chanel J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse Tourbillon, which was also made by Renaud & Papi. The case is black DLC coated titanium. Only 50 pieces will be made with an estimated price of CHF90,000-98,000. – SJXA longtime Winnipeg human rights and immigration advocate is joining the growing chorus of voices demanding the federal government dump its Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.
Under the agreement, which came into effect in 2004, individuals seeking protection must make a claim in the first country they arrive in — either Canada or the U.S.
That requires Canada to send back to the U.S. any claimants entering Canada via its land border with the U.S., based on the premise that the U.S. is a safe country in which they can make their asylum claim.
"I don't want border security people sending people into danger in the United States. It's obvious [asylum seekers] are not going to be processed there anymore," said Marty Dolin, who spent more than two decades as head of Welcome Place, Manitoba's largest refugee-settlement agency.
"They're going to be jailed or worse."
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Friday that restricts travel from seven Muslim countries for 90 days, suspends all refugee admission for 120 days, and bars all Syrian refugees indefinitely.
Trump has insisted the travel restrictions are critical to preventing terrorist attacks, though no immigrant from any of those countries has committed a fatal act of terror on U.S. soil.
Dolin wants Canada to order border security agents to refuse to send anyone back to the U.S.
"Anybody who's coming here should be entitled to be processed according to Canadian standards and according to Canadian rules, not dumped back into the United States where they'd be in serious danger these days," he said. He urged the public to write letters to their MPs and Prime Minister Trudeau.
Dolin's sentiments are strongly echoed in an open letter sent to federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and signed by more than 200 law professors across the country.
'Nativist fear-mongering'
The letter says Trump's order demonstrates the U.S. is no longer safe for refugees and reflects "the very bigotry, xenophobia and nativist fear-mongering that the international refugee regime was designed to counteract.
"We condemn these actions and statements in the strongest possible terms," the letter states, adding that the "chaotic, inconsistent and arbitrary" administration of the ban at the border has exposed refugees to more risk.
The letter cites concern over Trump's suggestion that he is open to considering the use of torture.
The actions and statements made by Trump and his administration are inconsistent with the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Convention Against Torture, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and many other international human rights instruments, the letter states.
Karen Busby, a professor in the University of Manitoba's faculty of law and the academic director of the Centre for Human Rights Research, was one of eight professors from the U of M who signed the letter. "Many would argue that the U.S. already, prior to Trump, was a place that wasn't that safe for asylum seekers, and of course now, given the position that the government has taken very strongly against asylum seekers, it's become an even less safe place for them," she said.
U of M law professor Shauna Labman also signed the letter. Labman specializes in refugee and immigration law and served as consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in India.
She said the realities of international travel mean most refugee claimants have easier access to the U.S. than they do to Canada.
"One of the concerns is that the Safe Third Country agreement encourages people not to appear at the border, encourages them to come illegally, she said. "That's where we saw Yahya Samatar swim across the river, that's where we've seen these men from Ghana cross in the cold winter and get frostbite."
Others who have called for the agreement to be scrapped or reworked include Amnesty International, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the federal New Democratic Party.
The NDP has also called on the Trudeau government to work with partners around the world to deal with the sudden shortfall in refugee resettlement.
Janet Dench, executive director of the Montreal-based Canadian Council of Refugees, said that suspending the safe-country agreement would also mean people would be able to make a refugee claim without risking their lives scrambling across the border in secret and cutting through snowy fields in frigid temperatures.
That has been the case in Manitoba, where the number of asylum seekers has soared.
In the past three months, Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council staff have met with more than 80 applicants looking to make refugee claims. The normal number for an entire year is 50 to 60.
On Christmas Eve, two refugees from Ghana were hospitalized in Winnipeg with frostbite after getting lost on Highway 75, near the Canada-U.S. border at Emerson.
"We could put an end to the people crossing the border irregularly and putting their life and limbs at risk in frigid temperatures. So it would be safer for everybody," Dench said.
"It would also mean we would be secure that we weren't sending people back to the U.S. knowing that the situation in the U.S. is very unclear and that we may be violating our international obligations.
"If the U.S. is not going to protect them and they end up being sent back to face persecution we are also sharing in a guilt for having sent them back to persecution."A former Goldman Sachs banker suspected of taking confidential documents from a source inside the government has agreed to plead guilty, a rare criminal action on Wall Street, where Goldman itself is facing an array of regulatory penalties over the leak.
The banker and his source, who at the time of the leak was an employee at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of Goldman’s regulators, will accept a plea deal from federal prosecutors that could send them to prison for up to a year, according to lawyers briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The men, both fired after the leak, also may face lifetime bars from the banking industry.
In a statement, a Goldman spokesman emphasized that the banker worked for the firm for less than three months, and that the bank “immediately began an investigation and notified the appropriate regulators” once it detected the leak. Nonetheless, the bank is expected to pay a significant penalty.
Under a tentative deal with New York State’s financial regulator, the lawyers said, Goldman would pay a fine of $50 million and face new restrictions on how it handled delicate regulatory information. The settlement with the Department of Financial Services would also force Goldman to take the rare step of acknowledging that it failed to adequately supervise the former banker — thrusting the bank back into the spotlight just as it was beginning to overcome a popular image as a firm willing to cut corners to turn a profit.The question of how a prospect that only appeared in 18 games last season, and performed poorly, yet still managed to jump up three spots after having been ranked 5th by our staff last summer is a fair one, although I’d caution that 1/3 of the voters involved have changed since then. That probably has more to do with the shift than anything else, really.
With that being said, it’s also surely a testament to what we believe is Hunter Shinkaruk’s dynamism as a prospect. That high-end skill level explains why we continue to have Shinkaruk rated this high on our list, despite his most recent ‘lost’ season.
Shinkaruk’s disappointing campaign was reflected in my own personal rankings, where he dropped from the top spot to firmly in second behind the guy we all know is number one on this list at this point. Still, I remain steadfast in my belief that Shinkaruk has the greatest reasonable ceiling among any player currently in the team’s system.
Though we remain bullish on Shinkaruk’s prospects of developing into an impact player at the NHL level, there are some significant red flags that significantly impact his projections. Obviously the hip surgery which kept him off of the ice for nearly 7 months is the big one here but there’s also the drop in play he exhibited prior to having his ’13-’14 season end prematurely.
I spoke with WHL scout Cody Nickolet about what he was seeing from Shinkaruk early on last season:
“Yes, his lackluster production in ’13-’14 was definitely due to the injury. Even from seeing him early in the year you could tell something just wasn’t quite right with his game. Normally a player of his calibre really steps his game up following the season he gets drafted, especially when he was a first round selection. We just didn’t see that with Hunter before the start of December. He didn’t have the same explosiveness and power in his stride and he didn’t seem as involved as he had been in the past. As a bit of a side note, his hip problem makes me wonder. Most people who follow prospects closely know that Hunter has a bit of an odd skating stride in that he uses his inside edges a lot and does a ton of pivoting with his body, just like Jeff Skinner and Crosby like to do. I wonder if that played into the cause of the injury at all and also wonder if the surgery will alter how he skates and plays the game. That’s all speculation on my point and I guess we’ll find out soon.”
In a somewhat sadistic way, that comes as a relief, if not a surprise. It’s impossible to definitively quantify how much of Shinkaruk’s suppressed production can be attributed to the injury he was nursing, though Cody’s sentiments have seemed to be universally echoed by those in the know.
Anecdotally, I remember seeing him live back in November and – despite the show he put on after the game – coming away rather unimpressed by his individual performance. At the time I chalked that up to noise that accompanies a one-time viewing, but retrospectively the lack of a higher gear and general tentativeness which plagued his shortened season makes sense given what we now know.
Prior to his draft eligible season (or two summers ago), Corey Pronman raved about his innate ability to get around the ice, accentuating the other prevalent tools in his arsenal in a symbiotic manner:
“He moves effortlessly as a skater, showing the ability to gain power from each stride. That allows him to divert more energy to his playmaking. His agility makes him tough to check in open ice. He turns his hips a lot, and his wide skating stance makes it difficult to predict where he will move.“
It would make sense that a relatively serious hip ailment would be even more potentially restricting to Shinkaruk than to most others, given that understanding. And after having attempted to slog through the schedule since initially tweaking it in the 6th game of the season – presumably
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stand behind. We exist to mediate bad decisions. In effect – we’re their outsourced brain.
If creating were as easy as using software proficiently, everyone who knew Word would have created novels in their spare time. Those who knew Excel would have balanced their budgets with aplomb, and skilled Outlook users could send Html emails to their family without batting an eye.
And so more important than learning the tools, a young designer must accept that their first job is rooted in psychology: How do you lead a team through a series of open-ended decisions?
We’ve found that the greatest obstacle to decision-making is fear. It crops up in emails, or in conference calls, veiled through feedback, or tucked away in a hurried voicemail. Giving up control even for a moment is hard. It takes trust and respect and asks you to forget the potential failures that could lie ahead. Most people invite fear in for dinner. And once inside your heart, fear doesn’t leave easily. It makes itself home and infects choices and undermines your ability to act. How can a project possibly move forward when filled with so much doubt?
“I’m afraid for my job.” “I’m afraid my board won’t like this.” “I’m afraid the president will hate that.” “I’m afraid customers will dislike it.” “I’m afraid we went too far.” “I’m afraid we didn’t go far enough.”
We’ve worked with hundreds of start-ups. Every single start-up that had a problem deciding on a design for a logo or business card has failed. Not one, not five, every single one.
And the reason is that small decisions are reflections of larger decisions. If you are filled with fear and doubt when it comes to pointing at a brand you admire, you’ll see this same fault amplified 100x when the important business decisions arrive. After all, the color of your logo won’t matter if you don’t satisfy your clients in time.
So a note to the young designers: When looking for good clients, find the fearless. They don’t have time to mull over doubt. You’ll see them by the trail of success they’ve left behind and the strength to trust over worry.
And a note to entrepreneurs: Your job is to stare fear in the face and keep moving forward.The sudden new reality of oil at $85 US a barrel is a jarring wake-up for the three oil-rich provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Oil prices touched new lows Friday, down almost $1 to $84.90 a barrel. That's the lowest price seen since April 2013. The price for the main North American oil benchmark, known as West Texas Intermediate, is now down more than 20 per cent from recent highs — which means oil has met the technical definition of a price correction.
In a report titled 'Life with $85 Oil' BMO economist Robert Kavcic noted those lower prices are costing billions to Canada's three most oil-dependent provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.
In recent budgets, all three provinces made revenue projections based on assumptions that oil prices would be a lot higher than they are.
Alberta's estimates are based on oil being about $97 a barrel. Saskatchewan assumed just under $100 a barrel. And while Newfoundland and Labrador bases its oil projections on Europe's benchmark, known as Brent Crude, that province was assuming the price would average about $105 a barrel. Brent was going for about $115 per barrel as recently as June. Today, it's at $89.
'Quiet windfall' for consumers
Drivers may be breathing a sigh of relief at the pumps because of lower crude prices, but that cheaper oil is costing oil companies — and possibly more important, governments — billions.
Kavcic estimates that at current prices, based on its royalty regime Alberta is missing out on $1.2 billion in revenue. That's about three per cent of the province's entire funds.
"After a strong start to the year for prices, there’s now downside risk here if prices stay at or below recent levels for the remainder of the fiscal year," Kavcic said. "Longer-term plans (mostly in the $95 range) would also be at risk if these prices stick."
If it keeps up, the damage could be significant. "What does all this portend?" CIBC economist Peter Buchanan asked rhetorically Friday, "Much depends on whether prices stay at their beaten-down lows, sag still further or reclaim some of the last two months’ losses."
Capital Economics economist David Madani estimates the Canadian economy as a whole could lose as much as $11-billion worth of exports this year — as much 0.6 per cent of GDP — because of lower oil prices.
His outlook is not as bleak as Kavcic's, however, in that he thinks oil would have to drop a lot further still before expansion plans in the Athabasca oilsands would halt.
"Canadian price per barrel remains at levels above... cost, which we figure is between $60 and $80 per barrel," he said. "We suspect that world oil prices would have to fall below $70 per barrel before seriously endangering future production prospects."
Loonie cushions price drop
Much of the drop in prices, however, is being cushioned by a corresponding drop in the value of the loonie. Oil is priced on the U.S. dollar, which has been on a tear of late compared to the loonie. So cratering crude values aren't hurting Canada as much as they could be, because oil companies are taking in more loonies for every U.S. dollar they get for selling oil.
There's also another economic upside to lower oil prices, in that cheaper energy generally means lower transportation costs for all other industries, and more money in Canadians' pockets to spend on other goods, which grows the economy elsewhere.
It’s a quiet windfall for global consumers — BMO economist Doug Porter
The parts of the country that import oil (namely Ontario and Quebec) are likely to see a benefit from cheaper crude, Buchanan said. That alone could be enough to make the current weakness in oil a wash, from the perspective of the national economy. "The regional implications of oil price changes for that reason have typically overshadowed the national ones," Buchanan noted.
Other countries are also likely to benefit from cheaper oil, and that's good news for Canadian companies that sell to them.
"While lower oil prices is bad for Canada, the benefit to other net importing nations may boost economic growth, promoting non-oil exports to Canada," Madani said. "This would help cushion the blow to Canada's economy."
As Kavcic's colleague Doug Porter put it: "While this is bad news indeed for the hottest regions of North America it’s a quiet windfall for global consumers."
"The drop in energy prices acts as a tax cut for consumers by giving a small bump to real disposable income."“Calvinism is a bleak, oppressive form of Christianity.” The sentiment is a common one. Finding quotations like this one from John Calvin’s letter to the Catholic Cardinal Sadoleto may seem to confirm it. “Whenever I descended into myself or turned my eyes to you, extreme terror seized me, which no expiations or satisfactions could cure.” Here, we surmise, is the rotten heart of Calvinism: the lost soul searching for some kind of mercy only finds endless self-examination compounded by a terrifying vision of a merciless Creator. Powerful pieces of literature like Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and John Updike’s In the Beauty of the Lilies have helped to perpetuate this negative image, inserting it firmly into the modern consciousness.
Though common, we might still take a moment to scrutinize the sentiment. Calvinism is robust Augustinianism. It is confessional in character. By that I mean it encourages looking back at the work of God in one’s life and marveling at that work; confessing that God has faithfully brought the believer through arduous difficulties up to the present day. Calvinism, then, takes this assurance into its assessment of the future. God has been faithful in the past, and will continue to be.
So Calvinism encourages self-examination. But it does more than that. To self-examination it adds God-examination. Calvinism happily embraces the sentiment expressed by Augustine: “I desire to know God and the soul. Nothing besides? Nothing whatsoever.” Calvin himself put it this way: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess,” he said, “consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” Jonathan Edwards said the same thing in The Freedom of the Will. It is a Calvinist axiom.
This two-fold knowledge produces “extreme terror”; as Calvin said. This rather-startling fact requires some explanation. Calvin’s words (which may or may not be autobiographical) relate to an individual’s entrance into this knowledge and explain the effect this knowledge initially has on a person. Calvinism contends that true self-knowledge is profoundly humbling. Human beings are naturally arrogant. The first thing such knowledge impacts is their sense of well-being. This manifests itself in various ways depending on a person’s temperament, but a strong response of the kind mentioned by Calvin is not uncommon.
But this two-fold knowledge is, ultimately, the source of human happiness. So, Calvinism recognizes a movement from despair to contentment. The puritans, many of whom were Calvinists, used to write extensively about this. They described a good kind of sorrow arising from self-examination and distinguished it from harmful sorts of sorrow (which they often called melancholia). They produced what were called morphologies of conversion, plotting the steps through which a person would go on their way from sorrow over their sin to regret, despair, and misery, and then eventually to hope, faith, and joy.
Later Calvinists also talked about this. Nineteenth-century preachers and theologians like Robert Murray M’Cheyne, W.G.T. Shedd and Robert Lewis Dabney, used to warn against excessive and incautious self-examination. It was, they said, dangerous and should be avoided. Instead, they counselled: “For every one look at you take at yourself, take ten looks at Christ,” so M’Cheyne used to tell his parishioners in Dundee, Scotland.
To Calvinists, human happiness does not take the form of uninterrupted euphoria; rather, it is quite different. Marilynne Robinson, the American Calvinist author who wrote Housekeeping, Gilead, and most-recently Lila speaks in a 2008 interview in The Paris Review about her life, reflecting at one point: “The ancients are right: the dear old human experience is a singular, difficult, shadowed, brilliant experience that does not resolve into being comfortable in the world.” Robinson continues in this vein throughout the interview, communicating the idea that a kind of deep contentment pervades her life alongside the trials, exhilaration, and boredom of this world, to which she does not feel particularly wedded. This sense of detachment from the world has nothing to do with her politics, income level, or choice of profession. It does not leave her distraught or anxiety-ridden. Rather, she knows a contentment that is felt on a plane below that of the humdrum of daily life.
We see this in Calvin as well. Commenting on Psalm 13, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?,” Calvin asserts that the Psalmist’s lament is not an expression of resignation or unbelief. Quite the opposite. It reveals an unshakeable hope which is confirmed by the rest of the Psalm. The believer laments, Calvin says, because she knows that her Father loves her and will hear her. Thus, the most despair-inducing, dehumanizing experiences she can go through cannot silence her.
So, to the Calvinist, it is not her religion that is bleak and oppressive; rather, life is. Life is hard. Human sinfulness is pervasive, intransigent, blinding. Calvinism just tries to take these facts seriously. It does, however, offer profound joy and a peace that is bottomless and enduring, with the proviso that “the ancients are right.”
Featured image credit: Interior of the Oude kerk in Amsterdam (south nave) by Emanuel de Witte (1617-1692). Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.A dozen four-legged heroes bravely served our country overseas, saving thousands of American lives. But for the past year and a half, they’d been living in limbo at a kennel in Chester, Virginia, while a contract company who purchased the dogs from the Department of Defense tried to place them as therapy dogs. The new job for the dogs never came through, leaving the kennel owner to care for them indefinitely.
But finally, yesterday, July 27, the dogs were taken under the care of the United States War Dog Association and a nonprofit, Mission K9 Rescue, who are working to reunite the dogs with their handlers or find new homes for them to live out their retirement. Meanwhile, the man who cared for them and rehabbed them for the past 17 months is in financial distress.
The dogs originally arrived in the kennel in February 2014, where they were to stay for only six to eight weeks.
“When the K9 warriors were delivered to Mt. Hope Kennels on February 10, 2014, they were originally the property of the Department of Defense and were adopted by a private contract company,” said Mission K9 Rescue cofounder Kristen Maurer. “The plan for the dogs was to be repurposed for another mission, but that never happened.”
The kennel owner, Greg Meredith, is owed $150,000 on top of the out-of-pocket expenses that he said reached the tens of thousands. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Meredith recover the costs he spent caring for the dogs.
“This guy has lost everything taking care of these dogs,” Mission K-9 Rescue cofounder Bob Bryant told us. “I’m amazed at how energetic, friendly, and happy they are. These dogs have been emotionally nourished and cared for.”
Some of that care involved giving medication and treating severe war trauma, like PTSD. “The dogs are in really in great shape,” said cofounder Kristen Maurer. “This kennel owner could have just abandoned them, but he exercised them and kept them mentally stimulated. The dogs really love him.”
Meredith told AKC that the dogs showed up emaciated and half of them suffered from PTSD. One needed surgery to removed shrapnel from his tail. “We rehabbed them, loved them, exercised them. We took care of them,” said Meredith, who has also rehabilitated dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s fighting ring. “These dogs served our country. They don’t have a voice, and if I hadn’t spoken up for them, I think they might not be alive now.”
At least eight will be reunited with their handlers, and Mission K-9 Rescue is working on finding the last four handlers.
Meredith explains that one dog, Abby, was promised to his handler, but the man tragically died in a car accident. The man’s wife and two children are now taking the yellow Lab home. “This is the last connection that they have to their father,” Meredith says.
He also told us about Moto, a mixed-breed who was reunited with his handler, Ethan Mordue, yesterday. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”
“All in all, it’s been financially devastating for us, but it’s been well worth it to see the good that’s coming to these dogs.”
If the dog’s handlers are not able to take them in, they will be available for rehoming. All applicants must submit a notarized application from Mission K9 to be considered.
To apply or to help financially, send an email to Mount Hope Kennel, or visit Mission K9 Rescue or U.S. War Dog Association.Morecambe fan Terry Ainsworth (left) with team manager Jim Bentley
Riding in an ambulance and staying in A&E until 04:00 with a fan who collapsed at a club gala dinner might not be in the job description of a football manager.
But Morecambe boss Jim Bentley came to pensioner Terry Ainsworth's aid after he fell ill on Saturday evening.
"We had a taxi ordered so I went to say goodnight to Jim, who had invited me," Ainsworth told BBC Lancashire.
"Suddenly I felt dizzy and unwell and I don't remember anything else."
Luckily, 41-year-old Bentley was on hand to catch Ainsworth after he passed out and accompanied him to Lancaster Hospital until the early hours of Sunday morning.
"Over my lifetime, even when I was at primary school, every couple of weeks I would pass out in assembly but those episodes got less frequent," he explained.
"I've passed out in some unusual places like Morecambe Promenade Station, a maternity ward and I've walked into a glass door as I couldn't see, but it's seven or eight years since I have had an episode."
"It's what anyone would do"
Media playback is not supported on this device Morecambe boss tearful at fans' generosity after FA fine
Bentley has an excellent relationship with Morecambe's fans, who last season organised a collection to pay a £1,000 fine imposed on him by the Football Association, but said his actions after Ainsworth collapsed were simply a case of doing the right thing.
"I wouldn't say I'm a hero, it's what anyone would do. The way he collapsed, I'm not going to let him go, am I?" the former Morecambe defender told BBC Lancashire.
"I was there for him and I reassured him when he came round and I went with him, because he's a mate of mine. I did [think he was a goner]. He giggles about it now but it was that serious, seeing him collapse.
"I'd seen the twitches in his fingers and I thought that was the end of him but thankfully he's still here and he's fighting fit today and looking well."
'An absolute hero'
Happily, Ainsworth has made a full recovery and he is fully appreciative of Bentley's support.
"I feel great, no after effects at all. I'll never forget the few hours in A&E," he added.
"It was incredible to see my mate in his dinner suit and he was an absolute hero in that situation.
"All the nurses and doctors fed off him. They must have had the best night they've ever had. People were giggling and laughing even after he'd gone."Typographic Style for Computer Scientists is a short article intended to bring computer scientists up to speed on typographical issues. I started writing it several years ago, and then set it aside for other projects. Recently, I decided rather than wait for it to be “complete” and perfect that I should polish it up a little and see if people could benefit from it.
It is probably far from comprehensive, but hopefully some people will find it useful. I had been thinking of perhaps adding some material specifically on inference rules and judgments, but I am not sure what else it might make sense to include.
If you find mistakes please let me know. If you disagree on some of what I have said, let me know and perhaps I can address your concerns.Home >
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Middle East Women's activists oppose revival of 'pleasure marriage' tradition NAJAF, Iraq -- She is a 49-year-old divorced mother of seven children. He is a well-off farmer, with his own wife and children. Theirs is a secret betrothal, with perfunctory vows exchanged alone in a bedroom for an ephemeral union. ''Mutaa," a 1,400-year-old tradition alternately known as pleasure marriage and temporary marriage, is regaining popularity among Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslim population after decades of being outlawed by the Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein. According to Shi'ite religious law, unmarried women may enter into pleasure marriages with men (married or not) for periods as brief as a few minutes or as long as a lifetime. Dowries, too, range from virtually nothing to millions of Iraqi dinars. Shi'ite clerics, including Iraq's highest religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, have sanctioned mutaa despite the social stigma attached to the marriages. Women's activists in Iraq last year fought an effort by constitution drafters to endorse some form of Sharia, or Islamic law, in matters of marriage and family. The new national charter includes an article that allows Iraqis to choose their marital status according to their beliefs, and reinforces the primacy of civil authority in family law. Whatever the religious legalities involved, people who participate in mutaa, especially women, risk their reputations and prospects for permanent marriage. The divorcee, a resident of this Shi'ite-dominated southern city who asked that her name not be used for fear of being stigmatized, said she had few options after her husband left her in 1991 without financial support. She found her mutaa spouse shortly after the divorce, she said, and they have been together since. ''He lives with his own family, so he would come to me for visits only. And he takes care of my children's expenses without his family's knowledge," she said. ''This mutaa marriage is something between me and him. Only God knows of it." Shi'ite and Sunni sects disagree on the lawfulness of mutaa. Shi'ite clerics generally consider it to be in accordance with Islamic law, whereas many Sunni authorities regard it as a sexual relationship outside religious behavior. Some Shi'ite scholars say the prophet Mohammed sanctioned mutaa marriages for his companions during their wars and campaigns to spread Islam in present-day Saudi Arabia. Other historians argue that the practice existed in pre-Islamic societies and was later permitted by Mohammed. Even though the practice quietly persisted during the Hussein regime, temporary marriages have experienced a resurgence in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, say women's advocates, social workers and mutaa spouses. They see that as a sign of rising Shi'ite influence in political and religious affairs and the explosion of cross-border traffic between Iraq and the Shi'ite theocratic state of Iran, where mutaa is even more popular. Critics of the practice also blame Iraq's dire economic straits and the lack of opportunities for unmarried women. Many of the poorest people in Iraq are widows and divorced women with children. On any given day, women in black ''abayas," often with children in tow, can be seen threading their way through traffic jams, begging for money. Women's rights activists call mutaa an exploitative arrangement. Aida Nasser Hussein Mosawi, who runs a Najaf-based women's rights center, said many women entered into the marriages not for pleasure but for financial reasons. She said many mutaa brides had no other means of support. Mosawi criticized the Iraqi government for failing to fund women's aid programs and for ceding authority over marriage and family law to Shi'ite religious authorities under the newly ratified charter. ''The clerics issue fatwas condoning this practice that allows men to treat women like prostitutes. They take her for a short time and then he leaves her -- it's all up to him," she said. ''If men want to marry women, they should come through the door, not the window, and if women really felt like they were half of our society, they would not sell themselves so cheap." Sheik Adel Amir Tureihi, a Shi'ite cleric in Najaf, said mutaa marriages were consensual and preceded by a mutually agreed-upon dowry and duration, although men can end the relationship any time they like. Witnesses are required, but Iraqis say some couples dispense with that rule. Tureihi said the practice was designed to provide Muslims with a lawful outlet for natural sexual desires. ''People need sex just like they need food," he said. ''Islam is a natural, organic religion." But Azhar Tureihi, a Najaf-based gynecologist not directly related to the sheik, said pleasure marriages carried serious societal consequences, regardless of how readily religious authorities accepted the practice. She said she knew of a woman who became pregnant during a temporary marriage and was the victim of an ''honor killing" by her brother. ''This kind of killing is called'shame washing' -- the brother went to the police and confessed," the physician said. ''The sentence for this type of killing is normally only 10 months." Near the shrine of Imam Ali in downtown Najaf, a 35-year-old shopkeeper who gave his name only as Hussein said he hoped his temporary wife would agree to be his second permanent wife. ''I saw her at my shop. She was buying things with her mother, and I started talking to them," he said. ''I knew that her husband died in the [1991 Persian Gulf war] in Umm Qasr -- she's 30." © Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
Advertisement SEARCH THE ARCHIVES Advanced search / Historic Archives AdvertisementWhile the country’s — and world’s — eyes have been focused on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, it is the Sinai border that is unequivocally the most active.
On an almost nightly basis, Egyptian smugglers, most of them Bedouin, come to the 125-mile (200-kilometer) border fence to toss bags of contraband to their Israeli counterparts, who collect the goods in ATVs or — on a big night, in trucks — and bring them back for distribution, soldiers serving on the border told The Times of Israel.
But while stopping drug runners is almost routine, the real threat from Sinai is the Islamic State group, which is currently occupied in a vicious war with Egyptian forces, but is expected one day to turn its eyes to the Jewish state.
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The people addressing that threat on the Sinai border are the men and women of the Caracal Battalion, one of the IDF’s three — soon to be four — mixed-gender combat battalions.
While the smugglers they face on an almost daily basis generally do not have ties to terror groups, they are often far from peaceful. They have routinely opened fire indiscriminately when confronted by Israeli troops, forcing them to take cover while the smugglers make their escape.
Earlier this year, Sgt. Anna Zagoda’s unit learned that lesson all too well. Her squad had suspected something was up when a Land Cruiser SUV zipped past their jeep near the border fence at 8:30 p.m. on the night of Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 4, miles from the closest town.
“It was clear to me that this wasn’t normal,” she said.
After the SUV sped by them, the unit’s vehicle — a lightly armored vehicle known as a David — was suddenly sprayed with “massive” machine gun fire from the Egyptian side of the border.
Judging by the size of the SUV on the Israeli side of the border, it seems the squad from the co-ed Caracal Battalion had interrupted a large smuggling attempt.
It wasn’t entirely a surprise. They’d gotten some advanced intelligence telling them that something might happen that night.
As the squad was pounded with bullets, the soldiers took cover and radioed in the details, she said.
She passed along the message to the unit’s control center in Nitzana, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the Gaza Strip, which contacted the Egyptian side, said Zagoda, who has since gotten out of the army.
Egyptian police promptly sped over and arrested the criminals.
According to Lt. Shir Shachar, who leads a team of tatzpitaniyot, or watchers in Hebrew, that monitors the border through closed circuit security cameras placed along the fence, these smuggling attempts happen “something like five times a week,” if not “once a day.”
Some of these occur before Israeli forces can make it to the area in order to prevent them, while others play out much in the same way as the Caracal unit’s encounter — a “shower” of bullets, but everyone coming out unscathed.
Though not all of them end without injury. In October 2014, a different Caracal patrol, commanded by Cpt. Or Ben-Yehuda, came under fire from both machine guns and an anti-tank missile. Ben-Yehuda, along with another soldier, were wounded in the attack. Three of the assailants were killed.
Ben-Yehuda, who continued to command her troops after she was injured, was later awarded with a citation from the then-head of the Southern Command Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman.
‘It’s not easy in the beginning; it’s not easy in the end either.’
The first line of defense are those tatzpitaniyot, who have to be constantly vigilant and mentally strong, Shachar said. They scan the border for terrorist infiltrations and smuggling attempts, and they watch other soldiers confront the attackers and criminals — like in the case of Ben-Yehuda’s unit — while incapable of directly affecting the outcome.
“It’s not easy in the beginning,” Shachar said. “It’s not easy in the end either.”
War on drugs
For nearly a decade, the men and women of the Caracal Battalion have been guarding the Sinai border.
Up until 2013, the Egyptian-Israeli border was something out of the Wild West — a sprawling desert with ample room for the smuggling of drugs, weapons, cigarettes and sex slaves.
The base at Nitzana still fits that Wild West backdrop. It’s dusty and full of flies. A stray dog sleeps in the shade of the stairwell in the building where Shachar’s tatzpitaniyot operate.
Today, the situation on the border is tense and active with drug smuggling, but it’s been free of terror attacks for more than four years, after a number of incidents in the years prior.
Following an insurgency in the Sinai, terrorists carried out multiple attacks against Israel in 2011 and 2012. In one multi-staged attack in August 2011, six Israeli civilians, an IDF soldier and a counter-terrorism police officer were killed.
Prior to 2013, African migrants, many of them fleeing oppressive and violent regimes, also entered Israel by the thousands through the porous border.
In response, Israel constructed the nearly 20-foot tall barrier, which was completed in January 2013.
The new steel fence sent the price of hashish in Israel soaring and stemmed the flow of African migrants almost completely, from thousands each year to dozens.
‘I don’t want a soldier to die for drugs’
But while vast quantities of marijuana and other drugs could no longer make it across the border, some intrepid entrepreneurs from Sinai still smuggle illicit products — like heroin — into Israel.
A video released on Arab media (see below) in late July shows the ease with which this can be accomplished.
תיעוד מטריד: כך מבריחים סמים מסיני אל תוך ישראלאתר "אל-מואטן" המצרי מפרסם תיעוד וידאו נדיר של הברחת סמים מסיני אל ישראל. בוידאו ניתן לראות קבוצת גברים (על פניו נראים בדואים) עם תיקים גדולים על הגב מגיעה אל גדר המערכת בין ישראל וסיני, מניחה סולם וחוצה את הגבול ללא קושי. המבריחים מעבירים התיקים מאחד לשני ביעילות כשבצד השני של הגדר מחכה להם רכב שאוסף את הסמים.לרגע קצר ניתן לראות כי הצלם מחזיק בידו גם נשק מסוג קלשניקוב בזמן שהוא מזרז את המבריחים. Posted by ערביסט – عربيست on Sunday, 24 July 2016
Smugglers on the Israeli side arrive at the scene. Their Egyptian counterparts come up to the fence and toss over bundles of contraband. The Israelis grab them and then hightail it out of there.
On Tuesday, Egyptian security forces believed that 15-year-old Nimer Bassem Abu Amar, a civilian contractor who had been working on the security fence between Israel and Sinai, had been such a smuggler and shot him dead, according to an initial investigation.
If an IDF patrol can stop a smuggling attempt, it does. But it’s not the army’s main goal, that’s the domain of the Israel Police. And commanders like Zagoda are neither inclined — nor expected — to sacrifice their soldiers’ lives over heroin.
“I don’t want a soldier to die for drugs,” the sergeant said.
Fighting terrorists
But of course drugs aren’t the real risk on the Sinai border — terrorists are, according to Maj. Shachar Nachmi, deputy commander of the Caracal Battalion.
In August 2012, a group of terrorists from Sinai ambushed an Egyptian base, killing some 16 soldiers and making off with two armored personnel carriers, which they used to ram through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
One APC exploded near the crossing, while the second made it approximately 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) inside Israel, sustaining attacks from infantrymen and tanks, before it was stopped by an Israeli Air Force missile.
A month later, three Egyptian terrorists from Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which would later become the Islamic State’s affiliate in Sinai, attacked a group of Israeli soldiers stationed near Mount Harif, the area along the border where Nimer Bassem Abu Amar, the 15-year-old contractor, was killed Tuesday.
They were armed with explosives, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles. In the resulting firefight, the three terrorists were killed, along with an IDF soldier. A second Israel trooper was moderately wounded.
Since then Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which renamed itself Wilayat Sinai in 2014, has been engaged in a vicious war with the Egyptian military, resulting in relative calm along the border. However, the bombing of a Russian airplane last year, for which Wilayat Sinai claimed credit, showed that the group was not to be discounted. The IDF has said it expects the terrorist group will eventually take another shot at Israel.
“The border is now threatened by Daesh,” Nachmi said, using the Arabic term for the Islamic State.
Another Israeli official, speaking to the British Telegraph newspaper last month, warned: “It could happen today, tomorrow, in a month but within the next six months we will come into an engagement with Wilayat Sinai.”
‘A place that can be used for smuggling is a place that can also be used to infiltrate’
And that is precisely what the Caracal soldiers are preparing to defend against.
“The reason why we deal with smugglings so much is so they won’t become terror,” Zagoda said. “A place that can be used for smuggling is a place that can also be used to infiltrate.”
In addition, something that starts out as a criminal smuggling attempt can easily turn into a much more serious security threat, as Capt. Or Ben-Yehuda discovered in 2014.
“You don’t know how it will develop. In an HTA (hostile terrorist activity), the letters H-T-A aren’t going to be written on their foreheads,” Zagoda said. “So you always need to be ready. You need to be ready for the time their sacks are full of explosives and not just drugs.”
Accepting female comrade in arms
The Caracal Battalion has been guarding on the Egyptian border since 2007. Last year another mixed-gender battalion, the Lions of the Jordan Battalion, or Ariyot Hayarden in Hebrew, took up positions along the Jordan Valley.
Within the next year a third co-ed battalion, known as Cheetah, or Bardelas, which was first created in 2015, will guard the borders of the Arava Desert in southern Israel.
The mixed-gender units are approximately 65 percent female and 35% male, Nachmi said.
Soon the country’s two longest borders — with Egyptian and Jordan — will be defended almost exclusively by these mixed-gender, but mostly female, battalions. This is part of a growing trend of female combat soldiers taking over duties that were previously carried out by the IDF’s infantry brigades — Golani, Paratroopers, Givati and others.
Under IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, the IDF has been working to cut away its inefficiencies and hone itself into a lean, mean fighting machine.
One place it found to streamline was on the borders, where lighter combat units, which have lighter physical demands and less training, could replace the more “valuable” heavy infantry units, which could in turn focus on the more imminent threats to national security coming from Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.
This move has not been without controversy.
There are some very real concerns about replacing infantry units, which have objectively higher degrees of training and physical requirements, with combat units that have some lower standards. The army has responded by noting that while there is some impact on operational capability, it only has a finite number of resources and needs to use them to their fullest effect.
But much of the criticism against these units also deals with more tenuous and subjective issues like morale and group dynamics.
“The men who are assigned to these units lose their morale. They take off the tags identifying their unit when they come home because they’re embarrassed to serve there,” Raz Sagi, a former IDF officer and researcher who speaks often against the concept of female combat soldiers, told Israel National News.
However, male soldiers serving in Caracal on the border denied any discomfort from having female comrades in arms.
“I can totally trust my female comrades who I was with in training and on the border. There’s no difference. Just like I can carry for them, they can carry for me,” a male soldier, who served under Zagoda during the incident on Holocaust Remembrance Day, said.
Nachmi, the deputy commander of Caracal, agreed with his male soldier’s view, saying the unit had no real morale problems related to gender.
The soldier, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons
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– which Israel has admittedly done nearly 100 times in the last five years – as well as periodically killing Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian fighters along with the occasional Iranian general, Israel is making the next very, very ugly war in the north a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
A recent article in the very pro-Israel Atlantic (editor Jeffrey Goldberg served in the Israeli army) states: “for nearly two years now, Israeli military and intelligence officials have been warning every American official who comes through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that the next war is coming. Israel has methodically prepared its allies—and most especially the Americans— for a very, very ugly war on the horizon.”
These wars have created massive carnage and suffering. even the Atlantic acknowledges that the 2006 Israeli assault “leveled entire neighborhoods in Beirut.”
While Dermer tried to sell his audience on the claim that Israel is at existential risk, Derfner points out: “The idea that Hezbollah, Iran and Syria are itching for a war with Israel, that they’re just waiting to attack, is a delusion. Absent Israeli provocation, such an attack would have no parallel in the world or in history.”
Nevertheless, some influential media reports largely purvey Israeli spin, and it’s likely that Dermer’s speech was intended to influence the many journalists at his reception to take a similar line. As a Foreign Policy article reports: “When it comes to Washington, Israel’s task is to locate or induce a more coherent American strategy to counter advance of the Iranians in the Levant.”
This is particularly important, since some Trump officials don’t always march to the Israeli tune. U.S. National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster recently told Israeli officials that Hezbollah was not a terrorist group. (Other reports claim he has called Israel an occupying power.)
Another point Dermer made to his audience was the value of U.S. strategies to help Israel bring some Arab countries into an alliance against Iran.
Dermer called the new allignment a “silver lining” and said he was “deeply grateful” to the current administration for “methodically working to advance a serious process that can move the entire region forward” – i.e. in Israel’s direction.
Dermer is no doubt pleased that, as in the past, the U.S. negotiator for Israel-Palestine is an Israel partisan; he called for applause for Jason Greenblatt, who he noted was present – one of the many “senior officials from all three branches of the U.S. government” attending the event.
ATTENDEES
Jewish Insider provided a list of opinion makers spotted at the event, which included both liberals and conservatives, members of both political parties, and representatives of diverse positions along the pro-Israel spectrum. Below is the list, with added information on each.
We have listed each individual under one category below, although in many cases they would fit into several sectors given the revolving door that often exists between media, government, and pro-Israel organizations.
Journalists/Media Pundits
Wolf Blitzer, CNN lead political anchor, anchor of The Situation Room and Wolf. Blitzer began his career in 1972 with Reuters in Tel Aviv, before becoming a Washington DC correspondent for Israel’s Jerusalem Post. He also worked as editor of AIPAC’s monthly newsletter and edited “Myths and Facts 1976, A Concise Record of the Arab-Israeli Conflict” (Near East Research, AIPAC’s monthly publication), a volume described by Mondoweiss as “one piece of Zionist propaganda after another [that] denounced Palestinian views of [events surrounding the 1948 war] as ‘spurious myths.’”
Blitzer authored Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter’s Notebook (Oxford University Press, 1985) and Territory of Lies (Harper and Row, 1989), about Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, of which reviewer Robert I. Friedman wrote in the New York Review of books that Blitzer played down the damage caused by Pollard. Friedman stated: “Senior Israeli Defense Department officials are understandably pleased with Blitzer’s book about Pollard.” Friedman reported: “Currently, he travels the American TV talk show circuit as the ‘voice of Israel.’ Territory of Lies is a slick piece of damage control that would make his former employers at AIPAC (not to mention Israel’s Defense Ministry) proud.”
In 1990 Blitzer went to CNN, where his career skyrocketed. During Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza, Blitzer covered the conflict by embedding with the Israeli army. As part of “the most trusted name in news,” he maintains a pro-Israel bias (see this and this, for example). In 1989 he took part in a debate in which he largely repeated Israel’s talking points.
Sam Feist, CNN Washington Bureau Chief and senior vice-president. He oversees daily operations, leads all newsgathering and Washington-based programming, as well as campaign and election coverage. Feist was the founding executive producer of Wolf Blitzer’s The Situation Room, and has produced and managed CNN political programming including Crossfire, The Capital Gang, and State of the Union. He has been with CNN since 1991.
Danielle Heyman Feist, wife of Sam Feist. Director of Camp Rodef Shalom, a Virginia day camp that has a number of activities related to Israel, including a program in which scouts from Israel “run their own specialty area during camp, playing Israeli games, teaching a few Hebrew words, and helping bring their Israeli culture all the way to Virginia!”
Howard Friedman has served on boards for many foundations, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (which advocates for Israel and brought “tens of thousands” of its members and “hundreds of rabbis” to lobby Congress against the Iran deal). He was twice named by Washington Life Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful people in Washington DC. Formerly he was President of JTA – The Global News Service of the Jewish People.
Perhaps most significantly, Friedman is currently Director of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest owner of local TV stations, and likely to become even larger, as it is in the process of buying Tribune Media for $3.9 billion.
Sinclair insists on conservative content on its local news programs, and even produces its own commentary pieces as “must-run” segments on every one of its stations. These include a daily “Terror Alert Desk” segment, which was recently exposed by political humorist John Oliver as an occasional vehicle for conflating terrorism with Islam. The “newscasters” include regulars from the Fox News Channel (like Sara Carter), contributors to conservative publications like the Washington Examiner (like Mark Hyman), and at least one former Trump staffer (Boris Epshteyn – see below).
Sinclair already owns 170 TV stations, which gives it access to 38% of American households—just shy of the cap of 39% put in place by Congress in 2004. Tribune Media is set to hand over another 42 stations (which includes stations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles), which would give Sinclair access to a full 72% of US households—nearly double what is allowed by law. This was made possible thanks to a move by Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai, heir apparent to the chair of the FCC, was wooed by Sinclair starting right after Trump’s election. Soon after his appointment, Pai unexpectedly revived an outdated regulatory loophole. About two weeks later, Sinclair announced its acquisition of Tribune.
Norman Eisen currently works with think tank Brookings Institution, does political commentary on CNN, and chairs Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a Democratic Party leaning nonprofit he co-founded in 2003 with Louis Mayberg, a financier who donates to Jewish causes (his wife says: “I invest in Jewish people” and partners with the Israeli Ministry of the Diaspora to bring thousands of women from 25 countries on visits to Israel). Previously, Eisen served as special council for ethics and government reform to President Obama. From 1985 to 1988, he was Assistant Director of the ADL’s Los Angeles office, where he investigated anti-semitism and other civil rights issues, promoted Holocaust education, “and advanced US-Israel relations.” He backed Tom Perez over Keith Ellison for Democratic National Committee chair, citing Perez’ “warm feelings for Israel.” As a student he had worked for Israel partisan Alan Dershowitz, who once said: “Our union was made in heaven. He was a natural guy for me to hire because he was brilliant and shared many of the same liberal democratic, pro-Israel values that I did and that he still represents.”
Eisen has also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, during which time bilateral trade between the U.S. and the Czech Republic almost doubled. Earlier in his career he was a partner in the Zuckerman Spaeder law firm, where he worked on cases such as Enron and Whitewater. Washingtonian Magazine listed Eisen as one of Washington’s top lawyers.
Tom Rose, journalist and unofficial Vice Presidential surrogate. Formerly editor/publisher of the Jerusalem Post, during which he and his family lived in Israel. Although he is an American citizen, during the Gulf War he volunteered for service in the IDF. More recently, he has co-hosted a Sunday morning satellite radio program with conservative Christian Gary Bauer. Their show, The Bauer & Rose Show, is known for its “robust defense of Judeo-Christian civilization, the US/Israel alliance, and the need for a strong America in the world.” The show ended in April 2017 when Rose took a position as assistant and advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, Rose’s “closest personal friend for 25 years.” In 2014, Rose and Pence visited Israel together, in the company of Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer.
Kenneth Weinstein, President and CEO of the Hudson Institute, which honored PM Benjamin Netanyahu with the Herman Kahn Award (see Roger Hertog entry below)—which is conferred on “leading public servants who exemplify a commitment to Western alliances as the bedrock of global security, prosperity, and freedom.” Hudson “seeks to guide public policy makers and global leaders in government and business.” It frequently holds conferences on topics such as defense, international relations, and economics (dozens of which have been pro-Israel) and disseminates research and analysis articles (hundreds of which have been pro-Israel). Weinstein is President and CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), whose mission is “to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.” BBG oversees U.S. government civilian international media: Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
Josh Lederman, Associated Press reporter; started his journalism career in the AP Jerusalem bureau; he had previously lived in Israel in seventh grade (it is unknown whether he has Israeli citizenship). Lederman credits that year, combined with his education as student at Tucscon Hebrew Academy (among its “Core Values” is “Supporting Israel: We support Israel and foster close relationships with Israeli students and educators”) with helping him “connect the dots” as he reported on Israel. Now based in Washington DC, Lederman covers foreign affairs, national security and U.S. diplomacy for AP; appears frequently on television and radio, including on MSNBC, Fox News, NPR and others. He covered 2012 presidential campaign for The Hillnewspaper in Washington. From 2013 to 2017, Lederman was a White House reporter for AP. He also writes for the Times of Israel.
Clifford D. May, weekly “Foreign Desk” columnist of The Washington Times, and frequent analyst on diverse TV and radio news programs. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Commentary, USA Today, The Atlantic and other publications. May is the founder of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a pro-Israel neoconservative organization – May said its purpose was “to enhance Israel’s image in North America.” Some suggested it was the new Project for a New American Century. Right Web reports:
FDD grew out of a right-wing pro-Israel initiative launched in early 2001 called EMET. Reports Slate: “On April 24, 2001, three major pro-Israel donors incorporated an organization called EMET (Hebrew for ‘truth’). In an application to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status, [FDD president Clifford May] explained that the group ‘was to provide education to enhance Israel’s image in North America and the public’s understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations.’”[3] “…Shortly after its founding, FDD quickly became a prominent member of a group of neoconservative think tanks and advocacy groups—including the American Enterprise Institute and the Hudson Institute—that were influential in shaping the early foreign policy priorities of the George W. Bush administration. At the height of the “war on terror,” FDD also absorbed the Committee on the Present Danger, a Cold War-era anticommunist group that been reconstituted to push for hardline policies in the Middle East.” “FDD’s president, Clifford May, is a former writer for the New York Times who once served as director of communications for the Republican National Committee. May is also a former editor of the party’s official magazine (Rising Tide), a former vice chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.” “FDD has been a vocal advocate of confrontational policies on Iran.”
Slate reports that FDD runs tours of Israel for American academics (with most of their expenses paid) similar to those run for journalists and politicians by AIPAC and other groups.”
May was an advisor to the Iraq Study Group; served on the Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion (2007-2009), reporting to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the entity responsible for all U.S. government and government-sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting; and on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2016).
Evan May, bio is unavailable, likely relative of Cliff May.
Boris Epshteyn, an investment banker; born in Russia and came to the U.S. in 1993 at the age of 11. Previously, he worked on Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. He was a top communications aide for Donald Trump’s campaign; appeared as a Trump surrogate over 100 times on major TV networks between the election and the inauguration. In April, Epshteyn left the White House and became chief political analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group (see Howard Friedman, above), a conservative company that owns a multitude of local TV stations.
Lauren Gorlin Tanick, wife of Boris Epshteyn, a strategy executive at Google.
Eli Lake, Bloomberg journalist, former senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast and Newsweek. He worked for a range of news outlets, including The Daily Beast, Newsweek, The Washington Times, The New Republic, New York Sun. Lake has often worked with and shared bylines with Josh Rogin (see entry below); known as extremely pro-Israel. Below are excerpts from Right Web:
Eli Lake is a well-known writer and columnist whose track record on U.S. foreign policy has led some observers to describe him as a neoconservative and “pro-Israel” ideologue. … His writings focus on national security issues, particularly with respect to the Middle East, and he has a lengthy record of advocating for aggressive U.S. foreign policies in the region. One commentator has quipped that Lake has a “career pattern of credulously planting dubious stories from sources with strong political agendas.” A frequent subject of Lake’s writings is U.S. policy on Iran. Generally hawkish in his critiques of U.S. engagement with Tehran….. most observers agree [that his analysis] is really intended to kill negotiations…. After a nuclear agreement was reached between Iran and the P5+1 in July 2015, Lake went on the attack….. In a March 2015 commentary, Lake criticized Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif, a Western educated diplomat widely regarded as a moderate within Iran’s establishment… Former British diplomat Peter Jenkins criticized Lake’s article on Zarif as taking “many liberties with the truth.” …..Lake was “an open and ardent promoter of the Iraq War and the various myths trotted out to justify it, contributing to the media drumbeat that helped the Bush Administration sell the war to the public and to Congress.” Leading up to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Lake reported extensively on Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons mass destruction and ties to Al-Qaeda… After the war and the subsequent failure to discover any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Lake contended that the weapons had been moved to Syria…. In a December 2001 article for the National Review, Lake argued that with its invasion of Afghanistan completed, the United States should move on to take military action against Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia. “There are very good arguments why all three should be the next target,” he opined. “Iraq after all has been developing nuclear and biological weapons …. In 2009, Lake gained notoriety for his role stirring up opposition to the nomination of Chas Freeman, a veteran diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, to be the chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Freeman ultimately withdrew his name from consideration and blamed the controversy over his nomination on the “Israel lobby.”… [See Freeman’s statement.]
Josh Rogin, Journalist who often works closely with Eli Lake, sharing bylines on news articles. He is a CNN political analyst and columnist on foreign policy and national security for Bloomberg View. Previously, Rogin covered foreign policy and national security for Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, Federal Computer Week and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. His work has been featured on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, NPR, PBS, and several other outlets. He is married to Ali Weinberg (see below); their wedding guests included journalists Eli Lake, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, CNN’s Jake Tapper, NPR’s Michael Goldfarb, NBC News Political Director and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, Jamie Kirchick, Jonathan Karl, and NBC’s Alex Moe.
Ali Rogin (aka Ali Weinberg), ABC journalist, married to Josh Rogin. She is the daughter of Max Weinberg (see below). Her Linkedin entry reports that she covers the State Department for ABC News, producing pieces for broadcast and reporting for ABCNews.com and ABC News Radio. She formerly worked at NBC.
Max Weinberg, Drummer for Bruce Springstein and on Conan O’Brian show, father of journalist Ali Rogin (see above). His net worth is reportedly $35 million.
Joel Mowbray, Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 2005-2014; formerly syndicated columnist with articles in Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, NY Post, The New Republic, L.A. Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, San Diego Union Tribune, Las Vegas Review Journal, Sacramento Bee, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Investors Business Daily, Arizona Republic, San Francisco Chronicle, and FoxNews.com. In 2002, Mowbray founded Fourth Factor Consulting, LLC: “Fourth Factor advises Silicon Valley tech companies and pro-Israel and national security-oriented think tanks. The bulk of the work is strategic government affairs, which supplements lobbying efforts by being proactive instead of reactive.” He was a Hudson Institute Adjunct Fellow from 2003 – 2005, where he “conducted research into terror networks and Islamic radicalization, investigated Saudi influence in America, and scrutinized State Department’s handling of national security.” Mowbray is the author of Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America’s Security.” His Linkdin bio lists AIPAC as one of his interests.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of The World Values Network, “the leading organization spreading universal Jewish values and defending Israel in American media” (see video); frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the BBC, NBC, CBS, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Breitbart News, and The Washington Post. Rabbi Boteach’s personal site pictures him with his book: “The Israel Warrior: Fighting Back for the Jewish State from Campus to Street Corner.” Newsweek has repeatedly listed him in “The 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America. He ran for Congress in New Jersey, receiving an endorsement from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. His site states:
“Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, “America’s Rabbi,” whom is for many the very face of Judaism in global media. “The international best-selling author of 31 books, Rabbi Shmuley’s works have been translated into 20 languages. A world-renowned relationships expert, his book Kosher Sex is regarded as a modern classic and he has won numerous awards including The London Times Preacher of the Year Competition, The National Fatherhood Award, and The American Jewish Press Association’s Highest Award for Excellence in Commentary… “Labeled ‘a cultural phenomenon’ by Newsweek and a man with ‘his scholarly finger on the pulse of the nation’ by Slate, Rabbi Shmuley is revolutionizing the place of Judaism and spirituality in modern culture and politics, and is one of the world’s most accomplished defenders of the State of Israel.”
At the 2015 Israel Day Concert In New York City Boteach said, to loud applause: “We are connected to Israel because it’s Jewish….. we love Israel because Israel is good. We love Israel because it is the foremost protector of human rights in the world’s most troubled region. There is a war going on. There is a battle for the future of the Jewish state and each and every one of you is a soldier in that fight.”
Noah Pollak, Pollak’s bio describes him as a “political writer on foreign policy, Israel, and the Jewish people.” Pollak has written for Commentary, the Weekly Standard, National Review, the Wall Street Journal, Politico, and appeared on Fox News, PBS Newshour, and CNN. He is executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, a neoconservative political advocacy organization whose board members include neocons William Kristol and Rachel Abrams, wife of Elliott Abrams. Pollak helped promote the Taylor Force Act.
Ron Kampeas’ Linkedin entry reports: “Ron Kampeas is JTA’s [Jewish Telegraphic Agency] Washington bureau chief, responsible for coordinating coverage in the U.S. capital and analyzing political developments that affect the Jewish world. He comes to JTA from The Associated Press, where he worked for more than a decade in its bureaus in Jerusalem, New York, London and, most recently, Washington. He has reported from Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Bosnia and West Africa. While living in Israel, he also worked for the Jerusalem Post and several Jewish organizations.” Kampeas graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Nathan Guttman, The Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Ha’aretz and The Jerusalem Post. Guttman was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of Hebrew University.
Government, Politics
Congressman Eliot Engel has been in Congress since 1988 as a Democrat representing the Bronx. He has traveled to Israel many times, and says, “I remain committed to the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel.” On another occasion, he opined, “We don’t want one party to be pro-Israel; we want both parties to be pro-Israel” because the state is “our best friend in the Middle East, and – I’d even argue – in the world.” Engel favors recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, and is uncritical in his support.
Congressman Lee Zeldin previously served in the New York State Senate, and is now in the U.S. House of Representatives. As Co-Chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, he spoke on the issue of the U.N. “anti-Israel resolution” of December 2016: “Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel nations are continuing their fanatical efforts at the United Nations to delegitimize [Israel]…Their disparaging, divisive and dangerous tactics will be met with zero tolerance. Continued unilateral concessions by Israel in exchange for no promises or follow through towards peace on the part of others would be as ill-advised as it is unfeasible.” Zeldin also wrote, regarding the U.N. resolution, that it “further cements President Obama’s legacy as one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States…[He] chose to embrace a pro-Palestinian attempt to ethnically cleanse East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.” Zeldin is also passionately in favor of moving Israel’s capital to Jerusalem.
Congressman Henry Waxman, Democratic Congressman from southern California, 1975 – 2015. The Forward calls him “one of the most influential liberals, and one of the most skilled legislators, of his generation.” In the Times of Israel report, “Jewish lawmaker, who maintains close ties to Israel, has represented Los Angeles district for 40 years,” Waxman was named “the dean of Jewish lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Waxman said that he had “worked throughout my career to strengthen the US-Israel relationship. I have traveled to Israel on numerous occasions…” Waxman once stated: “…it is with pride that I have seen my daughter thrive in Israel and my grandchildren serve in the Israeli army.”
Janet Kessler, Waxman’s wife; founder of Congressional Wives for Soviet Jewry.
Jason Greenblatt, formerly executive vice president and chief legal officer to Trump and the Trump Organization, and his advisor on Israel; currently special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process for President Trump, charged with facilitating “the ultimate deal.” According to NPR, Greenblatt once studied in a yeshiva – a Jewish religious seminary – in a West Bank settlement. He has recently met with senior settler leadership in preparation for negotiations. In fact, Greenblatt and Trump’s administration are more sympathetic toward settlements than any previous administration, much to the delight of Israel. The Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, is not optimistic: Greenblatt has yet to even commit to helping create a Palestinian state.
David Shulkin, current U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs; he was recommended to President Trump by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, even though Shulkin is not a veteran. (Veterans had wanted the position to be filled by a military veteran, the normal procedure; some lobbied for then VA Secretary Robert McDonald to be named.) Israel sees veterans affairs as a new means of bringing the U.S. and Israel closer together, as JNS (Jewish News Service) reports: “While US-Israeli military ties have long focused on foreign aid packages, intelligence-sharing and jointly developed missile defense technology, veterans affairs could become a major new frontier in that relationship.” JNS writes that the selection of Shulkin, “a Jewish doctor and administrator,” for Secretary of veterans affairs, was an important development in the process. Within weeks of Shulkin’s confirmation, the Israeli Deputy Defense Minister asked Shulkin for a meeting. The meeting was the first of its kind between American and Israeli officials responsible for the care of injured and released soldiers. After the meeting, Veterans Affairs purchased Israeli medical equipment. U.S. officials sometimes provide Israelis the opportunity “to make presentations during international conferences at which Israel is not yet participating.” JNS notes: “Such opportunities will allow the Israelis to showcase their knowledge on a world stage to which they have, until now, largely been denied access.’
Shulkin and his wife Merle Bari (below) are currently under investigation for taxpayer funding of a recent trip to Europe.
Merle Bari, wife of David Shulkin, physician specializing in general and cosmetic dermatology. Recently she has been criticized for reports that “the government covered the cost of Bari’s airfare and gave her a per diem for meals” when she accompanied her husband on a trip to Europe. She seems to have close ties to Israel. In 1977 Bari was a youth participant in Israel’s Maccabiah Games, and in 2013 her daughter similarly participated in the Games during a year she spent in Israel, and was a delegate to the AIPAC national convention.
Aaron David Miller worked at the State Department for 25 years as a Middle East negotiator and adviser on Arab-Israeli affairs. He is currently a vice president at the Wilson Center; he says he believes “in the importance of a strong U.S.-Israeli relationship.” In an article for the Washington Post Miller admitted that he and other U.S. mediators had actually like “Israel’s lawyer.”
“With the best of motives and intentions, we listened to and followed Israel’s lead without critically examining what that would mean for our own interests, for those on the Arab side, and for the overall success of the negotiations. The “no surprises” policy, under which we had to run everything by Israel first, stripped our policy of the independence and flexibility required for serious peacemaking.”
“What we ended up doing was advocating Israel’s positions before, during and after the summit.”
Matt Nosanchuk was Jewish Liaison under Obama; said he had very strong relationships with pro-Israel organizations across the political spectrum. He has worked in the White House, Congress, the State Department, Justice Department, and Homeland Security on a range of domestic and foreign issues arising at the intersection of policy, law, advocacy, legislation, strategic communications, and outreach and engagement. He described President Obama’s views (and said he agreed with them):
“The president [Obama] said he wouldn’t be where he is today without the support of the Jewish community in Chicago. He believes in Zionism. He believes we have shared values. He shows strong, unwavering support for Israel. He says he did the Iran deal partially to protect Israel’s security, that it would be a ‘moral failing’ not to protect Israel’s security.”
Aaron Keyak, Co-owner of a Washington DC PR firm; he was a senior staffer for some Congressional representatives and communications director and interim executive director for the National Jewish Democratic Council. Keyak has said that strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship is one of the values he most cares about. Washington Jewish Week reported about the 2015 launch of Keyak’s public relations firm:
“The official announcement was made at the “Latkes & Vodkas” party at their swanky downtown office on Dec. 15. Steve Rabinowitz, founder and president of the mostly progressive and Judeocentric Washington, D.C.-based political public relations firm, Rabinowitz Communications – the former Clinton White House staffer who produced the famed photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shaking hands on the White House South Lawn – would no longer be flying solo. Aaron Keyak, 29, would become his partner in a new PR company called “Bluelight Strategies.” “…recently, communications director and senior Middle East policy advisor for Jewish Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who represents one of the most heavily Jewish districts in the country. He previously served in a similar role with Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.). “According to Keyak, the idea for the partnership arose out of the successful working relationship he and Rabinowitz enjoyed during the 2012 presidential election, when the two collaborated on a venture they called the “Hub,” an effort aimed to organize Jewish voters for Democratic candidates.”
Avi Goldgraber, wife of Aaron Keyak, is manager at Accenture; previously she was confidential secretary to Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services. Goldgraber attendedIsrael’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem, received her B.A. from Washington University in Political Science and Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Studies. She is the daughter of Moshe B. Goldgraber who endowed a fellowship for Israeli physicians.
Josh Raffel currently leads the communications team for Jared Kushner and is his principal spokesman. Raffel is “often the primary route for delivering Mr. Kushner’s message to the news media, and he also handles communications on issues like Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.” He was formerly a publicist, whose clients included Hollywood horror films, Glenn Beck, and Jared Kushner’s family business.
Ann Lewis, leading Democratic Party strategist and communicator. In one public meeting of Jewish leaders before the 2008 election, Lewis declared that “the role of the president of the United States is to support the decisions that are made by the people of Israel. It is not up to us to pick and choose from among the political parties.” This was after some discussion that “there’s something wrong with Senator Obama’s views about Jews, about Israel” – referring to Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s, preaching that Israel is committing “state terrorism against the Palestinians,” as well as Obama’s apparent sympathy for Palestinians. Lewis’ pro-Israel clout as leading Democratic Party strategist and communicator is clear in how she was able to change the Israel policy of the Center for American Progress, a powerful progressive research and advocacy organization. She made it clear that criticism of Israel, AIPAC, and American Jewish groups is forbidden. CAP was quick to self-censor, removing or cleaning up tweets and articles.
David Milstein, Research Analyst for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), primarily focusing on issues related to Israel. “He played a leadership role with an organization called Young Jewish Conservatives whose mission is to build a community of politically conservative young Jews who strongly support Israel; co-organized its annual Shabbat Event at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the largest annual gathering of conservative activists.”
ThinkTanks, NGOs, Funders
Morton Klein has been national president of the Zionist Organization of America for 24 years. When President Obama abstained from voting in the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, Klein opined, “Obama has made it clear that he’s a Jew-hating anti-Semite.” He agreed with candidate Trump’s plan for profiling Muslims: “We should adopt the same profiling policies as Israel and be more thorough in vetting Muslims,” adding, “it’s not the worst thing to do.” Klein criticized Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for using the word “Palestine,” claiming that it sends a message to the Arab world that “this administration is biased to their side.” Going even further, Klein called for Tillerson to be fired when the State Department published its annual terror report, which suggested (as it had the previous year) that Israeli settlements and Palestinian hopelessness are factors contributing to Palestinian terrorism. Klein indicated that the State Department had “put out reports that give excuses for Palestinian murder of Jews.” The ZOA organized a letter opposing the Iran deal.
Abe Foxman, former National Director of the Anti-Defamation League; currently ADL National Director Emeritus and fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a Tel Aviv-based think tank for issues of security and Middle East policy. He is also head of the Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Foxman is known as the “Jewish Pope” thanks to his 28-year leadership of the Anti-Defamation League. INSS director Amos Yadlin called him “an undeclared leader of the American Jewish community and a leading global figure on matters of human dignity and moral conduct.” Foxman believes that the BDS movement is anti-Semitic “99% of the time.”
Stacy Burdett, Vice President, Government Relations, Advocacy & Community Engagement at Anti-Defamation League. He has participated in the international campaign to change the definition of anti-Semitism to include many statements about Israel.
Loribeth Weinstein, CEO of Jewish Women International (JWI) for over 15 years. JWI works to “end violence, ensure economic security, and spotlight leadership and mentoring.” She has also served American Jewish World Service, dedicated to “ending poverty and promoting human rights in the developing world.” Weinstein has also been on the Regional Council of the New Israel Fund, which includes as its mission statement, achievement of “equality for all the citizens of the state…protection of Palestinian citizens…opposition to all forms of discrimination and bigotry…a just society at peace with itself and its neighbors.” The New Israel Fund has supported B’tselem to the tune of $2.2 million over the last ten years.
Howard Kohr, executive director of AIPAC since 1996. Under his supervision, Congresspeople have been given all-expenses-paid trips to Israel to “discover their own personal connection to the land…and to understand the issues more clearly.” Kohr has turned AIPAC into “the most influential foreign policy lobbying organization” in Washington, and promises to keep it that way with the help of 4,000 pro-Israel student leaders across the country. “Mr. Kohr [representing AIPAC] has helped to navigate congressional passage of the annual U.S. Foreign Aid bill by historic, record-breaking margins — accomplishments achieved often in the midst of a hostile, budget-cutting environment.”
In his testimony to Congress in April 2017, as Kohr requested $3.1 billion in foreign military aid, he reminisced about the “close strategic relationship between the United States and Israel” that began with sharing of key intelligence in 1967 – the same year that Israel attacked the USS Liberty with napalm, gunfire, and missiles, even machine-gunning three lifeboats. The Moorer Commission found that the attack constituted “an act of war against the United States.” Professors John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard state: “AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress.”
Fortune magazine has ranked AIPAC the number two most powerful lobbying group in Washington D.C., after the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
Bob Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AIPAC (American Israel Political Affairs Committee), former President of AIPAC (2014). Cohen is considered one of AIPAC’s six key leaders.
Jason Isaacson, Director of Government and International Affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC). The AJC website announces:
“Around the world—from the hallways of the U.N. in New York, to the corridors of the European Union in Brussels, and to the countries of Asia—AJC advocates for Israel at the highest levels. And when Israel is under assault, whether from the terrorist organizations on her doorstep or the global BDS movement, AJC helps bring the world the truth about Israel.”
The AJC is an American nonprofit organization. Donations to it are tax-deductible.
Daniel S. Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, “a national and global leader in…Israel advocacy.” His B’nai B’rith bio reports: “Mr. Mariaschin has met with countless heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers, opposition leaders, influential members of the media and clerical leaders. Each time, his goal has been to advance human rights, help protect the rights of Jewish communities worldwide and promote better relations with the state of Israel.” Mr. Mariaschin represented the
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3/10).
Modern Healthcare: New Ryan Plan Sticks To Familiar Themes: ACA Repeal, Medicare Premium Support
Offering a sneak preview of the 2014 budget he will propose this week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on the TV program Fox News Sunday that his fiscal plan—similar to his fiscal 2012 and 2013 blueprints—will promote repealing the 2010 healthcare law and transforming Medicare into a premium-support system. After Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace confirmed with Ryan that the House GOP plan again assumes overturning the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Wallace told Ryan: "That's not going to happen." Ryan didn't flinch when he replied that House Republicans think that it should (Zigmond, 3/10).
The Hill: Rep. Paul Ryan: House Budget Will Assume The Repeal Of 'ObamaCare'
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Sunday said he will not back down from the battle to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act even though some Republicans think the party should move on. Ryan dismissed criticism that House Republicans have virtually no chance of dismantling the signature legislative accomplishment of Obama’s first term and their efforts might be better expended elsewhere (Bolton, 3/10).
Meanwhile, the bill now before Congress to fund spending for the rest of 2013 has sparked some concerns.
Kaiser Health News: Capsules: GOP Senators Seek To Cut Health Law Funding
This week, the Senate is expected to consider – and amend — House-passed legislation that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The bill did not include $949 million in additional funding that the Office of Management and Budget requested for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is overseeing much of the roll-out of the health law. … While the OMB request did not specify what the $949 million would fund, 'it was pretty well known' that the money was to be used to implement the health law's exchanges, said Matt Dennis, a spokesman for Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee" (Carey, 3/11).
Politico: Senate Bill Won’t Include President Obama Priorities
Paying a price for his indifference, President Barack Obama is expected to get little or none of the extra money for health care and Wall Street reforms that the administration has been seeking in a six-month stopgap spending bill coming to the Senate floor this week.... The White House had wanted $949 million added within the Department of Health and Human Services to help lay the groundwork for setting up state health-care exchanges to begin enrollment next fall (Rogers, 3/10).
This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscriptionThree weeks ago the 23-year-old UK-based administrator of a TV show and movie links site was arrested by police. The site, referred to only as TVShack, could be one of three domains of which two are already controlled by the US government after their seizure as part of Operation in Our Sites. Following his detention in the UK's largest prison, the admin is now fighting his extradition to the U.S. with the help of Gary McKinnon's lawyer.
While the second phase of the U.S government’s Operation in Our Sites grabbed the most headlines when it targeted around 80 domains in November 2010, the roots of the program began several months earlier.
The first phase of the operation took place in June 2010 and resulted in the seizure of seven domains including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and ZML.com.
Despite its domain seizure TVShack proved resilient, skipping from its.net to a new.cc domain and becoming fully operational within days. In time though, that URL was also taken over by the U.S. authorities.
However, some time later another TVShack site appeared, TVShack.bz. While some insisted it was the old site back under a new name, others claimed it to be a mere clone operated by different people. Whatever the truth, a disturbing picture is emerging around one of those sites, one that attempts to sidestep established copyright law and raises worrying jurisdiction issues.
Richard O’Dwyer is a computer science undergraduate studying at a university in the north of England. Originally from Chesterfield, the 23-year-old now stands accused of being the administrator of TVShack. It is not clear whether he is accused of running.bz,.cc,.net, or a combination of the three, but nevertheless he now faces the fight of his life.
Despite TVShack’s status as a links database that never hosted any copyright material, 3 weeks ago O’Dwyer was arrested by police and detained at Wandsworth Prison, the UK’s largest detention facility.
And now in a quite shocking development, authorities are demanding O’Dwyer’s extradition across the Atlantic to face copyright infringement charges in the United States.
Ben Cooper, a lawyer specializing in human rights and extradition issues, is representing O’Dwyer. He says that since O’Dwyer is a UK resident who ran a links site with a non-US server, any trial should take place on home territory, not thousands of miles away in the United States.
Cooper, of Doughty Street Chambers, is also representing alleged hacker Gary McKinnon in his fight against extradition to the U.S. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This week, following a preliminary hearing before City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, the notion that O’Dwyer should be extradited to the U.S. was described as “madness” by his mother.
“We have a perfectly good justice system in the UK – why aren’t we using it in cases such as this?”
According to David Cook, a lawyer who successfully defended an alleged uploader to the now-defunct music tracker OiNK and an administrator of the BitTorrent forum FileSoup, the answer to that question may be found in a case which came to its conclusion last year.
“In 2010, the rights-holder groups attempted the prosecution of the TV-Links website. As the name suggests, this site was effectively a directory to TV programmes that sourced programmes uploaded to other video websites, such as YouTube. The users of the site would find a TV show they liked, and then placed a link on TV-Links to other sites which were hosting episodes of that show,” Cook told TorrentFreak in a comment.
“It was argued that TV-Links was operating as a ‘mere conduit’ and that an EC based defence was open to them. Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament defines an ‘Information Society Services’ as one that offers a service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by means of electronic equipment and for the processing and the storage of data, and at the individual request of a recipient of a service.”
“This is a definition so dense as to be almost impenetrable,” Cook adds. “It was held in TV-Links that this definition covered their site.”
The ruling by Judge Ticehurst in favor of TV-Links meant that its operators had a complete defense in criminal proceedings in England and Wales for their linking to other web sites. They walked free.
All indications are that TVShack, in all of its guises, operated in a similar manner.
“We have been waiting to see how the rights-holder prosecutors would react [to the failed cases against TV-Links, OiNK and FileSoup] and have now been given the clearest sign,” Cook notes.
“The extradition of O’Dwyer is being sought and, if successful, he would be moved from a country in which he has a defence, to one in which such a defence would not apply,” says Cook. “Is this the sole purpose of the extradition?”
O’Dwyer has yet to enter a plea. He is set to appear in court again on September 12th.
Update: A petition was started to stop Richard O’Dwyer’s extradition.Despite being hailed as a brilliant and opportunistic strategist, new WWE Champion Dean Ambrose confessed today that he cashed-in his newly acquired Money in the Bank contract because he didn’t want to lug a cumbersome metal briefcase around the world.
“I remember (Seth) Rollins complaining that the briefcase is a huge pain in the ass,” Ambrose told reporters at a press conference this morning in Las Vegas.
More from Kayfabe News
“You think I want to take that thing through airport security every day? No thank you!”
Ambrose has vowed to “travel light” these days, especially since he realized what a hassle it was to transport Mitch the Potted Plant from city to city — not to mention the barbed-wire bat that security guards confiscated from his luggage last week.
Ambrose may soon regret his decision, however, since the seven-pound briefcase is actually easier to transport than the WWE Championship belt, which is 10 pounds of gold.This post will be updated as additional information becomes available.
The guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was buzzed on April 11, 2016 in the Baltic Sea by a pair of Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer fighters. As seen in a video released by U.S. European Command on Wednesday afternoon.
“On April 11, Donald Cook was conducting deck landing drills with an Allied
military helicopter when two Russian SU-24 jets made numerous, close-range
and low altitude passes at approximately 3 p.m. local,” read a release from U.S. European Command provided to USNI News.
“One of the passes, which occurred while the allied helicopter was refueling on the deck of Donald Cook, was deemed unsafe by the ship’s commanding officer. As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the SU-24s departed the
area.”
Press reports indicated the allied helicopter was Polish.
The following day, a pair of KA27 Kamov Helix helicopters orbited the ship taking photos in what officials called a “simulated attack profile” in several press reports.
According to a U.S. official that was quoted by CBS, “They were so close they created wakes in the water.”
U.S. European Command expressed “deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers. These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate
tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death,” read the statement.
“U.S. officials are using existing diplomatic channels to address the interactions, while the incidents are also being reviewed through U.S. Navy channels.”
The two recent incidents follow a similar series of 2014 flybys in which “Sukhoi SU-24 Fencer flew as close as 1,000 yards from USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) at an altitude of only 500 feet.”
The Pentagon called the 2014 incident “provocative and unprofessional,” at the time.Photo: J Rogash/Getty Images
The Phillies held a press conference today to introduce Gabe Kapler as the team’s new manager. It was Kapler’s first time speaking to the assembled Philadelphia media, and he got a good introduction into a major part of his new job.
The news of Kapler’s hiring had leaked earlier this week. The Philadelphia press spent the week analyzing Kapler based on whatever it could find. Both Philly.com and The 700 Level dove deep into Kapler’s old blog, kaplifestyle.com, where the man who spent 12 years in the majors posts his thoughts on everything from scotch to proper wing-eating technique. And both sites noted one particular post that Deadspin covered when it went up in 2014: Gabe Kapler thinks you should jerk off with coconut oil.
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You’re moisturized and smelling tropical, your teeth are white and your face looks like you’ve just visited a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. The sun has set, and the moon is out. Perhaps you have a friend nearby, perhaps it’s just you by your lonesome…well, this is awkward. I’ve promised you authenticity, honesty and openness. Take this how you wish and I’ll spare you the step by step. Coconut oil is the world’s greatest lubricant. I can’t help where your mind goes with this. Once the ball leaves the bat, I can’t steer it.
Longtime Philadelphia sports talk radio and TV host Howard Eskin was having none of it. Some backstory: In 2007, Eskin went on TV and said Charlie Manuel was a bad manager, then challenged his managerial ability in a press conference. Manuel tried to fistfight Eskin, but thought better of it. Instead, he got his revenge by managing the Phillies to a World Series win and their greatest sustained period of success in the 135-year history of the club.
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For some reason, Eskin is still allowed to comment on the Phillies’ managerial choices. And the day before the Phillies announced a new manager, Eskin got himself all ready by jerking a pair of tweets into existence:
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When Eskin had gotten himself all excited, he exploded a question to Kapler and Phillies general manager Matt Klentak.
Read more!
Yes, Howard Eskin asked if the Phillies considered not hiring Kapler as their manager because he once wrote a blog post saying coconut oil is good for jerking off. But Kapler has a good response that shows he might be able to survive as Phillies manager. Plus, it is heartwarming to see a man defend the #content he has created when called on it.
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But I believe Klentak’s answer is best. Asked about his new manager’s blog where he gave masturbation tips, the general manager said that “there’s an element of risk and new behaviors and trying new things” and “boy, oh, boy, it’s gonna be fun” and “we are going to embrace a lot of his ideas.”
Did you hear that? All the Phillies are going to be masturbating with coconut oil next season. Pitchers and catchers report in 104 days!Daisy Ridley has denied reports that she wants to give up the role of Rey at the end of the current series.
Daisy will be in the latest movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi and is due to be in the ninth episode.
"When I did sign up, I did sign up for three films and that's where I sort of saw the story ending," she said.
"I think everyone has perhaps taken that as me going, 'I don't want anything to do with it' which is vastly untrue because this is awesome."
Daisy said it was meaningful that Rey features as the leading female role in a film produced by a major firm, Walt Disney Studios.
She also hailed director JJ Abrams who introduced Rey in the first instalment of the new era, The Force Awakens.
Earlier this year, it was announced that JJ would return to direct Star Wars: Episode IX which is expected to be released December 2019.
"JJ has always put brilliant females in his things," Ridley said. "So I think it was wonderful and then the fact it came from a big studio says a lot too, and I think there's a big change already.
"Obviously there's still a long way to go."
According to research by the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women account for just 29% of lead solo roles and 37% of major roles in the top 100 grossing Hollywood films of last year.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will debut in cinemas on the 15 December.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeatEverton Everton Newcastle United Newcastle United 3 0 FT Game Details GameCast
Lineups and Stats
Everton manager Roberto Martinez has backed John Stones to bounce back quickly from his first real shaky spell at the club.
The England centre-back has endured a tough January by his usually high standards with a number of noticeable errors and lapses.
He was withdrawn after 77 minutes of their Capital One Cup semi-final exit to Manchester City after a lapse of concentration allowed Sergio Aguero to score what turned out to be the winner, having contributed to Swansea's opener the Sunday before with a poorly-judged backpass.
Stones' miscalculations have directly led to eight goals for the season, with seven of those in the last three months, and he was left on the bench for the FA Cup fourth round win at Carlisle.
But Martinez has no doubts about recalling the 21-year-old, who was the subject of a failed B£38million bid by Chelsea last summer, to the centre of defence for Wednesday's visit of Newcastle as he is no longer required to cover for Seamus Coleman at right-back.
"You are talking about a player of 21 who has played over 92 percent of the minutes in the league, which is a phenomenal return." he said.
"When you reach the level of John Stones you are going to get that scrutiny and John is strong enough mentally to understand that is going to be his role in professional football and representing England for the next 15-20 years.
"John is such a strong-minded boy and has been through a lot over the last eight months but has done it professionally. In those moments you need to know who you can trust and you need fair criticism and fair evaluation of your performances.
"It is not an issue."
Deadline-day signing Oumar Niasse, a B£13.5million signing from Lokomotiv Moscow, will not be eligible until Saturday's trip to Stoke but Martinez expects the Senegal international to adapt quickly.
"He is a player we have been tracking for a long time, the first time we saw him was in the first week of September and since then we have been very close trying to find out about his character," he added.
"He has a very specific family situation as his wife is English and from the north west and he has been following our team and the way we play and it was a real conscious desire to join us and that has been important.
"We didn't think he would become available but when we saw he was we moved very quickly.
"It was a sign of being precise in what we wanted; we moved two players from the first-team squad (Steven Naismith was sold to Norwich and Aiden McGeady loaned to Sheffield Wednesday) and we brought in a 25-year-old who has been successful in two European leagues.
"He is not back-up for anyone, he has his own ability and is someone who can stretch defenders and can cope with the physicality of the Premier League."
Meanwhile, Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren has admitted a successful deadline-day swoop for West Brom striker Saido Berahino would have come as a bonus.
The Magpies tabled a B£21million bid for Berahino on Sunday as they attempted to beat off interest from Tottenham and Stoke, but then endured a frustrating final day of the January window as a deafening silence from the Hawthorns killed their hopes.
McClaren nevertheless has seen his squad boosted by four new faces - Jonjo Shelvey, Henri Saivet, Andros Townsend and loan signing Seydou Doumbia - at a total cost of around B£29million, and he is happy with the club's business.
Asked if the failure to land Berahino had come as a disappointment, he said: "No, I think it would have been a bonus. The board, when we got together and discussed it, it was ambitious, it was out there making a statement and I think it would have been a bonus if it had come off.
"It's not, so we go with what we have got and it's a very, very good squad now."
The Magpies head for Everton sitting inside the Barclays Premier League relegation zone and in desperate need of a run of results to ease their fears.
However McClaren, who will have full-back Paul Dummett available after injury and midfielder Jack Colback close to a return, is confident they will have enough to avoid the drop.
He said: "We are delighted with what we have got and [it's] enough to see us through and score goals.
"This window was important. I am very pleased with it. I think we have got very good players to add to the squad. Now we have to gel everybody together and the last third of the season, really go for it."
Doumbia will hope for some involvement at Everton, although that was out of both his and McClaren's hands on Tuesday afternoon as the Ivory Coast international awaited the arrival of the visa he needs to be able to play.A Christian school is fighting a court ruling that barred it from praying before a football game, arguing the ruling violated the school’s religious rights.
Cambridge Christian School, a private school in Tampa, Fla., announced Tuesday it is filing to appeal the June 7 ruling of a federal judge that upheld the Florida High School Athletic Association’s (FHSAA) decision to bar the school from using a loudspeaker to pray before a 2015 championship football game. The school will file their case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The school filed their lawsuit against FHSAA in September 2016, alleging the organization, which governs student athletics in Florida, violated federal law and the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The FHSAA refused to let representatives from either school involved in the game use the loudspeaker for prayer. This was despite the fact that the schools notified the FHSAA a week in advance that they wished to use the stadium loudspeaker, which was used for private messages throughout the game, for their traditional pregame prayer. The school’s arguments found no favor with U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell, who ruled against them in line with a magistrate’s recommendation.
“Cambridge Christian argues that it never requested the public address announcer to give the prayer, but that it instead sought access to the loudspeaker so that a representative of either school could pray over the loudspeaker,” Honeywell wrote. “This, however, amounts to a request that the FHSAA open its loudspeaker, which otherwise is not accessible to private parties, to allow for prayer to be broadcast during a government controlled and hosted event. This would … be perceived as state endorsement of Cambridge Christian’s religious message.”
Honeywell’s ruling amounts to an assault on free speech, according to Hiram Sasser, Deputy Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute. The institute is representing the school in their appeal.
“First they told us public schools cannot pray over the loudspeaker. Now they say two private Christian schools cannot pray over the loudspeaker. When will this assault on free speech stop?” Sasser said. “We will appeal this ruling and continue to fight against this incredible assault on the First Amendment.”
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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] (Reuters) - The United States and France called on Russia on Wednesday to deliver the delegation of President Bashar al-Assad to Syria peace talks in Geneva after discussions on ending the six-year war resumed with no sign of the government attending.
Syria's U.N. ambassador and chief negociator Bashar al-Ja'afari arrives for a meeting during the Intra Syria talks at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The eighth round of negotiations began last week and after a few days with little apparent progress, U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said the government delegation, led by Bashar al-Ja’afari, was returning to Damascus to “consult and refresh”.
De Mistura expected talks to resume “around Tuesday” Dec. 5, but Ja’afari left Geneva on Saturday and said he might not come back because the opposition had stated that Assad could not play a role in a future interim government.
A source close to the Syrian government’s negotiating team told Reuters the delegation was still in Damascus on Wednesday.
“We have said to the Russians it is important that the Syrian regime be at the table and be part of these negotiations and part of the discussion,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a news conference in Brussels. “We have left it to the Russians to deliver them to table.”
A diplomat in Geneva said it was likely, but not confirmed, that the delegation would return to Geneva on Friday. Russia’s RIA news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying they would arrive on Sunday or Monday.
Syrian officials have not said if Ja’afari will return to the talks but opposition spokesman Yahya al-Aridi said on Monday a government boycott would be “an embarrassment to Russia”, which is keen to see a negotiated end to the war.
The opposition negotiating team arrived at the U.N. offices in Geneva on Wednesday morning to resume talks with de Mistura, who declined to comment late on Tuesday when asked about the absence of Ja’afari’s negotiators.
“It takes two to Tango, but at the same time you need to talk to the other party,” Aridi told reporters on Wednesday. “If they are quite serious about bringing peace to Syria, well they should show up.”
France, a key backer of the Syrian opposition, accused the government of blocking the U.N.-led effort and refusing to engage in good faith to achieve a political solution.
“This refusal highlights the obstruction strategy of the political process carried out by the Damascus regime, which is responsible for the absence of progress in the negotiations,” French foreign ministry deputy spokesman Alexandre Georgini told reporters.
He also said that Russia, as one of Assad’s main supporters, needed to assume its responsibilities so that the Syrian government finally entered the negotiations.
The Russian mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During last week’s sessions, de Mistura shuttled between representatives of the warring sides, who did not meet face-to-face. He had planned to continue the round until Dec. 15.The White House has called for the Egyptian military to surrender all power immediately to a new civilian government that is due to be elected within the next few days.
In a marked increase of pressure on the ruling generals after days of hesitancy, Washington appears to have withdrawn its support for the army to retain a significant political role after next week's parliamentary elections.
But the US nevertheless threw its weight behind the ruling military council's plan to press ahead with the elections despite days of protest and dozens of deaths among demonstrators. Protesters have demanded the vote be postponed because the army would still have ultimate authority in running the country until the middle of next year.
The White House said the army council should swiftly cede full control to the newly appointed prime minister, Kamal Ganzouri, and his government.
"The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately. We believe that Egypt's transition to democracy must continue, with elections proceeding expeditiously, and all necessary measures taken to ensure security and prevent intimidation," the White House said in a statement.
"Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible".
Previously, Washington had only condemned the violence in broad terms, angering many Egyptians by implying that the security forces and protesters were equally responsible.
It also previously urged the military to speed up the transition to civilian rule but did not publicly question the army's oversight of the process nor its plan to retain significant political power for many months, possibly years.
The White House statement marks a shift from its more ambiguous positions in which it sought to avoid publicly criticising the military regime which receives about $1.3bn a year in aid from the US.
In Cairo, more than 100,000 people packed into Tahrir Square on Friday for the biggest demonstration since the current showdown began, with activists accusing the generals of trying to extend the old guard.
Organisers called the demonstration "the last chance million-man protest." Swelling crowds chanted, "leave, leave" and "the people want to bring down the field marshal", in a reference to the military leader Mohamed Tantawi, who took over power from Mubarak.
Pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was mobbed by hundreds of supporters as he arrived in the square and took part in Friday prayers. The demonstrators have vowed not to leave the plaza until the generals hand power to a civilian presidential council.
Thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in other cities, including at least 10,000 in Alexandria and smaller crowds in Luxor and Assiut in southern Egypt.
About 5,000 supporters of the military staged their own demonstration in Cairo, several miles north of Tahrir in the district of Abbassiyah, not far from the defence ministry.
Tensions have risen ahead of parliamentary elections, which are due to begin on Monday. The elections are to be held in stages that end in March, and the military said on Friday it would extend the voting period to two days for each round in an apparent effort to boost turnout in response to the unrest.
Faced with this fresh wave of demonstrations, matching those which removed Hosni Mubarak from power after 30 years in February, Washington is concerned that the political crisis could further deteriorate and lead to the army reasserting full control or a political vacuum in which the Muslim Brotherhood wins power without the constraints imposed by the planned new constitution.
The White House would appear to be trying to avoid the mistake it made during revolution that broke out in January when it initially tried to keep Mubarak in office by pressing him to agree to cede some of his powers.
Some in Egypt regard the military government as a product of US machinations as it sought to ensure political stability and keep Islamists from taking power as Mubarak's rule collapsed. But the army is popular in Egypt, and it was widely welcomed when it took direct control of the government in February.
The White House said that since the start of the Arab Spring, the US has spoken out against violence and repression and "in defence of universal rights including the freedom of peaceful assembly". It says it supports for "political and economic reform that meets the legitimate aspirations of ordinary people throughout the region".
Washington is throwing its lot in with Ganzouri who on Friday said he has been assured by the army that he will have more power than that of the outgoing prime minister who resigned with his cabinet earlier this week as the latest wave of demonstrations centred on Cairo's Tahrir square grew.
Ganzouri, who was prime minister for three years in the 1990s under the ousted ruler, Hosni Mubarak, said he will wait until after the parliamentary elections to form a new cabinet. Ganzouri said that he is certain Tantawi is not intent on staying in power.
The White House said it is confident that the political crisis will be resolved. "Egypt has overcome challenges before and will do so again. The United States will continue to stand with the Egyptian people as they build a democracy worthy of Egypt's great history," it said.Friday, January 4, 2008
Interesting case from Pennsylvania concerning the right of a private sperm donor to contract away his right to make child support payments. From the Associated Press,
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a woman who promised a sperm donor he would not have to pay child support cannot renege on the deal. The 3-2 decision overturns lower court rulings under which Joel L. McKiernan had been paying up to $1,500 a month to support twin boys born in August 1994 to Ivonne V. Ferguson, his former girlfriend and co-worker.
“Where a would-be donor cannot trust that he is safe from a future support action, he will be considerably less likely to provide his sperm to a friend or acquaintance who asks, significantly limiting a would-be mother’s reproductive prerogatives,” Justice Max Baer wrote in the majority opinion issued last week.
Arthur Caplan, chairman of the Department of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said the decision runs counter to the pattern established by similar cases, where the interests of the progeny have generally been given great weight. “It sounds like the Pennsylvania court is trying to push a little harder into the brave new world of sperm, egg and embryo donation as it’s evolving,” Caplan said.
McKiernan’s lawyer, John W. Purcell Jr., said Wednesday an adverse decision against his client would have jeopardized the entire system of sperm donation. “That wouldn’t just include Pennsylvania, because we found out in the course of this trial that many doctors order their sperm for their artificial inseminations out of state,” he said.....
Courts found that the two agreed McKiernan would not have to pay child support and would not have visitation rights, but Ferguson later changed her mind and sued. A county judge said it was in the twins’ best interests that McKiernan be required to support them. In addition to monthly payments, McKiernan also was ordered to come up with $66,000 in back support. The appeal reverses that order...
Justice J. Michael Eakin, in a dissent, said a parent cannot bargain away a child’s right to support. “The children point and say, ’That is our father. He should support us,”’ Eakin wrote. “What are we to reply? ’No! He made a contract to conceive you through a clinic, so your father need not support you.’ I find this unreasonable at best.”
The case is: IVONNE V. FERGUSON v. JOEL L. MCKIERNAN, [J-60-2005], which is available on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court website.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/healthlawprof_blog/2008/01/child-support-f.htmlEarly Monday Afternoon, Priority Sports, the agency for which Tre Demps's agent, Mark Bartelstein works, announced that theformer Northwestern guard has signed a Summer League contract with the Chicago Bulls:
Congratulations Tre Demps for signing with the @chicagobulls Summer League team! — Priority Sports (@PrioritySports) June 27, 2016
Demps, listed at 6-foot-3, figures to be a point guard at the next level, even though he spent most of his time at Northwestern off the ball. His ability to create his own shot from the midrange and his three-point shooting stroke will be the keys for Demps carving out a spot at the next level.
Demps is the second 2015-2016 Wildcat to latch on to an NBA team for Summer League, following Romanian big man Alex Olah who signed with the New Orleans Pelicans, interestingly, the team of which Tre Demps' father Dell is vice president general manager.
We have a full scouting report of Demps here, and we'll be sure to track both Demps and Olah as they go through summer league this year.Modern Linux distributions are capable of identifying a hardware component which is plugged into an already-running system. There are a lot of user-friendly distributions like Ubuntu, which will automatically run specific applications like Rhythmbox when a portable device like an iPod is plugged into the system.
Hotplugging (which is the word used to describe the process of inserting devices into a running system) is achieved in a Linux distribution by a combination of three components: Udev, HAL, and Dbus.
Udev supplies a dynamic device directory containing only the nodes for devices which are connected to the system. It creates or removes the device node files in the /dev directory as they are plugged in or taken out. Dbus is like a system bus which is used for inter-process communication. The HAL gets information from the Udev service, when a device is attached to the system and it creates an XML representation of that device. It then notifies the corresponding desktop application like Nautilus through the Dbus and Nautilus will open the mounted device’s files.
This article focuses only on Udev, which does the basic device identification.
What is Udev?
Udev is the device manager for the Linux 2.6 kernel that creates/removes device nodes in the /dev directory dynamically. It is the successor of devfs and hotplug. It runs in userspace and the user can change device names using Udev rules.
Udev depends on the sysfs file system which was introduced in the 2.5 kernel. It is sysfs which makes devices visible in user space. When a device is added or removed, kernel events are produced which will notify Udev in user space.
The external binary /sbin/hotplug was used in earlier releases to inform Udev about device state change. That has been replaced and Udev can now directly listen to those events through Netlink.
Why Do We Need It?
In the older kernels, the /dev directory contained statics device files. But with dynamic device creation, device nodes for only those devices which are actually present in the system are created. Let us see the disadvantages of the static /dev directory, which led to the development of Udev.
Problems Identifying the Exact Hardware Device for a Device Node in /dev
The kernel will assign a major/minor number pair when it detects a hardware device while booting the system. Let us consider two hard disks. The connection/alignment is in such a way that one is connected as a master and the other, as a slave. The Linux system will call them, /dev/hdaand /dev/hdb. Now, if we interchange the disks the device name will change. This makes it difficult to identify the correct device that is related to the available static device node. The condition gets worse when there are a bunch of hard disks connected to the system.
Udev provides a persistent device naming system through the /dev directory, making it easier to identify the device.
The following is an example of persistent symbolic links created by Udev for the hard disks attached to a system.
$ ls -lR /dev/disk/
/dev/disk/by-id:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jul 4 06:48 scsi-SATA_WDC_WD800JD-75M_WD-WMAM9UT48593 ->../../sda 
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jul 4 06:48 scsi-SATA_WDC_WD800JD-75M_WD-WMAM9UT48593-part1 ->../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jul 4 06:48 scsi-SATA_WDC_WD800JD-75M_WD-WMAM9UT48593-part2 ->../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jul 4 06:48 scsi-SATA_WDC_WD800JD-75M_WD-WMAM9UT48593-part3 ->../../sda3
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murders in the 1980s along the Connecticut River Valley that separates New Hampshire and Vermont. The Florida deaths on New Year's Eve 2005 caught the attention of a private investigator in St. Petersburg because she recognized the name of the killer, Michael Nicholaou, who shot his estranged wife and stepdaughter before killing himself. The St. Petersburg Times reported yesterday that the investigator, along with a retired Vermont criminal profiler and a New Hampshire cold case detective, have been piecing together Nicholaou's life. DNA test results that could be ready by the end of the summer may complete a puzzle and solve six murders that have baffled investigators in the two states for two decades. Lynn-Marie Carty was startled on New Year's Day as she read a news story about the murder-suicide in Tampa, because she knew of Michael Nicholaou (pronounced NICK-allow). Five years earlier, a Vermont mother hired Carty to find a daughter, Michelle Ashley, who had two babies with Nicholaou, then disappeared in 1988. Carty said the mother suspected Nicholaou, based on something her daughter once said: "If I'm ever missing, he killed me, and you need to track him down and find the kids." After a few minutes at the computer in 2001, Carty found a phone number for Nicholaou.
As she recounted it for the newspaper, Carty called the number and asked about Michelle. At first, Nicholaou denied knowing her, Carty said, but when she pressed, Nicholaou said Michelle was a slut who was doing drugs and had run off, abandoning the kids. Carty asked about the children, Nick and Joy. He had them, he said. They were fine. The conversation was short, and when Carty called back the next day, Nicholaou's phone was disconnected. Carty tracked down Nick Nicholaou on the phone and told him she didn't think their mother had abandoned them. He and his sister had always thought otherwise. Nick cried as he described their hard life, being dragged around by a father still traumatized by his duty in Vietnam. In Vietnam, Michael Nicholaou flew helicopters for the 335th Aviation Company, called the Cowboys. The Times interviewed a dozen Cowboys, who recalled Nicholaou as a brave and duty-bound man with a dark side. A least once he left camp on his own, carrying only a knife and seeking hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. It became a legend in the company. Back at home, friends noticed evidence of posttraumatic stress disorder, a mental illness for which he later sought treatment in Miami and Tampa. Michelle's family thought Nicholaou was creepy, too quiet during visits to Vermont, where Michelle's mother and grandmother lived. He and Michelle had an apartment in Holyoke, Mass., about 110 miles down Interstate 91. Once, Carty said, Michelle told her mother she feared Nicholaou and planned to leave him after her sister's November 1988 wedding. In December 1988, her mother went to the couple's Holyoke apartment. The Christmas tree was up, presents unopened. The refrigerator was full of spoiled food. In the years that followed, Nicholaou, with kids in tow, visited his mother in Virginia, friends in Florida and Army buddies across the country. He told some people Michelle had run off with a drug dealer. He told others she was dead. A few days after reading that Nicholaou had killed his latest wife, Carty punched words into Google.com: New England. 1988. Murder. She clicked on the story of a pregnant New Hampshire woman who was the sole survivor of a series of attacks known as the Connecticut River Valley murders. The remains of at least six other young women had been dumped beside back roads along Interstate 91 in a stretch that straddled Vermont and New Hampshire. A killer had slit throats and stabbed victims repeatedly in the lower abdomen. The dead included Mary Elizabeth Critchley, a hitchhiker; Bernice Courtemanche, a 17-year-old nurse's aide; Ellen Fried, a nurse; Eva Morse, a single mother; Lynda Moore, a housewife; and Barbara Agnew, another nurse. Only Jane Boroski survived. Noticing that several victims were nurses, Carty remembered hearing that Nicholaou's first wife was a nurse and that his mother worked at a hospital. She later learned that Michelle and Nicholaou had been at a Hanover hospital on Thanksgiving, 1986. A nurse from the hospital disappeared two months later. She also learned the killer used a martial arts grip on the surviving woman. Nicholaou had a black belt in karate. Relatives remembered Nicholaou taking Christmas gifts out of a station wagon with wood-paneled sides in the mid-1980s. The surviving victim had told the police her attacker drove a wood-paneled Jeep Wagoneer. At the time of the murders, fear crept into the area. Security guards shuttled nurses to their cars. Boyfriends armed girlfriends with guns. People locked their doors. "It was the worst thing that ever happened in this area," said Carla Hawkins, sitting on a stool at McGee's, a bar in Claremont. Her family took in one of the victim's daughters. "I was freaked out about it," she told the Times. "Still am." Carty learned that the last attack was only four months before Michelle and Nicholaou disappeared from the area. Carty read online about John Philpin, a criminal psychologist who, in the 1980s, helped the police profile the serial killer. She called Philpin in Felchville, Vt., and told him what she knew about Nicholaou. Philpin agreed Nicholaou could be the killer. "This is the first, I'd call it major, lead in three or four years," Philpin told the Times. In February, Carty called the New Hampshire State Police and spoke with Detective Steve Rowland. Rowland usually hears from family members of the victims who are seeking updates, or from people who want to share theories about the killer.
But Lynn-Marie Carty had more. It was the first time Rowland had heard of Michael Nicholaou, and Carty's information revived the investigation. She also suggested the police might try to match Nicholaou's DNA with evidence from the crime scenes. By April, authorities considered Nicholaou one of their three strongest suspects, Rowland said. The other two are still alive. The police can't check their DNA without probable cause. That's not the case with Nicholaou. "His profile fits the profile of somebody that would commit this type of crime," Rowland said. "There's no question about that." Rowland now has Nicholaou's fingerprints, and he's working to get DNA from the medical examiner in Florida. The forensics lab that tests DNA is backed up with current homicide cases, Rowland said, so he doesn't expect an answer until late in the summer. But he told the newspaper he wouldn't be surprised if the results point to Nicholaou. Decades-Old Homicides Might Soon Be Solved June 15, 2006 TURNBRIDGE, Vt. -- Half a dozen unsolved murders in Vermont and New Hampshire that are decades old may soon be solved, thanks to a private investigator from Florida. Five years ago, Lynn-Marie Carty was asked to find Michelle Ashley, of Tunbridge. Ashley had been missing since 1988 and, at the time, she was married to Michael Nicholaou. "They said she went missing off the face of the Earth in 1988, and right before she went missing she told her mother, 'If I ever go missing, Mom, please look for Michael and save the children,'" Cary said. Ashley's body has never been found. Also in the early to mid-80s, six other women in the Upper Valley disappeared. Almost all of their bodies were found within a 30-mile radius of Claremont, N.H. Carty thinks the deaths might be linked to Nicholaou, who killed himself, his wife and his stepdaughter on New Year's Eve in Florida. "I found out that the man has been through a lot of trauma and fit the profile of somebody who would commit crimes like this," Cary said. John Philpin, a retired psychologist and author from Reading, studied thse cases 20 years ago. He said he was asked by the New Hampshire State Police to develop a psychological profile of the killer. "The biggest piece of evidence came from the medical examiner who looked at bones of some of the victims and was able to determine that they'd all be stabbed. So, we know from that that we were looking for someone who worked with a knife," Philpin said According to Philpin, Nicholaou fit the profile he created two decades ago because he never had a fixed address and frequently made trips to the area where the bodies were found. "The connection of him to the area is what the main interest is. That, and given all of the characteristics, the habits that he did and would've done in the area," he said. Carty and Philpin agree that Nicholaou needs to be ruled in or out as a suspect in the deaths. "I think it's a blessing that these families can get the answers that they've deserved for decades and thru the diligent work of the police department, that will happen," Carty said. "As far as Nicholaou, if it turns out that he's the person who is involved, (there's) no question he's a serial killer," Philpin said. Forensic tests will reveal whether Nicholaou was involved in any of the murders from the Upper Valley. The tests should be complete by the end of the summer. His bullets cut families' hope for answers When Michael Nicholaou shot his wife, her daughter, then himself in Tampa, say police, he left mysteries. By Alexandra Zayas - St. Petersburg Times January 8, 2006 To the Cowboys of the Army's 335th Assault Helicopter Company, Michael Nicholaou was frozen in time as "Nick the Greek," a fearless 20-year-old gunship commander who flew through 57 bullets to save a comrade's life. He earned medals that included two Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars. Then, in October 1970, he and seven others were accused of strafing civilians on a reconnaissance mission in the Mekong Delta. The soldiers languished in a stockade in South Vietnam for six months until the Army dropped murder and attempted murder charges. Nicholaou left Vietnam, feeling bitter and betrayed, but Vietnam never left Nicholaou. He hired a lawyer to sue the Army. He spent his life both fleeing the war and clinging to it, glory days captured on news reels and shared by fellow Cowboys at reunions. He became obsessed with telling his story and found a teacher he hoped would write it. Decades blurred into a roaring whirlwind of paranoia, failed jobs, criminal charges, disconnected phone numbers and dysfunctional relationships. The noise ceased when the bullets did, a week ago in Tampa. Nicholaou had a Massachusetts detective on his trail over the 1988 disappearance of former wife Michelle. Georgia police had questions, too, after his latest wife, Aileen, claimed he and his son ran her over with a Jeep last month, breaking her shoulder. Wearing a black leather trench coat, hiding guns inside a guitar case, Nicholaou, 56, appeared at Aileen's childhood home on Walnut Street in West Tampa, where she was recovering. After an hourlong police standoff, Nicholaou, 56, lay dead. With him, police say, he took Aileen, 45, and her 20-year-old daughter, Terrin Bowman. And he took the answers to so many questions. ***** Whispered gossip from family members surrounded his childhood in New Jersey. Nicholaou told people his mother molested him and his father beat him. He was always finding substitute father figures - a high school buddy's dad, a superior soldier, his father-in-law. He was a portrait of teen bravado. He rode a motorcycle to Farmingdale High School in Long Island, where friends cheered him at wrestling matches. Afterward, they would take their girlfriends to a local hamburger joint. It was Nicholaou who came up with the idea of dropping a rooster into the women's bathroom and skipping out on a check, said Mark D'Angelo, a lifelong friend. "Okay," he remembers Nicholaou saying, "when the girls start screaming..." He craved adventure. In the Army he could fly Huey helicopters with no college degree. He boasted about stealing a helicopter while in boot camp and leaving it on a roof. After boot camp, the stories slowed. At a welcome home party, Nicholaou said he wasn't allowed to talk about Vietnam. "To get Silver Stars, you had to be a really good warrior, and we realized what he was and what he did," D'Angelo said. "Not that we held him up as a hero. It was a rude awakening to us that this guy did some really good military stuff." They lost touch. D'Angelo went into the insurance business. Nicholaou worked jobs in restaurants and on construction sites. He always seemed to be moving. Charlottesville, Va. Richmond, Va. Holyoke, Mass. Fort Lauderdale. Great Bend, Kansas. Tampa. Dade City. Houston. Lutz. Hiawassee, Ga. With Michelle Nicholaou, he fathered two children; his next wife, Aileen, already had Terrin. Over the years, people confused him with a Virginia cousin by the same name, causing problems for the cousin. There were unpaid fines. A hit-and-run crash. "Bring back my daughter," cussed and screamed Michelle Nicholaou when she thought cousin Nicholaou was her husband. That was 1986, the year their first child was born. ***** Michelle Marie Ashley had met Nicholaou in New York. They married in the mid 1980s, and she went from being a bubbly young woman to a paranoid wife, her family said. "He ran her life," said her aunt, Linda Glamuzina. "It was like taking over another person." When Nicholaou and Michelle visited the Glamuzinas in Louisiana, he wore skimpy shorts Glamuzina found indecent. He brought a stash from his Charlottesville, Va., porn shop. Disgusted, Glamuzina threw it in the Mississippi River. "There was something scary about him," Glamuzina said. Michelle thought so, too, her family said. In December 1988, relatives entered the Nicholaou apartment in Holyoke and discovered it deserted. Michelle's baby diaries were there. There was food left behind. But no people. Family hadn't seen Michelle, or her toddler Joy and baby Nicholas, in a month. Just days after the family vanished, Michael Nicholaou met up with a female acquaintance in Charlottesville. The kids were dirty and hungry, and he stole the woman's brand new car, the woman later told Michelle's aunt. There were calls to police, but nothing panned out. Michelle's family hired a private investigator. Her mother, Rose Young, told the investigator something Michelle had once said. "If I'm ever missing, he killed me, and you need to track him down and find the kids." ***** Michael D'Angelo and his son Mark bumped into Nicholaou when he was working at Pete's Restaurant in Boca Raton in 1992. He told them Michelle was dead, Michael D'Angelo said. He had told other people that she ran off with a Cuban drug dealer. Nicholaou later visited D'Angelo and his wife at their home. Joy, then a mature 6-year-old, told them she brewed her dad coffee every morning. Nicholas, 4, asked D'Angelo if he could be his grandfather. Their sneakers were worn, and they looked hungry. They had been living in Nicholaou's car, Nicholaou later admitted in a letter to D'Angelo. Nicholaou wanted D'Angelo to help write a book about Vietnam. In 1996, Nicholaou wrote from an in-patient unit of the post traumatic stress disorder clinic at a Miami veteran's hospital. He had been under treatment for a year. He complained that the military had left him with "isolation and avoidance behaviors" that kept him from flying, yet he drew just $338 a month in disability benefits. "Not too many commercial qualified pilots are afraid of heights and give up careers in aviation to become bums," he wrote. He said he left Fort Lauderdale because the state wanted his kids. He called them his "sole reason for living." Once, in 1997, he and his kids stayed with a friend in Dade City. Nicholas, then 9, got into a fight with the boy next door. Nicholaou later pleaded no contest to torching the neighbor's car and got three years probation. It was October 2001 when the private investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty of St. Petersburg, tracked down Nicholaou, living with Aileen in Tampa, and called. "How did you find me?" she remembers him asking. He said he had the kids, and they were fine. Carty asked about Michelle. "She's a slut," he said. "She was doing drugs at the time. She ran off, and she just abandoned the kids." The next day, his phone number was disconnected. Holyoke police detective Kevin Boyle, in an interview last year with a Boston television station, said, "The factors surrounding this case are suspicious, and Michael's actions are suspect." Boyle did not return a telephone call from the Times. ***** Relatives describe Aileen Nicholaou as a bola de humo, a Cuban fireball who charmed every man she met. Her only flaw, her sister Adnery Almirola recalled, was that she had poor judgment. Aileen and Michael connected eight years ago through a newspaper personals ad. Two weeks later, Nicholaou and his kids moved into Aileen's Tampa home. When relatives visited, Joy sat on Aileen's lap and called her "mom." "They were love-starved, it seemed," Almirola said. Nicholaou seemed charismatic. He called Aileen's father, Arnaldo Toranzo, papi as he helped him cook Christmas Eve dinners. About four years ago, they married in a Las Vegas wedding chapel. In the wedding photo, their faces are superimposed over other people's bodies. Then, in September 2004, a family friend discovered an online news story about Michelle Nicholaou's disappearance. Aileen had no idea. Nicholaou convinced her Michelle had run off, but her family suspected he had killed her. Four weeks ago, after a heated argument with Aileen in their Hiawassee, Ga., home, Nicholaou and his son got in their Jeep to leave. According to a Towns County Sheriff's Office report, Aileen approached the Jeep. She needed Nicholaou's military sticker to get on base to buy groceries. She told deputies Nicholaou threatened her with a pistol and told Nicholas to step on the gas. The Jeep hit Aileen and the two men took off. Through a family spokesman, Nicholas denied doing anything wrong. Towns County has a warrant for his arrest, confirmed Tampa Police spokesman Joe Durkin. Nicholas' attorney, Allison Perry, did not return a Times call. Tampa relatives learned Aileen was recovering in a hospital, and brought her to her father's Walnut Street home. Her daughter Terrin brought magazines to her bedside. Terrin Bowman, 20, had a firm handshake and a flirtatious wink. She had a job waiting tables but was so bright she had taken college courses as a 16-year-old. "She wanted to fly to the moon," said her cousin Shawn Lhota, 21. Terrin had friends across the world she met while backpacking through Europe. Her friend Lorena Bledsoe recalls Terrin's favorite quote: "The purpose of living is to prepare for dying." About 3 a.m. Dec. 31, a friend saw Terrin heading home to her aunt's house in Town 'N Country. Relatives, after talking with police, think that Nicholaou held Terrin hostage in her bedroom for at least five hours as her aunt and uncle slept. Cigarette ashes peppered Terrin's typically tidy room, along with marijuana residue, pills and fiberglass tape, relatives said. They think Nicholaou used Terrin to get access to the West Tampa home where Aileen was staying. Just after noon, when Aileen's sister, Audrey Leon, opened the door on Walnut Street, Terrin rushed in and hugged her tightly. "I could tell she was scared," Leon said. Leon remembers what happened next: Nicholaou stepped into view. "You didn't think you were ever going to see me again," Nicholaou announced, entering the house. He approached Aileen in the dining room. "What are you doing with a gun?" Aileen asked him. Leon told him to get out. "No, no, no," Nicholaou responded. "I'm going to shoot myself over your mother's grave." The sisters had struggled with their mother's recent death. As Leon scrambled to get her two children out of the home, call her father and call police, Nicholaou, Aileen and Terrin walked toward a bedroom. "Alina (Aileen) tells me really calmly, she goes "Look, we're going to go to papi's room to talk, okay?' I'm like "Terrin, Terrin, come here.' She wouldn't budge. She went in there. She wouldn't come out. Either he had her afraid or she didn't want to leave her mom," Leon said. Leon greeted police in the driveway. When an officer announced herself and walked toward the bedroom, Nicholaou pointed a rifle at her. Aileen threw herself at the door, closing it. Outside the door, police and family heard the gunshots. In the room, they found Aileen and Terrin, both shot in the head. Terrin, fatally wounded, was lying on her mother's body. Terrin died the next day. Her mother was already gone. Police said Nicholaou shot them before turning a gun on himself. ***** In Massachusetts, Michelle's sister Tammy Patla hopes for a reunion with Nicholas and Joy. She also hopes for more. That the answer to Michelle's disappearance didn't die with Michael Nicholaou.President Trump took aim at the federal government’s vulnerability to computer hacking Thursday, signing an executive order that mandates a top-down review of cybersecurity and holds agencies accountable for safeguarding digital information.
The executive order states that it will "hold heads of executive departments and agencies accountable for managing cybersecurity risk to their enterprises." White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, speaking at the White House press briefing, said the White House took the action because online vulnerabilities at the agency level can put the nation at risk.
“The United States invented the Internet and we need to better use it,” Bossert said. “There will always be risk and we need to address that risk.”
"It’s exactly what we expected from Trump, and exactly what cybersecurity needs now.” — Jake Olcott, BitSight
The order seeks to improve the network securities of U.S. government agencies and protect critical infrastructure, like the energy grid and financial sector, from attacks that lawmakers and officials have warned could pose a major national security threat. It follows a turbulent election year in which Russia and other entities were accused of meddling in the U.S. election.
But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the executive order was not needed.
"While I appreciate the President's interest in better understanding out capabilities and challenges in cyberspace as outlined in his Executive Order on Cybersecurity, the fact is that the challenges we confront are well known and well documented," McCain said in a statement on Thursday. "We do not need more assessments, reports, and reviews. We need policy, strategy, and the resources to carry them out."
But according to Jake Olcott, vice president at BitSight, a private-sector security ratings and risk assessment company, the order provides for much-needed protection of critical data.
“Trump’s cybersecurity executive order is smart policy and a big win for this administration," said Olcott, a former legal adviser to the Senate Commerce Committee and counsel to the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. "The initiatives being put forth will help to bring the United States federal government and its agencies into the 21st century when it comes to protecting data and systems."
Trump signed the order to "keep his promise" to safeguard Americans in cyberspace, Bossert said. During the presidential campaign, Trump promised to appoint a team to create a cybersecurity plan within his first 90 days in office.
"I think the trend is going in the wrong direction in cyber space," Bossert said. "It's time to stop that and reverse it on behalf of the American people. We've seen increasing attacks, and sitting by and doing nothing isn't an option."
Bossert rejected the notion that the sole impetus for the move was the Russian allegations.
“Russians are not the only people that operate negatively on the Internet,” Bossert said. “Others do this, too.
"No, it wasn't a Russian motivated issue,” he added. “It was a U.S.A.-motivated issue."
Bossert noted that there have been numerous bipartisan cybersecurity studies and recommendations over the past eight years, and said the order signed Thursday "addresses, and includes, the best and the brightest of them."
In January, one task force of bipartisan lawmakers, chaired by House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, released a report with cybersecurity recommendations for the Trump administration.
“A silent war is waged against us in cyber space –if we don’t shape it, it will be shaped against us,” McCaul said. “Every person in this room is a target and the phones in your pocket are the battle space –and the enemy is winning.”
The executive order calls for a comprehensive review of the government and private sector cybersecurity, and establishment of a plan for protecting digital networks that store sensitive data. It includes specific cybersecurity directives for government agencies, including requiring each agency head to adopt a uniform set of standards laid out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
"By focusing on executive-level accountability, securing the third-party ecosystem and developing a market-based approach to securing critical infrastructure, the executive order brings some of the best initiatives from the private sector and applies them to the government," said Olcott. "It’s exactly what we expected from Trump, and exactly what cybersecurity needs now.”
The order also calls for a study of the threat posed by “botnets,” which hackers use to overwhelm targeted servers.
Fox News' Chris Ciaccia contributed to this reportEvery year I write a post discussing my selected “theme” for the coming New Year. Every year I go back and read the previous years’ “theme” posts and reflect on them. In looking back today, I realized I never did post a theme for 2017. I think I wrote one but it was on my laptop that died and in the process of getting my new computer, the post was never retrieved and posted. Somehow that’s fitting because 2017 was what can best be described as a “shit-show” of a year for me and mine. No matter what theme I might have had in mind, it would have been blown to hell by a myriad of set-backs, hard times, illnesses, losses, and more. I’ve spent the better part of 2017 as a care-giver in one capacity or another to my parents and my husband and all their health issues and crises, to a few friends, as well as being a mom to Punky. We have dealt with a ton of health issues, a disability, a job loss, huge financial burdens, a stalker, and impending death this year and there’s no real end in sight right now. To be honest I was seriously thinking about not doing a theme for the coming year either as very little of the aforementioned “shit-show” has resolved itself and the world at large seems like a very gloomy, destined-to-implode place right now. Then a friend quoted Captain Picard to me: “It is possible to do everything right and still lose”. I sunk down into that quote for a couple of days, bemoaning in the truth of it actually. And then I came upon this quote by Robert Brault:
"Everything we possess that is not necessary for life or happiness becomes a burden, and scarcely a day passes that we do not add to it."WASHINGTON – A critical report issued by the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee has dismissed the findings of a blue-ribbon panel investigating the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, asserting that the State Department-appointed commission didn’t properly examine key witnesses and generally failed to perform a comprehensive job.
In a 98-page report released Monday, committee staff concluded that “troubling” gaps exist in the work of the Accountability Review Board (ARB) appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and that the “limitations inherent in the ARB’s mandate and the weaknesses in the ARB’s methodology show that a more thorough investigation is necessary.”
“The ARB blamed systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies within two bureaus, but downplayed the importance of decisions made at senior levels of the Department,” the report read, adding that the ARB’s decision to “cite certain officials as accountable for what happened in Benghazi appears to have been based on factors that had little or no connection to the security posture at U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the committee chairman, said the ARB “was not fully independent,” noting that it “did not exhaustively examine failures and it has led to an unacceptable lack of accountability.”
But Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the committee’s ranking member, scorned the new report, citing it as evidence that Issa and congressional Republicans have “politicized the investigation by engaging in a systematic effort to launch unsubstantiated accusations against the Pentagon, the State Department, the president and now the ARB itself.”
The controversy centers on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, by a heavily armed terrorist group that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
At first the Obama administration suggested the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest. Subsequent investigations by the State Department and various congressional committees instead determined it was a premeditated assault launched without warning by Islamist militants.
The White House and Foggy Bottom came under severe attack from congressional Republicans and other critics for what they consider the failure of the U.S. to dash to the aid of those under attack. In early August it was reported that the U.S. had filed criminal charges against several individuals, including militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala, for participating in the onslaught.
On Oct. 4, 2012, Clinton appointed a five-member Accountability Review Board, co-chaired by Thomas Pickering, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992, and Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to examine the facts and circumstances of the attacks. The panel’s report, issued on Dec. 20, 2012, sharply criticized the State Department for failing to act on embassy requests to upgrade security in Benghazi.
But the ARB refused to point a finger at higher-ups in the administration like Clinton, blaming inaction instead on four mid-level officials who were placed on paid administrative leave only to be subsequently re-instated, although in different positions. Dissatisfied with the conclusions, Issa ordered a review of the report.
“While Ambassador Pickering and Adm. Mullen have honorably served their country, the families of victims and the American people continue to wait for more conclusive answers about how our government left our own personnel so vulnerable and alone the night of the attack,” Issa said.Neuroticism is a dimension of personality that captures trait individual differences in the tendency to experience negative thoughts and feelings. Established theories explain neuroticism in terms of threat sensitivity, but have limited heuristic value since they cannot account for features of neuroticism that are unrelated to threat, such as creativity and negative psychological states experienced in benign, threat-free environments. We address this issue by proposing that neuroticism stems from trait individual differences in activity in brain circuits that govern the nature of self-generated thought (SGT). We argue our theory explains not only the association of neuroticism with threat sensitivity but also the prominence within the neurotic mind of representations of information that are unrelated to the way the world is right now, such as creativity and nonsituational ‘angst’.
Viewed as a whole, these analyses provide a plausible mechanistic account for the fact that neurotic individuals often experience negative affect even when their environment is benign. Moreover, since SGT is also linked to beneficial outcomes, such as creativity and a patient, long-term style of decision-making, it entails a similar mix of costs and benefits to the neurotic personality profile. Finally, both neuroticism and SGT have been linked to changes in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, including those examples of SGT that are accompanied by a negative ruminative emotional tone. Altogether, these similarities suggest to us that individual differences in proneness to particular elements of SGT are the root cause (the ‘engine’) of neuroticism.
In this opinion article, we propose that the cost and benefits of neuroticism are surface manifestations of a tendency to engage in negatively hued SGT []. SGT reflects the capacity for cognition to represent information without an obvious link to the current environment, such as those thoughts that occur during mind wandering or daydreaming. However, these SGT processes are not wholly fanciful, but instead are typically based on prior experience and are especially important in contexts where episodic memory and/or semantic knowledge are needed to make sense of the world. Therefore, the process of self-generation can be conceptualised as a mechanism that allows a stimulus to convey a meaning that goes beyond that prescribed by its veridical features. Viewed from an individual differences perspective, the capacity to think beyond the current situation explains the vulnerability that neurotic individuals have for negative thoughts and feelings of an apparently abstract nature. Furthermore, we now have evidence as to where SGTs come from, since neuroimaging research has identified that the same brain network (the default mode network) is implicated in the episodic memory and semantic processing that occurs during states of spontaneous thought. The simplest and most elegant explanation is therefore that we use the same process to perform all of these different mental computations and that the tendency to apply these particular brain systems to generate negative thoughts and feelings will be reflected in high scores on measures of neuroticism.
The personality dimension of neuroticism captures trait individual differences in proneness to negative psychological states of all types. High scorers on neuroticism are especially vulnerable to psychiatric illness and also tend to perform poorly in dangerous jobs, yet are typically more creative than average individuals. Despite its important effects on the human experience, currently we lack a mechanistic neurocognitive account that can explain both the costs and benefits of high scores on neuroticism.
Given that high scorers on neuroticism have difficulty coping with dangerous jobs, it might seem reasonable to explain neuroticism as stemming from a magnified perception of threat; indeed, this hypothesis is a leading causal explanation for neuroticism []. However, high scorers on neuroticism are not only highly sensitive to threat but also prone to experiencing negative psychological states in the absence of a current threat stimulus, as demonstrated by the content of neuroticism items in the well-established Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (e.g., ‘Do you ever feel ‘just miserable’ for no reason?’; ‘Are you often troubled about feelings of guilt?’; ‘Do you worry about awful things that might happen?’; ‘Have you ever wished that you were dead?’; ‘Do you worry too long after an embarrassing experience?’) []. The content of these items suggests that a cardinal aspect of neuroticism is the tendency to self-generate negative affect, a tendency that casts doubt upon theories that explain neuroticism wholly in terms of threat sensitivity, because these theories can only explain a heightened response to a threat stimulus that is currently present. Instead, our SGT-based theory of neuroticism has the advantage of encompassing threat sensitivity, since it is plausible that a tendency to self-generate negative affect would be a distraction when attempting to defuse a bomb, yet it also explains the proclivity for rumination and abstract ‘angst’ in threat-free situations that is such a prominent feature of the neurotic mind.
Neuroticism indexes individual differences in proneness to negative thoughts and emotions of all types []. It is reliably measured by self-report questionnaires and features in all major descriptive models of personality []. Neuroticism significantly increases susceptibility to psychiatric illness [] and also modulates risk-related behaviour. For example, high scorers on neuroticism take fewer risks when making investments, an effect that is genetically based []. Likewise, neuroticism affects performance in occupations that entail physical danger: low scores on neuroticism are associated with superior performance among bomb-disposal operatives []. Similarly, volunteers for military pilot training on average score significantly lower on neuroticism than the general public and those trainees that graduate typically score even lower on neuroticism than their already low-scoring peers who fail training []. This association appears to stem from the more dangerous nature of military aviation rather than the psychomotor demands of flying aircraft per se, because amateur civilian pilots score close to the population average on neuroticism []. Other personality constructs also influence performance in military aviation, especially extraversion [], but recent meta-analytic research comparing the incremental effect of different personality constructs on military aviation success shows that neuroticism exerts the strongest influence [].
A clue as to the solution of this problem can be found in the words of Isaac Newton, who viewed his creativity as a product of intense, prolonged rumination: ‘I keep the subject constantly before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly, by little and little, into a full and clear light.’ []. Newton also exhibited signs of being highly neurotic, such as brooding over past mistakes and worrying obsessively about scientific precedence, all of which culminated in a nervous breakdown during the summer and autumn of 1693 []. This breakdown could have been a coincidence but, viewed in the light of studies linking neuroticism and creativity, it seems more plausible that the proclivity for prolonged, self-generated rumination that underpinned Newton's creativity was also responsible for his neurotic symptoms and, ultimately, the collapse of his mental health. In line with this notion, experimental findings show that associations between neuroticism and creativity stem from the problem-solving benefits of rumination-related processes, such as worrying. For example, experimentally induced worry increased creativity in high scorers on neuroticism [].
These associations between neuroticism and creativity are backed up by epidemiological research showing that creative professionals have a higher than average risk of both psychiatric illness and suicide []. Viewed as a whole, these findings are consistent with the notion that a hyperactive imagination is the root cause of neurotic
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he says. Rasker says these numbers are similar in California and Oregon.
He notes that about 84 percent of the private land around national forests is open to development, versus 14 percent of surrounding land that's already built up with housing developments, resorts and vacation homes. With an improving economy, and no restrictions on where people can build, he's worried.
"We're on a growth trajectory that is very scary," he says. "And you know, if we think it's expensive and dangerous now, we're just now seeing the very beginnings of how big this problem is going to be very soon."
Already, the firefighting portion of the Forest Service's budget is higher than ever. "In 2012 [the share of budget] was over 47 percent," says David Cleaves, the service's climate and fire expert. That's tripled over the past decade or so.
Cleaves says it's not a crisis now, but "economically, and in a policy sense, you could call it a crisis in the future." That's because more money that goes to firefighting means there's less money available for prevention.
"We're burning many times as much acreage as we burned in the past," says Elizabeth Reinhardt, assistant director for fire management for the Forest Service. "And also we have many times more large fires. So when you have individual fires that cost $30 million and $50 million and $10 million, then if you just have a few more of them, all of a sudden you're gobbling up your budget."
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Wark/AP John Wark/AP
Nowadays, the U.S. Forest Service has less money to spend on trimming back or burning undergrowth and trees to prevent bigger fires in the future. Estimates put the area of forest that needs fire prevention work performed on it at over 200 million acres, but the service is only able to treat about 3 million acres a year.
One solution is to let some natural fires burn longer instead of putting them out right away. That gets rid of built-up fuel, and it's cheaper than mechanically thinning forests or doing prescribed burns. But this tactic isn't popular with homeowners nearby.
"So many of the places where we have fire are near where people live," says Reinhardt. "Or, say it's early in the fire season and you have months of fire season ahead of you, and you just don't feel like you can take the risk of having a big fire out there in the backcountry."
And climate scientists don't expect things to improve on their own. Over the past century, average global temperature has gone up more than one degree Fahrenheit. Scientists say climate change is likely to keep pushing temperatures up.
Climate scientist Anthony Westerling explains that in the West, heat dries up the land. Think of a bathtub, he says. "The more you warm it up, the more the moisture is leaving the bathtub. It's coming out as steam off the top." When combined with drought, high heat increases the "vapor pressure deficit" — the potential the atmosphere has to suck moisture out of the ground. Under those conditions, trees and grass and bushes turn into dry tinder.
Westerling works at the University of California in Merced but he's been watching the Rocky Mountains a lot. He says spring is coming earlier, and it's hotter. Many forests there are near their heat and drought limit.
A decade of wet weather could turn things around, he says, but he adds that computer models show a rockier long-term trend. "By the time you get to mid-century in the northern Rockies, temperatures in most years and droughts in most years are far more extreme than the most extreme historical events."
And that will mean more firefighting, especially if people continue to build homes and subdivisions in fire-prone regions.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Darrell Spangler/AP Darrell Spangler/AP
Economist Ray Rasker says that's likely to continue if communities and developers who decide to build are not paying for their fire protection. "They don't bear the full cost of that decision," Rasker says. "The cost is borne by the federal taxpayer, by the rest of us."
Instead, he says, "part of the calculation should be whether the local government can afford their share of the firefighting costs." If they can't pay, he says, then they shouldn't allow more development in fire-prone areas.
And Rasker says there are ethical as well as economic reasons to limit development near forests — the lives of firefighters are at stake.
"It's a tough thing to see people go in, to have to risk their lives" to defend structures in towns that have been evacuated, he says. "Empty structures."Every Friday we are featuring dogs from our partners that need your help and this week Bullseye Rescue in Atlanta, GA and Jenny need your help! This is Jenny's story.
Please read. Please don't look away. Please help.
"This is Jenny, and we've failed her. She was "rescued" off the streets... only to spend ONE YEAR in boarding. One year. One year without a person of her own, one year without a soft bed or couch, one year without the sun on her face."
She has been with Bullseye Rescue since DECEMBER and has lived in boarding ever since.
Jenny is a 4 year old Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix.
Jenny MELTS into your touch. She LOVES listening to birds and feeling the sun on her face. She literally pushes out the door and has to be dragged back in. She is an absolute delight-just patiently waiting for her humans to come along.
Jenny is a special girl. She likes to be the only princess in the kingdom. So a no dog home would be best at this time. She is crate trained and house trained!
"We don't know what to do. We're at a loss. We're financially hurting because of boarding costs – ONE YEAR of boarding costs. But more importantly, our hearts are breaking because it's wrong. No dog should be "saved" to then live like this. No dog should be kenneled day and night. Not Jenny. Not any dog."
If you are interested Bullseye will even cover the cost of two weeks of professional training if Jenny has a committed foster or adopter. They will do whatever it takes to get this girl into a home where she can relax, get belly rubs, and take long naps without a dog barking in her ear or the smell of cleaning products filling her nose.
Will you SHARE? Will you help in any way? Please consider fostering or adopting Jenny!
Donations toward Jenny's care can be made here: http://bullseyerescue.com/ shop-and-donate.html
Foster or adoption apps can be found here: http://bullseyerescue.com/ forms.html
Questions can be answered here: [email protected]
PLEASE SHARE. Please.
Hang in there little Jenny.Reminder: Toonami Set For ‘Evangelion 2.22’ Anime Feature Broadcast
Chris Beveridge Posted by
The folks at FUNimation are sliding out a new reminder today, which is definitely important as ratings mean more shows can be brought on, that Toonami will be running the Evangelion 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance anime feature film next weekend on August 31st. The broadcast is part of a one-time special only broadcast for the feature as part of the Labor Day weekend festivities that Toonami is doing.
Plot concept: The landmark anime Evangelion evolves, reaching new heights of intensity in the feature film: Evangelion 2.22. In this explosive new story, brutal action and primal emotion clash as a group of young pilots maneuver their towering cyborg Eva Units into combat against a deadly and disturbing enemy.
In the battle to prevent the apocalyptic Third Impact, Shinji and Rei were forced to carry humanity’s hopes on their shoulders. Now, as the onslaught of the bizarre, monstrous Angels escalates, they find their burden shared by two new Eva pilots, the fiery Asuka and the mysterious Mari. In this thrilling experience for fans of giant robot destruction, the young pilots fight desperately to save mankind – and struggle to save themselves.
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since. He likes to write a lot, as you can see. Chris Beveridge – who has written 55656 posts on The Fandom Post. Facebook • Twitter • YouTube • Pinterest(CBS) The White Sox are calling up right-hander Reynaldo Lopez from Triple-A Charlotte and will have him start against the Royals on Friday, general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday afternoon.
The 23-year-old Lopez will be the second high-profile prospect to debut for the White Sox amid their rebuild, after second baseman Yoan Moncada joined the team in the third week of July. Acquired from the Nationals in the Adam Eaton trade last December, Lopez is 6-7 with a 3.79 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 131 strikeouts in 121 innings across 22 starts at Charlotte this season.
Lopez is rated as the No. 59 prospect by Baseball America. He made his big league debut for the Nationals in 2016, when he went 5-3 with a 4.91 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in 44 innings.
“It’s important, as with any of these young premium-type prospects as they come to Chicago, Reynaldo — like Yoan before him and others who will follow him — is by no means a finished product,” Hahn said. “There’s still going to be some development that occurs here in Chicago and although he’s answered all the questions we have for him at the Triple-A level, it’s now time to challenge him a little further with big league hitters on an every-fifth-day basis.
“In the end, that last stage of development has to happen at the big league level, where the speed of the game is a little quicker and obviously the hitters are a little bit more advanced.”
The current plan is for Lopez to be a member of the rotation throughout the rest of the season, though Hahn added the White Sox will adjust his workload if needed. It’s also “conceivable” Chicago could utilize a six-man rotation in September, Hahn said. Lopez’s 121 innings this season are the most of his professional career.
Right-hander Mike Pelfrey will move to the White Sox’s bullpen with Lopez joining the rotation.This will be really great news for any still playing Minecraft [Official Site], as the 1.13 version currently in development will finally get an updated LWJGL.
The first development snapshot of 1.13 was release today, with the developer noting that 1.13 is being primarily aimed at making the game run better overall. With that, they've noted that they've finally updated LWJGL (Lightweight Java Game Library) to version 3. This brings many improvements:
We've finally updated to use the newest version of LWJGL. This fixed a lot of long-standing bugs on Mac OS and Linux, and should make for a much more stable playing experience. The biggest benefit you'll experience is that fullscreen mode now defaults to borderless windowed, so that snapping in and out of fullscreen mode is very quick! […]
I gave it a quick run and fullscreen support is much better, it really is instant to switch between fullscreen and windowed now and doesn't have all the weirdness in the current version.
It's really pleasing to know that they're still supporting Linux nicely. Hopefully it won't be long before their new Linux launcher is promoted as the official download over the old java file as it does give a nicer experience.
On top of that, they've added support for "Data packs", which sounds like it might be very useful for modders or for people sharing their content with each other.
See the release notes here.The high cost of attending NYU is hardly breaking news. The school has been known for charging high tuition for years, and its track record for providing financial aid isn't great: As CBS reported earlier this summer, only three percent of NYU students get their full financial needs met by the school. (Compare that to Columbia University, also in Manhattan, which meets the full financial needs of all its students.) Comparatively speaking, New York has always been an expensive city. The high composite cost of an education at NYU is almost common knowledge. And the decision to finance such a costly education, whether personally or with loans, is a choice. A choice I certainly made. So it raises the question: Who's responsible for the debt?
Though I graduated from the school this past spring with a BA in literature, I am not an apologist for NYU. I think giving some faculty members loans for vacation homes is unsavory.* The list of objections goes on: I think plans for expansion in Greenwich Village are invasive, the satellite campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai are unnecessary extravagances, and institutional bureaucracy borders on comical cliché. But as Zac Bissonnette, author of Debt-Free U, wrote in 2011: "NYU students have a legitimate concern--the amount of money that they're borrowing is insane--and the way that they should handle it is to vote with their feet. Transfer to another school. Deprive NYU of its source of revenue and save yourself in the process."
So am I, as an alum of NYU, in some way culpable for the corporatization of the university? By staying through graduation, am I complicit in the out-of-control rise in tuition, the school's ascendancy as the number-one producer of student debt?
"I don't think the school holds all the accountability," says a recent graduate of NYU's music business program. "My mom took out all of my loans in both of our names, but we never discussed how much I was going to owe until now. So it's parents who are at fault, too. And high schools need to offer some sort of tuition counseling before the fact."
I asked her if, looking back, she thinks her 18-year-old self was mature enough to be making such definitive financial decisions. "Absolutely not," she said with a laugh. "But at the same time, if someone had told me I would owe as much as I do, I don't think it would have changed my mind. I was a senior in high school. Everything at that age is so dramatic and romanticized. You're thinking, 'I can't put a price tag on my future.'"
That feeling, she says, bleeds into the first few years of college. "When you're in that culture, freshman and sophomore year, everyone's just excited to be there. You don't think it's ever going to end, but then it's senior year. You hit that quarter-life crisis, and you realize you actually have to pay for it all."Ahead of the semifinal FloorballToday got the chance to meet Sweden’s superstar Alexander Galante Carlström at the player hotel to talk about being room mate with radar partner Rasmus Enström, the quarterfinal against Germany and the upcoming match against Switzerland.
You’ve arrived at a new hotel a couple of days ago. Who has been your room mate in this tournament?
Rasmus Enström – always in the national team and with Falun.
What’s it like staying with him?
It’s nice. We know each other so well so it’s natural. However he’s really sloppy. His clothes are everywhere and he doesn’t keep track of his things. He says that he’s the master of his own chaos, but that’s debatable.
Did you guys stay with each other when you where junior players too?
Yes, I think we’ve stayed at hotel with each other ever since we were 15, when you start staying at hotels. So it’s been a while now.
Maybe you guys should share houses as well?
No! That’s over the line. I hope it won’t happen at least.
Looking back at the quarterfinals, it seemed like Sweden broke through in the second period, after a rather slow first one. What made the difference?
Something happened definitely. I think we had better movement and played and ran for each other rather than trying to score yourself, which resulted in more goals for us and a better flow in the game.
Jan-Erik Vaara, the head coach of Sweden is now doing his 3rd WFC. Can you describe him as a coach?
He’s a guy that doesn’t hold back and what he thinks. Something that he pushes a lot is to get the energy and flow in the team, which is something he’s really good at. He knows when to get angry with us when it’s needed. I think it’s an important quality in a coach to now when to raise your voice and when to be calm. I would describe him as a classical Russian type of coach, in the sense that he’s really good to get the energy in the group.
How’s the relation between you and Vaara?
It’s a good relation, however in the national team you don’t talk that much with your coach, it’s more that you come here and do your job, you know why you’re here.
Vaara forms a coaching duo together with Ulf Hallstensson, what’s his role in the team?
Ulf is more responsible to the tactical part, while Vaara takes care of the group and makes sure that we perform. Ulf goes through how we’re supposed to play in a much more detailed way, and Vaara does it more generally. But they complete each other with their 2 different approaches.
Compared to the last WFC ’14, there’s a couple of new players this time. How would you summarize this year’s troop?
It’s a mix, we’ve switched some players and replaced them with others. Those who come in have some great qualities as well. We have Linus Nordgren, a top point scorer in the SSL who always finds great and clever passes, then also Rikard Eriksson who’s more of a physical player with a hard shot. Tobias Gustafsson, who’s doing his first WFC, is a physical and quick defender, who’s done very well too. I’m not going to go through every single one but we are, as it should be in a national team, a good mix of players.
People from Sweden have traveled here to support the team. How important are the cheering spectators for you?
I think that support from the audience is fantastic. However I don’t feel like it doesn’t matter as much for which team they are cheering on. If we play Switzerland and they have many supporters cheering loudly for them, I get a kick out of it. In my head I’m thinking that we are going to make them quiet instead of making a lot of noise with their cow bells that they’ve brought with them.
Do you have any traveled relatives here in Riga?
Yes, my mom and dad were here watching the game against Germany. They actually got interviewed on Swedish television which was fun! But other than that you see other player’s parents that you recognize, as well as friends from my home town Västerås, and more from Falun are going to arrive as well. I hope we continue to grow, so there will be a big yellow wall supporting us in the next games.
You play Switzerland in the semifinal, do you have any thoughts about their team?
No not really. I know which players they have, since we’ve played them before and it’s a good team. The last games against them have been close, so we need to be 100% if we’re going to win the game.
Let’s say you defeat Switzerland, what would the dream final be for you?
A game against Finland would be the best. And then that we win of course, that’s what it’s all about. We are here for one thing, which is the gold. So a game against Finland and that we beat them hard!
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Join the Floorball Worldwide Facebook GroupTonne of cocaine and seven tonnes of marijuana seized after discovery of metre-wide tunnel running between Tijuana and San Diego
US agents have uncovered a narrow cross-border tunnel complete with rail system that was used to transport tonnes of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to an exit covered by a trash bin in California.
US authorities said on Wednesday the tunnel that ran 800 metres (874 yards) from a house in Tijuana was equipped with a large elevator to a lot in San Diego that was advertised as a wooden-pallet business. The discovery resulted in the seizure of more than a tonne (2,240lbs) of cocaine and seven tonnes of marijuana.
It was the 13th sophisticated secret passage found along California’s border with Mexico since 2006, including three on the same short street in San Diego that runs parallel to a border fence with a densely populated residential area on the Mexican side. The unusually narrow tunnel was only about one metre (3ft) wide, equipped with a rail system, lighting and ventilation.
The tunnel was unusual because it was used for cocaine, not just marijuana, said Laura Duffy, US attorney for the southern district of California. Tunnels are often built for marijuana because its bulk and odour make it more difficult to escape border inspectors’ scrutiny than cocaine and other drugs.
The elevator, which was big enough for eight to 10 people, was located in the closet of a Tijuana house whose floors were strewn with mattresses, Duffy said. The tunnel zig-zagged for 800 metres to the fenced commercial lot in San Diego, where the exit was covered by a large trash bin.
It’s something completely different than what we’ve seen Laura Duffy, US attorney
Other tunnels that have ended in California were inside houses and warehouses.
“It’s a rabbit hole,” Duffy told reporters. “Just the whole way that it comes up and that it comes up out right into the open, it is a bit ingenious, I think, and it’s something completely different than what we’ve seen.”
Investigators didn’t know when the tunnel was completed. Margarita Ontiveros, who works at a law office next to the San Diego lot, said the tenants arrived about a year ago and often bought and sold wooden pallets.
“They loaded and unloaded a lot of pallets,” Ontiveros said. “They sold very cheap.”
Investigators began to monitor the lot daily in autumn last year after Border Patrol agents assigned to the area saw heavy traffic and grew suspicious, said Duffy. The prosecutor said she was “fairly confident” the first drug load was sent earlier this month but did not rule out the possibility that some got through undetected.
Six people were arrested in San Diego on Friday on drug- and tunnel-related crimes, including one US citizen, two Cubans and three Mexicans, Duffy said.
Authorities saw a trash bin forklifted on to a truck at the San Diego lot on 13 April and followed it to a parking lot, a US immigration and customs investigator said in a criminal complaint. Two days later, San Diego County sheriff’s deputies stopped a truck after it left the parking lot, seizing 1,000kg of cocaine and 5,000kg of marijuana.
Marijuana found in the tunnel and trash bin brought the total haul to more than seven tonnes, authorities said.
The discovery demonstrates the enduring appeal of tunnels to smugglers, despite the significant time and money required to build one. Dozens have been found along the US-Mexico border in recent years, mostly in California and Arizona. Many are found incomplete.
The San Diego-Tijuana region is popular because its clay-like soil is relatively easy to dig with shovels and pneumatic tools, and both sides of the border have warehouses that provide cover for trucks and heavy equipment.One thing that we do know is that psychologically it is important for corporations and the government to show Anonymous as malicious and or incompetent. If they can succeed in this we they hope to remove the current “Robin Hood” image that they have and limit the collective’s popularity. We actually warned of this type of behavior several months ago as we saw popularity for the group rising and an actual respect beginning to form in the minds of many Internet users (especially the ones that are concerned with Net Neutrality). Although not the first, the recent labeling of Anonymous as a terrorist organization by the NSA (followed by a claim that Anonymous might go after the national power grid) shows that there is an effort to pain the collective in a seriously bad light.
Now for the Symantec post; on the surface it looks very legitimate and with the inclusion of screen shots and a time line it is easy to see how this could have happened. They have screen shots showing an older pastebin link and also one they claim was posted by Anonymous with a link that contains a contaminated version of the tool Slowloris DDoS tool. The problem is that Anonymous members may have actually warned of the Trojan right after it was discovered. As the YourAnonNews feed has tens of thousands of tweets most people would not be willing to sort through them all to see if this was true, however… we decided to take the time and see if there was anything on this around the 20th (the date that Symantec claims the false link was setup). The search took over an hour, but in the end we got all the way down to the 7th of February before Twitter started to act up on us. A second and third attempt got us back to January 30th. This is very interesting, as it means that without serious searching Anonymous has no way to prove that they did warn people about the fake Slowloris tool (we are betting that Symantec either knew or was betting on this fact as well).
So now we have to wonder about the timing of Symantec’s release of this information. Why wait 30+ days to publish this if it is as important as they appear to claim in the blog? Or was the release timed to make it nearly impossible to find the original tweets? Looking at their own screen shot of searched tweets we noticed a few things that make us wonder.
Why remove the avatars and names of supposed Anonymous tweets?
Why remove the entire last part of the infected link from the images?
How did the Tor Reference get in the search? (the link is not the same, that is a bit.ly link and does not match the alleged search string)
Symantec’s answer to the first one is going to be “to protect privacy”. The problem is that if these are really “Anonymous” tweets then their “privacy” is already protected. It would have actually been more damning to show their Avatar and User name instead of blurring it all out and claiming that it is Anonymous. Symantec did leave some avatars visible enough that you might draw a conclusion though (which is what they would like).
Symantec would also have an answer for the second question that would appear to make sense. They do not want anyone else to download the infected package. However, this logic also falls apart under close inspection. It would be more prudent to expose the link so that people know what to look for instead of hiding it so that others might stumble on it accidentally. After all it is only a like to the suspicious pastebin post and one that they claim is all over the place on twitter. However, by blocking the link they manage to create doubt and suspicion about ANY pastbin link that is supposed to lead to the Slowloris tool.
The last question we are pretty sure Symantec would not have an answer too. However, it is very odd that they included it. If you read both the fake and the alleged original pastebin screen shots you will see that both state “(PROXYS OR TOR ARE *NOT* SUITABLE)”. The TOR reference would be a giveaway that something is not right there. Searching through the YourAnonNews twitter feed we found several comments about Tor not being suitable for use in DDoS attacks. There are other mentions of Tor, but these are about how to use it and what it is intended for as well as information about TOR’s new masking system. Not once did we find tweets saying that you should use Tor for this type of attack.
But there is more to this blog post by Symantec that meets the eye. The timing and psychology used is very important. On the one hand Symantec is releasing important information about malware injected into a tool commonly used for DDoS attacks and one that Anonymous has used frequently. However, the way they are presenting it is intended to so mistrust and fear. We would guess that their hope is to scare others that might be thinking of helping Anonymous in the future out of that course.
Another interesting thing, if you run a twitter search for DDoS you do find a single link to DDoS tools on patebin. Following the link takes you a pastebin post that dates back to September of 2011. This was put up by a twitter account called Anonymous Circle, not YourAnonNews (even though Symantec claims this in their timeline image). In fact after 10+ searches on Twitter for different terms we could not find any reference to YourAnonNews posting any links to DDoS tools at all.
In the end you have another attempt at sowing distrust and misinformation, but we would caution anyone about downloading anything unknown from the internet. That is just asking for trouble and if you do intend to grab tools from pastbin or other links you will want to make sure you run them through a serious virus scan before running them anyway. We have a feeling that we will see more blog posts like this (ones that make it impossible to find the original posts and with misinformation in them) as well as more attempts to make paint the online activist movement into a dangerous threat. Before you believe these stories, take a look around and then ask yourself “what is behind this and what do the original posters have to gain”. You might not like the answers you come up with.
Discuss this in our ForumMARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Truthout just finished a ten installment series called Truthout on the Mexican Border. The last article concludes with the killing of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador in 1980, and the people in the State Department, the Reagan administration and congress who supported the death squads in El Salvador.
One of the leaders of the right wing paramilitary killings in that Central American nation – as pointed out in the Truthout series -- was Roberto D'Aubuisson, who was lionized by the likes of Jesse Helms.
As The Huffington Post reports in a detailed article, some of the initial backers of the death squads in El Salvador also provided a significant part of the financing that launched Bain Capital. Of course, Mitt Romney denies that his initial investors had anything to do with the thousands of persons killed because they were indigenous or protested of fought against the oligarchy, but as the Huffington Post reveals, the relationship is pretty clear:
"Romney confirms Bain had investors in El Salvador. But, as was Bain's policy with any big investor, they had the families checked out as diligently as possible," the Tribune wrote. "They uncovered no unsavory links to drugs or other criminal activity."
Nobody with a basic understanding of the region's history could believe that assertion.
By 1984, the media had thoroughly exposed connections between the death squads and the Salvadoran oligarchy, including the families that invested with Romney. The sitting U.S. ambassador to El Salvador charged that several families, including at least one that invested with Bain, were living in Miami and directly funding death squads. Even by 1981, El Salvador's elite, largely relocated to Miami, were so angered by the public perception that they were financing death squads that they reached out to the media to make their case. The two men put forward to represent the oligarchs were both from families that would invest in Bain three years later. The most cursory review of their backgrounds would have turned up the ties.
The connection between the families involved with Bain's founding and those who financed death squads was made by the Boston Globe in 1994 and the Salt Lake Tribune in 1999. This election cycle, Salon first raised the issue in January, and the Los Angeles Times filled out more of the record earlier this month.
More importantly, as has been the tradition with US supported violence in Latin America (detailed in the Truthout on the Mexican Border series), the right wing paramilitaries, the national armed forces and police representing the government interests in supporting the privileged ruling class were responsible for most of the torture, deaths and disappearances in El Salvador:
In 1982, two years before Romney began raising money from the oligarchs, El Salvador's independent Human Rights Commission reported that, of the 35,000 civilians killed, "most" died at the hands of death squads. A United Nations truth commission concluded in 1993 that 85 percent of the acts of violence were perpetrated by the right, while the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, which was supported by the Cuban government, was responsible for 5 percent.
Currently, death squad and military and police killings are being ramped up in Honduras, after a US supported coup against a democratically elected president. This is the way things are according to a perverted notion of the Monroe Doctrine as applied by the US government over the years.
If you disagree, name any populist or democratically elected government in Latin America that has tried to redistribute wealth and land that has been supported by Washington DC?
Given Romney's record of launching his vulture capitalism firm with the backing of the bloody hands of the oligarchy in Central America, you can expect the dirty wars to return there under a Romney administration.
But the sad reality is that they are being rekindled in some Latin American nations already, including Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. The embers of suppression by murder and torture are starting to glow again.
"Over the years, these Latin American friends have loyally rolled over investments in succeeding funds, actively participated in Bain Capital's May investor meetings, and are still today one of the largest investor groups in Bain Capital," a former Bain executive wrote, as quoted in the Huffington Post article.
Not only have a lot of people been fired to make Romney wealthy; now we learn that a lot of people have also died in order to sustain the oligarchical rule of some of his key backers at Bain.Why Are We Policing Women's Voices—And Not Men's?
In Terry Gross's NPR interview with writer and editor Jessica Grose, professor of linguistics Penny Eckert, and speech pathologist Susan Sankin, the subject on the table was the policing of young women’s voices. “People are busy policing women’s language and nobody is policing older or younger men’s language,” Eckert says. Two of the speech tics discussed are uptalking (ending a sentence like it’s a question) and vocal fry (drawing out, or rasping, the ends of sentences). The clear double standard here? Men often employ these same tics.
Young women's voices, when they have these tics, have been described as “valley girl,” “mall girl,” “sexy baby,” and in Grose’s case, “faux socialite.” Young men rarely receive such criticism. When an older man told Grose that she sounded “like his granddaughter,” the implication was that she sounded childish, not authoritative or knowledgeable enough (being both young and female).
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Susan Sankin says that she finds these speech patterns to be distracting from the speakers’ intended message. “It still has a feeling to me of sounding hesitant, less sure of yourself, and less decisive,” she says, while Penny Eckert stresses that there exists a generational shift in the way we hear and interpret patterns of speech. “There’s been a change and those of us who are bothered by some of these features are probably just getting old,” Eckert says.
Whether or not you’re bothered by these speech patterns, there is a double standard at play in the way they are policed, and for whom. “So it sort of feels like even when the culture is changing… usually white men are the defaults and how we should all be behaving,” Grose says.
It’s good food for thought. Listen to the entire interview here.
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Must Watch: Lake Bell's 'In A World' Trailer Is HilariousDuring last year's election, every American I knew who was a total news junkie and a Barack Obama supporter would have the television tuned to cable news throughout the day. Every so often, some "massive" story broke that seemed like it could be bad for Obama. John McCain suspended his campaign. Sarah Palin said Obama "pals around" with terrorists. Joe the Plumber said something that appeared to represent old-fashioned common sense. Bill Ayers or Jeremiah Wright said something that emphatically did not. Rasmussen had McCain gaining ground.
Each time one of these eruptions occurred, the reaction started: OMG! This is a disaster. This could mean three, four points in the polls. There goes Virginia (the state, not a person). Goodbye, white vote. And so on. Of course, none of these catastrophes ever came to pass. McCain's stunt backfired, Palin persuaded no one who wasn't already persuaded, Brother Werzelbacher did not have talismanic powers over voters, Ayers and Wright never counted for much and daily polls did not in fact drive the election. The large mass of voters stayed more or less focused on more or less important things. Obama won a substantial victory. If you'd relied solely on cable television before the voting, you would have been surprised by the result. It's not that the cable nets were pro Obama or anti, uniformly. It's simply that cable lives off of daily, tempest-in-teapot pseudo-scandals, whomever they effect. And since the right was coming at Obama pretty hard last October, and since no one could quite be sure that America really would elect a black man as its president, all the little cable pseudo-scandals seemed like possible death blows. So why weren't they? Repeat after me, folks: Cable. Doesn't. Matter. Which brings us to the current "war" between the Obama administration and Fox News, well described by the Guardian's Chris McGreal. The conventional wisdom is that a politician shouldn't pick a fight with the media. Especially with mighty Rupert's media. Can't win that one.
But why not? Herewith, three reasons why the conventional wisdom is probably wrong here. First, what Obama spokeswoman Anita Dunn said – "Fox News often operates either as the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican party" – is clearly true. Even Republicans wouldn't deny this. After all, there's a reason conservatives watch Fox,
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are professional grade, so in 2003 George was printing objects of a higher quality than consumer printers can make today.
“I went nuts over it because you could put different colors in and they’re vivid colors and the plastic that it makes is strong. You can’t crush it in your hand,” George said. “You could manufacture usable things without any post processing. You pull it out of the machine and bam! You can use it right away. That just couldn’t be beat.”
George limited sales of each puzzle to 100 units and printed each one as he received orders. They required expensive materials and sometimes more than 10 hours to print, and as a result could cost several hundred dollars.
Today, there are more cheaper and more practical options. Oskar sells his puzzles on Shapeways, an enormous online marketplace for 3D printed objects. There are knot, cube, ring, pyramid and tree-shaped puzzles all available for purchase. You can also buy his 17x17x17 “Over the Top” Rubik’s Cube, which set a world record in 2011. It has 1,539 parts and took more than 100 hours to design.
“With Shapeways, I can 3D print puzzles for a price that would be still twice or three times the price of a mass produced puzzle, but the difference is very small and the difference will be shrinking,” Oskar said. “I hope there will be a 3D printer for home use that has the same quality, but it’s not there yet.”
A few of his designs are available on Layer by Layer now too, but you need a home printer to make them.
George and Oskar also develop puzzles for mass production. Like the rest of the world, 3D printing has totally changed how they make prototypes. It used to be that puzzle makers relied on drawings or laborious wood carvings. Now they can use a 3D printer, whether they want an object to take to a manufacturer or to just be able to hold their creation in their hands.
During a visit to his home in San Francisco, George showed me how he prints a puzzle. He has since upgraded from his original Stratasys Dimension to a newer model. Unlike most consumer printers, George’s professional printer builds with two materials: ABS plastic and a support material that holds up the overhanging parts of puzzle pieces. The nozzle darts between pieces to lay down layers of molten plastic.
George had started the print job early in the morning. It was ready by late afternoon. The print platform lowered and George pulled it out to reveal eight orange Tetris-like puzzle pieces that fit together to form a cube. It joined seven pre-printed, multicolored clones laid out on a table.
George scraped off the support material and began a laborious process few people think about: If you make the puzzle, you have to put it together before you can show it off.
“They used to have operators for telephones, and now everyone is their own operator. The same thing is going to happen with 3D printing, but it’s going to take a lot longer because that’s another step up in intellectual endeavor,” George said. “Someday I think this will be natural. I don’t think everyone will do this. I think it’s like music. Not everyone plays the piano. But they can take lessons if they want to.”
This article was updated at 4 p.m. to clarify who designed several of the puzzles featured in the gallery.On his upcoming solo album Cheating The Polygraph, Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison reworks, rearranges and, in many ways, re-imagines eight of the band's songs in a big band fashion. It's a fresh and daring concept that started to evolve in 2009, after he was asked by Buddy Rich's daughter, Cathy, to perform at a memorial concert for her late father.
"Cathy said to me, ‘You’re welcome to play any of Buddy’s tunes, of course, but what would be really fun is if you did a song from your band,'" Harrison explains. "My band's music isn’t anything like Buddy's, obviously, so I thought about it, and then I got together with Laurence Cottle, a big band arranger, to see what might work."
Harrison had firm ideas for the sound he was looking for: "I told Laurence, ‘I don’t want this to be funny," Harrison says. "It couldn’t be comedy, cheesy, ‘rock does swing’ or anything like that. I thought it should be serious music. We went with that approach, and it came out great."
The 2009 memorial concert didn't pan out (although Harrison did participate in a 25th Anniversary Buddy Rich tribute show in 2012), but once Harrison and Cottle had worked up the first tune, they decided to try another. "I asked Laurence to write an arrangement of Cheating The Polygraph. Once we did that second piece, I said, ‘What about a whole album?’"
Over a five-year period, Harrison and Cottle worked on a selection of Porcupine Tree songs, reworking arrangements and cutting them apart, recording brass with demo drums and then recording keeper drum tracks after the new arrangements were complete. “It was a fascinating process," Harrison notes. "There were actually 10 songs that just wouldn’t work. We started them, wrote an intro or a verse, a middle-eight, but we ultimately decided there wasn’t enough material in certain songs to work with. They were more about atmosphere, sound and vibe than strictly chords and melody. So I gave up on those pieces and concentrated on the ones that gave me enough to rearrange.”
Of the finished album, Harrison stresses that listeners unfamiliar with Porcupine Tree's catalog won't have a hard time appreciating the music. "They're enjoyable pieces, and they sound nothing like the originals," he says. And despite the big band milieu, the drummer emphasizes that his agenda was decidedly anti-retro: “We’re not trying to do Glenn Miller. This is much more Frank Zappa, Don Ellis, Lalo Schifrin, Patrick Williams – some of the more modern big band thinkers. I’ve always been fascinated by modernism in art, so this album follows through on that futuristic-thinking concept."
Gavin Harrison's Cheating The Polygraph will be released April 13 in the UK, April 14 in North America, April 17 in Germany and April 22 in Japan. Physical pre-orders are available at the Kscope webstore. It is also available as a vinyl pre-order, as a CD/vinyl bundle pre-order and via iTunes.
On the following pages, Harrison runs down his top five tips for drummers.Authorities say a suspect with a lengthy criminal record has been charged in the death of a Gary, Ind. police officer earlier this month.
Lake County Ind. Sheriff John Buncich said Carl Blount, 26, faces one count of murder.
“The work that went into this is unbelievable,” Buncich said while crediting a variety of police agencies Thursday. “Each and every one of these investigators were driven by the ardent desire to find those responsible for the murder of one of our own.”
Veteran Gary Police Officer Jeff Westerfield was shot and killed in the driver seat of his patrol car at 26th Avenue and Van Buren Place on July 6. Westerfield was one of several officers who had responded to a domestic disturbance between Blount and his girlfriend hours before.
Police took people into custody early on. Buncich said Blount has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2007 that includes allegations of resisting arrest and battering officers. When asked to explain Blount’s motive in Westerfield’s slaying, the sheriff replied: “He’s just a violent individual.”
The suspect’s half-brother implicated Blount in the slaying, Buncich said.
Family members of Westerfield expressed relief that a suspect has been charged.
Prosecutors will consider making the slaying a death-penalty case, the sheriff told reporters at a news conference.UFC tells networks: Go big
When the UFC was for sale earlier this summer, the company told potential buyers that it expected to see a nearly fourfold increase in its media rights revenue.
Its magic number is $450 million a year, a potentially staggering increase from the $115 million annual average that Fox Sports now pays, according to several media and UFC sources.
Although formal negotiations aren’t expected to start until next year, network executives have learned that the UFC plans to seek at least a 10-year deal under those terms, sources said.
Fox Sports signed its current media deal with UFC in 2011 and shows events on broadcast and cable.
The UFC’s current media deal with Fox Sports, seen as a watershed moment for the series when it was signed in 2011, ends in 2018. Fox Sports has an exclusive window to negotiate a renewal starting in late 2017.
WME-IMG co-CEO Ari Emanuel helped negotiate the UFC’s Fox deal as a consultant in 2011 and is expected to be a big part of these negotiations. Fox Sports President Eric Shanks will lead negotiations for the network. Shanks was part of the negotiating team that first brought the UFC over to Fox Sports in 2011.
The package the UFC will take to market will include the rights to four annual broadcast windows that Fox now holds, six annual cable events and weekly programming on Fox Sports 1, plus the UFC’s over-the-top Fight Pass service. It is not expected to include the UFC’s lucrative pay-per-view business, which will likely be retained by WME-IMG. But some media executives believe any winning bidder will have more of a say in what matches will be part of the UFC’s pay-per-view events. Whether a network will share in some of the PPV revenue is a deal point that will be negotiated, sources said.
The new package also could include the significant change of having the networks produce the events, sources said. The UFC now pays all production costs, so that change would increase costs for the media partner.
The negotiations mark the first significant deal under the UFC’s new owners, WME-IMG, who paid $4 billion for the company in July. Much of the company’s aggressive bid was based on leveraging the UFC’s media rights around the world, especially domestically. This will test its bullish attitude about the marketplace.
The UFC’s timing is noteworthy. On the plus side, it comes when most major sports rights are tied up well into the next decade, making the UFC appealing to media companies looking to grow their audience with the UFC’s fans, who are coveted by all networks because of their youth and passion.
The UFC also is seeing some momentum after its successful debut in New York City earlier this month.
The actual ratings performance of the UFC is a mixed bag. Like many other sports, Fox’s UFC coverage is down this year. Its Aug. 27 card averaged just 1.983 million viewers, the broadcast network’s only UFC fight to fall below 2 million viewers since its 2011 debut. In 2015, all four of Fox’s UFC telecasts averaged more than 2.7 million viewers.
The negotiations also come at a time when the pay-TV business is contracting and some of the industry’s biggest players, like Fox Sports and ESPN, have been cutting costs.
While networks pay more for exclusivity, the UFC also is considering splitting the package among two or more TV networks.
Fox Sports is considered a front-runner to renew the deal because UFC programming is a big part of FS1’s schedule and generally draws the channel’s biggest ratings. FS1’s program schedule would have a big hole to fill if the UFC went to another network.
But sources say that executives inside the network already have started balking over the proposed $450 million-a-year price tag. Fox tried to buy the UFC over the summer, but it refused to increase its $3.6 billion bid, in part, because its executives felt the UFC overvalued its media rights.
ESPN is a logical alternative for the UFC, and sources said network executives will sit down with the company if it allows Fox’s exclusive window to lapse.
But ESPN executives believe a big rights deal for the UFC will have little, if any, effect on its affiliate deals with pay-TV distributors — deals that account for most of ESPN’s revenue. Most of ESPN’s affiliate deals run for several years. Plus, ESPN’s parent company, Disney, could be squeamish about the sport’s violent nature.
Turner Sports is an intriguing option for the UFC, especially given that AT&T is buying Turner owner Time Warner, and the UFC could be leveraged across all the assets. Turner executives like the idea of putting UFC on truTV, which skews younger than Turner’s other channels; operating the UFC’s over-the-top service; and having the AT&T-owned DirecTV closely involved with the UFC’s pay-per-view business.
The timing, though, is tricky, and nobody knows whether AT&T’s purchase will win federal approval.
NBC Sports Group also is likely to kick the tires. Through its investment in SB Nation parent Vox Media, NBC Sports has seen the power of MMA as a media property, because the sport is the subject of some of SB Nation’s most popular sites.
Sports rights holders still are holding out hope that a digital media company will make a big investment in live sports. Amazon, Facebook, Google and Twitter continue talking with leagues about sports rights packages, and the UFC’s younger demos closely match their audiences. So far, those companies have invested in niche sports or smaller streaming packages. It’s still too early to know whether any of those companies will make a serious run at the UFC rights.More than 400 sailors are set to participate in a series of boat races on an Oshkosh lake.
Over 100 boats in four classes will sail on Lake Winnebago in the four-day Inland Lake Yachting Association’s Championship Regatta, Oshkosh Northwestern Media (http://oshko.sh/1oMz0wH ) reported. Many of the boats and their sailors traveled from Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois to arrive in Oshkosh before the competition began Thursday.
“This championship at this location is a recipe for a very memorable event,” said Jeff Schlosser, co-chairman of the regatta. “For Midwest regattas, this is the biggest one in the country. We’ll have a good crowd and Mother Nature’s cooperating.”
Sailboats have been launching off the lake’s shores from Menominee Park for more than 120 years.
Bill Wyman, member of the Oshkosh Yacht Club, said the event is challenging for sailors of all skill levels.
“We have Olympic champions here. People who raced in the America’s Cup are here,” Wyman said. “There are a lot of good sailors in town.”
Schlosser said the spirit of the competition is as strong as the camaraderie.
“You’ll get a healthy amount of serious competition mixed with a healthy amount of family socialization. It melds into a really great event,” Schlosser said. “The people and competitors are willing to help out. If someone wants to get better, they’re going to help them get better. Whether it’s your first time out for the first regatta or you’ve been doing it for 50 years, you’ll be able to have a nice discussion with someone and throw your experiences out there.”
An opening ceremony and an annual race for a silver challenge cup marked the beginning of the regatta Wednesday evening.As expected, retail chain Borders today started selling the Kobo eReader device in Australia for $199 both through its stores and online, promising that the Kobo platform would allow readers to access their eBooks on other platforms such as the iPhone and iPad.
In a statement issued by Borders at the Sydney launch of the device, REDGroup Retail, which operates the Borders brand in Australia, said that over 2 million titles – including “a great range of dedicated Australian content” –- would be available over the Kobo platform.
“Through our partnership with global eBook retailer Kobo, we are bringing a whole new level of choice, control and flexibility to Australian book lovers,” said REDGroup group managing director Dave Fenlon.
Fenlon said the Kobo eBooks could be accessed on the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, iPad, PC or dedicated eReading device. “We have developed a range of free apps for iPhone, iPad and other leading devices in the market so eBooks can be downloaded directly to those devices,” he said.
The company is also planning to advance its technology so that customers will be able to bookmark pages in books and have those bookmarks automatically transfer across to other devices when they open a specific eBook.
Australian content
Fenlon said Borders had created an “eBook store for Australians” to specifically serve the local market.
“We are delighted to have secured content deals with Australian publishers, both large and independent, ensuring long-term sustainable content for our eBook platform,” he said. “Over 100 publishers have come on board. New titles will constantly be added to the already 2 million available, ensuring we always have a comprehensive content offering.”
“Australians are early adopters of new technology and moreover they are avid readers, and we believe there is a very strong appetite for eBooks in this country.”
In Borders’ press pack it had promotional material for Australian titles such as Ray Martin’s autobiography. Borders also said it would make 100 eBooks available free with its eReader – although most of those listed in promotional material were titles for which copyright restrictions have expired – such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Full specifications for the Kobo eBook reader are available online, but in brief, the device has a 6” screen and weighs 221g. It doesn’t have an LCD screen like the Apple iPad – instead using the e-ink format which the Amazon Kindle shares.
Borders said the eReader can hold 1,000 eBooks and can also have its storage expanded with an additional SD memory card. However, unlike the Amazon Kindle, users will not be able to download eBooks directly to the device – they will need to sync it with their PC first.
Image credit: BordersMitchell Starc has been playing through pain in India © BCCI
Mitchell Starc will fly home from India to have surgery on his ankle and will miss the fourth and final Test in Delhi.
Starc has been affected by bone spurs in his right ankle for some time and the problem was a key factor in him being rested for the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, and while he was able to continue through the rest of the Australian summer and the Indian tour, the Australians are hoping an early operation will ensure he is fully fit for the Ashes.
Starc was one of Australia's strongest performers in the loss in Mohali, where he scored 99 and 35, and collected two wickets during a spell of impressive swing bowling with the second new ball in India's second innings. However, with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy now in India's hands, the Australian team management decided that Starc's injury was best dealt with immediately to give him the best chance of being available for the tour of England.
"Mitch has been experiencing ankle pain related to bone spurs during the India Test series and whilst manageable, this represents an appropriate time for Mitch to have the surgery with a view to having him fully fit for the Ashes in late June," the team doctor Peter Brukner said. "Mitch will have surgery later this week and we'll assess his recovery as he returns to bowling."
Australia's coach Mickey Arthur said Starc could have continued playing but that could have been more of a risk than booking him in for the operation now.
"I think the dilemma with Mitchell Starc, as it has been throughout the whole summer, is he has these bone spurs," Arthur said. "They are going to snap at some stage - we just had to look for what we thought was the best possible window to get them done, or not get them done and just take the risk.
"We looked at it now and just thought 'this is a proper gap for us to be able to get it done, clean it out' so that he can come back with no gamble and no I guess injury cloud at all. It gives us a good window now to get it done properly. In terms of risk this was the best time. He'll be ready we're hoping by the Champions Trophy, if not he'll be 100% ready to go for the Ashes. We just thought it was the best time."
Starc's absence for the Delhi Test could bring Mitchell Johnson into contention to play his first Test of the tour. Johnson and James Pattinson will again be available for selection after being left out due to their failure to complete a team task in Mohali and while Pattinson is a certainty to play, the make-up of the rest of the attack is less clear. The pitch in Delhi is expected to offer significant turn.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.On April 17, Brewer John from The B.O.B.’s Brewery will release his summer favorite and our April Beer of the Month, Hopsun.
A perfect brew for the warm weather of summertime, this 4.6% ABV is an all Michigan-grown wheat beer. Made with a Belgian yeast and boasting 15 IBUs, Hopsun is a unique take on the classic summer wheat. This refreshing, spicy wit flavored-beer delivers at 20 Monroe NW in downtown Grand Rapids. MI.
The B.O.B.’s Brewery is part of the Gilmore Collection’s Big Old Building, a 70,000-square-foot, four-story, red brick building in the heart of Beer City, USA. After standing vacant for decades, the building was saved from demolition and now has five levels of entertainment, restaurants, nightlife, comedy club and the brewery. It now includes a concert space called 20 Monroe Live.After a month of huge blizzards and “atmospheric river” storms, the Sierra Nevada snowpack — source of a third of California’s drinking water — is 177 percent of the historic average, the biggest in more than two decades.
Related Articles Bay Area storms: Rain arrives Wednesday night, may last for several days
Where to get sandbags in the Bay Area The last time there was this much snow on Feb. 1 in the Sierra was in 1995. Pete Wilson was California’s governor, “Seinfeld” was the top-rated show on television and Steve Young had just led the 49ers to a blowout win in Super Bowl XXIX.
In a breathtaking shift for a state that had been mired in five years of punishing drought, 25 feet of new snow has fallen on Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe since New Year’s Day. Freeways and schools across the Sierra have been closed at times, and firefighters are having trouble finding fire hydrants.
“Some are buried under 12 or 13 feet of snow,” said Eric Guevin, fire marshal at the Tahoe-Douglas Fire Protection District in Zephyr Cove, Nevada, just north of the California state line. “We’ve had to use metal detectors to find them.”
After a week to dry off, a new round of storms is set to roll into California. A Pacific system will dump up to 3 more feet of new snow in the Sierra by this weekend.
“It’s a solid storm, not quite as big as some earlier this month, but it will still bring a decent amount of snow,” said Tony Fuentes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.
On Thursday, officials with the state Department of Water Resources are scheduled to escort reporters up to a Phillips Station, a meadow off Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe, for the monthly manual snowpack reading. The event is largely a photo opportunity that measures only one site.
But daily readings from more than 100 electronic sensors across the famed Sierra range, which stretches 400 miles from Lassen County to the Tehachapi Pass in Kern County, show that the water content in California’s vast “frozen reservoir” is already 108 percent of the April 1 historic average, with another two months still to go in the winter.
On Jan. 1, it was just 64 percent of the historic average for that date, and 23 percent of the April 1 average.
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“We’ve had a tremendous increase in rainfall and snowfall so far this season,” said Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources. “It’s way up there compared to a month ago.”
State officials are still urging caution, however, and say that Gov. Jerry Brown isn’t likely to make a decision on whether to amend or rescind the state’s emergency drought declaration from January 2014 until April, when the full winter season is over. After his administration eased state drought regulations last summer, most cities dropped surcharges, fines and lawn watering limits.
“We’re hoping people don’t get carried away by these figures and fail to recognize how quickly things can change,” Carlson said. “They can change on a dime. We are still encouraging people to be water conscious and consider water conservation to be a California way of life.”
The U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly report put out by federal officials, reported last Thursday that 49 percent of California is no longer a drought, including every Northern California county from the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe to the Oregon border, although significant parts of Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley remain in drought.
The storms have filled reservoirs around the state. And as the year progresses and the snow melts, the runoff will send billions of gallons of additional water into rivers, streams, groundwater tables and reservoirs.
The snow also has been a bounty for Sierra ski resorts, which struggled mightily during the worst part of the drought. On Feb. 1, 2014, for example, the statewide Sierra snowpack was just 9 percent of the historic average, the lowest ever measured at that time of year — and even worse than the dismal 1976-77 drought, when it hovered in the mid-20s.
“It looks like we are headed into a record-breaking season and will be skiing well into July,” said Lauren Burke, a spokeswoman for Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort in Mammoth Lakes.
At 177 percent of average now, the Sierra snowpack is the biggest since it reached 207 percent on Feb. 1, 1995, according to state records. Since 1950, that year was the third largest snowpack, behind 1952, when it was 267 percent and 1969, when it was 230 percent, on Feb. 1.
This year, the Sierra snowpack so far ranks seventh.
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Although water managers and resorts are celebrating, there have been hardships. Last week, Squaw Valley ski patrol member Joe Zuiches was killed while working to reduce avalanche risk with ammonium nitrate charges. Zuiches, 42, was an emergency medical technician and experienced mountaineer who was originally from Washington state. He died when a hand charge he was carrying exploded prematurely.
In January, Interstate 80 and Highway 50 were closed multiple times, stranding thousands of motorists, and the snow was so overwhelming at times that major ski resorts closed for several days.
“After going through five years of drought and low snowpack, initially people up here were really excited and enthused,” said Fuentes, of the National Weather Service. “We really need the water. But after a point, people started to get a little tired of it and wanted a break. It’s kind of a mixed bag. There can be too much of a good thing.”Mild spoilers for HBO’s Game of Thrones and Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire lie ahead.
Is George R. R. Martin a good writer?
‘What!’ You scoff. ‘How can you even ask that question, when the TV show based on his books is arguably the most popular drama in the English speaking world, when his plot twists and turns so much that you have to consult websites to keep track of who’s where, and his books have sold millions of copies all over the world?’
All that this goes to show is that he’s a successful writer, whose books have intricate plots, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good one in every person’s (haha) book. Sales have nothing to do with it, really, nor do convoluted plots. If the letter were the case, The Iliad is the least successful story ever. Its plot is notoriously straightforward.
Spoiler alert: There’s a big battle and pretty much everyone dies.
Personally, I consider various fantasy writers good for widely differing reasons. For instance, Tolkien is great in my eyes because he did something few people had done before him, and made it popular. Rowling because she managed to, along with building such an alluring world, pull readers of all ages into it and alongside her hero, making her books ‘grow up’ as much as her protagonist did. Jordan because his writing can be incredibly poetic, almost enough to make up for the needless skirt adjusting and posturing that bogs his books down in the middle. And Martin because, well, his characters.
I don’t think Martin is stylistically amazing. When I picked up A Game of Thrones I wasn’t wowed by the writing. I remember finding it clumsy, especially in comparison to the weighty, immediately epic quality of Jordan and Tolkien, which I was, at that time, more familiar with. What kept me reading was the plot, and the characters, all of whom I could immediately ‘side’ with. Martin plays his cards incredibly close to the chest, so that the first characters whose heads you inhabit to any great length are the Starks: Bran, Arya, Sansa, Jon. Ned and Cat. In fact, the only non-Stark characters whose heads we enter are Dany and Tyrion, and a brief prologue with Will, the unfortunate Night’s Watch member.
This goes towards Martin’s establishment of the Starks as our ‘guides’ to this world. Their ethics and morals become ours, easy enough since (as I outlined in this post), they are the closest to a ‘normal’ family (what we by and large understand as one in the mainstream) we have. Therefore, their enemies become our enemies, and their friends, ours. Sadly the latter are few and far between.
This also means we see a lot of the characters through the Starks’ eyes, particularly one who becomes super important (and POV character on his own) later on: Jaime Lannister. And he fares particularly badly: Bran’s chapter shows him callously pushing a young child off a tower, and Ned’s are littered with memories of a man who not only ‘dishonourably’ killed his king, but also might have been trying to steal the Iron Throne for himself, until Ned stormed in and interrupted his private party. Sure, Tyrion has good things to say about him, but even then Jaime comes across as extremely privileged and therefore, not exactly ‘likeable’. Besides, we only have the word of his doting little brother to prove that he’s a good man, and that’s not exactly an unbiased opinion, certainly not enough to balance out the other things we’ve seen him do.
But then Martin does something incredible: he gives us Jaime’s point of view, but only after we’re sure he’s a horrible person. Jaime is the first person he pulls this switcheroo with; until A Storm of Swords, we’re pretty much dealing with the same POVs—mostly the Starks, Tyrion, Dany, with the addition of Davos. All of them are ‘good’ people (even if Tyrion is from the ‘enemy’ family, he’s smart and sympathetic enough that we overlook his Lannister roots), none of whom have previously been painted in a bad light. Martin doesn’t have to work too hard to get us on their side, not even Davos who, though Stannis’s man and a smuggler, seems to have a sense of loyalty that grounds him.
When Storm opens, right after a prologue, you’re sucked straight into Jaime’s head, watching as he cruises snarkily along a river, happy to be getting back to his sister. ‘Hang on, this is the same sister he has had three children with,’ you think, ‘what a sicko,’ but that impression doesn’t last long. Instead, Jaime’s ‘love’ for Cersei, revealed in his memories of her, and concerning her, doesn’t strike you as ‘sick’; it’s twisted, true, but I at least believe, and even maybe root a little for him when he declares (as he did so dramatically in a recent episode) that he would do whatever it took to get to her side.
‘Okay, creepy love for Cersei is no longer so creepy. But he’s still a Kingslayer!’ you tell yourself, slightly discomfited by this surprising about-turn. And then Martin whips out another surprise: Jaime didn’t kill Aerys because he lacked loyalty and wanted to grab power, or because he was ‘switching sides’. No, he killed him because that was, he thought, the only way to save the rest of the city. It was done for the greater good. And he’s been living with the knowledge of what he did, knowing what people think of him, trying not to let it affect him.
Oh, the angst.
Jaime’s seemingly carefree attitude is exposed much more early on in the show for what it is: an overcompensation. Tywin reminds him that he ‘cares too much about what people think’, and this contributes a good deal to his anxiety, his inability to do what his father might see as ‘needing’ to be done. But increasingly, he appears to lose this weakness, instead employing what people ‘think’ of him to his advantage. He’s a cruel, horrible Lannister who doesn’t shy away from killing babies to get what he wants—at least, that’s what he uses to convince Edmure Tully to get off his high horse, and thus, with minimal bloodshed, retake Riverrun. With this, Jaime shows us that he’s grown enough to understand what must be done, and do it without posturing; but he also manages to employ his smarts enough to get it done in a way that suits his conscience.
A Song of Ice and Fire is driven by many of the things that define epic fantasy: star-crossed lovers, dethroned, ‘rightful’ rulers, a conflict that threatens to end the world as the characters know it. It is also built on subverting many of the expectations that come with the genre, with Martin refusing to shy away from killing ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ alike, and playing havoc with readers’ feelings for them. Jaime Lannister is a smarmy, horrible man in A Game of Thrones, but by the end of A Storm of Swords, he had become one of my favourite characters, consistently among the most fascinating people n a series chockfull of them. He does horrible things for a twisted love, and is driven to commit acts that cross the boundary of decency and honour in a land considerably lacking in either of the two qualities, but still, I can’t help rooting for his eventual happiness.
And that’s how I know Martin is not a good writer. He’s a great one.[Enjoy this article on the Platonic allusions of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic from Starswirl the Goateed – Ed.]
The popularity of the television show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” among the Brony community is based on the show’s depth: Well-developed characters, complex plotlines, and numerous allusions to other works. However, My Little Pony is not simply the story of talking, pastel-colored equines living in a place called “Ponyville”; it is also the most detailed allegory of Plato’s Republic ever written. Everything from Plato’s ideas on utopian society and government structure to his Platonic Forms has representation in MLP’s Equestria.
Plato’s Republic, written in the fourth century BCE, is his most famous dialogue. Throughout most of his writing, Plato uses his teacher Socrates as a character who argues with various people about great questions of philosophy. Although the character Socrates is the one speaking in the Republic, consensus among scholars holds that that the ideas of Republic are those of Plato, not Socrates. In Book One of Republic, Socrates is challenged to prove that it is worthwhile to live a just life. To prove that justice is rewarding, Socrates decides to examine it on a larger scale than that of an individual. Since a state is a collection of individuals, he spends the majority of Republic envisioning the development of the most just city-state, a sort of utopia. It is this ideal city that resembles the Equestria of My Little Pony so closely.
Equestria and Kallipolis
The hypothetical utopian city-state of Republic is named “Kallipolis”, or “beautiful city”. Plato explains that the city starts simple and gradually grows more complex. He begins by claiming that Kallipolis follows one key principle: The division of labor. This is a central theme throughout Republic; ability determines government positions and placement in social classes. Plato argues that every individual is particularly good at one thing; everyone trying to produce a small amount of many different goods for themselves would be inefficient; rather, individuals producing a large amount of only one good would be far more effective.
As Plato put it:
“We must infer that all things are produced more plentifully and easily and of a better quality when one man does one thing which is natural to him and does it at the right time, and leaves other things.” – Republic, 2.370c
In Equestria, ponies come of age when they receive a “cutie mark”, a symbol representing their natural talent. It is the most important factor in determining the course of a pony’s life. In Equestria, ponies can do the one thing depicted on their flank with exceptional ability, a specialization of labor Plato could only have dreamed of.
Originally, Plato’s Kallipolis needs only a class of producers who provide vital goods or services: Farmers, carpenters, bakers, doctors, and artisans. However, over time, the population’s desire for luxury forces the creation of entertainment professions, such as actor and poet. Plato includes these professions with the producers as they operate in the same way as the producing class, working for private enterprises and “producing” private goods. With a growing population, it becomes necessary for the city to acquire more land, and with increasing wealth, there is increased threat of invasion. For both of these reasons, Plato says that a military becomes necessary for Kallipolis. Members of this military class, the “Guardians”, must be strong enough to defend the city, but also gentle in their demeanor towards their own citizens, lest they begin to oppress the producers. Plato compares the Guardians to guard dogs: Like a dog, a Guardian is
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decline to publish negative studies. But unless these studies are found, systematic reviews are more likely to miss negative data, which means there’s the risk of bias in favor of an intervention. How bad is the problem? We really have no complete way to know, for any particular clinical question, just how much is missing or buried. This is a problem that has confounded researchers and authors of systematic reviews for decades.
Fortunately, it’s difficult to do a clinical trial without leaving any clues at all. You need to write a protocol, seek some sort of ethics board approval, find researchers to run your study, recruit patients, and finally, fund it. Assuming most investigators don’t set out to keep a clinical trial hidden from view, there may be other clues that become public knowledge. For example, at medical conference there may be hundreds of academic “posters” and dozens of rooms of researchers presenting research evidence – sometimes only the interim results of research studies. Only a fraction of this research ends up into the medical literature. Sometimes information emerges in lawsuits, or in drug approval applications to regulators like the FDA, who make this data available publicly. But searching for evidence shouldn’t rely on serendipity. To conduct the most accurate systematic review, we need a comprehensive system to track down every relevant clinical trial.
The simplest approach to finding relevant studies would be to register every single clinical trial conducted – ideally before the study begins, so that negative trials can’t subsequently be buried. Requiring a simplified registration at a central resource should not be too onerous a requirement for investigators planning to perform human experiments. Making this information publicly available at a centralized database would then allow researchers to determine how many trials had been performed, and could serve a starting point for a truly systematic review. It’s a simple and fairly elegant approach, so it should be no surprise that it’s been implemented already – albeit ineffectively. More that 25 years has passed since the first major call for a registry, yet even today we still don’t have an effective one. The pharmaceutical industry, led by GlaxoWellcome, started one voluntarily, but it was subsequently shuttered. (GlaxoSmithKline has just recently announced plans to return to this level of transparency, to their credit.) The FDA passed legislation to require trial registration in 1997, and mandated the registration of “federally or privately funded clinical trials conducted under investigational new drug applications“. The well-known clinicaltrials.gov launched in 2000. In 2007, requirements were expanded to include all clinical trials (with the exception of early “phase 1” studies) for all products subject to the FDA’s regulation. There have been external pushes to require registration, including the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors who implemented this requirement in 2005 for any study considered for publishing. This looked like a good strategy – researchers that avoided registering would find themselves cut out from subsequently publishing in the world’s major medical journals. There was also the World Health Organization’s mandate to register in 2006, and then the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki, which establishes ethical principles for clinical trials, which was amended in 2008 to require that “Every clinical trial must be registered in a publicly accessible database before recruitment of the first subject.”
In light of this consensus throughout the research community that registries are a Good Thing, how effective have they been? Not as effective as you might think – only one-fifth of trials have actually been registered, based on an 2011 analysis. Don’t pin this all on the pharmaceutical industry. Among the different groups of investigators, industry-sponsored research was more likely to be registered than government- or other-funded research. It seems no-one is particularly good at walking the talk of registries, despite their obvious benefits to medical science. The idea is a good one, but the concept has failed from an implementation perspective. What’s needed is mandatory registration, multiple checks to find the non-compliant, and then enforcement of the requirement.
We know what we need, and we know how to do it. We have decades of international experience to look to. So this makes the recent Canadian Government announcement all the more puzzling:
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, today announced the Government of Canada’s intention to create a web-based list of Health Canada authorized drug clinical trials in patients.
“This project will make information about drug clinical trials easier for Canadians to find and use so that they can make informed decisions about their health,” said Minister Aglukkaq. “It will no longer be necessary for patients and health care providers to search through various international registries to find out if trials are available in Canada.” Stakeholders will be formally invited to provide feedback on the plan and proposed information to be included in the list later this fall. When ready, the list will be placed on Health Canada’s website. Health Canada will continue to encourage sponsors to register their clinical trials on the two publicly accessible registries currently available. These registries, which are also part of the World Health Organization’s Register Network, collect and display international clinical trial information and can be searched free of charge. Health Canada is committed to providing updates on progress related to clinical trial registration and disclosure, and feedback will be taken into consideration as the project moves forward. This initiative is another example of the Government of Canada’s commitment to transparency.
What’s the problem here? There are several, nicely itemized by Julia Belluz at the Science-ish blog:
There remains no mandatory registration requirement for all human clinical trials in Canada. While trials that are publicly funded or conducted at public hospitals must be registered at clinicaltrials.gov or another international registry, there is no requirement for other trials to be registered, including pharmaceutical industry-sponsored research. This requirement is in place in the United States. There is little enforcement anticipated. As long as Health Canada’s approach will be limited to “encourage sponsors” it is difficult to expect that this will lead to full compliance. The FDA can levy investigators with fines of $10,000 per day – and yet even that penalty is not resulting in full compliance. There is no intent to make the results of registered trials publicly available. Access to research information is what’s necessary to evaluate risks and benefits of therapies. It’s what GlaxoSmithKline has just promised. And this week, the British Medical Journal announced it will require this data disclosure – from all researchers as of January, 2013, for any trial published. Among the national regulators, Health Canada provides little transparency about the information it considers, or its rationale for its decisions. The FDA, in comparison, makes volumes of information available on every drug publicly available, including transcripts from meetings where drugs are evaluated for licensing.
What would true transparency, and a genuine commitment to improve patient care look like? Mandatory Canadian registration of all human trials, ideally on an international database, enforcement with real penalties, and reasonable public access to the the key research information used to guide regulatory decisions. Yes, as Matthew Herder pointed out in a response to Belluz’s original post, moving to this level transparency is not an easy matter. It’s a huge, organization-wide commitment, as the FDA’s initiative shows. But that’s the minimum standard we should be holding Health Canada to. While Health Canada has taken some tentative steps towards explaining the evidence it considers in making decisions about approved drugs, there is still a enormous chasm between Canada and international best practices. It compromises the evidence base, prevents the best science-based care, and ultimately, does a disservice to patients.
To get a sense of how out-of-step Health Canada is, one can look at the answers it provided to Julia Belluz in response to her original column.
What information will people see on the listing?
Say you were wondering what trials might be going on for prostate cancer, you can go to this list and see for that medical condition what trials Health Canada has authorized, what’s the drug, what’s the name of the company doing it. That would enable you to contact the sponsor, (to ask about) what trial is going on... It’s meant to provide information that would be useful for Canadians in making some informed choices about treatments around investigational drugs. So, this doesn’t address the problem of the lack of oversight of trials?
Presently, in the regulatory framework, there’s no regulatory mandated requirement that clinical trial sponsors register their trial.
So there is no intent for the “web-based list” to be comprehensive, dramatically compromising its usefulness to researchers, health professionals, and the public.
Why is Canada so far behind other jurisdictions in addressing these issues?
If you look at the international community, there are registries that post the commencement of trials and sites. The disclosure of results, I don’t think it’s something that any regulatory body has completely resolved. We have heard those comments and are looking at that. I’m not sure it’s a component of this issue that any regulator has completely worked through. We stay in tune to the discussion on this, and we are watching what our international partners are doing. Our decisions will be informed by that. [Note: America’s trials registry, clinicaltrials.gov, created a database for results reporting in 2008. This requires that trial results are put on the database within a year of completion of the trial.] The conversations around creating a clinical trials registry in Canada have been happening since 2005. It’s 2012, and still no registry.
There has been dialogue, yes, and Health Canada has gone out to seek input from external stakeholders. Now we have this listing, but still no registry.
It’s not meant to be a fulsome clinical trials registry... Health Canada is open to the idea of more information being made available, more transparency, certainly we’re looking at opportunities for people to give input, on how best to do that. Health Canada is embarking on a multi-year project to modernize the regulatory framework for food and drugs in Canada. The registration of clinical trials has been identified as an initiative that will be looked at under that process. There’s an ongoing process on how best to do that.
After seven years, Health Canada has nothing concrete to offer to Canadians with respect to transparent access and mandatory registration of trials data. It’s as if it is completely unaware of international best practices – of which it continues to fall further and further behind. In September, the European Medicines Agency, the EU equivalent to Health Canada, announced plans to proactively publish clinical trial data, and remarkably, allow access to full data sets. Even GlaxoSmithKline has just announced their support for the BMJ’s transparency requirements of making data available. To be clear, the entire industry isn’t on board yet, and while voluntary disclosure is laudable, unless disclosure rules are rigorous and enforced across all research, not just that sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, we’ll fail to capture all the trials.
Now enter the Canadian Senate. In a comprehensive report issued earlier this by the the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, entitled, Canada’s Clinical Trial Infrastructure: A Prescription for Improved Access to New Medicines, it made the following observation:
The committee agrees that drug development, as with all health research, must be carried out with the goal of generating an evidence-base upon which policy makers and health professionals can make the most informed decisions regarding the allocation of health resources. The transparency required in order to accomplish this will not be attained through ‘soft governance’, as Trudo Lemmens, Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, emphasize when he appeared before the committee. Transparency will only be achieved by making registration of clinical trials mandatory. (emphasis added)
And its advice is specific:
The committee therefore recommends that the Minister of Health: move to immediately require clinical trial registration to the greatest degree permitted under its existing legislative and regulatory authorities;
determine and propose the necessary amendments to the Food and Drugs Act and/or the clinical trial regulations contained in Part C, Division 5 of the Food and Drug Regulations, to require that manufacturers register a comprehensive set of data for clinical trial phases II and III on a WHO recognized website prior to recruiting any participants. Registration must include, but not be limited to, all results, adverse reactions, withdrawal of participants (nonidentifying), and prematurely ended trials;
require that all foreign clinical trials that are used to support applications for market authorizations in Canada have met equivalent registration standards; and,
implement measures to strictly enforce this recommendation in order to ensure transparency of the clinical trial process and of the processes at Health Canada.
Conclusion
Health Canada’s recent announcement of a “web-based list of authorized clinical trials” is regrettably out of step with Canadian expectations and international best practices. We know the evidence base is skewed. We know how to improve it. The benefits of open data to the health of Canadians, and patients worldwide, are clear. Yet after more than a decade of discussion, Health Canada has nothing substantive to offer to Canadians who are seeking greater transparency in clinical trials data. It’s unfortunate, and it needs to change.
Photo from flickr user Roche photo (no, not that Roche) used under a CC licence.Observing the cantankerous scene in the Texas Senate on Tuesday night, a Republican state representative exclaimed on Twitter that opponents of anti-abortion legislation are simply “terrorist.”
“We had terrorist in the Texas State Senate opposing SB 5,” Bill Zedler, who represents Arlington in Texas District 96, wrote at 12:48 a.m. CST.
Some two hours later, after hundreds of people called out his comment, he added: “Disruptive behavior of pro-abortion crowd was encouraged by some Texas House Democrats.”
Zedler was the author of H.B. 650, known as the Birther Bill, which would have required all presidential and vice presidential candidates to submit a birth certificate to Texas officials for examination before they could be placed on the statewide ballot. That bill died in committee at the beginning of May. He was also behind a failed push earlier this year to shutter all the LGBT centers on Texas college campuses.
Zedler is especially known for convincing the Texas Department of Health and Human Services to begin collecting detailed information on women who undergo an abortion. He originally tried to implement the measure by legislation in 2011, but when that failed Zedler went through back-channels to force the rule through, sparking cries of foul play.
Pro-choice demonstrators on Wednesday morning barely managed to stave off an effort by Republicans to shutter nearly all the state’s abortion clinics and revoke the right to terminate a pregnancy after 20 weeks. After a 10-hour filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Ft. Worth) was cut short by Republicans on a three-strike “point of order” system, demonstrators in the gallery finished out the special session by shouting as loudly as they could until the clock struck midnight, preventing the vote from going through on time.
Although Republicans initially claimed the vote passed with seconds to spare, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) later took the Senate floor to announce the bill had failed.
Zedler did not respond to inquiries on Twitter or an email to his campaign website. A message left with his office in the Texas Capitol was not returned, and a phone number on his campaign website was no longer in service.What’s wrong with the inheritance? Let me illustrate it with an example.
Let’s say that a client asked you to create a traffic simulator application. He wants it to be able to simulate the movement of some vehicles. If you use an object oriented language like Ruby you’ll probably come up with a model class that contains all the logic and properties, like this:
Vehicle class
You reach back to the client with the complete solution. Fine. But now he tells you that he wants these vehicles to be either cars or trucks. You know these types will share at least some behavior, so you don’t want to duplicate the code. No problem! Let’s use inheritance! It’s a proper is-a relation, so why not?
Vehicle with inheritance
The client is happy again. But then he gets back to you and says that it would be great if these cars and trucks could have different types of engines. Let’s say: petrol or electric ones. Again, inheritance to the rescue!
Vehicle with even more inheritance
The client is more than happy now. But what if he calls you back to ask for another fragmentation level? Say private cars, police cruisers, fire brigade trucks, ambulances and so on or and so forth? Our inheritance tree will grow bigger and become more complicated. Instead of reducing code duplication, we’ll end up with having the same logic in many places. There is even a wikipedia article describing this phenomenon.
This is not an artificial problem that I’ve just made up. I encountered it many times during my professional career either developing a new feature or trying to add a new behavior to a legacy code. It’s even more likely to happen when you use Rails which forces you to inherit from classes like ApplicationRecord or ApplicationController.
For the reference here is the code that may be produced with inheritance:
class Vehicle def run refill load end end class Car < Vehicle def load # load passengers end end class Truck < Vehicle def load # load cargo end end class PetrolCar < Car def refill # refill with fuel end end class ElectricCar < Car def refill # refill with electricity end end class PetrolTruck < Truck def refill # refill with fuel (code duplication!) end end class ElectricTruck < Truck def refill # refill with electricity (code duplication!) end end
Can we do something about it? Yes, we can.
Maybe mixins?
Mixins are usually the first thing that comes to the minds of Ruby programmers when they notice that the inheritance is not a solution anymore. What are they? Basically they are modules with a set of methods that can be included into a class and become undistinguishable part of it. We can simply use them to extract any common logic and avoid code duplication.
Let’s see what we can do with the mixins. First, we need to create the modules that we’ll include later on:
module Vehicle def run refill load end end module Truck def load # load cargo end end module Car def load # load passengers end end module ElectricEngine def refill # refill with electricity end end module PetrolEngine def refill # refill with petrol end end
Then we can define specific classes and include the mixins, that we’ve just created:
class PetrolCar include Vehicle include Car include PetrolEngine end class ElectricCar include Vehicle include Car include ElectricEngine end class PetrolTruck include Vehicle include Truck include PetrolEngine end class ElectricTruck include Vehicle include Truck include ElectricEngine end
It looks better: no code is duplicated, we can add a new level of specialization and easily build any type of vehicle. It’s also clear what features our vehicles have.
There are still some problems though. When you look at this class you’re not sure how the included behavior is used. A mixin adds a couple of new methods but it’s not immediately obvious what they are, how does the class interfere with them and how does it affect the execution flow. If by any chance two modules contain methods with the same name, you’re gonna run into problems - one module will silently use the method from the other one. In the same way a module can mess up the code in your own class.
Mixins are not bad and there are definitely some good use cases for them. In my opinion they might work well when you want to define meta behavior of a class like logging, authorization or validation. The good thing is that they keep the code clean and small. They’re fine as long as you trust their implementation and know that they don’t break any other logic. The thing to remember is that in fact they’re just a way to implicitly implement multiple inheritance in Ruby.
In OOP there’s this thing to prefer composition over inheritance. And in Ruby people constantly forget that modules == multiple inheritance — Piotr Solnica (@_solnic_) 20 lipca 2015
Can we do better? Yes, we can!
Composition
Composition is the term that I’ve known for a long time but started using it just recently. I simply didn’t feel it good enough to be able to use it comfortably. Then one day I came across an absolutely fantastic talk given by Sandi Metz in 2015 in Atlanta, called Nothing is something. Among other things she speaks about the composition and solves exactly the same problem that I mentioned in the beginning.
How does the composition work? Instead of trying to share the same behavior between classes, you should identify what kind of concepts are these things that differ, name them, extract into separate classes and then compose into your final object.
If inheritance is about is-a relationship, then composition is about has-a. Therefore we’ve got to change the structure of our problem in order to leverage the composition. Our vehicle is not an electric vehicle anymore but rather it has an electric engine. It is not a truck but it has a truck body. In that way we can identify two concepts: engine and body.
The structure of our application can now look like this. We have implemented the engine and body concepts and created two placeholders for them in the Vehicle class:
Composition in action
What does it look like in the code? Let’s start with the main class:
class Vehicle def initialize ( engine :, body :) @engine = engine @body = body end def run @engine. refill @body. load end end
Now we can create the implementations of our concepts. We will inject them into the Vehicle object.
class ElectricEngine def refill # refill with electricity end end class PetrolEngine def refill # refill with petrol end end class TruckBody def load # load cargo end end class CarBody def load # load passengers end end
Finally, we can put everything together:
petrol_car = Vehicle. new ( engine: PetrolEngine. new, body: CarBody. new ) electric_car = Vehicle. new ( engine: ElectricEngine. new, body: CarBody. new ) petrol_truck = Vehicle. new ( engine: PetrolEngine. new, body: TruckBody. new ) electric_truck = Vehicle. new ( engine: ElectricEngine. new, body: TruckBody. new )
This approach has many advantages. The way that the vehicle classes use external logic is perfectly clear at the first glance. There are no problems with conflicting names either. Each class do exactly one thing (satisfying the single responsibility principle). Therefore you can easily test each of them by checking how well do they do this only thing.
We also achieved high cohesion (keeping the same logic together) maintaining low coupling (making classes loosely dependent on each other) at the same time. We can easily change the code responsible for engine or body not worrying about their clients, as long as we don’t change the interface.
Does composition have any downsides? Of course it does. It tends to make the code longer, especially when it comes to injecting all the dependencies into the final object. You have to write additional boilerplate in order to store references, setup delegations and enforce correct execution flow. As a remedy you can use one of many creational patterns, like Factory or Builder.
For me the hardest thing in composition was to change my mindset in order to be able to think about problems in that way. What unexpectedly helped me in this matter was playing with Go. It is a programming language that doesn’t have inheritance by design but makes it possible to write code in an object-oriented-like way. It also contains features which encourage programmers to use composition. Once I spent some time with it I suddenly realized that I became way more fluent in using this pattern. I’m going to describe it soon in the next blog post.
Conclusion
I gave you examples of three different approaches to structuring your code: inheritance, mixins and composition. Inheritance is the first choice for many programmers but to me it’s extremely overused, makes code complicated and hard to maintain. Mixins seem like a smart and more powerful replacement but in fact they are just a way to achieve implicit multi-base inheritance which can even increase code complexity. Composition is the most talkative but at the same time the most straightforward and clear approach to maintain dependencies between classes. It helps to keep them small, separated and easy to test. It’s my personal favorite.
You have to remember though that object-oriented programming is just a convention that some programmers came up with in order to help other programmers solve their problems. Don’t be a slave to these rules. Choose the solution that fits your situation best.
And after all, keep in mind that:
Designing object-oriented software is hard, and designing reusable object-oriented software is even harder. - Gang of Four
It comes with experience.
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DisqusThe Canadian oil arm of the conglomerate owned by the U.S. billionaire Koch brothers has begun initial regulatory work on a multibillion-dollar oil sands project after an asset-sales effort two years ago left it holding a number of leases.
Koch Oil Sands Operating LLC, the Calgary-based unit of Koch Industries Inc., has made an initial filing with Alberta regulators and has been in consultation with the nearby Fort McKay First Nation regarding the proposed development.
"We intend to develop a bitumen recovery project identified as the Dunkirk In Situ Project and have submitted the proposed Terms of Reference for an Environmental Impact Assessment to Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development," Paul Baltzer, spokesman for the Wichita, Kan.-based company, said in an e-mail.
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According to the terms of reference document, the steam-driven project would produce 60,000 barrels a day of bitumen, to be developed in two 30,000-barrel-a-day phases.
Mr. Baltzer did not provide a cost estimate for the development, although similar steam-assisted gravity drainage projects – in which steam is injected deep underground so the heavy oil can flow to the surface in wells – have recently cost up to $35,000 to $45,000 per daily barrel of production.
Using that rough calculation, the midpoint would be $2.4-billion, although each project has unique attributes and costs of labour and materials can vary greatly.
Assuming it wins regulatory approval, Koch would start construction in the fourth quarter of 2016, with production targeted for 2018, according to the filing.
Koch is proceeding with Dunkirk after a sales effort in 2012 for six properties comprising 220,000 net acres ended with it finding a buyer for just a few of the assets. It decided to hang on to the rest for future development.
Koch Industries, one of the largest privately owned companies in the United States, is led by Charles and David Koch, who are known for championing conservative political causes. They have become lightning rods for controversy for backing organizations that oppose policies to fight global warming.
The anti-Keystone XL forces in the U.S. link them with the pipeline project, given their company's extensive energy holdings in Canada, although Keystone proponent TransCanada Corp. has said Koch is not directly involved in its long-delayed proposal.
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Koch has been active in Canada for many years, through such units as Flint Hills Resources Ltd., a major oil trading and crude oil storage firm. Flint Hills also operates a major refinery at Pine Bend, Minn., that is one of the largest single buyers of Canadian heavy oil.
A subsidiary had planned to develop what has now become the Suncor Energy Inc.-led Fort Hills oil sands development, but it scrapped the plans in 2003 over soaring costs and then sold its interest.
For Dunkirk, Koch began talks with Fort McKay long before the project has taken shape, said Dan Stuckless, the First Nation's regulatory and environment manager.
Fort McKay, located in the heart of the oil sands region has built up successful businesses to serve the industry, but its leaders have also recently shown its discomfort with the level of activity on and near its lands. Koch's project is located about 60 km West of the native community.
"They came to us quite early in the process compared to most these days," Mr. Stuckless said. Discussions have shown a desire by the developer to learn about Fort McKay and its priorities, he said.In the HBO series “The Night Of,” the police think they have solved a murder by arresting a young man from Queens who had a bloody knife in his pocket and was found near the victim’s house after a night of debauchery with her. But a relentless detective named Box cannot resist digging deeper. In the middle of the murder trial, Box tells the prosecutor that he has discovered circumstantial evidence that points to an entirely different suspect.
The prosecutor blows him off.
“We got more on this kid,” she replies, then marches on with the trial, not bothering to share this bit of information with the defense lawyers.
She flagrantly violates the law. The lawyers break so many laws in the courtroom of “The Night Of” that some of them do not even exist yet. But covering up evidence that might help a defendant? There is a real law against that.
Holding back exculpatory evidence is regarded as one of the most serious violations of a prosecutor’s duty — so much so that when it is discovered, there is a great effort by the prosecutors to pretend it did not actually happen.UPDATE: CNN Issues Gateway Pundit Retraction, Correction Over Fake News Smear
Late last month CNN Money smeared and misquoted The Gateway Pundit in an article about fake news.
CNN Money reported that The Gateway Pundit ran a story saying Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi told Trump fans to “take their business elsewhere.”
Here is the text:
The Gateway Pundit posted three articles on Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi’s offensive remarks after Donald Trump’s victory:
Not one of The Gateway Pundit articles quoted Nooyi as saying Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi told Trump fans to “take their business elsewhere.”
The Gateway Pundit reached out to CNN after their story was published and republished on several news websites across the country.
After an internal investigation CNN agreed to correct their article.
On Tuesday CNN issued a retraction and correction to their original report:
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story characterized Gateway Pundit as a website “designed to trick people.” That was not accurate. The Gateway Pundit is a political blog based in St. Louis that is popular among conservatives. CNNMoney has removed that characterization and regrets the error. This story also reported that Gateway Pundit had published a widely circulated misquote of public comments made by the CEO of Pepsi. CNNMoney has been unable to confirm that Gateway Pundit repeated that misquote.(From left, Pete Spalding of the SW Precinct Advisory Council; Chief Kathleen O’Toole; Capt. Steve Wilske; Deb Greer of the WS Block Watch Captains’ Network)
7:44 PM: Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole‘s first “community conversation” in West Seattle was cut short after a woman concerned about police-brutality shouted down the chief and others before the meeting was an hour old.
Those who had come to hear Chief O’Toole talk about West Seattle community crime issues tried in turn to get the protester to stop so they could ask their questions, but after a few minutes of semi-chaos, host Pete Spalding announced the meeting was over. Some community members moved ahead to the front of the room to try to get the chief to answer their questions in a one-on-one type of situation, which continued for at least 15 minutes after the meeting’s official end, and is continuing even as we publish the first version of this.
We’ll add video of the truncated meeting a bit later. (9:54 PM: Here’s the link; 10:12 PM, it’s embedded below – note that our camera was fixed/pointed to the front of the room, so the shouting is off-camera:)
Below, our notes as it unfolded.
The conversation was emceed by Pete Spalding, from the co-sponsoring Southwest Precinct Advisory Council. Deb Greer and Karen Berge from the other co-sponsoring group, the West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network, spoke as well.
Chief O’Toole began by saying she didn’t want to dictate the community-policing agenda, but acknowledged that each neighborhood has a unique set of concerns – some about car prowls, some about low-level drug dealing, “unique issues facing each neighborhood … We’re gonna fight Part 1 crime across the city but at the same time we want to work with the individual neighborhoods and fight out what their concerns are.” She said SW Precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske was the first one to seek community feedback and show up “with a binder with the first draft of their community-policing plans” while other precincts were still saying “you want us to do WHAT?”
She then moved on to mention the federal consent decree. “It’s really important work – we need to not only tick the boxes … we need to recognize the true spirit of this consent degree.” She said the monitor – a role she filled in a Connecticut city – was recognizing their progress in the most recent report.
She mentioned the every-two-weeks SeaStat briefings focused on crime hotspots and other trends, and declared that it was making progress against some categories of crime. She then addressed some issues in other parts of the city, including so-called “downtown disorder,” and explained how she had been working on “prevention and intervention” with some of the people causing trouble. She said there’ll be a summit this weekend.
“That’s downtown, this is West Seattle,” she finally said. “I want to hear more about the challenges you’re facing here” – including, she said, the “robberies of school-aged children,” to which she acknowledged the precinct has assigned extra resources. “The only way we can address your concerns is to engage.”
Questions had been solicited in writing and the first one read by Spalding involved asking the chief to elaborate on what’s being done regarding the string of robberies. Capt. Wilske asked if he could answer. “This is now the highest priority of anything I’m doing … I get a phone call 24 hours a day if we have any specific updates or if anything occurs.” He said officers are assigned specifically to focus on this, particularly before and after school. Regarding the problem stairwells, he said an additional “problem stairwell” – Delridge and Holden – will have brush cut back by Friday. He also mentioned the safety presentation that Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon gave at last week’s WS Blockwatch Captains Network meeting (WSB coverage here) and said that he will arrange for that to happen at any group that needs it.
Capt. Wilske also stressed – if anything happens, report it as soon as possible. “One of the other things we’re looking at doing … we’re exchanging information with the King County Sheriff,” in case the “same people who are doing the robberies on our kids are doing them in the county. I’ve got young kids too, this is the highest priority I have.”
Chief O’Toole picked up from there: “This is where our analytics come in.” She mentioned how they broke down a series of robberies in the South End, “and within a month we had like a 39 percent decrease in robberies there. These strategies do work. Best case – we will find out who is doing this.”
Second question was about turnover in the precincts, and what’s being done to slow that rate. “To be honest with you, the command staff at headquarters needs more continuity too.” She said that she had decided to bring in more people but also to learn more about the strengths of those she already has. She mentioned asking the assistant chiefs to reapply for their jobs, “to get the best possible command team in place.” As for the SW Precinct, she said she had only heard positive things so far, but did not specifically declare that no changes would be ahead. She said she’ll “have a new command team in place in the next month … and we’ll work on the precincts from there.”
Next question: Getting police training and help in dealing with people who are caught up in mental illness challenges. Chief O’Toole mentioned the Crisis Intervention training that officers are getting, and said she had gone to a facility in Burien and sat through it herself: “I can’t believe how much I learned in those 8 hours,” including de-escalation vs. escalation, with mental-health professionals leading the training. There’s also a 40-hour “level two” course that some officers are going to, and yet another one for supervisors. And she mentioned a newly established multidisciplinary Crisis Intervention Committee that reaches into departments beyond just SPD. She said more resources are needed for crisis intervention – three teams are assigned right now and they expect 6,000 contacts this year.
A woman interrupted from the corner of the room at that point, listing people who she said had been killed in interactions with police. “I’m not going to listen to this because this is all lies … the problem is that the police are brutalizers.” Other voices rose in support of what she was saying.
“How long has (the chief) been in place?” asked a man from the third row, suggesting the protesters should give her a chance.
And that’s when it started to devolve into some chaos. But within a few minutes, the crowd quieted, and Spalding read a question about trouble at 35th/Morgan. Capt. Wilske discussed what he had brought up at a recent community meeting, the neighborhood plan he is working on with High Point residents.
One man then shouted that he thought something was going to happen at that corner tonight because people were standing around smoking marijuana.
“Weed is legal in Seattle!” someone shouted from the center of the room.
That exchange settled down within a moment or two and a question was read about car prowls at Lincoln Park. While they are trying to catch prowlers, there’s also practical advice: “Don’t leave anything in your car,” Capt. Wilske urged.
Next question – does the Southwest Precinct have a communication liaison for the Somali community? The question didn’t get a specific answer, but Chief O’Toole replied, “We’re in the process of hiring an East African liaison for the Police Department,” and noted SPD had received more than 200 applications. “…I think we need to spend time thinking about more services for our kids in the community” – “prevention and intervention,” she said again.
That brought another shouted question from an audience member – “then why are you building a new jail?” It was clear momentarily that he was speaking about the new youth detention center. Again, other audience members tried to tell the shouter that they were here to listen to the chief. “From your position of privilege,” he retorted.
Chief O’Toole calmly went on to say that she hoped to work with youth to keep them out of trouble.
Next question: Any plans for walking patrols in West Seattle? She answered in general that she hoped to have more citywide, and also hoped to scientifically evaluate where they would be needed. Capt. Wilske added that he has two full-time bicycle officers and hopes to expand that “both days and nights before summer.”
The woman from the corner then started to shout again, bringing up Tamir Rice and then the case of SPD Officer Larry Longley. “I’m situating this meeting and this is what the police are doing – every 28 hours another black man is murdered by police.” She said that there would be a demonstration on April 14th – “a national shutdown. …
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, on his way to Hastings, was held up on the A21. Aside from the cost and frustration to local residents, and the delays in reaching the large new area hospital, there are wider economic consequences. Hastings is the most depressed of England’s south-coast resorts. Government regeneration programmes have tried to revive the town, with limited success: poor road and rail connections to London remain a critical problem.
Work was about to begin in 1993 on a project to make the Tonbridge to Pembury road dual carriageway, but was postponed at the last moment due to public expenditure cuts. The scheme was deferred again in 1997 when the new Labour government announced a review of the road building programme. After several further postponements, a fresh public inquiry into the scheme was to start in 2010, but the new coalition government delayed its start pending a reappraisal of public programmes. As part of the comprehensive spending review that followed, the scheme has been delayed yet again. The Tonbridge to Pembury scheme may well be the most urgently needed road improvement in the UK. (This is a disinterested observation; I do not live anywhere near Tonbridge. My priority is junction 10 of the M40, where some rookie traffic engineer designed a layout that forces the lanes of traffic leaving the motorway to cross those entering it, with predictable and entirely avoidable delays.) But it is only the top of a long list of similar issues.
It is always easier to reduce public spending by deferring capital spending than by constraining current expenditure, and that has happened again and again. The process is self-defeating, because it increases rather than reduces the pressure on public expenditure in future. But the principle of never do today what you can hope to do tomorrow has ruled. And it rules now. The deficit reduction plans for this parliament offer spending reductions in aggregate by combining a modest increase in current expenditure with a big reduction in the smaller capital expenditure programme.
Within that capital budget, grand projects tend to squeeze out modest improvements. The Olympics provide an opportunity for politicians and sponsors to accompany the Queen to watch the opening fireworks and the world’s greatest athletes. The Pembury dualling provides an opportunity for a junior minister to join the chairman of Pembury parish council in cutting a ribbon to celebrate the completion of the new road. It is not hard to see why our leaders would prefer to take seats in the stand than stand in the drizzle.
But, as Rod Eddington’s report on UK transport policy explained in 2006, piecemeal improvements are most likely to deliver economic benefits and easier lives. Hastings residents know this all too well. The history of poor communication goes back, if not to 1066, at least to the 1840s, when the South Eastern Railway built in a hurry to compete with its rivals’ line to Brighton, and was cheated by contractors who skimped on the specification. There has never been enough money since to do the job properly.
Some improvements to this rail-line are on the way. But in the 21st century, the road link is more important. Within constrained public expenditure totals, rail has recently received inappropriate priority over road. Passenger rail traffic has increased by almost 50 per cent since the mid 1990s, but still 90 per cent of the distance we travel is on road. No conceivable expansion of rail use would have a discernible impact on the level of road traffic. But despite that, capital spending on railways is now almost as great as capital spending on roads – even without schemes for high-speed trains and cross London links.
This month’s budget in Britain will provoke yet another round of debate on austerity versus stimulus. But the issue of how we spend what we have is more important than the issue of what we spend. We should shift our focus from aggregate totals and visionary projects to much smaller issues. Like improving the A21.In philosophical terms, that means grasping the existential threat that is the dark birthright of the Israeli Jewish population, said Mitchell Barak, a pollster in Jerusalem who worked for Mr. Netanyahu before he became prime minister.
“He’s always been, and always will be, the prophet of doom,” Mr. Barak said of his former employer. “For the Jewish population that sees Jews being persecuted throughout that world, he’s the guy who talks the talk.”
Even when Israel is comparatively placid on the security front, as it has been this year, Mr. Netanyahu is able to “geniously exploit” the situation, said Henriette Dahan Kalev, an emeritus professor of political science at Ben Gurion University.
“They are so much occupied with their everyday lives and so tired with scandals,” said Ms. Dahan Kalev, “saying that you have to allow the politicians to do their work, and to constantly investigate them and threaten them might hinder them from doing that.”
Mr. Netanyahu, 66, may also be shielded by the sheer tortuousness of some of the shenanigans he has been accused of. In a case in 1997, it was claimed that he had appointed an attorney general solely to obtain a plea bargain in a corruption case involving a political ally — in hopes of gaining support from that ally for an Israeli troop withdrawal from most of the West Bank city of Hebron. Prosecutors said they had a “tangible suspicion” of wrongdoing in the case, but not enough evidence to bring charges.
“As far as I am concerned, and I think as far as the majority of the public in Israel is concerned, this affair is behind us,” Mr. Netanyahu said at the time, although few believed he was right.
And so it went. Some cases involved alleged gifts or improper foreign donations to Mr. Netanyahu and his family. Raviv Drucker, an investigative journalist at Israel’s Channel 10, said one case he had reported on — known as Bibi Tours, using the prime minister’s nickname — had started from claims that in the hiatus between premierships, wealthy businesspeople and others financed trips for Mr. Netanyahu and his family.ADVERTISEMENT
With the government shut down and veering drunkenly toward a fiscal disaster, Americans aren't impressed with their representatives in Congress. In a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, a full 60 percent of respondents said that "if there were a place on [their] ballot that allowed [them] to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including [their] own representative," they would do it.
A year from now, assuming the U.S. doesn't suffer a calamitous default on the federal debt, Americans will probably feel more forgiving toward their member of Congress, and the incumbency rate will probably be about as high as always. But if you're mad right now, there's no mandatory waiting period for (nonviolently) blowing off steam at your congressman.
Here are five ways to take revenge on Congress for using constituents as pawns in a nonsensical political game:
1. Why call when you can drunk-dial?
Calling your representative to voice your displeasure is a responsible, civic way of handling your annoyance. But this is 2013, and there's an app for doing it better.
Try DrunkDialCongress.org. "Mad at Congress over the shutdown?" asks the site. "Have a drink and tell them." You enter your phone number, and a boozy-sounding voice calls you back from a toll-free number. It asks, "Is this government shutdown making you want to drink?," then connects you to a random member of Congress, whom you're encouraged to yell at. The site also includes talking points — like "I can't watch the panda" and "You guys aren't funding the police that are protecting you???" — and drink recipes.
"Before you get your drunk dial on," suggests Anneta Konstantinides at ABC News, "there’s also f--youcongress.com, which offers a slew of facts regarding those who have been affected by the shutdown." Here is one, cited by Konstantinides:
"The National Institutes of Health is closed, but all they do is admit kids with cancer into clinical trials to try and save them. So sure, keep holding out Congress. It's worth it. Also, f--k you."
2. Take away their pay and perquisites
One of the most galling things about the government shutdown is that while almost no federal employees are getting paid, members of Congress are receiving their full paycheck. The best way to make them understand the mess they've created is to "let them see what a shutdown really feels like," says Petula Dvorak at The Washington Post. She has some ideas:
Members of Congress get loads of perks. They get lifetime health care, lunches, child care, gym memberships, and free parking at Reagan National and Dulles International airports. They probably like those things. Get rid of all of them. [Washington Post]
3. Fleece them at restaurants and bars
Granted, this tactic only works if you're a food server or restaurant/bar owner in the Washington, D.C., area. But this plan shows Congress that privilege cuts both ways. Kramers Cafe, off Dupont Circle, exemplifies the idea:
Govt. shutdown: Happy hr prices, 'til closing: $5 all beers, rail drinks; house wine, bar only. (Memb. of Congress pay double.) — KramersCafe (@KramersCafe) October 1, 2013
Beltway restaurants and bars have been offering discounts to furloughed workers, says Missy Frederick at Eater, but the braver ones are "taking things a step further and denying those deals to Congress — or even suggesting that lawmakers who patronize their places will be charged extra for their antics." Are those admittedly discriminatory policies even legal? "Probably not, but they're still funny," says Frederick.
Here's a tip, waiters and bartenders: All members of the House wear special lapel pins, making them easy to identify. They look like this:
4. Ignore them
The Washington Post's Dvorak didn't just offer her own suggestion, she also rounded up ideas from people on the street, social media habitués, and friends. Some of the suggestions were of the crime-fits-the-punishment variety: "They could collect trash for D.C. residents," said one. Others were downright violent: "Line 'em up and shoot 'em. I consider what they're doing treason."
But an unidentified mother of three who works for the federal government knows how to hurt them where it counts. Her suggestion: "Turn off their cameras."
"Bingo," says Dvorak. "Cut their unfiltered lifeline: C-SPAN should go dark. Take away the fuel for their ambitions, egos, and grandstanding."
5. Strip of them of their health care benefits
This one seems almost too mean to seriously contemplate. But luckily you don't have to — Congress is trying to do it to itself, for everyone from the most senior senator to lowliest congressional aide. The so-called Vitter Amendment, proposed by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and approved by the Republican-led House as an amendment to the federal budget, would make sure that members of Congress and their staffers don't get any government subsidies for buying health care on the ObamaCare insurance exchanges.
Why are members of Congress being forced to buy their health insurance on exchanges meant for the uninsured? That's thanks to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who added that amendment to the Affordable Care Act in an attempt to embarrass Democrats.Lap times from Wednesday's private MotoGP test at Barcelona, which was attended by Honda, Ducati and Aprilia teams.
Riders were using the new-for-2017 MotoGP chicane, which will be used during the Catalunya race weekend from June 9-11.
Last year's pole time using the F1 chicane was a 1m 43.589s (Marquez) and best race lap a 1m 45.971s (Marquez).
Casey Stoner, who rode on Monday, did not test on Wednesday. However fellow Ducati test rider Michele Pirro was back on track...
Morning lap times (left) - Afternoon lap times (right).
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 43.803s2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 43.998s +0.195s3. Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 44.258s +0.455s4. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 44.369s +0.566s5. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 44.373s +0.570s6. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 44.469s +0.666s7. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Test Rider (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.583s +0.780s8. Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 44.852s +1.049s9. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 45.196s +1.393s10. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 45.281s +1.478s11. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 45.321s +1.518s12. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 1m 46.298s +2.495s13. Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 47.121s +3.318sOona Chaplin—daughter of Geraldine Chaplin and granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin—comes from an impressive Hollywood pedigree. But the actress didn’t break wide for American audiences until 2012, when she joined the cast of Game of Thrones as Robb Stark’s outspoken, doomed wife, Talisa. Chaplin’s latest role—as Tom Hardy’s character’s married half-sister, Zilpha, in FX’s new series Taboo—is literally more buttoned-up than the free-wheeling Lady Stark. But her romantic life is even darker.
As not only Hardy’s fictional sister, but also his love interest, Chaplin is taking a page from some of her blonder Game of Thrones co-stars. What is it about incest that has made it such a hot topic on TV these days? Chaplin has one idea.
Viewers may already have been suspicious that the relationship between Zilpha and Hardy’s James Delaney wasn’t entirely on the up and up when, in the pilot, Zilpha greeted Delaney’s initial return to London with an almost-orgasmic gasp. Any doubts about the nature of his feelings for her were quickly dispelled when Hardy, in full “bristly pig” (his description) mode, growled to Chaplin, “One thing Africa did not cure is that I still love you.” There’s also a very strong possibility that their “brother,” who was sent away, is actually their son: a shameful product of incest hidden away.
And while Zilpha and James exchange harsh words, there’s no denying that the tension between the two of them goes far beyond ordinary family matters. This bad romance, Chaplin explains, has everything to do with the title of the show. “There’s a sexual libertarianism right now. Girls are walking around with their asses hanging out, and guys are just as much. Sex has become a very public-display type of thing, so there’s very few things that have remained taboo. Where does the taboo lie now? I think it’s in incest.”
Chaplin is working from a script originally conceived by Hardy, and his father, Chips. Hardy as an actor is notoriously immersive—something that has caused conflict with both co-stars and directors—but Chaplin found his hands-on process enormously helpful when navigating the darker twists and turns of the Zilpha/James relationship.
As her producer and co-star, Hardy was especially invested in Chaplin’s interpretation of the role. “He wants you to take part in the creative process. He’ll tell you to fuck off if it’s not good, but he’ll tell you that it’s good if it is,” Chaplin explains of their collaborative process on Taboo. “This was a very particular context, so it makes him sound like a bit of a dick, actually. But he’s a real hunter for truth, and I think that that is what makes him so magnetic, is that he doesn't want to see a nice façade presenting and talk about the weather. It was very challenging, because it makes you confront all of these things that you’re not used to, which is the bullshit of life. Actually, with him, very quickly I realized that the bullshit just doesn’t work. It doesn’t fly.”
Digging into hard truths (as Chaplin puts it, “your worms”) of human relationship, Hardy has come up with an incest plot as the ultimate will-they, won’t-they, should-they love triangle of Taboo. “Until we make it normal that brothers and sisters can fuck,” Chaplin says, returning to the theme of “taboo” subjects, “I think that’ll still be the only interesting aspect of sex that remains. Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never tried it”—she pauses and laughs—“... yet.” That’s an answer that could make even a Lannister blush.John Shea from the ballpark...
In a comprehensive reply to why Carlos Beltran didn’t return to the Giants, general manager Brian Sabean provided what he called a “long-winded explanation, but this is exactly what our thinking was.”
Here goes.
“It ended up being a Rubik’s cube, which was very difficult for us to make a decision alone with a forever-changing time line.
“We wanted to bring Carlos back. One of the things we decided was that, in our scheme of how things were going to be set up, he was going to have to play left field. We thought he’d probably be in the two-year range. That would be in our comfort zone, and we identified really how much money we wanted to spend on him in that regard.
“The problem was, if he became the left fielder, we still had (Aubrey) Huff under contract. We still had (Brandon) Belt, who perhaps makes the team as the first baseman. In doing so, can you really juggle all that? And as you wait to sign Beltran... Beltran wasn’t going to sign just because we made a two-year offer for X amount of money. He was going to play the market. At the end of the day, we weren’t going to go to what the Cardinals went to money-wise ($26 million over two years), and we couldn’t wait that long.
“At the time, when we were deciding what the free-agent position opportunites were going to be, including him, we were exploring trade options, the (Jonathan)Sanchez/(Melky)Cabrera scenario, and also we did kick the tires early on with the (Angel) Pagan what-if.
“More so, we found we couldn’t do both. We couldn’t keep the pitching together and juggle what would be a cumbersome arbitration case with (Tim) Lincecum. And what nobody talks about, Willie (Brian Wilson) at the end of the year crashed and burned. We went conservative as far as his rehab. He wasn’t going to throw until Jan. 1, and our bullpen was one of our strengths over the last three years. And not knowing if Willie was going to be at full stretnth at the beginning of the year, how could we weaken that bullpen?
“A lot of factors applied. We saw that (Javier) Lopez and (Jeremy) Affeldt (both re-signed in the offseason) pitched in a lot of high-leverage situations, tied, up one run, up two runs. We didn’t want to break that up. We didn’t think (Dan) Runzler was ready to take over for one of them. Quite frankly, in our league, in our division, no matter how many runs you score, you’re going to be in one- and two-run games. In meetings and in gut-check-decision time, we felt there was no way we could compromise the pitching. There was no way we could weaken that spot.
“As it turned out, we think we were fortunate we were able to make the Pagan deal. We had sincere interest in Carlos. Whether it was him or anybody else, we didn’t want to be cut short. We weren’t going wait out that market. We ran that risk.”
Follow on Twitter @JohnSheaHeyThe Syrian Armed Forces have recently received the new SU-24M2 all-weather attack aircrafts under a deal signed with Russia to shore up the country’s military capabilities in fighting terrorism.
Two of the upgraded attack aircrafts have been already delivered while 8 more will be transferred in addition.
The SU-24M2 is a front-line bombers represents further (after SU-24M) upgrade of the front-line bombers of the SU-24 of Russian Air Force.
The Su-24M2 bombers have been retrofitted with new equipment and systems at the VP Chkalov Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAPO), to enhance their capabilities and improve their combat efficiency.
NAPO has upgraded the Su-24M2 aircraft with improved avionics, including GPS and the Russian equivalent GLONASS, and a head-up display (HUD) and visor, under a three-year contract, as part of a national defence order for 2009.
AdvertisementsThat's how we start a new year in eSahara After 7 month we're proud to annonce two of our players moving to korea, to train in order to compete for GSL code A qualifiers! Naama and DeathAngel will arrive the 11th of january in Seoul and will train to proS house.Santeri "" Lahtinen
I'm excited to go to South-Korea! I will never thank eSahara enough for giving me such an opportunity! My aim is to reach my highest level and to offer very good results, watch out Koreans, the "SCV Train" is coming!
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Andrei "" Nodea :
I'm really happy to train in a Korean Pro house, in addition of participating to the GSL. Thank you so much eSahara for giving me such an opportunity! I hope I will be able to represent my structure in the best way in The Land of the Morning Calm.
Our players will stream a lot from Korea, so keep an eye on them! I want to thanks Dopani (ProS owner) TeSt, Deathnote, derpScreamo and SkyG (our SC2 managers/coach/war arrangers) and all eSahara contributors and fans! 2012 will be our year! We are glad to send two of our players in korea. They will be able to meet Check and cArn, train with them and do their best to reach the Code A, and then the Code S. It's very important to us to have those players in korea, where they will be able to train better than anywhere else. Naama's fan, don't worry, he will SCV cheese al koreans theirOur players will stream a lot from Korea, so keep an eye on them! I want to thanks Dopani (ProS owner) TeSt, Deathnote, derpScreamo and SkyG (our SC2 managers/coach/war arrangers) and all eSahara contributors and fans! 2012 will be our year!
Valentin "" Berroukasource : http://www.esahara.net/en/news/1577 eSahara's facebook : https://www.facebook.com/eSahara.net eSahara's twitter : https://twitter.com/#!/e_Sahara Naama's facebook : https://www.facebook.com/NaamaSC2Game 3 of the New York Islanders Conference Quartfinal series against the Pittsburgh Penguins is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Sunday, May 5. With a sellout crowd, heightened security and road closures due to the RxR Long Island Marathon, please allow additional time for travel to Nassau Coliseum.
10:30 a.m.
Road Closes Reopens Charles Lindbergh Blvd. 5:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Merrick Avenue (north of Hempstead Tpke.) 7:30 a.m. 9:45 a.m. Old Country Road (Post Ave. to School St.) 7:45 a.m. 10:00 a.m. School Street (Old Country Road to Rail Road Ave.) 7:45 a.m. 10:00 a.m. Salisbury Park Drive (closed southbound only) 7:45 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Railroad Avenue 7:45 a.m. 10:00 a.m. Post Avenue (Railroad Ave. to Jericho Tpke.) 8:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Jericho Turnpike* (Post Ave. to Brush Hollow Rd.) 8:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Brush Hollow Road** 8:15 a.m. 11:30 a.m. Carman Avenue (Old Country Road to Nottingham Rd.) 8:15 a.m. 2:00 p.m. Wantagh Parkway 7:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.
Doors will open atfor the noon puck drop.All roadways surrounding the Coliseum will be open from 10 a.m. on. If you are planning to come prior to 10 a.m., please make note of the following:The only road closure adjacent to the Nassau Coliseum will be Charles Lindbergh Boulevard, which will reopen at 9:30 a.m. For your convenience, we have listed all of the Long Island Marathon closures to compare with your route to the game. We invite you to arrive early and enjoy the Islanders Fanfest on the box office plaza beginning at 10am. We look forward to seeing all 16,170 strong for the opening faceoff!
Other Closures:
•Northern State Parkway EXITS to Post Avenue and Wantagh Parkway 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM
•All exits and entrances to and from Wantagh Parkway will be closed 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM
•Meadowbrook Parkway exits and entrances to and from Charles Lindbergh Blvd. (Nassau Coliseum, Nassau Community College) and Eisenhower Park exits (M4) will be closed from 5:30 AM - 10:00 AM
•Eisenhower Park Blvd Merrick Avenue Entrance will be closed 7:30 AM – 10:00 AM (subject to earlier closure)
•Eisenhower Park Blvd Hempstead Tpke. Entrance will remain open all day. NO THROUGH TRAFFIC 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
*Westbound side of Jericho Turnpike to remain open
** Brush Hollow Road, south of Wantagh Parkway, to remain open
DUE TO ENHANCED SECURITY MEASURES, SOME OF THESE ROADS MAY CLOSE EARLIER THAN THE TIMES POSTED ABOVEHideo Kojima has apparently gone on-record and confirmed that not only is Metal Gear Solid 5 happening, series hero Solid Snake is also still alive and kicking... even though he was supposed to die at the end of MGS4.
Pause for breath. Obviously, this is massive news. But perhaps not surprising considering Platinum Games has been hard at work on Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance, leaving Kojima pretty much free to work on the next numbered instalment in gaming's premiere stealth series. Just think how many cut-scenes he could have made in all that time!
The source is reportedly the July edition of a French Magazine called IG, which does not appear to have been scanned or published on the internet. However, a spokesperson for the mag has responded to our sister site CVG to confirm that the quotes are real. So let's have a look at exactly what Kojima has said, through a translator:
"There will be a Metal Gear Solid 5 with the new FOX Engine
"Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance never claimed to be a Metal Gear Solid. This is not a game about our beloved Solid Snake. It is a spinoff that tries something different. We have not yet finished with Solid Snake, despite the fact that I wanted to let him die at the end of Guns of the Patriots.
"About Metal Gear Solid 5, I can tell you two things. There will be much question of infiltration, espionage, and convincing people to give you 'a favour' like in the last Metal Gear Solid.
"I liked the idea of social interactions in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but we will see. And if I say more, the female ninja public relations officer, who is behind the door, I will be carved up into pieces. So it's better that we meet again when the time comes to talk about Metal Gear Solid 5."
So it looks like Konami diverted the gun muzzle from Snake's mouth to a few centimetres past his cheek. You're too valuable, son. Still, the FOX Engine, eh? That's the new engine that's supposedly going to run Kojima's games on the next generation of consoles, render see-through underwear and also make multi-platform games easier to produce than ever before.
So... MGS5 on PS4 and Xbox 720, starring Solid Snake? We didn't really need this article to have a guess at that, but hey - it all lends weight.
Sources: CVG, MCVLast weekend I was inspired by a great blog post from Matthew Earl, where he showed how to do face swapping in Python. It immediately got me intrigued, and I ended up quickly using it to make this video:
Adopting his code to make it automatically output video was a trivial change, and hardly worthy of a blog post, but I think it’s worthwhile to take a step back, and go through the thought process for someone who’d like to do the same thing, but might not know where to start with something like this.
So here it is, the mostly newbie guide to automatically swapping faces in video.
If you look and read Matthew’s blog post, you’ll see his code takes in two images, a source face, and a secondary face to be merged with. It outputs a third image, called output.jpg, that contains the magically shifted and merged image.
Now, where do we begin?
A lot of people ask me about adopting code, or what processes look like, so I figured I’d walk through the mostly hidden creative process of adapting someone else’s code. In this case, the very first problem is getting the libraries installed, before you can get the code to run.
I work mostly in Mac OS X, so all instructions that follow will assume that you’re running the same.
Getting dlib and its Python Bindings Installed
First things first, we need to download and build the library that Matthew’s code runs on. In this case, it’s dlib, and I’m going to assume you already have python installed.
wget http: // dlib.net / files / dlib- 18.16.tar.bz2 # Download dlib from the site bunzip2 dlib- 18.16.tar.bz2 # Bunzip into directory cd dlib- 18.16 / examples mkdir build # Create cmake build directory cd build cmake.. cmake --build. --config Release # Make the release build cd.. / python_examples make # Make the Python library wget http://dlib.net/files/dlib-18.16.tar.bz2 # Download dlib from the site bunzip2 dlib-18.16.tar.bz2 # Bunzip into directory cd dlib-18.16/examples mkdir build # Create cmake build directory cd build cmake.. cmake --build. --config Release # Make the release build cd../python_examples make # Make the Python library
At the end of this, you should now have a file called dlib.so in your python_examples directory. Copy this into your PYTHONPATH.
If you don’t know what your PYTHONPATH is set to:
$ echo $PYTHONPATH / Users / kirkkaiser / caffe / python: / Users / kirkkaiser / pythonlibs: $ echo $PYTHONPATH /Users/kirkkaiser/caffe/python:/Users/kirkkaiser/pythonlibs:
You will certainly have a different output from me. In my case, I’ve set both in my.bashrc file. This is just a text file in my home folder. If I open it up and look at it, this is what’s in it:
export PYTHONPATH = / Users / kirkkaiser / caffe / python: / Users / kirkkaiser / pythonlibs: $PYTHONPATH export PYTHONPATH=/Users/kirkkaiser/caffe/python:/Users/kirkkaiser/pythonlibs:$PYTHONPATH
This tells Python where to look for libraries, in addition to the system directories. In my case, I copied over dlib.so to my pythonlibs directory. Once you’ve created (or modified) this file, be sure to run it using the following:
source ~ /.bashrc source ~/.bashrc
Getting the Code Running
Finally, we can check out the code from Github. In my case, I did the following:
git clone https: // github.com / matthewearl / faceswap cd faceswap emacs faceswap.py git clone https://github.com/matthewearl/faceswap cd faceswap emacs faceswap.py
It’s always a good idea to view source code before you run it, to at least try and understand what’s going on before running something. I want to say I did this too, but I’m not sure that I can. In the very first comments of Matthew’s code, he lets it be known that we’re going to need to get a file that is a shape predictor in order to get his code to work:
wget http: // sourceforge.net / projects / dclib / files / dlib / v18.10 / shape_predictor_68_face_landmarks.dat.bz2 bunzip2 shape_predictor_68_face_landmarks.dat.bz2 wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/dclib/files/dlib/v18.10/shape_predictor_68_face_landmarks.dat.bz2 bunzip2 shape_predictor_68_face_landmarks.dat.bz2
Finally, we need two images with faces in them. One thing you’ll learn quickly when dealing with facial recognition systems is that they never seem to work with what you first try. In my case, I needed to go through a few images before I found two that worked.
Understanding What’s Happening
Once you’ve gotten a piece of code running, it’s now a great time to take a step back, and see how it’s running.
In the case of our faceswap code, it mostly happens at the bottom our file, here:
# loads and reads the images, and looks for a single face, throws an # error if there's more than one or none. # it returns the loaded image, and a set of landmarks of the one face it's found im1, landmarks1 = read_im_and_landmarks ( sys. argv [ 1 ] ) # sys.argv[1] is first image filename im2, landmarks2 = read_im_and_landmarks ( sys. argv [ 2 ] ) # sys.argv[2] is second image filename # builds the transformation matrix to make sure both heads align once copied M = transformation_from_points ( landmarks1 [ ALIGN_POINTS ], landmarks2 [ ALIGN_POINTS ] ) # build the mask of the second image mask = get_face_mask ( im2, landmarks2 ) # build the mask of the first image to be copied warped_mask = warp_im ( mask, M, im1. shape ) combined_mask = numpy. max ( [ get_face_mask ( im1, landmarks1 ), warped_mask ], axis = 0 ) # and make the mask of the second image to allow the first over top warped_im2 = warp_im ( im2, M, im1. shape ) warped_corrected_im2 = correct_colours ( im1, warped_im2, landmarks1 ) # blend the two images output_im = im1 * ( 1.0 - combined_mask ) + warped_corrected_im2 * combined_mask # save it out cv2. imwrite ( 'output.jpg', output_im ) # loads and reads the images, and looks for a single face, throws an # error if there's more than one or none. # it returns the loaded image, and a set of landmarks of the one face it's found im1, landmarks1 = read_im_and_landmarks(sys.argv[1]) # sys.argv[1] is first image filename im2, landmarks2 = read_im_and_landmarks(sys.argv[2]) # sys.argv[2] is second image filename # builds the transformation matrix to make sure both heads align once copied M = transformation_from_points(landmarks1[ALIGN_POINTS], landmarks2[ALIGN_POINTS]) # build the mask of the second image mask = get_face_mask(im2, landmarks2) # build the mask of the first image to be copied warped_mask = warp_im(mask, M, im1.shape) combined_mask = numpy.max([get_face_mask(im1, landmarks1), warped_mask], axis=0) # and make the mask of the second image to allow the first over top warped_im2 = warp_im(im2, M, im1.shape) warped_corrected_im2 = correct_colours(im1, warped_im2, landmarks1) # blend the two images output_im = im1 * (1.0 - combined_mask) + warped_corrected_im2 * combined_mask # save it out cv2.imwrite('output.jpg', output_im)
That’s a lot happening, but it doesn’t seem too confusing. Basically, we build two masks, and then combine the images with two masks.
Getting Started with Detecting And Swapping Two Faces in One Image
First off, can we successfully detect two faces in a single image? In my case, I found a photo with two faces in it, both of which seemed perfect for facial recognition (ie, straight on, both people looking directly at camera).
Running this image through the existing code will obviously run into an error. As the code exists at Github from the post, it expects only 1 face per image. So let’s take another look at the function that reads and returns landmarks:
# this is the function to get our landmarks def get_landmarks ( im ) : rects = detector ( im, 1 ) if len ( rects ) > 1 : # if there's
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ogg. At least one other officer said Hogg was not hit with the Taser.
There also seems to be some doubt as to whether Rhodes yelled commands at Hogg before shooting him. According to the DA's summary of the shooting, Rhodes yelled "put your hands up" twice before she shot, but when she was interviewed Rhodes said she didn't remember yelling any commands.
Radio traffic indicates police moved in to take Hogg into custody just before 8:45 a.m. "They're taking the suspect into custody right now," one officer said over the radio. Moments later an officer can be heard saying "get medical here right now."
Hogg was rushed to a hospital but died later that day. An autopsy showed he had a single bullet wound in his chest. The round had damaged his kidney, lungs and aorta before becoming lodged in his spine. There was alcohol and opioid pain medication found in his system. Hogg had been shot once before in an undated incident, according to his autopsy report. Another bullet from the previous shooting was found still lodged in his right pubic bone. The bullet fired from officer Rhodes' gun was determined to be his cause of death.
Since the shooting, two separate lawsuits have been filed in federal court by Hogg's survivors. The first, filed on October 30, is on behalf of Hogg's mother, Allene Hutchinson and his unnamed daughter with Desiree Richards. The other was filed on April 2 on behalf of Hogg's unnamed son, who has a different guardian, Teandre Butler.
"We don't think the shooting was justified," said Burris, who represents the family in the second lawsuit. Burris said the officers used improper tactics of confrontation in shooting beanbags at the car, breaking out the windows and firing a Taser at Hogg in an effort to wake him up. "What do you expect the person to do?"KOF2002UM Steam, Double Elimination Bracket TournamentSunday, April 24th 2016 @ 12pm Pacific/2pm Central/3pm Eastern. Check in is 30 minutes before the event.: Games will be played on Steam and we will meet up Dream Cancel Discord Server: https://discord.gg/0X8lg0bSkbGAt4O5 KOF02UM players in North AmericaPlayers will sign up to either the west division bracket or east division bracket according to their time zoneKOF02UM on Steam has only input delay netplay, so hopefully all players can play each other with at least under 5 frames of input delay.2/3 Match Sets, No Boss characters, 3/5 for winners, losers and grand finals. Report wins to desmond_kof in the discord text chat server. Voice chat is optional. NO WI-FI or WIRELESS! A test/warmup match is allowed to test connections.Pacific, Mountain, CentralCentral, Eastern, Atlantic http://challonge.com/DCKOF02UMTZBATTLEEAST (players in the Central time zone can choose either West or East division)This article is about the ice hockey defenceman. For the ice hockey goaltender, see Antti Niemi (ice hockey)
Antti-Jussi Jormanpoika Niemi (born 22 September 1977) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. Niemi played for Jokerit of the SM-liiga, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the National Hockey League, HC Lada Togliatti in the Kontinental Hockey League and Västra Frölunda HC and Leksands IF of the Swedish Elitserien.
Professional career [ edit ]
Niemi began his professional career with Jokerit of the SM-liiga. His play attracted the attention of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League, who drafted him in the fourth round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, 81st overall. In June 1998, the Senators traded his NHL rights to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, along with Ted Donato for Patrick Lalime.
Niemi moved to North America in 2000 to continue his professional career. Niemi played two years in the Mighty Ducks organization, mostly with their minor league Cincinnati Mighty Ducks team, but was called up to Anaheim for a total of 29 games.
Niemi returned to Finland and returned to Jokerit for the 2002–03 season. After one season, Niemi transferred to Frölunda HC of Sweden, where he played five seasons including the 2005 Elitserien championship. The 2008–09 season was split between HC Lada Togliatti of the Kontinental Hockey League and Leksands IF of the Swedish league.
In 2009 Niemi returned again to Finland and Jokerit. He played five more seasons with Jokeriti to finish his career, retiring in 2014. In total, Niemi won two SM-liiga gold medals with Jokerit.
Niemi was member of the Finnish national team at several World Championships, as well as the 2006 Winter Olympics. He was a member of the 2006 silver medal team.
Career statistics [ edit ]
Regular season and playoffs [ edit ]
International [ edit ]
Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1995 Finland EJC 5 0 1 1 7 1996 Finland WJC 6 3 1 4 43 1997 Finland WJC 6 0 2 2 8 1998 Finland WC 9 0 0 0 6 1999 Finland WC 12 1 1 2 8 2000 Finland WC 9 0 0 0 0 2001 Finland WC 9 0 1 1 10 2004 Finland WC 7 1 2 3 4 2005 Finland WC 7 2 0 2 4 2006 Finland OG 8 0 0 0 2 2008 Finland WC 9 0 1 1 28 Junior totals 17 3 4 7 58 Senior totals 70 4 5 9 62Not long after a friend called from Damascus to tell him one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam had been damaged by Syrian rebels, Baghdad student Ammar Sadiq was on the move.
Raging with a desire for vengeance, the 21-year-old set off for the border, a six-hour drive through Iraq's western deserts. He was one more jihadist on a road to war, a well-trodden path through lands that not long ago were used by jihadists coming the other way. When he got to Syria, however, he did not plan to join the Sunni insurgents now blazing through the north, but the equally vehement Shia groups defending the capital.
"It was like a thunderbolt hit me," said Sadiq. "My friend was telling me that wahhabis from Saudi and Afghanis were trying to destroy the [Shia] shrine of Sayyida Zeinab. I did not wait even to tell my parents. All I was thinking of is to go to Syria and protect the shrine, though I have not used a weapon in my life."
Sadiq was trying to join a group named Abu Fadl al-Abbas, which over the past 14 months has emerged as one of the most powerful in Syria.
Interviews with serving and former members of Abu Fadl al-Abbas suggest that upwards of 10,000 volunteers – all of them Shia Muslims, and many from outside Syria – have joined their ranks in the past year alone. The group's raison d'etre is to be custodian of Shia holy sites, especially Sayyida Zeinab, a golden-domed Damascus landmark, but its role has taken it to most corners of Syria's war. It is now a direct battlefield rival, both in numbers and power, for Jabhat al-Nusra, the jihadist group that takes a prominent role among opposition fighting groups.
Word of Abu Fadl al-Abbas has spread to Baghdad and elsewhere in the Shia diaspora. Many of its volunteers hail from Iraq's Shia heartland, where the group started some time last year with a fatwa delivered in Najaf by the renowned cleric Abu al-Qasim al-Ta'ai, who gave religious authority to the Shia going to fight in Syria.
The effect led to a surge of young Iraqis wanting to wage jihad and a groundswell of community support for a sectarian war in a neighbouring state, less than five years after similar bloodletting had ravaged Iraq.
Recruitment centres soon opened; militia leaders who had guided the rampage against the Sunni rebellion from 2004, first against the occupying American army, then against the ancient theocratic foe, were again mobilised. Cadres were called to arms, just as they were in 2006 when al-Qaida in Iraq succeeded – twice – in destroying another holy Shia mosque, the Imam al-Askari shrine in Samarra.
For Sadiq, however, joining Abu Fadl al-Abbas did not prove easy. First, Iraqi border guards advised him not to cross into Syria. They eventually let him pass after believing his story of trying to reach his family. He made it as far as Deir al-Zour, a city largely in control of rebels and the al-Qaida-aligned Jabhat al-Nusra, a group that no young Iraqi Shia wants to encounter without support.
Sadiq found the leaders in Damascus of Abu Fadl al-Abbas and soon learned that recruitment carried with it strict duties and obligations that he had not expected.
"The moment you join the brigade, you have to join the Syrian government army," he said. "You have to fight with President Bashar al-Assad before you fight for [the brigade]. The Syrian army will tell you that you have to know that you are protecting Syria, not only the shrine."
His quest wavering in the face of a very different role to the guard duty he had anticipated and relentless pressure from relatives back home, Sadiq gave up on his quest for jihad and returned to Baghdad.
Abu Fadl Al-Abbas has been more prominent in recent months than at any time since it started operating around in about March last year. Its increased role on the battlefields has come at the same time as Hezbollah has publicly stepped up its involvement, particularly in leading the attack on the border town of Qusair. Over the same period a weary Syrian army has had a boost in both morale and energy. A war that was starting to look unwinnable now looks to have an end point after all.
"There is no major fight anywhere, except the far north and east where Abu Fadl al-Abbas isn't deployed," said a Syrian businessman who has helped integrate Shias from outside Syria into the group. "Its influence is very important and growing."
The increased organisation of the group was evident in Baghdad, according to Sadiq. "The first step is to register with one of the Shia Islamic resistance offices, like Righteous League [Asaib al-Haq], Mukhtar Army or Iraqi Hezbullah."
Then comes a trip to a boot camp in Iran. "You have to enrol on a 45-day training course in Iran to be specialised in using a specific weapon like rocket launchers, Kalashnikov, sniper rifle or RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. After the course, you will be handed over to an Iranian middleman who will take you to Syria to join the brigade."
Murtadha Aqeel, 21, a college student from Baghdad, decided to join the jihadists in Syria at the end of 2011. He registered his name and was told that he had two choices, either to join the fighting near Sayyida Zeinab or in Darayya, south-east of Damascus, home to another Shia shrine, Sukayna, named after a daughter of Imam Hussain.
"If you go to Syria, you have one choice only, which is to die," Murthada said. "You stay for two or three months and come home for two months. Then you return."
Murthada trained with a Kalashnikov on the plains of southern Iraq; gruelling 12-hour days with a thousand other would-be jihadists. He said he was sent to Mashhad in Iran, then to Beirut, and on to Damascus by aeroplane.
"Once you get to the capital, there is a training centre near the shrine where all volunteers have to do a quick session of military training. Then they meet with Abu Ajeeb ([the commander of Abu Fadl al-Abbas] who asks all the volunteers to be careful and to go home safe," Murthada said.
"All of the volunteers come from abroad. We have everything to facilitate our fight. There are all kinds of weapons, no shortages at all. Three meals and hotels to host the fighters, mobiles and internet which are never cut."
In spite of the presence of the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, the battle to control the area, which is an essential approach to Damascus, has descended into a grinding but lethal stalemate.
"We face repeated attacks by the FSA [Free Syrian Army] all day, especially by mortars and artillery," Murthada said. "We were able to fortify the shrine... but the mortars are giving us a hard time. The attacks get even more intense at night.
"Four of my colleagues were killed by snipers; one of them was Iraqi, another was Lebanese and the other two were Iranians. More than 35 others were wounded.
"There is no need for the Syrian army in Sayyida Zeinab. The brigade's fighters are protecting everything from the airport to the capital to Sweida [a Druze town near the Golan Heights], including residential areas, hospitals, government buildings, police stations, schools, mosques and hospitals."
Just over the barricades that now carve a jagged path through central Damascus and surround the gold-topped shrine, Syrian opposition fighters have been monitoring the prominence of the Shia group.
Almost all the rebel fighters, a mix of mainstream Syrians who want to replace Assad and jihadists whose battle has little to do with the country they are fighting in, rail against their enemy on the issue of Sayyida Zeinab, accusing the regime of using it as a pretext for inviting Shia fighters to join the conflict.
Abu Ahmed, an FSA commander operating near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, said he and other Sunnis had no wish to damage it. Many in his ranks used to be local shopkeepers, whose livelihoods depended on the Shia tourist trade. He said the siege of the shrine began last July after a bomb killed four senior Syrian security figures in central Damascus. "The Shia went down to the streets with their arms and blocked all the roads and began to detain people," he said. "They killed a lot of our fighters. Then they began to gather around the shrine with members of Hezbollah, the [Iraqi] Mahdi Army and Syrian Shia.
"Since last July till today, we are fighting with them every day. We suggested a buffer zone around the shrine, but they refused. We are the biggest losers if the shrine is destroyed as we will lose our businesses," Abu Ahmed said.
A leader of Jabhat al-Nusra in Damascus, who called himself Abu Hafs, said: "These Shia fighters have been in Syria since the beginning of the revolution fighting with the regime. We know that Iran and Iraq are sending fighters to Syria – only now it has become public."
Jabhat al-Nusra, which includes large numbers of foreign fighters in its ranks, has made little effort to hide its hatred of the Shia branch of Islam and its willingness to attack shrines that are important to its followers.
Groups that fight under the banner of the Free Syria Army, however, are much less inclined to view the Shia as a theocratic foe, regarding them instead as a powerful backer of their main enemy, the regime.
"Now, they are in Qusair," said Abu Hafs. "They kill everyone they see on their way, even children. They slaughter them by knives. We are in a continuous fight with them in Damascus and Qusair.
"We worship God and they worship graves, but we also avoid attacking religious sites. A week ago, the Syrian army was hiding behind a church – we cancelled our attack in order not to destroy the church."
Abu Hafs's claim to be a protector of shrines is derided by Shia fighters. One of them, Jamal al-Ali, a member of Hezbollah who had volunteered to fight with Abu Fadl al-Abbas, said: "You have to know that the aim of these rebels is to destroy the Alawite state in Syria and to start that they have to destroy all the shrines. They are issuing endless calls for jihad against Hezbollah and Abu Fadl al-Abbas.
Back in Baghdad, Sadiq is preparing for a second bid at jihad. Hoping to make his next trip more successful than the last, he is waiting for a chaperone – a Lebanese woman based in the US – to take him to Beirut and finally back to Syria.
Whatever their motivations, the undeniable outcome is that both sides are now in open war across an ancient sectarian faultline in place since the schism in Islam emerged nearly 1,400 years ago.Sen. Charles E. Schumer Credit: AP
More retailers are tracking shoppers via their mobile devices, but government and industry players are now trying to build privacy standards and tools into the technology --,before issues over privacy get out of hand. Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, announced an initiative to that end on Tuesday with the support of several mobile tracking technology firms and The Future of Privacy Forum, a group that aims to help protect consumer privacy without squelching tech innovation.
"The time to impact these technologies is when they're still being built," said Jules Polonetsky, executive director of the Future of Privacy Forum.
Mobile tracking technologies that would be affected by the code of conduct often work by tracking the media access control, or MAC, addresses associated with shoppers' mobile devices. The systems are used to gauge checkout wait times and to trace customer footpaths around stores or restaurants. Most shops using these technologies say that they don't want to track people on an individual level and that the tracking systems usually only provide analytics data in aggregate.
Still, controversy remains regarding MAC addresses and whether they are personally identifiable. So the code of conduct requires the participating tracking tech firms -- Euclid, iInside, Mexia Interactive, Solomo, Radius Networks, Brickstream and Turnstyle Solutions -- to automatically "hash," or de-identify, the phone ID information they've collected. It also calls on them to delete the tracking data eventually. At this stage, however, the code of conduct does not establish a maximum length of time companies can store the information, said Mr. Polonetsky.
The effort also intends to let people use their phones to opt out from in-store mobile tracking, but that capability is a ways off. The Future of Privacy Forum is working with tech partners to develop a universal tool that will allow people to opt out from tracking by all the tech firms participating in the program. The tool will take another six months to develop, Mr. Polonetsky said.
Not every mobile tracking company is involved with the initiative yet, including Nomi, which has the technology deployed in stores and restaurants in Mr. Schumer's state, among others. The company's tech gathers mobile-device IDs as people enter stores using either the merchant's WiFi network or small sensors that track mobile devices' radio signals down to three meters or better. According to Mr. Polonetsky, the company is under evaluation by the Future of Privacy Forum but has not been approved under the conduct code.
Another mobile device tracking firm, Path Intelligence, also is not involved, despite the fact that the company attracted the ire of Mr. Schumer in 2011 when its technology was deployed in malls. Mr. Schumer sent a letter to the tracking firm suggesting that it should require consent from device owners before tracking them. Malls in the U.S. that had tried the technology reportedly stopped using it as a result.
Future of Privacy Forum is in discussions with Path Intelligence about participation. The company has not responded to a request for comment.
The code also asks retailers to play a role. Stores using participating technologies will be required to post conspicuous signs notifying people that such tracking is taking place. The Future of Privacy Forum is working with a designer to craft a standard sign that can be used in stores.
While the code of conduct is not a law or regulatory requirement at this point corporations can expect some government oversight, according to Mr. Polonetsky.
"We ran our code by the FTC, we ran it by Senator Schumer, and each of them was eager to see an easy-to-use opt-out and communication with consumers," said Mr. Polonetsky. "The FTC is in a position to enforce the commitments that the companies make," he added.
For years retailers have used camera-based systems to track people in stores for security and analytics purposes. The new code doesn't cover the camera technologies, Mr. Polonetsky said.Problems with new 787 Dreamliner continue to plague Boeing
More than three years late because of design problems and supplier issues, Boeing's Dreamliner has run into more turbulence with fresh concerns about its safety.
On the same day, a United Airlines Dreamliner flight from Houston to Newark, N.J., was diverted to New Orleans after an electrical problem popped up mid-flight. After accepting delivery of the aircraft just a month earlier, Qatar Air later said it had grounded a Dreamliner for the same problem that United experienced.
The Federal Aviation Administration this month ordered inspections of fuel line connectors on Dreamliners because of risks of leaks and possible fires.
More than three years late because of design problems and supplier issues, the much-anticipated plane has run into another bout of turbulence with fresh concerns about its safety.
Aerospace giant Boeing Co. just can't seem to escape trouble with its new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet.
Despite criticism of the problem-plagued program, Boeing is confident that the plane will be a success once it gets more miles under its wings.
"We're having what we would consider the normal number of squawks on a new airplane, consistent with other new airplanes we've introduced," Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney said in an interview on cable network CNBC.
"We regret the impact on our customers, obviously," he said. "But … we're working through it."
The Dreamliner, a twin-aisle aircraft that seats 210 to 290 passengers, is the first large passenger jet with more than half its structure made of composite materials (carbon fibers meshed together with epoxy) instead of aluminum sheets. Major parts for the plane are assembled elsewhere and then shipped to Everett, Wash., where they are "snapped together" in three days, compared with a month the traditional way.
Chicago-based Boeing says the new plane burns 20% less fuel than other jetliners of a similar size. Because of this, the plane has been hotly sought-after. Through November, Boeing had delivered 38 Dreamliners.
The company has taken 844 orders for the plane from airlines and aircraft leasing firms around the world. Depending on the version ordered, the price ranges from $206.8 million to $243.6 million per jet.
Early customers get massive rebates on the first planes delivered because of bugs that may pop up in production. The plane maker sells these early aircraft at a loss.
David E. Strauss, an aerospace analyst at UBS Financial Services, said in a note to investors this month that his analysis indicates Dreamliner production "costs are not declining rapidly enough for [Boeing] to come close to its target for break-even 787 cash flow by early 2015."
Boeing spokesman Chaz Bickers said he would not comment on Strauss' analysis, but he did say that the company had already cut its production cost per plane by half. He did not specify how much that was.
"We're very pleased on the progress and confident on our processes," he said. "Once we get to 10 Dreamliners a month and stay there, that's when we expect a healthy production system."
Boeing is currently making five Dreamliners a month. The company doesn't plan on reaching 10 a month until late next year.The worst smog of the year so far swept into Beijing this week, coating the city in a grainy, deep grey murk on par with what the city endured in 2013, pictured above (though you'll see it's popping up again today). China is trying, hard, to get its air quality problem under control, and is considering some seriously wacky ways to do it. Unfortunately, the only one that will work is also the most difficult.
If you're in Beijing right now, here's what you're dealing with: Extraordinary levels of a small particulate called PM2.5, which is great at hanging out in midair for long periods of time. PM2.5 comes from industrial sources and wood-burning fires, and it's as dangerous to human lungs as it is good at staying put. The World Health Organization recommends that the max amount of the stuff we can breath is 25 micrograms per cubic meter. Beijing hit 568 today.
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The really startling thing, of course, is that this isn't all that uncommon. The concentration has hit 993, almost twice as bad as this week's levels, before. Smog comes, you don a mask and stay inside as much as possible, and smog goes. China is actually pretty good at controlling it when it matters—when world leaders were in town for APEC's annual summit in November, locals jokingly described the clear sky as "APEC blue." Pollution is so intense, it can be seen from space:
Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
But temporary respites like the one APEC brought don't help actual residents all that much—which is why China has become a hotbed of smog-busting ad hoc design.
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Making It Rain
The big tool in China's smog-busting arsenal is cloud seeding—Soviet Russia brought the concept to China in 1958, as QZ explained in a great story on artificial rain a few years ago. The idea is fairly simple: A plane (or rocket launcher) dumps chemicals—from potassium iodide, to liquid propane, to silver iodide—into an existing cloud, creating ice particles that get heavy and fall to Earth as "rain."
Rain "washes" the air of PM2.5 particles; the water molecules collect the toxic particulates and then bring them down to the ground. Technically, it's called "wet deposition," and according to QZ, China now makes 55 billion tons of artificial rain to aid in the process every year.
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A rocket launcher used to seed clouds to induce rain is seen at a station of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau in Beijing. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan.
There are multiple problems with the program, including the fact that China's artificial rain program is sucking up massive amounts of precious water, as China plans massive infrastructure projects to bring more fresh water into the country. As American University professor James Lee put it to China Dialogue a few years ago: "There are so many countries involved in this that I think at some time, one country is going to say to the other 'hey, you're stealing our rain.'"
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Hey, How About a Giant Sprinkler?
There are more localized plans for making it rain, though. Last year, a Zhejiang University professor named Yu Shaocai published a paper in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters that explained a novel new method of cleansing the air with water. Shaocai envisions installing massive sprinklers atop skyscrapers that would kick into gear when needed, sprinkling the city with low-level precipitation that would normally require a cloud-seeding plane.
Shaocai's reasoning is actually pretty sound, as ludicrous as his renderings (below) may be. As we explained at the time, PM2.5 particles tend to collect closer to the ground at around 300 feet. A tower-mounted sprinkler would make it possible to target specific areas, making seeding more efficient and localized.
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Paint That Eats Smog
Beyond installing gigantic shower heads atop Beijing's skyscrapers, other architecture-based smog busters do exist in the real world. The main one is a chemical called titanium dioxide, which as a pigment occurs in all sorts of products we use, including sunscreen. But over the past decade, titanium dioxide has made its way into all sorts of building materials, from bricks to paint.
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That's because it titanium dioxide eats nitrogen oxides—volatile compounds that are key in producing air pollution. Nanotubes of titanium dioxide actually suck up NOx and covert it into relatively harmless nitric acid. A group of New York-based architects used the stuff to build a temporary "pollution-busting" pavilion in 2012.
Meanwhile, a hospital in Mexico was recently encased in a porous wall painted with the stuff—the more surface area, the more nanotubes—that theoretically cleanses the air as it reaches the building.
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The One Where They Make Diamonds
Even deeper down the smog-busting rabbit hole is a project by the Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, who is working with Beijing's mayor to test a device that would sit in local parks and "gobble" pollution from the skies. Here's how Adam Clark Estes described the process when he proposed it:
Much in the same way that a static-charged balloon attracts hair, this pollution-devouring set-up uses copper coils buried under grass to create electrostatic fields and attract smog particles to the ground. Once pulled from the sky, the particles can be compressed and repurposed.
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Sounds great, right? Well, wait until you hear how Roosegaarde plans to "repurpose" the compressed particles. Once they've been collected, he plans to industrially compress the waste into a tiny "gem" of toxic particulates—and then mount them on rings. "You are buying a cubic kilometer of clean Beijing air," he told The New York Times last year.
It's like the ouroboros of air pollution: Collecting smog and turning it back into a consumer commodity, to be sold in the economy that helped to create the smog problem in the first place.
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Solutions Too Small For a Big Problem
So far we've got a plan to make diamonds out of smog, a plan to put huge fucking sprinklers on buildings, a plan to paint every building in every city with chemical nanotubes, and an existing program to create fake rain that could, eventually, spur a war over natural resources. Not great!
On the ground, real people have to build their own solutions—like Beijing artist Matt Hope, who built an electric air filter into a bike helmet, powered by energy generated in his pedal strokes. Or you could go even simpler and just tape HEPA filters to all the fans you've got. Oh, you could also barricade yourself in your house with a few of these suckers.
Which is to say that the real solution—the only one that will work for millions of actual people who have to deal with this on a daily basis—is also the least glamorous: Policy reform. China says it's happening, with new laws that outlaw smog-spewing cars and limit driving in general. In December, it announced that harsher penalties and more revisions to existing pollution legislation are coming.
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So while engineers, architects, physicists, and one handy Beijing artist might have a ton of ideas for fixing the city's smog problem, there's only one fix that will actually work. Unfortunately, it's also the hardest.
Lead image: Beijing in 2013.Yes, it's real. No, it's not laziness, or "being tired".
Do you remember when you ran a marathon, drank a bottle of vodka and woke up with a hangover compounded by the flu? Hopefully not. But imagine waking that way every day, and you’ll have some idea of what it feels like to have ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).
In 2005, I was a full-time media undergrad with two part-time jobs and plans to spend a gap year teaching English in Japan after graduation. The sudden onset of marathon-vodka-flu was a terrible inconvenience.
I managed to graduate with a few extensions, but as time went on, and I did not recover, Japan evaporated as an option. I gave up one job, then the other, gradually ceding my hard-won independence to the insidious illness. I moved in with my Dad and rarely left the house. Short walks to local shops were, by then, a struggle, and every bit of exertion required recovery time. My social life became limited to people who came to visit. My body felt so consistently awful I wondered if I was dying.
Eight months of fear, frustration and a host of confused (but shockingly dismissive) specialists later, I got a diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
No, I thought. That can’t possibly be what I have. This isn’t just “fatigue”.
Then I read the diagnostic criteria.
There was no cure, no straightforward treatment, and little to suggest recovery was likely. This was not a blip. I would not be returning to my life. Worse, I would be forever stuck with the “fatigue” label, and I knew immediately what that would mean — how I would be viewed.
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What’s In A Name? A Brief History Of ME/CFS
The term Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (say it three times fast) was first coined in 1955 during an outbreak of an unknown debilitating illness in a London hospital. It was classified by the World Health Organisation as a disease of the central nervous system in 1969.
In plain English, the term means muscle pain, brain and spinal cord inflammation. Symptoms included memory and cognitive impairment, balance problems, sleep dysfunction, an inability to regulate temperature, muscle pain, headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, digestive problems, dizziness, cardiac irregularities, heavy limbs, increased sensitivity to chemicals and medication, and, of course, unusual fatigue. Many original sufferers were severely restricted in activity (some struggling to sit up, eat or talk), and few recovered.
M.E. was diagnosed based on history, symptoms and a process of elimination, as a single diagnostic test was yet to be found. To this day, there is no such test. Research slowed to an unfortunate trickle in 1970 when psychiatry student Colin McEvedy published, in his words, “an easy PH.D”, framing the hospital outbreak as “hysteria” without interviewing a single patient. McEvedy’s work was widely publicised and changed how M.E. was viewed by the medical establishment, deeply undermining the credibility of desperately ill people.
The term ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ came into use in 1988 after another outbreak in the U.S. A CDC committee sought to define the illness and came up with, arguably, one the most inadequate descriptors in medicine. ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ is the rough equivalent of renaming Parkinson’s ‘Chronic Shaking Syndrome’. As popular novelist Laura Hillenbrand has stated: “Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb.” Hillenbrand herself is almost housebound with the condition.
The new name came with new diagnostic criteria, which was quickly critiqued for focusing too heavily on fatigue as a symptom. ME/CFS researcher and treating physician Dr. Byron Hyde described it thus:
“[The] CDC 1988 definition of CFS describes a non-existing chimera … a mix of some of the least important aspects of M.E. and what amounts to a possibly unintended psychiatric slant to an epidemic and endemic disease process of major importance.”
The perceived inadequacy of this definition resulted in a slew of attempts to redefine the illness. We now have the 1994 CDC Criteria, the Oxford Criteria, the London Criteria, the Canadian Diagnostic Criteria, the International Consensus Criteria, and the IOM Criteria for SEID (Systemic Exercise Intolerance Disease). Other names include CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome), PVFS (Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome) and the commonly used ME/CFS.
With so many definitions in circulation, some vaguer than others, it’s possible those now diagnosed with ME/CFS are actually experiencing a range of conditions. This makes progress on developing effective treatments slow. Frustration amongst ME/CFS sufferers is palpable.
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Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Despite recorded outbreaks, there’s no evidence that ME/CFS is actually contagious. We’re on the Do Not Give Blood list due to a thoroughly debunked theory about retroviruses, but we don’t seem to be passing the favour on. It’s considered likely that genetics, combined with a challenge to the immune system such as a virus, sets the disease in motion. Much more study is needed.
But what’s it like to live with?
It’s important to remember that ME/CFS comes in varying levels of severity, ranging from “I can work full time if I pace myself” to “I can barely move and mild sensory stimulation causes me intense pain”. According to leading advocacy organisation Emerge, up to 25 percent of people with ME/CFS are house or bed-bound. Care needs vary wildly, and the state of the condition may or may not change unexpectedly.
That variability is, for me, the most difficult thing about life with ME/CFS. I have management strategies; avoidance of chemicals, dietary changes and pacing being the most effective, but I still bounce unexpectedly between periods of working part time and periods of struggling to be upright. Sometimes it’s as though my blood has been replaced with lead.
The grief and fear when you start to lose physical and mental function never gets easier. Over and over, I lose the freedom to earn a living, to be actively social, to get lost in distractions (books or games), to mentally and physically engage. You never know what might become permanent. You adapt, becoming comfortable with a new normal — most people with disabilities do — but then the recovery/relapse cycle starts all over again.
Adding insult to injury, there always seems to be social pressure to spontaneously recover, or at least to stop behaving like an ill person. Lack of awareness around ME/CFS, and an outward appearance of health, can result in serious misconceptions about what our lives entail. The lack of community empathy and acknowledgement can be just as demoralising as the symptoms.
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“Bugger All”: A Frightening Lack Of Research And Support
Put bluntly, Australians with ME/CFS are in crisis. Estimates of how many of us there are range from 92,000 to 242,000, and the absence of a more accurate figure reflects the general state of apathy regarding ME/CFS by our health authorities.
Advocacy groups such as Emerge and state based ME/CFS societies run on the smell of an oily rag. They provide excellent information and advice, but are rendered almost useless to patient groups in terms of practical assistance.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam recently raised the question of how much Commonwealth funding goes into ME/CFS research with the Community Affairs Legislation Committee. The initial (very low) figure of $
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be helpful for neighbourhood-specific emergencies such as a gas leak/evacuation.
With Vic-Alert, subscribers will receive emergency updates and helpful instructions where they are, when they need them. The service provides the option to receive notifications by text and voice recording/call. Because emergencies can happen at any time, it’s a good idea to include the voice recording/call notification. A phone call in the middle of the night may wake a person, while a text may not.
Signing up for Vic-Alert is quick and easy and can be done from a mobile phone, tablet or computer. The service enables individuals to sign up family members as well.
To sign up for Vic-Alert.The liberal solutions to fight inequality and poverty reuduction championed by liberal economists are wrong. Deirdre McCloskey explains why to Vita International.
Joseph Stiglitz pronounced the “experiment” of the “market economy” over the past 30 years a failure. Is it true?
No, unless you think a doubling of world real incomes per head, a sharp rise in literacy and life expectancy, a dramatic improvement in access to drinking water, and on and on, all from liberal markets, is a "failure." Joe is a nice fellow, but believes that income comes from consuming more instead of producing more, and that restricting employment will raise the demand for workers, and that "struggle" is what explains rising real wages, and all manner of other fairy tales from the political left. The biggest "experiments" have been in China and India, which moved away from the policies Joe favors---slow, or fast, socialism---towards a market economy.
Even in the old countries, when the governments have not crushed market-tested betterment with regulation ("not": Ireland, Switzerland, the UK, the USA; but "crushing": Italy, France, Greece), real incomes measured to include quality improvements have risen. The longer "experiment"---Joe is a short-run sort of economist---is the new liberalism of Europe and its offshoots and then its imitators after 1800. Moving away from guilds and protectionism and mercantilist tales of aggregate demand arising from money flows raised the incomes of the poorest people in the countries that made the move by 3,000 percent. Not 300 percent, my dear students, but a factor of 30, near three thousand percent over the base in 1800. Thus Italy. Some "failure."
You say economists such as Thomas Piketty and politicians such as Bernie Sanders have been stressing the dangers of economic inequality. What do you argue?
I argue that, for one thing, important inequality has not increased. Equality of basic goods, such as housing and food and medical care and education, is much greater in Italy, say, than it was in 1960. For another, why would one care that Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman in the world and one of Piketty's black beasts, has an absurdly large number of chateaux and yachts? I am sure that I don't. Only a silly and sinful envy would make one care. Her riches made no one poorer. For still another, Piketty and Sanders do not include the main capital in the modern world, human capital. They imagine we still live in 1848, the year of the Communist Manifesto, when indeed labor was uneducated and the bosses had all the land and factories. Now the significant factories are mainly inside your head and mine. We own them. For another, inheritance is a very small factor even in financial-asset inequality. For another, policies introduced to stop inequality routinely work to increase it. The Duke of Westminster just died, the richest man in England. Why so rich? Because restrictions on planning permission in London have made land rents soar---as his name implies, he owned much of the land on which London is built.If you're like most Americans and experience the occasional headache or muscle pain, chances are you've probably taken acetaminophen to find some relief.
But new research shows the drug might come with an unexpected side effect. In addition to easing physical pain, it may also affect your ability to feel other people's pain -- your sense of empathy.
The medication, which is the main ingredient in Tylenol, is the most common drug ingredient in the United States, according to the Consumer Products Association. Each week, about 23 percent of American adults -- some 52 million people -- take medicine containing acetaminophen, the trade group reports.
This isn't the first study to suggest the drug may have an impact beyond easing aches and pains. Past research has shown it may blunt individual user's emotions -- both negative and positive. Now the new study finds that effect may extend to dulling empathy felt for others.
"Research shows that acetaminophen can have psychological effects, but the social effects hasn't been investigated as well yet," Dominik Mischkowski, co-author of the study and a former Ph.D. student at Ohio State, now at the National Institutes of Health, told CBS News.
For the study, Mischkowsk and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments testing the effect of acetaminophen on participants' ability to sense others' pain. The results were published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
The first experiment involved 80 college students. Half were given a liquid containing 1,000 mg of acetaminophen to drink (equivalent to two extra strength Tylenol tablets), and the other half a solution that contained no drug. The participants and members of the researche team giving out the solution did not know which group was given the acetaminophen.
After waiting an hour for the medicine to take effect, the researchers gave the participants eight short stories to read in which someone suffered some sort of pain. In one scenario, for example, a person suffered a knife cut that went down to the bone. In another, a person experienced the death of a loved one.
The participants were then asked to rate the pain of each person in the scenarios from 1 -- meaning no pain at all -- to 5, the worse pain possible. The results showed that those who took the acetaminophen rated the people's pain as less severe than the other group.
The second experiment involved 114 college students -- again, half of whom took acetaminophen solution and half of whom drank a placebo. Then they were subjected to two four-second blasts of white noise ranging from 75 to 105 decibels. For comparison, a train whistle and truck traffic register at about 90 decibels, while a snow mobile and motorcycle register at 100 decibels. "These levels are painful but not harmful," Mischkowski explained.
The researchers asked the participants to rate the noise blasts on a scale of 1 to 10 -- from not unpleasant at all to extremely unpleasant. They then asked them to do the same for another anonymous study participant by imagining how that individual would rate the noises.
The results showed that those who took the acetaminophen rated the noise blasts as less unpleasant for themselves, as well as less unpleasant for others.
In the second part of the experiment, the participants met one another and socialized briefly. The researchers then had them watch, while alone, an online game that allegedly involved three of the people they just met. (None of the participants were actually involved in the game.)
In the simulated game, two of the participants excluded the third one. Those watching were then asked to rate how much they believed that person's feelings were hurt. Again, those who took the acetaminophen rated the pain of this individual as being not as severe as the participants without the drug.
This all led the researchers to conclude that "when you take acetaminophen you might feel less of an emotional reaction when you see someone else in pain," Mischkowski said.
However, he noted that the drug does not eliminate empathy and called the effect seen in the study "moderate."
While more research is needed to determine the possible mechanism behind the connection, the study authors believe the effect involves neurochemical levels in the brain.
"Acetaminophen affects a lot of processes in the brain," Mischkowski said. "Potentially, it affects inflammatory processes which mediate physical pain. It might also be related to serotonin or endocannabinoids or opioids. So all of this leads to potential mechanisms."
The authors note that the research took place in a controlled laboratory setting and the further research is needed to see how the effects may play out in real life.
Still, Mischkowski called the findings "robust" and said he anticipates they must "have real-world implications," which, he said, might lead to either positive or negative consequences depending on the social context.
"Empathy is a really important process for social interactions," he said, "but it depends on who you're empathizing with. If it's someone who needs help and deserves it, that's great, but sometimes we empathize with people who don't really deserve it or might even be abusing it. So it depends on the situation whether an effect of acetaminophen on empathy is a good or bad thing."
The study authors say they will continue to study the potential effects of acetaminophen on people's emotions and behaviors, and want to test whether another common pain medication -- ibuprofen -- has a similar outcome.So Grooveshark had to shut down after battling it out in courts for years and continuing operations in the meantime.
With the site down, existing users may take the suggestions into account that the Grooveshark team posted on the official website or, look for alternatives elsewhere.
One of the better ones -- in my opinion -- that not many may have on the radar at all is NetEase Music. The biggest caveat right now is that it is a Chinese site with no English translation.
While it can be difficult at first to find your way around the site, automatic translation of the interface may help with that.
If you are using Google Chrome you get that right away while Firefox users may want to use Quick Translator or one of the other add-ons available for the browser that add translation capabilities to it.
Once you get accustomed to the site you will notice that it has a lot to offer. First, you can play music right away without registration or geo-restrictions. (Note: I cannot possible test access to the service from all regions of the world but as it stands, it seems free of any restrictions).
Just click on any song, album or playlist to play it right in the interface. While a focus of the site is Chinese and Japanese music, you will find Western artists and bands supported as well.
A search for Enimen for instance returns 300 singles, links to the artists profile on the site and highlights related artists on top of that.
If you select Find Music > Leaderboard, you find various playlists that may be of interest. For instance, you find listed there UK and US Billboard charts as well as iTunes charts among others.
To start playing all songs simply select the playlist you are interested in and hit the play button afterwards.
There is also lyrics and playlists. If you click on the paylist icon when a song is playing you get lyrics that play along with the song so that you can sing along if you want.
The site offers apps and desktop programs that you can download and install on your systems. According to information on the download page, it features more than one million 320 Kbps tracks alone without mentioning whether lower quality tracks are available on top of that.
The program brings the service to your desktop. It is difficult to understand what is going on as it is only available in Chinese and without translation options. Still, you can use the search at the top to find tracks or artists and play the tracks directly in the program.
Closing Words
The language barrier may keep you from using all site features but the ones that are available for free are definitely worth a closer look.
While you won't find as many songs as on YouTube, the selection is quite excellent especially if you are into contemporary music or Chinese/Japanese/Korean music as you get a lot of those.
All in all an excellent music resource that is as unrestricted as it gets.
Summary Article Name Need a Grooveshark alternative? NetEase Music may be it Description NetEase Music is a Chinese music site that is offering unrestricted access to its music catalog. Author Martin Brinkman
AdvertisementThis is my all-time favorite dessert recipe. A truly delicious, moist, carroty cake with cream cheese frosting that has 6g protein but only 9g carbs. This recipe is based on Jamie Eason’s Pumpkin Protein Bars. You can make these with whole carrots (try to get organic, they’re sweeter) if you have a food processor, or you can buy carrot baby food for the purée and shred a few carrots on a box grater for the rest. Additionally, I’ve included substitutions that can be made if you want a heftier calorie count, along with the macro breakdown for the bulky version of the recipe at bottom.
Just an aside: I highly recommend getting a food processor if you can afford one. It doesn’t need to be fancy (I got this one on sale for $50 and it’s great!). You can use it for baking, making salads, salsas, soups, and even for making your own nut butters (mmm…nut butter). It’s also useful if you hate chopping onions. As my mom would say, It’s pretty nifty.
Makes 20 servings.
74 Cals / 6g Protein / 9g Carbs / 1.2g Fat
Ingredients
2 cups/180g oat flour
2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder (I use Dymatize Elite)
1 cup/33g granulated sucralose (aka Splenda for baking, or equivalent zero calorie sweetener of your choice).
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
4 large peeled carrots (or 3 4oz/28g cans of carrot baby food + 2 whole carrots).
1/2 cup/15g unsweetend almond milk
4 egg whites (3/4 cup or 160g); Sub: 4 whole eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup/30g chopped walnuts
For the frosting
1 8oz/231g package fat-free cream cheese; Sub: 8oz full fat cream cheese
1/4 cup/90g fat-free greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. honey
Directions
If using whole carrots, make the carrot purée. Chop 2 of the carrots (roughly 300g) into coins and boil in plain water until the largest coin is soft at the center. Let cool, then purée in the food processor until smooth. You might want to add a little bit of the almond milk to help get it smooth. Preheat the oven to 350F Spray a 9×12 pyrex baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine all of the dry ingredients from oat flour to allspice in a medium bowl. Mix well. Combine the carrot purée (or baby food) with the rest of the wet ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well. Fold the dry mix into the wet mix in 2 parts. The batter should be slightly soupy. Using either a box grater or the shredding disc on your food processor, shred the remaining carrots (roughly 300g). Fold the shredded carrots and the walnuts into the batter. Pour batter into the pyrex dish and cook for 20-30 min or until a knife dipped into the center of the cake comes out slightly wet. Let cool. Meanwhile, make the frosting. In either a large bowl with an electric mixer or in a food processor, whip the cream cheese, yogurt and honey together until smooth. The honey here lends flavor to frosting, so don’t skimp. If you like a sweeter frosting, add more honey or sweetener. Once the cake is completely cool, spread the frosting on top and cut into 20 squares. Try not to eat it all at once!
This keeps for about a week in the refrigerator. You must cover it, however, or the frosting will dry out.
Bulky version (Get HUUUGE)
95 Cals / 5.6g Protein / 9g Carbs / 4.5g FatWestinghouse’s FCC filing for their upcoming Fire TV Edition televisions has already revealed new information about the Alexa Voice Remote button layout. The user manual included with the FCC documents contains new information that helps answer several questions about the new TVs and Fire OS version. Here are 10 previously unknown things that we now know about the soon to be released Fire TV Edition televisions.
1. Expandable SD Card Storage
Fire TV Edition televisions have full size SD card slots. We now know these slots will be used to expand the 16 GB of internal storage. In the same way the microSD card slot works on the 2nd-gen Fire TV, you’ll be able to install apps and games on SD cards inserted into Fire TV Edition televisions. Cards up to 128 GB are supported.
2. Pause Live TV
Fire TV Edition televisions don’t have any DVR capabilities to record content, but they do have the ability to pause live television. We now know that you can pause live programming for up to 2 minutes.
3. Bluetooth Alexa Voice Remote
Fire TV Edition televisions all come with Alexa Voice Remotes. We now know these remotes connect via Bluetooth to the TV. Amazon switched to a WiFi-Direct connection for their 2nd-gen Fire TV and Fire TV Stick remotes, but it looks like they’ve switched back to Bluetooth for Fire Tv Edition televisions, which is what the 1st-gen Fire TV and Fire TV Stick used.
4. HDMI ARC & HDCP
All known Fire TV Edition televisions have 4 HDMI ports. We now know that they all support HDCP 2.2 and the first HDMI port also supports HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC). ARC allows the audio signal coming from the TV to travel back down the HDMI cable. The Westinghouse, Seiki, and Element Fire TV Edition televisions all have optical audio out, but depending on your home theater equipment setup, you may not need to use it to get audio out of the TV, and instead can use the HDMI ARC capability.
5. Menu Button Features
Compared to traditional television remote controls, the Alexa Voice Remote that comes with Fire Tv Edition televisions is fairly sparse. We now know Amazon will be using the menu button to contextually provide quick access to additional controls, depending on the situation. For example, while the volume indicator is on-screen, you’ll be able to press the menu button to quickly mute the television.
6. Two Week Program Guide
Fire TV Edition televisions have built in over-the-air tuners to display local programming. Amazon has integrated a program guide into Fire OS to display details about content available in your area. We know now the program guide will display 2 weeks worth of programming, so you’ll be able to see what’s airing far ahead of time.
7. Parental Controls
Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Sticks have a robust set of parental controls related to streaming content, so it’s expected the Fire TV Edition televisions will have the same controls. We now know these controls will extend to live over-the-air programming as well. You’ll be able to select which MPAA TV show ratings you want to allow and the Fire Tv Edition television will use its program guide information to block access to certain channels when certain shows are airing.
8. Bluetooth Peripherals
Fire TV Edition televisions have Bluetooth capabilities, but it wasn’t certain if it would just be used to connect the Alexa Voice Remote. We now know, just like with other Fire TV devices, Bluetooth can be used to connect game controllers, mice, and keyboards. You’ll also be able to connect Bluetooth headphones for private listening with Fire TV Edition televisions.
9. USB Ports
The functionality of the USB ports on Westinghouse, Seiki, and Element’s Fire TV Edition televisions has been a bit of a mystery. While we don’t know everything about them yet, we do now know they can at least be used to connect USB game controllers, like the XBOX 360 controller, as well as USB mice and keyboards. Since the SD card slot on these televisions will be used for additional app storage, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to store apps on external USB drives connected to the USB port. We don’t yet know if media stored on external USB drives will be accessible through the USB ports, but since the 2nd-gen Fire TV and Fire TV Sticks have this functionality, and Fire TV Edition televisions seem to share many capabilities with those devices, I’d say there’s a very good chance files on connected USB drives will be accessible within apps like Kodi and VLC.
10. Alternate Controls
All Fire TV Edition televisions come with an Alexa Voice Remote, but if you lose it, we now know they will also be compatible with Amazon’s Fire TV Remote App, which is available for Android or iOS devices. Westinghouse, Seiki, and Element’s Fire TV Edition televisions also have physical buttons on the TV itself to replicate nearly all of the remote’s functionality. On the front of the TV are Home, Menu, and Back buttons. On the back of the TV, in the bottom corner, is a four-way directional pad to replicate the circular controls on the remote. There’s also a dedicated remote pairing button on the TV.
Follow AFTVnews on Twitter / Facebook and subscribe via email to be the first to learn when new articles go live. Follow me, Elias Saba, on Twitter and Instagram to see what I'm working on before it's posted here.
ShareTweetShare+1But other states, even California, are joining the fray...
Almost lost in all the news about the federal government “shutdown” (which has somehow left 83% of the government funded and functioning) over the last week are several new reports regarding the ongoing massive oil and natural gas Shale Revolution in the United States, and the role Texas is playing in making it happen. Since I make it a policy never to miss an opportunity to expound on the benefits of this revolution, or to brag about Texas in general, I thought I’d roll these stories out here:
First is a new projection from the US Energy Information Agency showing that the United States will likely become the world’s largest producer of petroleum products and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013.
Next is this report about the Eagle Ford shale, detailing that this play a) could become the largest onshore oil reserve ever discovered in the United States; b) that it is the fastest growing oil play on the face of the earth; c) that it produces very high quality, highly valuable crude oil; d) that drilling costs in the play are rapidly falling; and e) that the play is the hottest economic development area in the world. All happening in my old home area of South Texas.
Third is this story in which current Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman details the fact that oil production (excluding condensate) in Texas has now surpassed 1.8 million barrels per day, and is on a pace to hit 3 million BOPD by 2017 and 4 million BOPD by 2020. The Eagle Ford alone is now at 657,000 BOPD and will likely jump above 900,000 BOPD in 2014. And the revitalized Permian Basin region, home to several different prolific oil shale plays, is already producing about 900,000 BOPD, and rising.
Finally, you have this report detailing one of many happy results for Texas in all of this: a flush Rainy Day Fund, which happens to be funded by the oil and natural gas severance tax. This happy situation has already enabled the Texas Legislature to allocate an additional $2 billion to funding for state roads, and will enable the state to allocate another $2.25 billion to fund the state’s official water plan, should voters approve a ballot initiative in November.
When one includes condensate production from natural gas wells, Texas produced over 2.6 million BOPD in July, fully 35% of the nation’s petroleum production. Just a little more than 2 years ago, in April 2011, Texas’s daily oil production was 1.3 million BOPD, accounting for just 20% of total US production. That’s a phenomenal increase in only two years. The state’s current production level would rank it 13th among all countries on earth, and the rate of increase will almost certainly move the state into the top ten within the next 12 months.
It’s appropriate for Chairman Smitherman to be the person commenting on the surge in Texas production, since the agency he chairs regulates the oil and natural gas industry for the state. As I pointed out in a recent piece, the fact that the RRC does its job so well and efficiently is one of the major reasons why the state has become the center for the Shale Revolution in recent years, currently serving as host to almost half of all the nation’s active drilling rigs.
The RRC has played a key role in putting the U.S. on track to achieve a level of energy security not experienced in the last half century. Mr. Smitherman and fellow commissioners David Porter and Christi Craddick have over the last two years led efforts to significantly upgrade the Commission’s systems, modernize its regulations governing shale development, and putting more inspectors in the field, while retaining the Commission’s historic ability to expeditiously approve drilling permits within a few business days. When one contrasts this performance to the fact that obtaining permits to drill and other regulatory approvals on federal lands around the U.S. can take months or even years, it is no accident that so much of the nation’s resurgence in oil and natural gas production has been focused in Texas while hydrocarbon production on federal lands has steadily declined in the current administration.
And the Commission has achieved all of this while having to cut through a steady drumbeat of misinformation and false allegations coming from the anti-Fracking movement, which is as active in Texas as it is anywhere else. Just in the last few weeks, Texas has seen Carnival Barker Josh Fox bring his latest fake documentary, Gasland II, to San Antonio, and a typically dummied-up “report” on air quality issued by the radical activist group Earthworks.
While Texas is leading the way in the Shale Revolution, it’s far from the only state that is having a significant impact. States like North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Louisiana and Colorado are also making major contributions to the nation’s rising level of energy security.
Another state that is on the road towards joining the party is California, where Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Senate Bill 4, a bill that will provide an umbrella of regulatory oversight that will enable the development of that state’s massive Monterey Shale formation, thought by many to rival the Eagle Ford in terms of total ultimately recoverable hydrocarbons. While some radical anti-fracking groups like the NRDC and Sierra Club, continue to call on Gov. Brown to force an ill-advised moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the state, he has resisted that call.
Seems even a long-time liberal icon like Gov. Brown has to recognize the economic and environmental benefits the Shale Revolution that have long been recognized in Texas and elswhere. That’s good news for Californians, and good news for America.
God Bless Texas.
Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmonCLOSE Scott Willett, Executive Director of the Anderson Regional Joint Water System in Anderson, explains the construction of a new ozone treatment while standing on the a water clarifier at the treatment plant near Lake Hartwell in Anderson. Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail
Scott Willett, Executive Director of the Anderson Regional Joint Water System in Anderson, looks over the construction of a new ozone treatment while standing on the a water clarifier at the treatment plant near Lake Hartwell in Anderson. An algae bloom on Lake Hartwell is causing taste and odor issues with drinking water of 200,000 customers in Anderson and Pickens Counties. Officials say it is safe, but some residents rather filter their water again or drink bottled water. (Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)
In parts of Anderson and Pickens counties, the tap water tastes and smells so bad right now that some dogs won't drink it.
That's the case for Gypsy the German shepherd, who lives in Anderson's Regency Park subdivision with her owner, Dee Dee Shead.
Shead spoke about the family's tap water troubles Tuesday and said she is even giving bottled water to her pooch.
"I feel bad because I didn't realize at first that she wasn't drinking what was coming from our sink," Shead said. "Then it rained, and I noticed she was licking water off every surface where it was standing. So I started giving her bottled water just like we are using. She is drinking normally now. But you know the water tastes bad when an animal won't touch it."
Shead is one of nearly 200,000 customers in the Upstate whose drinking water is provided by the Anderson Regional Joint Water System. Since at least 2014, system officials have had seasonal battles with algae in Lake Hartwell, the key source that provides up to 48 million gallons of water daily to more than a dozen Upstate utilities.
The algae in the lake produces compounds called geosmin and MIB that cause the unpleasant taste and odor. The production usually increases if the lake's water temperature stays where it is now — near 80 degrees.
Throw a few days of rain into the mix and the compounds produce even faster. In the span of 10 days, regional water system officials saw taste- and odor-producing compounds jump to roughly five times the amount they can effectively handle with treatments at the Anderson plant headquarters.
"What we have with the lake right now is a warm, nutrient-rich environment that allows algae growth on the bottom, and unlike last year, there's also growth in the water column," said Scott Willett, the executive director of the regional water system."We did a lake treatment last Friday and we are starting to see improvement at the plant level. At all times, this water has remained safe for all kinds of uses and we would like to stress that. But we expect this will be a battle with algae that we have off and on all summer."
Joanna Coker drinks a bottle of water along with the Oakwood Baptist Church birthday club during lunch at Tucker's Restaurant in Anderson on Tuesday. The restaurant offers their customers free bottled water or filtered water. An algae bloom on Lake Hartwell is causing taste and odor issues with drinking water of 200,000 customers in Anderson and Pickens Counties. Officials say it is safe, but some residents rather filter their water again or drink bottled water. (Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)
Several restaurants in and around Anderson have taken to serving bottled water, or have invested in separate filtering systems for the water they serve.
The cities of Anderson and Clemson, both of which get their water from the regional water system, have told customers in public messages about the algae troubles.
That information hasn't stopped the complaint calls from coming in, said Jeff Caldwell, Anderson's utilities director.
"We understand it is upsetting to people," he said. "We know the regional system is working on treating the issues and we are looking forward to when things are better."
Oakwood Baptist Church birthday club participants drink both filtered water and free bottled water during lunch at Tucker's Restaurant in Anderson on Tuesday. The restaurant offers their customers free bottled water or filtered water. An algae bloom on Lake Hartwell is causing taste and odor issues with drinking water of 200,000 customers in Anderson and Pickens Counties. Officials say it is safe, but some residents rather filter their water again or drink bottled water. (Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)
When water system officials do a lake treatment, they have crews sometimes apply a copper-based algaecide on a portion of the lake, then follow that with a hydrogen-peroxide based algaecide around coves and docks. The hydrogen-peroxide based algae killer is safer for fish, according to Clemson University officials who have overseen the water system's efforts to combat algae. Even "large" treatments usually cover only about 100 acres of a 56,000-acre lake.
"We can't treat algae before we can see it," Willett said. "We don't want to do any more to the lake than we have to."
The water system is still working on the construction of a project to give the plant headquarters on Hunters Trail the ability to treat dramatically more odor-producing compounds than it can now. The project will allow regional water system officials to use more advanced oxidation processes when treating the water before it is ready for the tap. Jennifer Barrington, a system engineer for the regional agency, said the project is expected to be complete by next spring.
A new ozone treatment center, expected to be complete by the end of the year, is under construction at the Anderson Regional Joint Water System in Anderson on Tuesday. An algae bloom on Lake Hartwell is causing taste and odor issues with drinking water of 200,000 customers in Anderson and Pickens Counties. Officials say it is safe, but some residents rather filter their water again or drink bottled water. (Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)
"The goal is to beat the next growth season," she said.
That solution is little comfort to Brenda Pruitt, a customer in Anderson who estimates she is spending an extra $20 a week right now on bottled water for herself and her son.
"What we have is terrible," she said. "You can even smell it when you're taking a shower or washing clothes. You have to pay your water bill — and you're paying for something you can't use."
Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo
Read or Share this story: https://www.independentmail.com/story/news/2017/06/21/algae-causing-taste-odor-problems-regions-drinking-water/410988001/In most people's minds, Biosphere 2 was a fabulously expensive failure, a $200 million earth-in-a-bottle that choked on carbon dioxide and was overrun by ants. But not everybody feels that way.
"In our view, Biosphere 2 was a tremendous success," said Bill Dempster, the project's engineering systems director and designer of the sphere's remarkable lungs. "Many people don't realize that hundreds of papers were written about it."
Columbia University and the University of Arizona eventually took over the sphere, and its original inhabitants are largely remembered for personality conflicts, controversy and general New Age oddness. But they left some interesting science behind.
__Extraterrestrial settlement. Before humanity can establish communities on other planets, it will have to figure out how to live there, most likely in self-sustaining artificial habitats. Those discussions, dating back to NASA physicist Gerard O'Neill's deep-space cornucopias in the 1970s, fueled Biosphere 2's conception. Dozens of papers discuss its technical lessons for future settlements. Among them: "The legacy of Biosphere 2 for the study of biospherics and closed ecological systems" and "Living in space: results from Biosphere 2's initial closure, an early testbed for closed ecological systems on Mars."
__
__ __Closing the bubble. Though part of the above category,
Biosphere 2's seal system was so fantastic as to deserve its own heading. The unexpected rise in CO2 and fall in oxygen that jeopardized inhabitant health wouldn't have been detected were it not for its near-total atmospheric containment.
"They did the best seal ever made of anything," said University of California, Santa Barbara naturalist Daniel Botkin, one of the sphere's original advisors. Biosphere 2 leaked just 10 percent of its oxygen a year. The space shuttle leaks 2 percent a day. (See "Methods for measurement and control of leakage in CELSS and their application and performance in the Biosphere 2 facility" and "Oxygen loss in Biosphere 2.")
Atmospherics.
"It motivated a lot of research into oxygen dynamics and measurements of the pathways that the carbon cycle was going through," said Mark
Nelson, one of the original B2 crew members. "In the global biosphere, despite all the research going into climate change, there is still missing carbon. Is it in the land? The ocean? In Biosphere 2, we could pinpoint exactly where carbon and oxygen resided." (Read more in "Self-organized Criticality in Closed Ecosystems: Carbon Dioxide Fluctuations in Biosphere 2" and "Simulation of community metabolism and atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in Biosphere 2.")
Agriculture. According to Nelson, the the agriculture system was arguably the most productive half-acre of land in farming history. Sure, they lost a lot of weight, and ate so little as to produce an early human study of caloric restriction, but they did survive for two years on a half-acre output. And contrary to most extraterrestrial-farming thinking, it used old-fashioned soil. "You need a soil that's rich and uses compost," said Abigail Alling, a
Biosphere 2 inhabitant and director of research. "You can't do it on hydroponics alone. (See "Soil in the agricultural area of Biosphere 2" and "Crop yield and light/energy efficiency in a closed ecological system: two laboratory biosphere experiments.")
__Bioremediation. __The inhabitants' wastewater was treated in Biosphere 2's swamp biome, anticipating the contemporary trend of using artificial or resurrected wetlands to handle urban waste. (Read "Bioregenerative recycling of wastewater in Biosphere 2 using a constructed wetland: 2-year results" and "Wetland systems for bioregenerative reclamation of wastewater: from closed systems to developing countries.")
Finally there's the cultural legacy, a general awareness of Earth itself as a largely-closed system that can be easily and unpredictably perturbed. It's a useful lesson in a geological age referred to by scientists as the anthropocene. "Up until Biosphere 2, there had never been any biosphere in the known universe, except for Earth,"
said Dempster. After the project's completion, "all of a sudden everybody was very conversant with the idea of a biosphere, and now it's a common word."
"The humans became a very important part of Biosphere 2," said
Alling. "It's a very hopeful message. Even though the dynamics were a challenge, we loved our biosphere. If it was well, we were well."
For a comprehensive list of Biosphere 2 papers, see bibliographies at the Institute of Techtonics and Biospherics.
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Images: University of Arizona
Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.Overview (4)
Mini Bio (1)
Spouse (3)
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He was not an original member of Hal Roach Studios "Our Gang" series. "Our Gang" started in 1922, before Beckett was born, but he was a member of "Our Gang" in the mid 1930s.
His son, Scott H. Beckett
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had put into position to attack them. Jill ran away to go loot some cities.There's a base chance of 1%. This is improved by several factors. A lack of guards. A reduced number of captor units in the hex. Not being in a city. Strength of will. All of those were on Ansom's side. They left a high level and very powerful unit alone in a crappy prison that was distracted fighting someone. Predictably, he escaped.Besides which, she has escaped loads of times, she knows it's doable.Which he did by saying that their allies deserved to lose, saying she'd get rich and by hinting she was being controlled. His arguments to her were of the sort that would convince a backstabber.They have a fair bit of move, they could afford to run if it appeared to be a suicide mission. It's hard to trick people into a suicide mission, you can see how many enemies you have.She left contrary to the advice of her allies that they wanted her help to be secure. If she thought they were secure she is stupid. Part of the benefit of having lots of troops is that you can deal with surprises. When Parson blindsided Trem and Charlie if her troops had been there then they could have still won.Yes, all rulers. Remember you saidStanley doesn't have any expectation of obedience from people who aren't his units. He has less expectations than Jill, who also expects sex from Vanna. Your comparison statement.is obviously false, Jillian, like Stanley, expects obedience and help from her units, just as all the people who Stanley feels entitled to the aid of are his units. And no, she doesn't expect help, she just takes it for granted, like a rich kid doesn't expect their parents to cover for them being stupid, they just take it for granted.Better units would escape or suicide.While these were her vague plans, her actual actions speak for themselves. You didn't address her actions.Good use of overwhelming force is tactics. He fought well.We don't know exactly what he factored in, and I don't think Parson warned him, he just said it was a bad idea because Charlie was gunning for him to Jack.Stanley had an 80% chance of victory. Charlie prefers to not do anything for free, and probably wouldn't have attacked him just because, but he was willing to attack him to protect his special person Jillian. If Jillian didn't have plot armor Stanley would be fine.That said, he had a good chance of winning. Jill was never doing that well in the fight. Just, there was a chance, 20% or 30% or whatever of death. He was mounted on a dwagon, she fell to the earth, he was generally fighting better than her. Charlie probably didn't have that much in the area, though if he fully mobilized he could still win a few turns later. An unpredictable factor, Jill's plot armor, intervened so that Charlie was willing to mobilize his side to protect Jill.You're misunderstanding what plot armour is.Let's take an example. Albus Dumbledore. He's a well known powerful wizard. It's not plot armor for him to survive a fight against Voldemort because it's in the backstory, or for him to have super strong magic because that's in the backstory. It would be plot armor for him to survive an AK without sacrificial love protection because no one can survive those. If the plot says someone has a power them using that power isn't plot armor.The backstory says Stanley has the hammer, and he correctly got a deal to summon the perfect warlord. That's not plot armor any more than it's plot armor for Dumbledore to be a better fighter than Voldemort. Plot armor is when people and the rules twist themselves to protect someone valuable. Jillian has a bad relationship with Charlie, as has been repeatedly stated, because she betrayed him. It's plot armor for him to suddenly be willing to pay 220000 to save her with no foreshadowing or past reasons. A person is twisted, against their normal psychology (disliking Jill, loving money), to protect the special snowflake.Saved by who? It was established by canon that the titans put lots of gems in the mountain early on. It's normal rules of the game that Stanley has units who obey him, that's erfworld 101, units obey their overlord or king due to their loyalty stat. That's true of almost every side. It was established by canon that Charlie doesn't like talking to Jill and doesn't like wasting money. Then he saved her and spent loads of money on her. Charlie isn't one of Jill's units, this is very different, I'm not ignoring that difference.Suppose Jill had won that fight, and Tramennis had stepped in to protect Stanley and offered to pay all damages. That would be comparable plot armor for Stanley, the ruler of another side who dislikes them stepping in to pay to protect them.I like her less because there are differences between her character and others that make her more unlikable. Key being the unit loyalty stuff, which you seemed to ignore.Buy Photo Larry Lilly of Waynesboro fishes with his grandson, Logan Knight, on the South River at Constitution Park in Waynesboro on Monday, July 31, 2017. (Photo: Mike Tripp/The News Leader)Buy Photo
It's official, the South River DuPont natural resource settlement is the largest ever in Virginia's history, with DuPont set to pay out a little over $42 million for use on restoration projects after the consent decree was approved in U.S. District Court on Friday.
The funds that will be poured into the river as a result of years of mercury pollution from the DuPont facility in Waynesboro are exponentially more than other natural resource cases have historically seen in Virginia. For example, $64,000 went toward the James River restoration after lead and other heavy metals were released into that watershed and the Certus Spill, which turned Tazewell County's Clinch River "snowy white," resulted in a $3.8 million settlement.
Buy Photo Larry Lilly of Waynesboro fishes with his grandson, Logan Knight, on the South River at Constitution Park in Waynesboro on Monday, July 31, 2017. (Photo: Mike Tripp/The News Leader)
Nationwide, though the number one-ranked B.P. Deepwater settlement may look distant on the horizon at up to $8.8 billion, the DuPont case still ranks eighth all-time among those involving the U.S. Department of the Interior.
More: Go fish? What goes into setting South River's fish consumption advisory
Now that the settlement figure is settled, the question that remains is where that money will go — will Waynesboro, "ground zero" of the mercury pollution, see any of those dollars spent on local projects? There has been no guarantee of that in the proposed plans thus far, stoking tensions among some in Waynesboro.
However, it looks as though U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski believes Waynesboro will indeed see local projects — "the trustees have pledged to fully assess restoration activities directed at Waynesboro. For this reason, the city of Waynesboro urges approval of the proposed consent decree," he wrote in approving the settlement.
More: South River settlement tension all about money
Buy Photo A health advisory on eating fish is posted on a tree overlooking the South River at Constitution Park in Waynesboro. (Photo: Mike Tripp/The News Leader)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the decision Monday, saying they "look forward to working with interested stakeholders to implement the best projects to benefit the injured natural resources for the future enjoyment of the community."
What comes next will be implementation of projects as part of the restoration plan for the river. That will be a "multi-year effort," said Anne Condon, a fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"Trustees are finalizing procedures for project evaluation and implementation," she said.
These designated “natural resource trustees” from agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will host "stakeholder meetings" throughout the region, providing more info on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife website when meeting dates and locations are set, she said.
Buy Photo A great blue heron begins to takes off from where its spot alongside the South River near the South River Greenway in Waynesboro on Monday, July 31, 2017. (Photo: Mike Tripp/The News Leader)
More: How South River mercury removal science works
Condon said they are working on figuring out that timeline and process now and hope be able to provide "some updates to share within the next week."
Overall, the progress makes for exciting news, Waynesboro vice mayor Terry Short said, adding that he appreciates the work the governor's office has put in to get to this point. The city has continued to have conversations with the trustees ahead of the consent decree's final approval and he said he looks forward to working with them to bring restoration projects to Waynesboro.
“More to come," Short said.
Urbanski's complete memorandum opinion, written in approving the consent decree, is embedded below.
Read or Share this story: https://stnva.nl/2weAdJ6For the time being, Chris Christie is very lucky that he effuses an authentic, gruff earnestness, and that he has allies in the national press corps who want him to succeed.
The former helped him escape an at-times incoherent press conference without revealing conspicuous malice; the latter guaranteed him a chorus of boosters more concerned with his theatrical acuity than the factual implications of his remarks.
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Andrea Mitchell called it a "bravura performance."
Mark Halperin gave it a similar review while essentially admitting his assessment bore no relation to whatever the truth happens to be.
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I obviously can't claim to know how much of Christie's "Bridgegate" account was true and how much was false -- intentionally or otherwise.
But the problem for Christie -- politically, probatively, legally -- is that what we already know, combined with what he said on Thursday, means that eventually the story will settle around one of two conclusions:
1) That after two decades in politics and four in the New Jersey governor's office, Christie's no better prepared to serve than an unlikely Prince Hal surrounded by a merry band of younger Falstaffs; or
2) He's one of the most audacious liars in 21st century American politics.
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There's very little gray area here in which he might redeem his judgment and managerial skill without admitting that he lied about his knowledge of or involvement in the scandal.
On Thursday he announced that he'd fired his deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly, one of the officials at the center of the traffic jam conspiracy, and prospectively fired another confidant from future political jobs. He said he'd been "blindsided" by Wednesday morning's revelations, left exposed and humiliated by Kelly's lies. His senior aides cooked up a scandal, he insisted, but he never detected a whiff of impropriety until the now infamous "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" emails became public.
"I am not a micromanager," Christie said. "I delegate enormous amounts of authority."
If true, then he still faces the enormous problem of squaring his delegatory style with the revelation that he somehow allowed multiple deranged maniacs to enter his inner circle, and let them act with impunity, unmitigated by the sort of positive influence that a person in his position is supposed to provide. That's the "good" outcome here.
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The bad outcome is basically fatal. If upon further investigation it turns out Christie wasn't a complete dupe -- if a single email or testimonial suggests he was even slightly more aware than he let on Thursday -- then I think he's toast. It'll be impossible for him to square a development like that with his statements to the press on Thursday. And over the course of two hours, he gave the press several new avenues for inquiry.
The conservatives inclined to defend Christie -- many are happy to see him flail -- are stuck with tu quoque defenses that pit Bridgegate against Benghazi. Smarter conservatives used the atmospherically similar controversy over IRS targeting of political nonprofits to make the same point. What the IRS did has far graver implications than creating traffic on the George Washington Bridge, and if it weren't for media bias, President Obama would be in at least as much trouble as Christie is.
It's a pathetic argument -- simultaneously incriminatory and fallacious.
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See the top of this piece for an easy response to the press bias cop-out. But the comparison falls apart in other ways too. Darrell Issa and other Republicans have scoured the record for a White House email that says, "Time for some taxman problems in Fort Tea," but they can't find one because one doesn't exist. More abstractly, some conservatives are fond of the argument that Obama fostered a culture of intimidation that emboldened his foot soldiers at an IRS field office in Ohio. But conservatives must contend with a degrees-of-separation problem that Christie's antagonists don't have. The bad actors in this case weren't low-level officials in a far-off downstate bureaucracy, but his closest, most trusted aides.
My gut tells me it's unlikely that Christie was genuinely unaware of and uninvolved, either in this specific lane closure or other scandalous acts of political retribution. Remember, the breezy nature of the comically damning email exchange between his allies -- "Time for a traffic problem in Fort Lee," "Got it" -- suggests this wasn't a one-off kind of tactic. And when you look past Christie's affect, and at the actual words he said during his press conference, you encounter a bunch of oddities and inconsistencies.
At the same time, Christie's meta-handling of this whole thing -- mocking the reporter who first asked about his involvement, brutally trammeling his advisers who are now free to dish, the abject apology and denial, the willingness to endure a nearly two-hour grilling -- bespeaks either a real confidence in his innocence, severe denial or a pathological confidence that he can still get away with it.
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If it's truly the former, then perhaps his political career isn't about to come to an end. But his future prospects have been badly damaged nonetheless.At the end of the war, the Lanham nursery schools closed, helping cast women out of the workforce to open up jobs for returning soldiers. The new national consensus dictated that children be cared for in the home, not dropped off at daycare. This belief stuck even as women’s employment resumed its upward climb after the war, though it had some prominent opponents. “The closing of childcare centers throughout the country certainly is bringing to light the fact that these centers were a real need,” Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in a newspaper column a month after the war ended. “Many thought they were purely a war emergency measure. A few of us had an inkling that perhaps they were a need which was constantly with us, but one that we had neglected to face in the past.” America never did get around to replacing the Lanham centers, though it got remarkably close in 1971, when Congress passed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, only to have it vetoed by President Nixon.
Even though it disappeared, the Lanham program demonstrates what happens when childcare is viewed as a collective responsibility.
More than a half-century later, 64 percent of women with children under the age of six are in the workforce, yet America’s work-family policies don’t even come close to those that existed near the end World War II, when only about 10 percent of mothers with children of those ages were working. Now, in 31 states and the District of Columbia, the average annual cost to send an infant to daycare can exceed a year’s tuition and fees at a public university. High childcare costs do not merely strain parents’ budgets; they often pressure women to drop out of the workforce, because in many cases the price of childcare would surpass earnings from a job. A lack of affordable childcare has contributed to the yawning long-term earnings gap between women and men.
The image of Rosie with a child strapped to her back is a reminder that, though there are good reasons to applaud the women who changed norms by working in munitions factories, advocates shouldn’t focus myopically on championing women’s employment. To do so would be to ignore the things—such as high-quality, affordable childcare—that make it feasible for mothers to participate in the labor force. Today, women are still expected to forget about or scale down their careers if no decent childcare options are available.
There are signs that a Lanham-like perspective is returning today. Slowly, conversation is turning away from the individualistic question of whether women can “have it all” (a query never directed at men) toward an acknowledgment that the absence of policies such as universal childcare have constrained women’s ability to hold down employment and have children—especially in a labor system that demands long working hours, dictates high childcare fees, and pays men and women unequally. What has long been treated as a private concern for mothers is now being recognized as a matter of national policy. Public intellectuals, Nobel economists, and Democratic presidential candidates have all declared their support for affordable, high-quality childcare.
It’s hardly encouraging that it took a world war for the U.S. government to establish the nation’s only universal childcare program. Still, if it, and other policies like it, seem unattainable today, consider what Rosie herself would say: We can do it.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected] (CNN) Five years after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani compound, more groups of violent Islamic extremists threaten global security than at any time in history.
Terrorist attacks stretching from Paris and Brussels to Istanbul and the skies over the Sinai Peninsula speak to the virulent reach of ISIS, while intelligence officials and analysts say al Qaeda affiliates are poised for a resurgence in the coming year and may pose the greater long-term danger.
President Barack Obama and key members of his inner circle spoke to CNN's Peter Bergen about the raid that killed the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks for the "Anderson Cooper 360°" special on Monday at 8 p.m. ET: "'We got him': President Obama, Bin Laden and the Future of the War on Terror." Bergen's exclusive interview marks the first time Obama has sat down with a journalist in the main Situation Room, known as the John F. Kennedy Conference Room.
Bin Laden's death in 2011, nearly a decade after his al Qaeda organization launched the attacks of September 11, 2001, sent an unmistakable message that the U.S. will wreak vengeance on those who attack it, no matter how long it takes or how far it has to go.
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Obama told Bergen that when the SEALs broached the final door bin Laden hid behind, "hopefully at that moment, he understood that the American people hadn't forgotten the some 3,000 people who he had killed."
Obama's administration has pointed to the raid as evidence that despite his wariness of foreign engagement, the President isn't loathe to act forcefully in American interests and has dealt a drastic blow to al Qaeda and global terror.
Obama has come under a rain of criticism, particularly from Republican presidential candidates, that he lacks an aggressive anti-terror and foreign policy.
He often responds by telling critics that if they doubt his commitment to act, they should "ask Osama bin Laden."
Roots of the problem remain
But cutting off the head of the snake did little to address deep problems of corruption, repression and sectarianism in the countries where these terror groups take root and spread, according to government officials and analysts. They point to an arc of jihadism that stretches today from Western Africa to the Middle East through to Asia.
In short, terrorism will be with us for decades.
"Five years after the killing Osama bin Laden, it's not wrong to be fairly pessimistic in our outlook on the world," said Matthew Henman, head of the Terrorism and Insurgency Center at IHS Jane's, which analyzes international security risks.
The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told senators in February that "there are now more Sunni violent extremist groups, members and safe havens than at any time in history."
For now, Clapper estimated that ISIS, a rebel off-shoot of al Qaeda, is stronger globally than bin Laden's group and said it remains intent on striking on U.S. soil. He assessed that the number of foreign fighters traveling to the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq in the past few years -- later setting up cells that can be activated to deadly effect as in Paris and Brussels -- is without precedent.
Indeed, ISIS has seized the headlines with its toxic self-promotion, technological savvy and bloody attacks. CIA Director John Brennan has said its expansion into Libya is a deeply worrying factor, not to mention its franchises in places like Indonesia, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But it is al Qaeda that could be the bigger problem in the future.
Clapper told senators on the intelligence committee that even though al Qaeda's core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan has largely been decimated, the group's affiliates are resilient and resurgent.
"Despite counterterrorism pressure that's largely decimated the core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Al Qaida affiliates are positioned to make gains in 2016," Clapper said.
He singled out al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Syria's al-Nusra Front as the two most capable al Qaeda branches. Other offshoots include al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in northern Africa and al Shabab in Somalia.
Al Qaeda's more flexible approach
Despite al Qaeda's failure to become the global jihadi hegemon that bin Laden had envisioned, its affiliates and more flexible ideological approach mean it could reemerge as a more serious threat than ISIS.
Intelligence officials say al Qaeda, like ISIS, hasn't abandoned its desire to develop chemical or biological capabilities that they could use against the West.
Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical analysis at Stratfor, is among the experts who say ISIS may not have as much staying power because of its rigid ideology. In contrast, he said, al Qaeda has taken a more inclusive approach and "has actually been much more effective since they've moderated over the last decade."
Al Qaeda has developed a strategy of embedding in the local population and getting popular support for its goals after the U.S. successfully deployed Iraq's Sunni tribes against them in the so-called Sunni Awakening. That experience taught them that if they minimize the gap between them and local population, "it's very hard to exploit that gap, which is key to counterterrorism," Henman said.
In contrast, he pointed to the ISIS model "which is, 'we'll lead and the people will follow -- or we'll kill them'."
Al Qaeda's greater flexibility also means they're more willing to form alliances with groups that don't reflect their views.
"To use an American political metaphor, they're Big Tent jihadis now," Stewart said, pointing to al Qaeda cooperation in Syria with other groups.
"They'll work with other guys against the common enemy, and that's something the Islamic State won't do as much," Stewart said. "In these places, it's giving the al Qaeda guys a foot up."
Syria's al-Qaeda offshoot Jabat al-Nusra illustrates the point. While there's barely a difference in ideology or objectives between al-Nusra and ISIS, one distinction is that ISIS quickly declared they'd established a Caliphate.
Jabat al-Nusra builds local ties
In contrast, Jabat al-Nusra is playing a much longer game, building relations with local groups and actors and making itself indispensable in the opposition "so its power is growing and it becomes inseparable from other elements in the country," Henman said, while ISIS will "brook no opposition and spends a lot of energy fighting other groups."
In the longer term, it will be far harder for the U.S. and allies to remove al Qaeda affiliates like al-Nusra because of the way it's ingraining itself into local areas. In contrast, Henman said, "because Islamic State is so polarizing, it will be somewhat easy to create a gap between the group and the local population."
In the case of al-Nusra, another factor that could make the al Qaeda the tougher long-term challenge is the support it gets from Sunni regional powers allied with the U.S.
That is going to be one of the more intractable issues in terms of resolving the conflict in Syria, analysts said, as the U.S. looks for ways to delegitimize groups flush with foreign funding and supplies.
But for now, the administration and the allies from more than 60 countries who make up the anti-ISIS coalition are focused on defeating ISIS.
That may be a miscalculation, warned Henman.
"Because ISIS has been grabbing all these headlines, people haven't been focusing on al Qaeda and there's potential for that to be a serious mistake," Henman said. "Not in that they'll underestimate them, but in making sure there are adequate resources to counter them."A B.C. man is going public to warn others after his mother was killed by an adverse interaction between two prescription drugs, a well-known risk that was overlooked by health professionals she trusted.
"There was a physician and two pharmacists and a computer system that all failed here. It’s not a simple mistake,” said Ernie Lambert, whose mother died in 2012.
Helena Lambert's local pharmacists dispensed the medications without noting or warning of the potential problems of taking them concurrently, even though widely used software at the pharmacy would have flagged the potential adverse interaction.
"The procedures weren’t followed. What [electronic] warnings there were, were ignored," Ernie Lambert said.
"She wasn’t going anywhere without a fight. The problem is, this wasn’t a fair fight. She didn’t have a hope."
Helena Lambert, from Creston, B.C., was 76, and healthy and active for her age, when she was prescribed allopurinol to treat her gout. She was already on mercaptopurine, an immunosuppressant, for colitis.
Lambert says he still can’t come to terms with how much his mother, Helena, suffered, and why. (Ernie Lambert)
Six weeks after starting her new medication — just home from a holiday with her children and grandchildren — she developed a blister on her foot.
Ernie Lambert took his mom to the Creston Valley Hospital, where doctors determined the interaction between the two drugs was causing her immune system to shut down.
"The doctors there figured out very quickly what had gone wrong," Lambert said. "They were as appalled by this as I was, because of these two drugs and how well known the interaction between them is."
The doctors determined the blister was caused by a bacterial infection that spread quickly.
He said his mom suffered terribly, before dying from infection and respiratory failure.
"She was so frustrated and so angry," Lambert said, in tears. "It was a terrible struggle. It was a horrible way for anybody to die."
Lambert pushed for an investigation, and a B.C. coroner confirmed the drug interaction caused his mom’s death. He then filed complaints with regulators against the pharmacist and her doctor.
'Alert fatigue' revealed
Evidence submitted by the doctor, Kriegler Le Roux, suggested the death was a worst-case scenario, triggered by a growing phenomenon among pharmacists called "alert fatigue."
That's when pharmacists ignore or turn off the flags in their computer systems — the ones that alert them to drug interaction risks — because they are overloaded by too many warnings, from mild to severe.
Submit your story ideas: Go Public is an investigative news segment on CBC TV, radio and the web. We tell your stories and hold the powers that be accountable. We want to hear from people across the country with stories they want to make public. Submit your story ideas to Kathy Tomlinson at Go Public Follow @CBCGoPublic on Twitter
Le Roux, who prescribed both medications, told his regulator he relies on pharmacists to check whether there are known drug-interaction issues. He believes that in this case, the pharmacists didn’t even see the warnings in the system used at the Creston Pharmasave.
"The community pharmacist informed me that because there are so many potential interactions between medications, they have to tune down their [software] system not to flag less common or troublesome interactions," the doctor wrote to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.
"We need a better flagging system," Le Roux told Go Public.
He was criticized by his regulator for not adjusting Lambert’s drug dosages to reduce the risk when he prescribed the second drug.
Le Roux was required to take a one-day course because of the mistake he made.
"I definitely pay more attention to this now — and I tell my friends."
The pharmacists involved were each suspended for 30 days by the College of Pharmacists of B.C.
Pharmacists didn't heed flags
It concluded that Mike Ramaradhya, who filled the initial allopurinol prescription, and James Hill, who refilled it, didn’t heed information in Pharmanet, the database accessible by all B.C. pharmacists. The pharmacy also uses other software that would have flagged the interaction.
The college said the drug interaction risk between allopurinol and mercaptopurine is pegged at Level 2, which is mid-range.
Pharmacist Mike Ramaradhya overlooked drug interaction warnings when he dispensed a prescription to Helena Lambert. (Natalie Santano )
"These alerts should serve as the triggering point for a pharmacist to conduct a thorough assessment of the issue being flagged.... There is no good excuse for overlooking any … drug interaction," the college said in its findings.
"It was clear to the committee that both Mr. Ramaradhya and Mr. Hill neglected their duties."
The Creston Pharmasave, where the drugs were dispensed, refused to say anything about this case.
"All members of staff and management at Pharmasave 282 in Creston are not able to provide you with any comments, written or verbal, relating to specific patients," it said in an email.
Go Public then asked if the pharmacy has changed any of its general practices because of Lambert’s death, but received no reply.
Widespread concerns
"The whole issue of alert fatigue is one that we are really struggling with. It is information overload," said Julie Greenall, a pharmacist with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada.
The Pharmasave in Creston refused to say anything about this case. (CBC)
"Other people can learn from this."
She said various software programs rate the same drug interactions differently, which can make alerts ambiguous or confusing.
"They are not always easy to interpret. There are probably numerous times I have missed information that could have been clinically significant," Greenall said.
"The risk of clicking through" — and not reading electronic alerts about a possibly harmful mixing of medications — "could vary from nothing to a severe situation depending on the drugs involved and the particular patient."
Calls for system restrictions
Greenall said her institute wants systems redesigned to force pharmacists to enter a reason before overriding an alert.
"A better system that the pharmacy or the pharmacist can’t tinker with would probably be the right solution," agreed University of Victoria drug policy researcher Alan Cassels.
"When you are in a retail setting, the pharmacist is probably harried, is under pressure to deliver and yet doesn’t have time to do the proper counselling and to see the alerts properly."
He pointed out that drug interaction problems are very common, particularly in the elderly, and sometimes aren’t even detected as a cause of illness.
"One death is really the tip of the iceberg. I think there are many hundreds, probably thousands of adverse drug reactions that happen."
Suzanne Solven of the College of Pharmacists of B.C. tells CBC's Kathy Tomlinson that the college will remind its members they must always check for drug interactions. (CBC)
The pharmacists’ regulator indicated it is increasingly concerned about alert fatigue. The College of Pharmacists said it will be warning members in upcoming practice reviews that all prescriptions must be checked for risks, big or small.
"And if it’s a constant problem — if it’s something where they have created systems to circumvent actually checking the profiles — those will get punted to our inquiry committee," deputy registrar Suzanne Solven said.
Ramaradyha still works at the Pharmasave. Hill left his job there in the spring. Lambert can’t understand why they didn’t lose their licences.
"Fatigue and overload — I understand that. But it's not an acceptable excuse to not do what you need to do," he said.
'People need to know'
"I can’t believe how lackadaisical and how accepting [regulators] are that this occurred. Nobody seems to give a damn."
"Any dispensing error is serious and the committee looks at that. But taking away somebody’s licence is a very serious action," Solven said. "It’s somebody’s livelihood."
Lambert hopes after hearing his mom’s story, other patients will beware.
"People need to know," he said. "People need to ask questions. You know, question your doctor. Question your pharmacist."
Submit your story ideas to Kathy Tomlinson at Go Public
Follow @CBCGoPublic on TwitterHiroko Masuike / Getty Shoppers queue for cashiers at Toys "R" Us in Times Square the day after Thanksgiving in New York City
Here's hoping you avoided the food coma: you'll need your wits about you for Black Friday. The traditional day-after-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza has become a full-contact sport, with crazed shoppers determined to find the best deals, sometimes with tragic results. In last year's frenzy, a worker at a New York Walmart was trampled to death when the store opened its doors; two shoppers were shot in a dispute at a Toys "R" Us in California. The ensuing safety concerns may have prompted some shoppers to think twice, but retailers still expect a bonanza: the weekend after Thanksgiving is expected to account for some $40 billion in sales. (See the top 10 things you didn't know about Thanksgiving.)
As early as the 19th century, shoppers have viewed Thanksgiving as the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, an occasion marked by celebrations and sales. Department stores in particular locked onto this marketing notion, hosting parades to launch the start of the first wave of Christmas advertisements, chief among them, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, running in New York City since 1924. The holiday spree became so important to retailers that during the Great Depression, they appealed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 to move Thanksgiving up in order to stretch out the holiday shopping season. Roosevelt obliged, moving Thanksgiving one week earlier, but didn't announce the change until October. As a result, Americans had two Thanksgivings that year Roosevelt's, derisively dubbed "Franksgiving," and the original. Because the switchover was handled so poorly, few observed it, and the change resulted in little economic boost.
The term Black Friday itself was originally used to describe something else entirely the Sept. 24, 1864, stock-market panic set off by plunging gold prices. Newspapers in Philadelphia reappropriated the phrase in the late 1960s, using it to describe the rush of crowds at stores. The justification came later, tied to accounting balance sheets where black ink would represent a profit. Many see Black Friday as the day retailers go into the black or show a profit for the first time in a given year. The term stuck and spread, and by the 1990s Black Friday became an unofficial retail holiday nationwide. Since 2002, Black Friday has been the season's biggest shopping day each year except 2004, according to market-research firm ShopperTrak.
Nevertheless, retailers continue to tie one-day in-store sales to Black Friday. In the Internet era, bloggers race to obtain leaked circulars and post them online weeks in advance of Thanksgiving. Many forums and websites chart the deals, helping shoppers make a plan of attack for the big day. And attack they will the National Retail Federation anticipates 134 million people will hit the stores on Thanksgiving weekend. After the deaths last year, there's an added focus on making sure stores are ready to handle the crowds. Walmart extended hours to keep stores open on Thanksgiving Day to try and handle the crush and had safety experts develop plans for all their stores, a tactic followed by many retailers.Orthodox Jewish pilgrims pray by the grave on the old Jewish cemetery during the celebration of Rosh Hashanah in Uman on Oct. 3.
UMAN, Ukraine – Tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews this week flocked to the central Ukrainian city of Uman in a pilgrimage to mark the Jewish New Year.
The pilgrims – who go to Uman annually to visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav – come from around the world, but mainly from Orthodox communities in Israel and the United States.
The gathering sees more than 30,000 pilgrims visit Uman, according to the Uman Emergency Clinic, a non-profit that supplies medical services for the gathering.
Uman, which is 191 kilometers south of Kyiv, has a population of roughly 86,000.
Cleansing souls
Rabbi Nachman died in 1810. A Hasidic Rabbi who is noted for combining notoriously legalistic Jewish exegesis with the Kabbalah, a brand of Jewish mysticism in vogue with Hollywood.
Nachman’s teachings founded a sect of Orthodox Judaism called Breslover Hasidism, named for Bratslav, the Vinnytsia Oblast city where the rabbi spent much of his life.
Nachman moved to Uman in his later years. Before his death, he wrote that he would expiate the sins of any Jew who came to his grave on New Years.
In the Jewish religion, New Years occurs 10 days before Yom Kippur, the day on which Jews are supposed to atone for their sins of the past year. The Jews who travel to Uman believe that communion with Nachman’s grave will allow them to further cleanse their souls.
“We’re all gonna be in a better place because of him,” said Zev Bennet, a 38-year-old pilgrim from Israel.
The pilgrimage’s epicenter is located on Uman’s Pushkin Street, a dusty road that winds down the hill where Nachman is buried. Many of the buildings that line the road have large banners with Hebrew writing on them.
During the Soviet Union, some pilgrims were able to receive visas for the pilgrimage, while others snuck across the Polish border, said Nachman Siegel, a New Yorker who has made the pilgrimage nearly every year since 1989.
“People come from all over,” said Shmuel Siegel, Nachman’s brother, who also resides in New York City. Siegel then said that on the flight to Kyiv he sat next to another pilgrim who was coming directly from the
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suburban garage in 1994, but the company has since been housed in a succession of ever-more-expansive digs in Seattle proper: next to a well-regarded barbecue joint south of the now-demolished Kingdome (the “Sodo” neighborhood); in the lovely onetime heroin district downtown, in which office I worked during a six-month stint at the firm in 1996–97; and in a former medical complex that loomed like a supervillain’s gleaming lair high above Seattle as you drove into the city from the south. John Schoettler, Amazon’s vice president of global real estate and facilities, says that CEO Jeff Bezos told him back in 2005, as the firm considered its plan for when existing leases would expire towards the decade’s end, “I want us to stay in Seattle.” That’s driven the company’s plans since, leading the world’s biggest online retailer to be the city’s biggest—well, almost everything. Today, Amazon says it has about 8.5 million square feet of space in Seattle (though some real estate sources estimates the figure as closer to 10 million). This gives it roughly 19% of all of the city’s “Class A” (high grade) office space, and about 70% of new downtown office space added in 2016 was exclusively for Amazon. It expects to grow to to 12 million square feet by 2022, but in the past, it’s outstripped its own estimates. Its footprint in Seattle—both economic and physical—will shape the city for decades to come. Instead of an insular corporate campus with perimeter security, Amazon has checkerboarded the area from the northern edge of downtown, in the Denny Regrade, northward through South Lake Union, a formerly shabby light-industrial area that Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Real Estate bought up and transformed, part of Allen’s decades-long influence on the city. Amazon’s flagship towers—Doppler, Day 1, and a third one currently under construction—anchor its campus at the south end. (The building-naming scheme is opaque unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of the company’s history: “Doppler” was the Echo’s internal codename, and “Day 1” references Bezos’s mantra that at Amazon, it’s “always Day 1.”) The company’s 25,000 downtown employees are also spread less visibly among another 30-odd buildings of all shapes and sizes, most with retail shops and restaurants in the ground floor. At its towers as well as smaller facilities, Amazon has poked holes, creating breezeways and passages intended as public areas with seating and for eating. It even gives out free bananas—no, this isn’t an Arrested Development joke, but rather a real job for booth workers at two stands. A large area between two city streets abuts its Spheres, geodesic domes filled with plants and trees and intended for employee de-stressing and meetings. Recently, the street in front of the Spheres was blocked for days while contractors dealt with a setback in lifting a 55-foot-tall specimen tree through a space left at the top of one of the domes. They eventually solved the problem, and didn’t use drones. The Spheres space has an oddly large area of artificial turf, possibly awaiting the completion of construction before it’s replaced with real grass, and a tiny dog park, complete with a pooch-washing area. The dog park is open to the public under the watchful eye of what seems to be an omnipresent security guard, but it’s useful for employees, too: The company says Amazonians have registered 4,000 dogs and bring roughly 1,200 into work on an average day. The company’s first dog, Rufus—a dopey and delightful corgi I knew during my time there—gave his moniker to one building (next to another called Wainwright, after Amazon’s first customer) and is celebrated by the construction area’s name: Rufus 2.0.
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The internal food-service and eating areas at Amazon can only hold about 30% of its employees, the company says, so workers flood the streets at lunchtime. About 35 food trucks pull up around the area daily, and an active restaurant scene ranges from cheap and fast (may I recommend the döner kebab?) to fancy and expensive. Amazon isn’t shy about its sweeping footprint: It has a nifty printed map that calls out its buildings and started to conduct public tours earlier this year. (Your correspondent received a private equivalent from a company representative.) And its pervasiveness goes far beyond office space, as it uses its hometown’s dense downtown area as a testbed for new ideas. Amazon Fresh. Amazon Locker (first spotted in a local 7-Eleven). Amazon Same-Day—before the official launch, a guy in an unmarked car often pulled up hours after we placed an order to leave a box on our porch. AmazonFresh Pickup, with one location outside Starbucks’s SoDo headquarters. Amazon Go, the bodega with AI eyes to automatically figure out your purchases without a checkout, located in the ground floor of one of the company’s towers. (The store is currently open only to Amazon employees, but I often pass it on my way to Whole Foods Market—soon to be an Amazon outpost itself.) Related: Why Amazon Is The World’s Most Innovative Company of 2017 Cranes Everywhere In a tight market that it’s made tighter, Amazon isn’t the only company vying for space. Seattle went through a lull in development between the last dotcom boom and the 2007 housing recession, leaving some deep holes in places around the city, including downtown. A map in a meeting room at Amazon’s real estate and facilities offices plots not just its many buildings, but also where competitors have snapped up space and are filling it in with new construction. Thanks in part to Seattle’s voracious need for new office space, in July, a firm that tracks construction cranes worldwide, Rider Levett Bucknall, said that the city led the U.S. with 58 cranes at work around town. Number two was Los Angeles, which has six times Seattle’s area, with just 36 cranes. Seattle has held its lead—often by far—for some time. Cranes have a lot of visibility, but the ground-level view is no less profound. Seattle has roughly 35 million square feet of office space downtown—but 5 million of that was added in 2015 and 2016, and 15 million more square feet are in various stages from early-stage permitting through completion by 2020. Sixty-eight buildings were under construction downtown at the end of 2016.
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A similar feverish pace has taken over residential buildings: nearly 10,000 apartments are slated to open in 2017 in the downtown area. (Some of them will presumably be snapped up by new Amazon recruits—the company has thousands of open engineering and technical jobs in Seattle.) The 2010s have so far seen more apartments built or under way than the total of the previous 50 years. The U.S. Census Bureau says Seattle grew fastest by far of the 50 biggest metropolitan areas between July 2015 and July 2016, adding almost 21,000 people—over 3% population growth. We grew by 100,000 since April 2010. Seattle has gone through this before. For decades, it was a company town, and that company was Boeing, even though its operations were far from the city center and mostly outside its boundaries. My next-door neighbor for many years was a retired Boeing engineer; two of the people who owned my house before I did worked at Boeing. The company employed 100,000 in the region at two peak points. But a famous billboard posted in 1971 told a story of what happened to the city during the low ebb, following Boeing layoffs of 60,000 workers over four years: “Will the Last Person Leaving Seattle—Turn Out the Lights.” Seattleites with long memories express some concerns about new giants taking Boeing’s place and then decamping. (Boeing still employs 70,000 local workers, but its influence waned after financial mishaps, union-busting efforts, outsourcing jobs to non-union states, and shifting its headquarters—for no solid reason—to Chicago, before quickly burning through two CEOs.) And while Microsoft has 46,000 local employees, most of them are on an enormous campus (and annex) in Redmond—a suburb a short, congested drive from Seattle across a floating toll bridge—that spreads across 500 acres and 15 million square feet. It’s not on the way to anywhere. Being out of sight has kept it perhaps more out of mind than Boeing or Amazon, despite the perception from non-locals that Microsoft is “in Seattle.” My neighborhood, close to the Seattle end of the floating bridge, used to be peppered with Microsoft employees; now, I’m just as likely to meet Amazon, Google, and Facebook workers. An 800-Pound Corporate Citizen Even with all the sum of economic activity in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, in which the region also acts as the northern outpost of Silicon Valley firms—many of whom appreciate having another pool of engineering talent they can hire from—Amazon dominates by sheer scale. Its market capitalization and office square footage are one measure. The company recently hit $500 billion in stock value and Jeff Bezos now trades the title of the world’s richest person back and forth with Seattle-area native Bill Gates. (Both live in the formerly rich and now ultra-rich community of Medina, a quick drive from Seattle over a floating bridge on Lake Washington.)
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Amazon is also one of the largest employers, with 40,000 people statewide and 25,000 in its HQ area, and Schoettler says it’s the city’s largest taxpayer. (The company benefits from upgrades to Seattle’s public transportation system and has helped to fund them, turning over $5.5 million to the city to pay for a new streetcar and service every 10 minutes during commuting hours.) Its white-collar employees largely earn above the city’s already high median wage, and many staff earn vastly more, given the intense competition for programmers. The region is also flooded with hundreds of millionaires and some billionaires minted across Amazon’s 23-year history here. Because of rises in its stock, a current upper-range employee with several years’ tenure could easily have a net worth above $1 million. Related: Can Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen Reboot “The Best Music Scene In The World?” Schoettler says that Amazon is “helping to shape a neighborhood and create a neighborhood,” and he views it as “a lot of responsibility.” That neighborhood shaping by Amazon and others along with the superheated economy has had one big negative: Both real-estate prices and rents have gone through the roof. Seattle has no rent control or stabilization, and landlords can effectively raise prices to any level when leases end. That’s increased what constitutes a livable wage, even as Seattle is a few years into a landmark staggered minimum-wage increase that’s since been taken up by states and municipalities elsewhere, and with unemployment in Seattle close to 3%. This rising cost of housing is “putting pressure not only on those that are displaced and looking for a place to live, but also for organizations like ourselves,” says Megan Karch, the head of Farestart, a nonprofit that trains people for food-service jobs, runs restaurants to fund its programs, and serves free meals. It’s passed 8,000 people through its program over 25 years. While Karch can’t train people fast enough to meet restaurant needs, she also sees “a greater need and a greater dependence on support systems at our level.” “We believe that we are in a community crisis of homelessness right now, and it’s our community that will rise up to help us solve this problem,” says Marty Hartman, the executive director of Mary’s Place, an organization that provides temporary housing and a range of social and employment services to women, children, and families in distress. (Seattle and the rest of King County have the third highest number homeless people of any area in the U.S. in absolute numbers, after New York and Los Angeles, and the sixth highest per capita.) Most of what the group calls its guests have jobs, and “97% of homeless families are homeless one time in their whole life,” she says. The group is there to help bridge that gap. Amazon has partnered with Farestart and Mary’s Place in unique and significant ways that seem to far outweigh any potential public-relations value. Starting in 2015, the company began working with Mary’s Place by offering space for 200 family members in a motel that was slated for later demolition. In July, Amazon moved Mary’s Place to another motel—a slightly nicer one by all reports—a block closer to Amazon’s towers as construction advanced.
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Schoettler says employees came to him after the 2015 Mary’s Place announcement and said, “How great this is; this makes me so proud” and then, quickly, “How do I get involved?” Hundreds have volunteered since, and Schoettler says the group’s supply center resembles an Amazon fulfillment warehouse due to donations. In May, Amazon and Mary’s Place announced the company would build a 65-room, 47,000-square-foot space for the nonprofit within Amazon’s third tower, opening in 2020. Mary’s Place’s executive director Hartman says, “When I got a call from Jeff Bezos and he said, ‘I just want to welcome you to the family’, and I said, ‘How great is that to be wanted?'” Farestart received similar boosts. In February, Amazon donated 25,000 square feet in Houdini North, a building—named after Prime Now’s codename—at the north end of its loose-knit campus to the group, which opened five distinct casual and quick-serve restaurants there in July. Its executive director, Karch, confirms that the group had trouble hiring enough workers, because it didn’t want to poach graduates from local restaurants. “It’s a good problem to have,” she says. Finally, in July, Amazon announced a $1 million matching grant for both donations and revenue for Farestart from mid-July to mid-August. “They’re trying to lift all boats,” Karch says. All this philanthropy may sound a little exhausting, but it comes after nearly 20 years of Amazon and Jeff Bezos donating relatively small amounts. A 2012 Seattle Times article was titled, “Amazon a virtual no-show in hometown philanthropy.” In mid-June of this year, Bezos tweeted the crowdsourced request for ideas on how to engage more in giving, citing Mary’s Place as an example that had moved him. Without being a bit insincere, Amazon’s location and emerging social conscience and contributions dovetail neatly with its recruiting strategy: To get the workers it wants, it needs to offer not just high salaries, but quality of life. Its newly ambitious local corporate philanthropy effort pairs well with the connection to community that many younger people crave, especially if they’re moving to a new town.
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Amazon’s decision to stay downtown, keeping its workers cheek-to-jowl with the reality of a city core, no matter how cleaned up and expensive it becomes, is significant. Karch of Farestart tells a story about the group purchasing its building in 2003. People told her, “You gotta move outside the city.” She persisted, saying, “You’re missing the point. Our point is to be in the city, so those who are homeless can be connected with their community, and those in the community can be connected with the issues of homelessness.” While Amazon has built its towers of gleaming glass where cheap motels and strip clubs and dive bars once thrived, it doesn’t seem to be looking down on the community around it. As hard as it is to want to credit corporate motivations in an era of cynicism and irony, Amazon has put its buildings where its mouth is. [Correction, 8/24/17: The original version of this story stated that Microsoft had 30,000 employees in the Seattle area.]Among all the people relaxing on the beach at Marco Island, Fla., earlier this month, Chuck Casto might have ranked as one of the happiest. And why not? His five-day trip with his wife and 7-year-old daughter marked his first major vacation in nearly seven years.
"It was a great opportunity for us to recharge and spend time together as a family," says Mr. Casto, a vice president at CSN Stores in Boston, a Web-based business selling home goods. "The weather was good. It was just what we needed."
Casto's vacationless years began when he worked for advertising agencies. "There's no break in the action," he says. "You just keep going." He continued the pattern when he ran his own consulting firm for nearly four years. "When you're your own boss, it's very difficult to carve out time to take a break."
Now he revels in working for a company that actively encourages people to use their allotted three weeks of time off. "It's one of the strong benefits that everyone takes advantage of," he says.
Other businesses are sending similar messages. This month PricewaterhouseCoopers, a professional-services firm, kicked off a 10th-anniversary celebration with a day called "Take Your 10," urging employees to take their 10 paid holidays, as well as vacation. To emphasize the importance of time away, the firm distributed a booklet, "Rest and Relaxation: The Value of Time Off," to all 30,000 employees. The company's website also offers suggestions about how to use that time. Vacation has even become an issue on performance reviews.
"Managers would receive reports about members of their team who had stopped earning vacation because they had reached their cap," says Michael Fenlon, managing director of people strategy. "We wanted to change that and build a culture in which uninterrupted work-free vacations were more the norm than the exception."
For several years, Scott Stevenson, director of advisory practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, did not take all of his vacation days. "There was almost a feeling of guilt when you took time off," he says.
Now Mr. Stevenson uses almost all of his allotted four weeks, some of it in half-day increments. Although he concedes that he still has "a twinge of guilt sometimes," he says, "I do credit the firm for having us talk about it more, and the need for it, and the value of it to the work we do."
Although staffing is tight at TripAdvisor, a website in Newton, Mass., the company encourages all employees to take their vacation. It even added four summer Fridays to everyone's holiday schedule. "The bosses are leading by example, promising to take them all," says spokesman Brian Payea. "Everyone gets a minimum of three weeks' vacation at the start, plus the new summer Fridays."
The decision by some worker to endure years of vacation deprivation may be extreme, but they symbolize a pattern common to many American workers – a reluctance to take all the vacation days they have earned. A new poll estimates that 47 million employees will forgo some vacation time in 2008. That adds up to 460 million unused days, an average of three "wasted" days per worker, according to Expedia, a travel website. More than half of respondents to a Yahoo! HotJobs survey plan to skip their vacation this year to save money.
During a bad economy, in particular, workers may be concerned that going away will make them expendable in the boss's eyes.
"I don't think most employers alter vacation policy in light of economic times," says Kevin Oakes, CEO of the Institute for Corporate Productivity in Seattle. "But many employees alter how they take vacations... because of concern about how their vacation may be viewed by senior management."
Vacation policies are governed by state laws, not federal. "Problems come up where the right to the vacation is not well defined in the policy," says Bruce Clarke, president of Capital Associated Industries, a nonprofit employers' association. "Sometimes the language in these policies is ambiguous. Did they earn it? Do they get to keep it when they quit?"
Some companies adopt a strict use-it-or-lose-it policy, setting a maximum amount of vacation workers can carry over. In California, that is illegal.
"Workers accrue time pro rata by law," says Kenneth Sulzer, an attorney at Seyfarth Shaw in Los Angeles. "People end up with substantial banks of vacation pay. When they leave, they are entitled to all unused vacation at their current pay rate. Some of our clients are making people take time off as a way of reducing this big collective vacation bank. That's one way the recession is impacting employees' vacations."
Whatever a company's policies or practices, Casto, rested and relaxed after his Florida vacation, remains an enthusiastic convert to the idea that all employees should take their vacation. He says, "Even those of us who are big workaholics still need that time to regroup and recharge, to get back to being very productive."talk With SEA hackers, [we] Cyber Kendra have reported that SEA fequrently pentest US government servers and Networks. Moreover, they also mentioned that they have a huge amount of data collected from the previous hack. After US Army, now SEA targeted US intelligence and security organisation, and on the, [we] Cyber Kendra have reported that. Moreover, they also mentioned that they have a huge amount of data collected from the previous hack.
huge amounts of data containing details about the US army soldiers, officers, generals, etc... Another think they confirmed that, they also have some important and confidential files and reports. Unfortunately, in an statement given to Ars by Limelight spokesperson say - "we didn't have any evidence of customer data compromise". But SEA hackers confirmed to +Cyber Kendra that they haveetc... Another think they confirmed that, they also have some important and confidential files and reports.
UPDATE :- From Syrian Electronic Army
As on the tweet Syrian Electronic Army says "we were too later" by this SEA hackers means to say that, GCHQ DNS was hosted on the Limelight but they moved to another a while ago.
Syrian Electronic Army says to Cyber Kendra that GCHQ was not there target, it was US Army and they achieved it.
After hacking into the official site of US Army (army.mil), Pro hackers group Syrian Electronic Army have showed another hack. On the twitter account they posted the image of domain panel of the GCHQ.Syrian Electronic Army tweets the photo of Limelight control panel of GCHQ domain. Last time also SEA hackers have hacked into the limelight control panel of the US army website and thus deface it. Here once again they have hacked the GCHQ domain control panel.Theis a British intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance to the British government and armed forces.AP The tension is rising in Asia, with worrying signs that conflict could break out at any point.
In the Koreas, fallout over a prospective North Korean nuclear test has South Korean troops on the border receiving orders to return fire immediately against DPRK forces.
In South Korean press, there's worrying, though non-conclusive, talk of a "pre-emptive" strike.
According to the Hankyoreh, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Jung Seung-jo was called to report to the National Assembly's Defense Committee on February 6 over the risks posed by North Korean nukes.
He told the committee that the South Korean military would risk war with North Korea with a pre-emptive attack if "signs of an imminent nuclear weapon launch against the South were detected", the Hankyoreh writes.
Jung reportedly hesitated when asked if this meant all out war, instead suggesting a surgical strike.
According to the Chosun Ilbo, Jung also guessed that North Korea would be testing a "pre-hydrogen" nuclear weapon, perhaps a "boosted fission weapon" that could the size and weight of nuclear weapons enough for a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile.
Given the current situation, Jung said there were no plans for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea's nuclear test site. However, he added, "We may change our mind if the situation changes."
Yonhap News notes that North Korea didn't let Jung's comments go without response, with the official KNCA news organization writing "They do not know what a real war is like and they would shudder after experiencing our military's spirit to attack in a single breath."DET-IND grades: Andrew Luck earns week's highest QB grade in Colts' loss
By Bryson Vesnaver • Sep 12, 2016
Detroit Lions 39, Indianapolis Colts 35
Here are the top takeaways and highest-graded players from the Lions’ win over the Colts:
Quarterback grade: Matthew Stafford, 77.5
It was a solid opening game for QB Matthew Stafford, who didn’t really need to make many tough throws on his way to victory. He spent most of the afternoon working the short game, as he went just 4-of-7 for 94 yards on passes that traveled over 10 yards in the air. He went 27-of-30 for 247 yards and all three touchdowns while throwing short. Stafford’s offensive line held up well, as he was only pressured on 19.5 percent of his dropbacks. It wasn’t a phenomenal day of quarterbacking for Stafford, but he made enough throws when he had to to come away with a victory.
Top offensive grades:
C Travis Swanson, 84.2
FB Michael Burton, 84.0
RG Larry Warford, 80.4
LT Taylor Decker, 80.3
RT Riley Reiff, 79.9
Lions’ offensive line shows up strong in opening game
There’s no doubt that the Lions will be happy with how their offensive line played against the Colts, as they were the unsung heroes of this victory. They were solid at pass blocking, allowing just one sack and eight total pressures all game. C Travis Swanson didn’t allow a single pressure. As good as they were pass blocking, however, they were even better opening up holes for the run. Only G Laken Tomlinson graded below 78.0 in run blocking, as the unit helped a rushing offense that finished with 116 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
Top defensive grades:
LB DeAndre Levy, 76.7
S Tavon Wilson, 76.0
LB Kyle Van Noy, 75.2
S Rafael Bush, 74.2
NT Haloti Ngata, 69.8
Pass coverage is a big question mark for the Lions after subpar performance
While there were definitely some good moments, it was an overall disappointing day for the Lions’ pass coverage. Star corner Darius Slay had an average game, allowing 4-of-9 targets to be caught for 75 yards, and that sort of set the tone for the rest of the defense. LB Tahir Whitehead was picked on often, as he saw nine targets as well, but allowed seven catches for 71 yards and touchdown. They were playing a really good passing offense in the Colts, but the Lions will not be able to allow 385 passing yards and four passing touchdowns every week and still expect to win.
Quarterback grade: Andrew Luck, 96.0
Luck shows no sign of last year’s struggles as he finishes as this week’s highest-graded QB
What a performance by Andrew Luck that was wasted in a loss. Luck was executing high-level throws all afternoon, picking apart the Lions’ pass coverage with ease. Luck was incredibly effective when throwing deep down the middle of the field, where he completed 11-of-13 passes for 203 yards and three touchdowns on passes at least 10 yards downfield. Luck didn’t force any passes or make any real poor decisions all game. He was making every throw he needed to, and was able to march his team down the field consistently. After a tough season last year for Luck, this incredible performance bodes well for the Colts going forward.
Top offensive grades:
QB Andrew Luck, 96.0
C Ryan Kelly, 79.3
WR T.Y. Hilton, 78.6
LT Anthony Castonzo, 78.0
RG Denzelle Good, 75.6
Strong offensive line play allows Luck to go to work
One of the reasons for Luck’s struggles last season could have been poor offensive line play, which caused him to constantly worry about pressure and affect his play. That wasn’t the case today, as the unit played very strong against a very good Lions’ defensive line. The Colts offensive line allowed just one sack and seven total pressures on 51 passing plays. That pass-blocking efficiency of 89.2 ranks fourth among all teams that have played so far this week. The left side duo of LT Anthony Castonzo and LG Jack Mewhort was particularly strong, allowing just one hit and one hurry combined.
Top defensive grades:
CB Antonio Cromartie, 81.2
S Mike C. Adams, 81.0
ED Trent Cole, 77.8
S T.J. Green, 72.8
LB Sio Moore, 72.6
Colts front seven disappoints, as they fail to do much of anything against Lions’ offense
Aside from OLB Trent Cole, who impressed with a QB hit and three other hurries in a strong pass-rushing effort, this was a less-than-ideal performance from the Colts’ front seven. Aside from Cole, the unit combined for a mere one sack, three hits and two hurries. They let Stafford sit in the pocket with time, which forced their secondary to cover for much longer than they should’ve had to. Against the run they fared no better, as the Lions were able to open up big holes all game long and run through them at will. With such a strong offensive unit, the Colts just need their front seven to improve a little bit, as just one big stop would have been enough to come up with a win today.Doug Draper
Niagara At Large
July 6, 2010
John Pruyn wasn’t much in the mood for celebrating Canada Day this year.
John and Susan Pruyn.
How could he be after the way he was treated a few days earlier in Toronto by figures of authority most of us were brought up to respect, our publicly paid-for police forces who are supposed to be there to serve and protect peaceful, law-abiding citizens like him.
The 57-year-old Thorold, Ontario resident – an employee with Revenue Canada and a part-time farmer who lost a leg above his knee following a farming accident 17 years ago – was sitting on the grass at Queen’s Park with his daughter Sarah and two other young people this June 26, during the G20 summit, where he assumed it would be safe.
As it turned out, it was a bad assumption because in came a line of armoured police, into an area the city had promised would be safe for peaceful demonstrations during the summit. They closed right in on John and his daughter and the two others and ordered them to move. Pruyn tried getting up and he fell, and it was all too slow for the police.
As Sarah began pleading with them to give her father a little time and space to get up because he is an amputee, they began kicking and hitting him. One of the police officers used his knee to press Pruyn’s head down so hard on the ground, said Pruyn in an interview this July 4 with Niagara At Large, that his head was still hurting a week later.
Accusing him of resisting arrest, they pulled his walking sticks away from him, tied his hands behind his back and ripped off his prosthetic leg. Then they told him to get up and hop, and when he said he couldn’t, they dragged him across the pavement, tearing skin off his elbows, with his hands still tied behind his back. His glasses were knocked off as they continued to accuse him of resisting arrest and of being a “spitter,” something he said he did not do. They took him to a warehouse and locked him in a steel-mesh cage where his nightmare continued for another 27 hours.
“John’s story is one of the most shocking of the whole (G20 summit) weekend,” said the Ontario New Democratic Party’s justice critic and Niagara area representative Peter Kormos, who has called for a public inquiry into the conduct of security forces during the summit. “He is not a young man and he is an amputee. …. John is not a troublemaker. He is a peacemaker and like most of the people who were arrested, he was never charged with anything, which raises questions about why they were arrested in the first place.”
Pruyn told Niagara At Large that he never was given a reason for his arrest. When he was being kicked and hand-tied, police yelled at him that he was resisting arrest. Then a court officer approached him two hours before his release on Sunday evening, June 27, and told him he should not still be there in that steel -mesh cage. So why were Pruyn and his daughter Sarah, a University of Guelph student, who was locked up somewhere else, detained in a makeshift jails for more than 24 hours, along with many other mostly young people who, so far as he could hear and see, had nothing to do with the smashing of windows and torching of a few police cars by a few hundred so-called ‘Black Bloc’ hooligans that weekend?
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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Why was Pruyn slammed in a cell without his glasses and artificial limb, with no water to drink in the heat for five hours and only a cement floor to sit and sleep on before his captors finally gave him a wheelchair? Why was he never read his rights or even granted the opportunity to make one phone call to a lawyer or his family – the same rights that would be granted to a notorious criminal like Clifford Olsen or Paul Bernardo?
He never received an answer to these questions and, he said, “I was never told I was charged with anything.” Neither were many of the others who were penned up in that warehouse with him, including one person who was bound to a wheelchair because was paralyzed on one side and begging, over and over again, to go to the washroom before finally wetting his pants.
Pruyn said others in the warehouse begged for a drink of water and younger people made futile pleas to call their parents to at least let them know where they were. In the meantime, Pruyn’s wife, Susan, was frantically trying to find out from the police and others what happened to her husband and daughter. She found out nothing until they were finally released 27 hours after she was supposed to meet back with them at a subway station near Queen’s Park.
So what was this all about and why were John and Sue Pruyn arrested if they were part of the gathering of peaceful demonstrators in the Queen’s Park area? Was their crime to dare to come to Toronto in the first place and join with those who express concerns about the G20 and whether it has any concern at all for the environment, for people living in poverty, for fair access to health care and other issues important to people around the world who fall into the category of ‘have nots’?
Pruyn wonders if the idea of the crackdown was to send a message to the public at large that gatherings of opposition to government policies won’t be tolerated. “That is (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper’s attitude,” he said. “He doesn’t like dissent in his own (party) ranks.”
Kormos said some might respond to the crackdown against the G20 summit demonstrators by saying that they should have stayed home or they should not have been there, or that if they were swept up by the police, they should have nothing to worry about if they did nothing wrong. But that misses the point, he said. It misses the possibility that this was another example of the province and country sliding down a path of clamping down on citizens’ right to gather together and express views that may not be popular with the government of the day.
Kormos stressed again that a public inquiry is needed, not only for those demonstrators arrested and roughed up during the summit, but for those shop owners in Toronto that had their stores vandalized by a horde of hooligans with little apparent presence of police officers to prevent it.
Asked if there was any possibility a few hundred black-clad vandals were allowed to run wild to make the thousands of people there to demonstrate peacefully look badly, Kormos responded; “That’s why we need a public inquiry.”
Susan Pruyn agreed. “ We need a public inquiry for all of the people who went (to Toronto) with good intentions and who ended up suffering that weekend,” she said.Nadia Vera’s murder highlights the danger facing female activists in Mexico and the extent to which those guilty of crimes against them are acting with impunity
Nadia Vera believed in change. The 32-year-old social activist was a passionate defender of human rights through the arts. She wrote poems, staged dance workshops and theatre productions, and participated in street protests to demand political and social change.
Vera and four others were murdered in her apartment in Mexico City on 31 July in an attack that has put human rights defenders across the country on red alert.
She was raped, tortured and shot in the head alongside her friend and campaigning journalist Rubén Espinosa, 31. Both had fled the state of Veracruz following threats and intimidation, which they had publicly blamed on the state governor.
Women's human rights defenders under threat – podcast Read more
Three other women, all treated largely as an afterthought by local media and authorities, were also killed. Yesenia Quiroz, 18, a student makeup artist, and Mile Virginia Martín, 30, a Colombian hairdresser, were Vera’s flatmates; Alejandra Negrete, a 40-year-old mother of three, was cleaning the apartment at the time of the attack.
The killings have sparked a wave of protest and international outrage, focused largely on the escalating violence against journalists in Mexico, especially in Veracruz. WIth a total of 13 murders since 2011, Veracruz has become the most dangerous place in Latin American to be a journalist.
But female activists and rights defenders are also under attack in Mexico and across the region amid almost total impunity for the perpetrators of crimes against them. Vera was the 36th women’s rights defender – community leaders, social activists and journalists – to be murdered in Mexico since 2010, according to the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders of Mexico (RNDDHM). She was the third victim from Veracruz. However, the most dangerous place by far is Guerrero, the state where 43 student teachers disappeared last September after being attacked by drug cartel hitmen and corrupt police. Nine women’s rights defenders have been murdered in the state since 2010.
The problem isn’t confined to Mexico: at least 20 women were killed in the same period in the dangerous triangle of Honduras, Guatemala and
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shortly thereafter, but Brinker clung to her post in the organization she’d built, despite continuous signs of problems.And on to the most important news of this post.
Several things this post:Support LINE's official release HERE Batoto release HERE (but I think LINE will want it removed very soon. Have any of you ever seen a NAVER webcomic picked up by LINE that's still on Batoto? I haven't)One of our newest editors, Haru (who's very much in love with the series, I believe), has been hard at work applying the Overtooning method to Super Secret. So even when we can no longer use Batoto as a reader for Super Secret, we will still have Overtooning. You can learn all about it and download the thing needed to use it HERE Link to original comic HERE I would have dropped this series after these chapters if Haru wasn't so resourceful, eager, and willing to continue working on the series.Haru's overtooned all the chapters released in this post so far. Check it out.So we need another Korean translator for this series to take the load off Zosia and another editor to take some of the load off Haru.I hope I didn't mess anything up with all these chapters released at once.Have you ever noticed that prices are slowly rising all the time? That effect is called inflation. We’ll discuss where it comes from and how to make it work in your favor, or at least avoid the downside it comes with.
Here’s an example of inflation. When I was a kid, a Snickers bar was about $0.20. Today it is almost $1.00. So what happened, is the dollar worth less?
Yes, the dollar is worth less!
A better way to explain it is the dollar has less purchasing power due to inflation.
Purchasing power is the reality or substance of what the money buys (the candy bar). The $0.20 or $1.00 face value is just a number, it’s fake, and is only valuable because of society’s collective confidence in the dollar.
The technical explanation for inflation is 'an increase in prices and fall in the value of money'. See it in action in our inflation calculator.
There are three main reasons prices rise:
1) Too much demand - too many people competing to buy the same thing.
Demand pushes up prices when an economy is at full employment. Think the good times, the dot com boom, the roaring 20’s, etc. Everybody has money in their wallet or access to loans so they feel confident. When consumers are confident they go out and spend spend spend - driving up prices in the process.
2) Supply costs - prices of wages or raw materials go up.
This can happen in good or bad times, but no matter what the corporations pass the cost of higher inputs to their customers. That causes prices to go up even in bad times because workers will turn around and demand higher wages. A popular example of this is the US oil embargo in the 1970’s which help to spike inflation (for more see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis).
3) An increase in the money supply - in basic terms the government printing money.
When additional money is printed by the government, this dilutes the value of money consumers hold. It also makes the debts the government owes a little easier to pay.
Governments print money in a variety of ways, sometimes printing actual paper money, but more often buying back treasury bonds, or adjusting the reserve ratio (which is how much banks can lend out based on the amount of capital they hold).
The reserve ratio ties into lending and is a major factor in how inflation works. For example if a bank has outstanding loans of $100M, and the reserve ratio is 15%, the bank must keep $15M on hand to satisfy withdraws. However, if the reserve ratio were lowered to 10%, the bank would only need to keep $10M in reserve, and the extra $5M would be in circulation going towards cars, houses, college, etc. All that lending translates into consumer spending, which stimulates demand (point #1) which also works to drive up prices. The lending also drives up bank profits, which leads to more demand for yachts, sports cars, etc.
The bad news is inflation isn’t ever going away. A little inflation is seen as a good thing by the powers that be:
Pretty much all countries with sizable economies manipulate their money supply to try and steer inflation. In economics it is called Inflation Targeting. The idea is a little inflation is good for the economy. The theory goes that a little inflation helps stave off deflation in a serious downturn which makes the economy more resilient. Also recall that inflation makes the debts of a country easier to pay back. In effect inflation is a hidden tax on those holding cash! Governments LOVE to tax people, especially in creative, invisible, and hard to understand ways such as inflation.
However, deflation is scary and far worse than a little inflation!
Deflation is the opposite of inflation - when prices go down. For anybody holding a loan deflation is a disaster because that means their monthly payments effectively go up, and this squeezes out other spending. Deflation is especially bad for big businesses who have lots of debt, and for the banks that hold those shaky loans. When loans start going bad, there is a domino effect of reduced lending, which in turn reduces economic activity, which in turn makes it harder to get a loan. This kind of unwinding happens in all recessions / depressions, and effectively shrinks the money supply. Deflation is great for renters (lower monthly rent), or people with a large stockpile of cash, but in a deflationary environment wages are probably also dropping, stores run low on supplies, and your favorite shops close down.
So how can you benefit from inflation?
With inflation, for the average person, it is mostly about limiting negative exposure vs profiting directly.
When inflation spikes, lending rates tend to spike as well. That means payments towards variable rate loans will go up (think credit cards and adjustable rate mortgages). When it comes to debt, the best way to avoid getting hurt by inflation is to get fixed rate loans for everything (mortgage, student loans, auto, etc).
Assets that get killed by inflation are typically cash, savings accounts and long term bonds. The cash loses value due to the reduction in purchasing power like we saw the candy bar. With cash in savings accounts, money market funds, and CDs the rate of return the bank gives you is almost never above the rate of inflation - making the real return on cash and CDs negative. Long term bonds lose value in times of inflation because interest rates go up. With a long term bond the rate is locked in making the old bonds less valuable relative to new bonds that are issued at the now higher rate.
Historically stocks will keep up with inflation, but they come with risk of their own. In general it is all about diversification and not having all your eggs in one basket. See our Retirement Nest Egg Simulator, which accounts for inflation and lets you play with different asset allocations (stocks, bonds, cash).
Returns on gold and silver can be correlated with inflation. That is, in times of high inflation, precious metals will go up in price. This is driven by fear and greed in the markets. Commodities are also said to go up in price (not value) during inflationary periods. However these are directional bets that are more like gambling than investing.
One way really rich people benefit from inflation is to get into a situation where they've borrowed money at a fixed rate and over time inflation has kicked in and eaten away at the ‘real value’ of that debt. Many big businesses are debt financed in a way that sets them up to win because of inflation. Real estate moguls who borrow millions of dollars to finance large projects over decades benefit directly from inflation. If they buy a skyscraper that barely breaks even on rent at today’s money they are set up good. They know that in 20 years, the rent for an office will be roughly double (in part due to inflation), not to mention the value of the skyscraper itself with rise with the rents. So in 20 years all else equal they will be making money hand over fist! Sure they are taking risk on the location of the building, the overall economy, etc. But if they did it right they are mostly using other people’s money to finance the project so they win no matter what.
At the same time deflation scares the heck out of these people because if rent drops they will be unable to meet the loan payments and will go bankrupt. That in turn scares the bank because they don’t want possession of a skyscraper that is ‘under water’. The bank has a degree of influence with the government due to lobbying. So the Fed targets 2% inflation to keep the economy spinning. The end result is office space, candy, and everything else increases in price little by little in the long run.What’s in a name? Names have power. To know the True Name of a thing is to have power over it! … wait, wrong world. In any event, names are rather important to the narrative flavour of a game so we’ve made some effort to ensure that when you see a good Clockwork Empires name, you know where it came from.
Wait, you interject, have we not we read this blog post already, good sir? Why yes, very nearly exactly one year ago? It was and is: The Power Of Names.
Of course it has been a year since then and many things change in a year – including our approach to one or another sort of naming in Clockwork Empires.
Characters
Little has changed here as-such, though a great deal of additional text content has been added. (I was particularly inspired by reading Moby Dick which, side-note, is way more humorous than you’d expect, and fascinating besides.)
We also pulled back a bit on the excessive morpheme-clusters that would lead to some real nonsense-sounding names like “Goldenthatchsmith” or “Wrightcrimblesolder” (although my making those up doesn’t do the brutal indifference of the algorithm justice). And yes, a Wrightcrimblesolder sounds like good fun times on its own, but when you have to try to keep fifteen such names straight in your head, it simply isn’t going to work.
So, more breadth of content and clarity of content. It feels much nicer.
Workcrews
Our first take on Workcrew names for CE took the following process:
Take one good adjective that evokes a quality of Clockworkian virtue, for example: patriotic, well-ordered, respectful, just, moral, prudent, civil, industrious. Tip-top! Now add that to one machine part evocative of Steampunk nonsense, for example: gear, grate, wheel, dynamo, axle, furnace, blastpipe, stack, slide, lock, coil.
Now add those together with the work crew overseer’s name as a possessive and you get something like “Mr. Fladgate’s Patriotic Gears” or “Mrs. Hasting’s Well-ordered Grates”.
However amusing, these are somewhat deficient in that they fail to evoke anything about the character of the commanding overseer. Only their family name gives the work crew any identification. And since the early stage of development, the characters of Clockwork Empires have progressed a great deal in terms of evocative individual characteristics. Why not use them?
A new system: Take a trait from the Overseer, use that to pull a random trait-linked adjective. The “Doomed” trait, for example, will yield one of “Ill-fated”, “Cursed”, and “Doomed” as adjectives (subject to change or expansion at our creative whim).
Now we need a base workcrew name. Either default to one of a set of basic workcrew names (under which players have been suffering for about a month: “Gang”, “Crew”, “Band”, “Team”, “Lot”, “Band”, “Company”, etc.). Query the skills of the Overseer, take the highest and use that to pull from a list of skill-specific workcrew name bases. So an overseer with a high farmer skill would take on of “Farmers”, “Growers”, “Planters”, or “Gardeners”.
This results in a great deal of fun:
Colonists’ given names have also been included in their work crew name, as you can see, to make the individual instantly identifiable with their work crew.
This has been a simple tale largely about string manipulation, but it acts as an example of the process of design thought being put into Clockwork Empires at this stage in development! This is just an extension of the principles laid out in the Hatpack It! blog post: The work we are now engaged in is less a process of throwing as many cogs at the wall and seeing what sticks as it is now a process of identifying unwieldy masses of undiluted game (glistening with Fun, and … I’ll stop), trimming and sculpting it down into a more effective form, and interlocking it with other game systems to the enrichment of the whole experience.The Conservative Party has "no interest" in expanding the grounds for stripping individuals of Canadian citizenship beyond "violent acts of disloyalty to Canada," which include terrorism, high treason and acts of war, says Defence Minister Jason Kenney.
During a campaign event in Dartmouth, N.S., Friday, Kenney, a Conservative candidate in the Oct. 19 election in the Calgary Midnapore riding, ruled out any move to revoke the citizenship of serious criminals such as mass murderers or child predators, insisting the practice would be limited to "convicted terrorists and traitors" who have turned on Canada.
No other legal or statutory grounds for citizenship revocation are under consideration, he said.
"We believe the grounds for revocation of citizenship should be limited to those who have obtained it by fraud, or people who are convicted of violent disloyalty to Canada — who hate our country so much that they take up arms against it as members of a terrorist group or take up arms against it in a foreign army through the commission of treason or of war against Canada," Kenney said.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper appeared to open the door to expanding the grounds for revoking citizenship of dual nationals who commit other serious crimes during an interview with a London, Ont., radio station on Wednesday.
"We can look at options in the future," Harper told AM980's Andrew Lawton.
'No interest' in stripping criminals of citizenship
But Kenney said there is "no interest" in including the revoking of citizenship among the punishments for more common violations of the Criminal Code. The measure is specifically for those who want to cause mass harm to their own country and citizens.
"When you're doing that, you're telling us that you're renouncing and forfeiting your Canadian citizenship," Kenney said. "It's an attack on your own citizenship and the country to which you are supposed to be basically loyal."
The government has recently stripped the citizenship of Zakaria Amara for his role in the Toronto 18 bomb plot and is trying to do the same to at least three other members of the group: Asad Ansari, Saad Khalid and Saad Gaya.
Ansari and Khalid have been informed by letter of the government's intent to strip them of their citizenship.
Gaya is serving an 18-year sentence for his role in the plot and is the only member of the group whowas born in Canada.
Kenney calls niqab'misogynistic' practice
Kenney also answered questions on Friday about the government's hard line on banning the niqab at citizenship ceremonies and the resulting backlash. Kenney denied the niqab debate is fanning the flames of hostility toward Muslims. Montreal police are investigating a complaint that a pregnant Muslim woman was attacked by two teens who tried to rip off her hijab.
Kenney said it was "ridiculous" to link the government policy with that incident and defended the Conservative position, which he said is embraced by the majority of Canadians.
"Let's be clear, this practice of face covering reflects a misogynistic view of women which is grounded in a medieval, tribal culture," he said.
"While the government has no interest in regulating what people choose to wear in their private lives, when you come and swear a public oath … in front of a judge and your fellow citizens, we think it's eminently reasonable to ask that for those 30 seconds, you do so publicly, openly and transparently as a proud new Canadian."
The niqab has emerged as a key issue in the election campaign and will likely be a hot topic at tonight's French-language debate organized by the Quebec network TVA. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair will be on the hot seat for supporting the right to wear a niqab during citizenship ceremonies, a position that has cost the party support in Quebec.
Kenney was visiting an electrical company in Dartmouth that is one of the sub-contractors in the $36.6-billion shipbuilding project the Conservatives announced five years ago and are in the process of implementing. The government has called the contract the largest peacetime project in Canada's history.
At Friday's press conference, Kenney also lashed out at former prime minister Jean Chrétien's recent praise of Russia's intervention in the Syrian conflict, saying it reflects the "distorted" foreign policy of the Liberal Party.
"Vladimir Putin is out to serve his own interests," Kenney said of Russia's recent airstrikes in Syria. "He's not helping, and he's not an ally, and I think it's bizarre that the Liberal Party is out there regarding Vladimir Putin as an ally.
"This is a man whose political opponents have been murdered and who has invaded neighbouring countries. Vladimir Putin is not an ally of Canada. Vladimir Putin is not an ally of international peace and stability."[TUTORIAL GAME FOR VX ACE] EVENTS V1.4 IS RELEASED
[www.rpgmakerweb.com]
[drive.google.com]
===================================================TL;DR Version:4 hours length, learn everything except parallax mapping and scripting.Chrome might false detect it as malicious. It's the browser's problem, not mine though.It detected EVERY exe file, even harmless ones, as malicious.By playing this game you will hopefuly learn a lot about VX Ace.RPG Maker VX Ace gets installed with the RTP included.So if you got the software, you need nothing more to run the game.If you don't own RPG Maker VX Ace, you must install the RPG Maker VX Ace RTP.It is distributed for free under a certain license.The NON RTP game version can be downloaded from HERE! ==================================================="Events" is ready at last!For all people who don't know what this is all about,I had the idea to create a game about RPG Maker VX Ace,that will explain everything, except parallax mapping and scripting.It's a tiny RPG game that keeps the fun factor higher than a conventional tutorial.Hopefuly you will enjoy it.If you are new to RPG Maker VX Ace,or if you did not dig deep enough into it for some reason,this game is for you.It is a 4 HOUR tour on everything.The game is for FREE.Selling is prohibited.For credits you can read the readme file,or use the statue in the main island in the game,or use the scroll on your inventory (you get it very early).Enjoy.TWO THINGS TO KNOW:When Google Chrome Sees ANY.exe file downloaded, it treats it as malware.Not potential malware. Just malware.I find this feature very secure but also disturbing.For security reasons it isolates the file.So you must view all Downloads tab and restore the file.Trust nobody, use anti virus all the time just to be more safe.That's what Chrome does. Trusts no exe files at all.It just happens RPG maker self extractor to be an exe though... :/Second thing.You can say thank you at: [email protected] I included the email into the game credits too.Do not comment on this thread for thanks, as it might spam other people ;)EDIT:V1_3 What's new:The Failure (oh the Irony) fight is not broken anymoreSpecial thanks added to the Credits for those who reported the bug.V1_4 What's newTextproof completed.Plus some minor bugs fixed.This is the final version for the game contest.Edit: Full version will be down as soon as the contest ends.The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
The following is a shortened version of an article from the RetroNeo Games blog page.
As I write, it's February 28th, 2017. Last day of the month, second day of GDC and our Greenlight campaign for Sons of Sol is 15 days old, but was born prematurely. The original due date was approximately February 26th.
Author's note: Despite the title and opening paragraph, this blog post isn't a gripe! Valve have every right (and it's been long overdue) to make changes to their submission process. We just happen to be caught out by the situation and are sharing our findings.
Red Light for Greenlight
As I'm sure we all know, on Friday February 10th, Valve announced that it would be shutting down Steam Greenlight forever "this Spring" and replacing it with Steam Direct, a system that does away with the community involvement in favour of a verification process "similar to setting up a bank account" and then a recoupable fee for each game submitted. We all also know that this process involves an as-yet-unknown fee that could be "as high as $5,000".
Given that Greenlight costs only $100 to get on, any small studio who had hoped to get on Greenlight any time soon is now rushing onto the platform - usually underprepared!
Our game
Briefly, Sons of Sol is a 2D space combat sim where you decide how and when to fight. Essentially we're taking the controls of Asteroids, and building a 90s-style space combat sim (think Wing Commander or TIE Fighter) on it. The progression is systems-driven with a light story. Think of the strategy layer of an XCOM game, with story dotted here and there.
You can get the demo for yourself here.
We're a very small team. I'm the lead developer, and Steve Gregan and Fred Mangan are part timers on the art and audio, respectively.
How this all affects RetroNeo Games
Our plan was to launch the game's Greenlight campaign to coincide with our new'vertical slice' demo that would show off our home carrier, some characters, new sound design and music, and a bit more gameplay. This same demo would be ready for GDC for any publisher or press meetings we might stir up.
But with Valve's announcement that Greenlight would be gone during Spring (when I was in school in Ireland, I was taught that Spring was Feb - Apr, so we were already in it by my count) the team had a quick emergency meeting over Skype on Saturday and decided to shift focus to doing a Greenlight trailer and page, sprucing up the website, and launching by Monday. The trailer would basically now just be the one we'd released just weeks before but with a Greenlight logo at the end. Previously the plan had been to shoot new footage from a playthrough of a newer demo and put that on the trailer.
We chose to move up our timeline because we knew that hundreds of other developers would be thinking the same way as us, and that the Greenlight servers would be absolutely flooded in a matter of days. We were only a few weeks from our intended launch anyway, so we figured we had an advantage in terms of the quality of the submission that we could make.
It's a pity because I've done a lot of research in the past year (one 2016 Gamasutra blog stood out in particular) as to how to maximise your launch on Greenlight, and I was eager to put it all to use. This included having a playable demo ready, having YouTubers play said demo, try to get press to talk about it, translate the page into multiple languages, and hook up Google Analytics.
Now, just two weeks shy of accomplishing all of this, we had to go off half-cocked. Seeing the green light turning red, we basically had to rev the engine to try and make the amber, because the red might be too expensive to... eh.. this metaphor is falling apart, sorry!
So, without translations, a press mailing list, a MailChimp campaign, or a demo, we launched. About the only thing we did get from our list (because it was the quickest thing to set up) was the ability to take some preorders on the site to prove to certain legal bodies that we're "in commerce". They're still available at the time of writing, discounted, but limited in quantity.
How have we done so far?
In the first week we got about 300 votes and made it 18% of the way to the top 100. There's no specific target to meet, but thousands of votes and being in the top 100 is certainly desirable (and normal for games getting through in the past).
The problem is that now, after a second week, we've gotten almost no further!
The reason we wanted all our ducks in a row was to maximise the 'yes' votes while Steam's algorithms were still sending natural traffic to our site. Just by launching, you'll get a certain number of referrals from normal Greenlight users browsing, but after that you're on your own to generate your voting traffic. In normal circumstances, the Steam algorithms send people your way for a few days.
Our natural traffic died off in under 12 hours!! That's a measure of just how many other new Greenlight games were going up just 3 days after Valve's announcement. At that stage we were closer to 200 votes. The next 100 votes we got during the first week were basically from friends and colleagues through Facebook and Twitter shares.
I've heard similar stories from many developers who are struggling with the campaign because they were forced to launch early and are just drowned out by the noise. The Steam algorithms just aren't sending people to your game's site for as long right now, and that's a big deal!
Below are our results from the first 24 hours.
What did we try?
Since the launch I've been working every day for at (the very) least 12 hours, but not so much on the Greenlight campaign. Getting the demo ready for GDC to wow press and publishers was still a better priority - after all, nobody knows how many Greenlight votes you really need anyway, nobody knows when Greenlight is actually shutting down, and we had appointments scheduled with people who wanted to see a new build of the game. So, after launch and until yesterday, a new demo was priority number one!
I suspect that once Valve stops taking new submissions for Greenlight, they'll probably let through a lot of what remains in the following weeks, though they have kept their options open by declaring that anyone who has paid the $100 Greenlight fee and who doesn't get through will be reimbursed. So, who knows?..
That doesn't mean that I've ignored Greenlight either, though. Not at all! Over the coming days I ran a tentative €5 Facebook and €5 Twitter ad campaign (well targeted, with video) to see what happened. We got about a dozen clicks total and about 2 new votes. So, probably not worth investing too heavily there, then. Not for votes, anyway.
One issue is that you have to log in to Steam (assuming the ad-clicker even has an account) and often have to be emailed a security code for a 'new device' (so sick of doing that!), so anyone clicking a mobile or browser link would not likely be logged into Steam, and probably wouldn't bother doing so.
I got the Greenlight page translated into Russian, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese and German. Even though the algorithms had stopped sending us traffic, I hoped that a new language detected might send us users from those territories. It didn't. Absolutely nothing! So I decided not to proceed with French, Spanish and Italian.
I also contacted about two dozen Greenlight Collections groups. I especially targeted groups interested in space games. We did get included in five collections, but I saw no corresponding increase in traffic to us, unfortunately.
What now?
Well, with the GDC demo complete, I now get to turn my attention to contacting proper press outlets and YouTubers. I'm a big fan of grassroots marketing and using your own networks, but having tapped the social circles and developers that I know already we seem to have reached the limits of what that can offer us - namely, 320 votes.
Note: On Feb 28th, a batch of games must have been put through, as for virtually the same amount of votes we have now jumped to 25% of the way towards the top 100.
Contacting press and YouTubers is a fairly low probability activity, but one good bit of coverage can do wonders! That's now the stage that we're at to try and get more votes. You're commercially dead if you aren't doing this anyway.
I have confidence in our game, our trailer, our demo, and our team, but we're fighting in an oversaturated market, most definitely. Add to that that this is the week of GDC and the press (including Gamasutra) have even less column inches than normal to spare for Greenlight and indie demo stories.
To Conclude
This has felt like a bit of a weird blog to write. I often write about the industry somewhat abstractly, but I'm right in the middle of this one, and it's an incomplete story. Greenlight isn't gone yet, we haven't yet been accepted for or refused press coverage, and nobody, including Valve, knows much about Steam Direct yet.
I do hope I can do a positive follow-up to this blog in the near future. Until then, I can just thank you for reading, ask that you vote for us if you haven't yet, and consider sharing our Greenlight campaign with anyone that you think might be interested.
Thank you! Don't forget to try our free demo. You can download it from the Sons of Sol page.
Until next time..If there is anything I've learned from trying to manage a major world building project by myself, it's that it's easier to break everything up into tangible part-projects. As I'm currently working on the faction "Knights of the Sun" I've found it useful to think about it as a small compendium. And this would be the mock-up cover for such a compendium. The goal is try cover everything that should be in it before the end of summer - armours, weapons, history and organisation descriptions, key characters from the faction and mounts.
But for now I will be taking a two week break from my freelance and my projects. Will be back in early August, and I have plan to pick up both my blogging, more regular posting of design and artwork as well as trying to start a stream schedule by then. See you in august =]
/JensXCOM 2: War Of The Chosen DLC announced! Reaper Resistance faction June 12th, 2017 Firaxis has announced "War Of the Chosen" the next XCOM 2 DLC to be released in August 29th. The DLC will introduce several new enemies, including the Chosen, an elite alien team consisting of the Assassin, the Hunter and the Warlock tasked with recapturing the XCOM commander, along with ADVENT's new Purifier and Priest units. As for XCOM, there will be 3 new classes, Reaper, Skirmisher and Templar representing Resistance factions that you'll need to recruit to your cause. And finally, the Lost will be introduced, which consist of mutated humans who dwell in the ruins of Earth's cities that were destroyed in the initial invasion. XCOM 2: The Real War Begins teaser June 11th, 2017 XCOM's Twitter account has just posted a poster teaser for XCOM 2: The Real War Begins, the expected expansion to Firaxis' latest release in the XCOM series. Details of the new expansion will be revealed next Monday, June 12th at the E3 convention. January 20th, 2017 Pavonis Interactive, formerly Long War Studios, has released a new version of its famous Long War mod for XCOM 2. Long War 2 adds several new classes, equipment, research, aliens, missions and more, while increasing the duration of the game. Long War 2 can be downloaded through the Steam Workshop page. November 11th, 2016 U.S. advanced research organization accidentally reveals XCOM device. Researchers admit they, quote, "need more support to complete the XCOM package". Council_of_Funding_Nations advises NASA to use cover story in hopes of keeping invasion secret. :)
June 11th, 2016 Steam have a one third off weekend special on XCOM 2 this weekend.
XCOM 2 Arrives February 4th, 2016 It is now possible to start the preload of XCOM 2 through Steam (~24.6 Gb download). Firaxis has already announced the release schedule for the different regions and has made available the ingame characters of the Development team for use in XCOM 2's Character Pool. Several reviews have been already released on the major gaming sites - some spoilers might be included on those, read at your own risk. Good luck commanders.
XCOM 2 - Join Us Or Become Them December 12th, 2015 The Official XCOM 2 "Retaliation" trailer has been released. You can check the video here and for more ingame action, you can check Beaglerush's XCOM 2 gameplay videos: War Hand, Blacksite and Legendary War Hand. XCOM 2 will be released on February 5th, 2016. Soldier Customization September 10th, 2015 XCOM2 has been made available for pre-order on Steam in addition to XCOM: Enemy Unknown being free to play for all users until 10am PT on Sunday, September 13 with a 75% discount for anyone who purchases the game during the same period. This discount also applies to all downloadable content. Like the Elite Soldier Pack that came with pre-orders of Enemy Unknown, XCOM2 pre-orders come with the Resistance Warrior Pack which has more soldier customization options.[1] August 7th, 2015 Firaxis has released new footage of the upcoming XCOM2 game, with a focus on the Avenger, the mobile base used by XCOM to fight the ADVENT forces. Highlights include a tour through the base facilities and XCOM's Chief Engineer and Scientist, as well as a display of the soldier customization and the strategic layer.
OpenTFTD Beta Released OpenTFTD August 4th, 2015 The developers of OpenXcom have released the first Nightly (a.k.a. beta version) of OpenTFTD, an open source reimplementation of XCOM: Terror From The Deep. OpenTFTD comes included with the engine of regular OpenXcom and requires a copy of the original TFTD game to play.
XCOM 2 Gameplay Video Released June 16th, 2015 Firaxis has released the first video of XCOM 2 gameplay during the E3 2015 conference. The footage features a tactical mission where XCOM troops have to blow up an Advent target and it shows several enemies, including the Advent units of Soldier, Captain, Turret and MEC, as well as the Viper and the evolved Muton Berserker. The video also shows the new concealment/ambush mechanic, as well as a Gremlin hacking a turret and the Skyranger retrieval. It is also possible to see Officer Bradford ordering XCOM troops into action and a glimpse of the world under the alien occupation. XCOM2 confirmed! June 1st, 2015 2K and Firaxis have confirmed today on the XCOM official website [[2]] the upcoming sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. XCOM2 takes place 20 years after the events of the remake, where the aliens have taken over Earth and the remains of XCOM are waging a guerrilla war against the extraterrestrials. The game will feature new soldier classes, the return of the Snakemen along with other new aliens, procedure generated (random) maps, and will be exclusive to the PC with specific features for mod development. More features will be revealed soon on IGN [3]. May 29th, 2015 Two clues at the Advent website have a series of letters that when combined produce "VIGILO CONFIDO", or the motto of Enemy Unknown 2012. It seems that a new XCOM game is under development and more details should be announced later. May 27th, 2015 2K has released yesterday a link to a site that presents an alternate reality company called Advent Administration. Its contents have triggered speculation on the 2K official forums and Xcom subreddit that it is related to a new upcoming XCOM announcement. The site contains a rotating globe, pictures depicting a XCOM: Apocalypse style city, one of which seems to contain artwork already present on XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and a downloadable.pdf file uses a font called 'XCOM-Regular'. The site also appears to be under some sort of hacking by an unknown party, with its contents being replaced by phrases such as 'we are still watching'. While all of this is merely circumstantial evidence, 2K is expected to announce a major title on the next E3 Conference in 3 weeks so keep tuned for further details.There are a few things that reliably follow acts of senseless gun violence like the shooting spree in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which left six people dead and two others injured late Saturday. Inevitably, in the aftermath of mass shootings, as the family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues of victims mourn, the volume knob for the national debate on gun control gets turned way up, sympathetic sentiments and emotional reactions are shared via social media, and calls to action are trumpeted by advocates and opponents alike. Urging action is great, but taking action is better. Politicalized disputes too often dominate the wake of mass shootings as reaction becomes all talk and no action, which is why the one tweet about the Kalamazoo shooting everyone should see could potentially have a major impact on how Americans respond to gun violence.
Undoubtedly, gun control has become a hot topic for America this year with the presidential elections and an executive order on gun control signed by President Barack Obama in January. But the idea of turning an emotional gut response to gun violence into positive action aimed at stopping the next mass shooter is applicable no matter where you fall on the spectrum of gun control. Although opponents and advocates of stricter gun control laws are not likely to agree on much, I'm willing to bet they'd both like to see the number of shooting sprees like the one seen in Kalamazoo decrease.
It's clear America has a problem with mass shootings. Not long ago, it was a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, Colorado; before
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managers see value in Alberta’s government bonds, anticipating the province will rebound.
Four major oil firms operating in the area around Fort McMurray have declared force majeure, a contract clause to remove liability for unavoidable catastrophes.
The fire spans 241,000 hectares (596,000 acres), growing much more slowly than before.Employees generally need to detach from their work and their work space to recharge their internal resources, he says. Options include walking, reading a book in another room or taking the all-important lunch break, which provides both nutritional and cognitive recharging.
Photo
It’s shortsighted not to take this time, or for managers to discourage employees from taking it, he says.
I mean, if you think.... uh, what I mean to say is... oh no, my head feels a little fuzzy. I think I need to walk around the block.
Try to take a break before reaching the absolute bottom of your mental barrel, Professor Trougakos says. Symptoms of needing time to recharge include drifting and daydreaming.
After that walk, I’m “in the zone” and want to keep working. Do I really have to take another break anytime soon?
There is no need to take a break if you’re on a roll, Professor Trougakos advises. Working over an extended period can be invigorating — if it’s your choice. What drains your energy reserves most is forcing yourself to go on, he says.
Well, I don’t want to strain myself. What if I can’t do this topic justice? I need to get another cup of coffee. Oh look, someone brought in her baby. I need to update my Netflix queue. Maybe I’ll visit Fred on the seventh floor.
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Don’t go too far with this, Professor Trougakos says. Too many breaks can abet procrastination. “Anything at an extreme level,” he says, “is not going to be good.”
Video
Mostly, though, workers don’t take enough breaks — especially breaks involving movement, says James A. Levine, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He has done studies showing that workers who remain sedentary throughout the day are impairing their health.
“The design of the human being is to be a mobile entity,” says Dr. Levine, who is also a proponent of standing, and even walking, while working and during meetings.
I want to make some more calls, but I’m so sleepy! I wish I could take a nap underneath my desk.
Dr. Levine is a supporter of nap breaks, but only if they are allowed by management, he says. Otherwise, nappers can be perceived as slackers — even though research shows that naps improve productivity.
When it comes to productivity and concentration, everyone has a different capacity. Management should encourage employees to devise individually effective break routines, Dr. Levine says. But he also has some general guidelines: try working in intense 15-minute bursts, punctuated by breaks, in cycles that are repeated throughout the day. This works because “the thought process is not designed to be continuous,” he says.
“Long hours don’t mean good work — highly efficient, productive work is more valuable,” Dr. Levine says, and frequent breaks promote that.
They also encourage those flashes of genius that employers value so much, he adds, noting that Albert Einstein is thought to have conceived the theory of relativity while riding his bicycle.
When you come right down to it, Dr. Levine says, “the work should break up the break.”
Now that’s an idea I can get up and walk around the room to support.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Tony Blair: "If you think there is a different and better way... argue for it"
Tony Blair has defended his call for new controls on EU migration as a cabinet minister accused him of a belated "epiphany" on the issue.
The ex-PM said the UK could stay in the EU after all with new curbs in place.
He claimed this would address people's "grievances" without the "sledgehammer" of Brexit.
Critics have pointed to his Labour government's decision not to apply transitional controls to eastern European migrants in 2004.
Mr Blair's proposals are to "tighten" existing free movement rules, including on benefit entitlement, and seek to negotiate an "emergency brake" on EU migration in certain sectors.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, the former prime minister - one of the most prominent anti-Brexit campaigners - said he accepted last year's Leave vote but that there were ways of controlling EU immigration without leaving.
"Brexit is a distraction, not a solution, to the problems this country is facing," he said.
Mr Blair said he believed Brexit would go ahead "unless it starts to become obvious that the public is having second thoughts" - and that "hasn't become obvious yet".
"If we put this case to people, maybe they will listen. If they don't - I accept it goes forward," he said.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Critics said Tony Blair had been responsible for "open door" immigration
Unlike France and Germany, which did not give migrants from the 10 countries which joined the EU in May 2004 full access to their labour market until 2011, the then-Labour government did not insist on any transitional controls.
Mr Blair said: "The situation back then was different."
He told the Marr show the economy had been strong when he left office in 2007 before the financial crash, adding: "You've got to listen to what people are saying and react to it."
"It's a bit late now, this epiphany", responded Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon on the Marr show.
Sir Michael said "election after election" had shown the public wanted "proper controls" over immigration.
"I think it's a pity he didn't think of that when all these new countries were admitted to the European Union on his watch," he added.
Pro-EU Conservative Ken Clarke told Sky News it was "hopeless" to think the UK could stay in the EU, given the "mood of the country".
Migration plans
The government has said free movement will end with the UK's withdrawal from the EU, and a forthcoming immigration bill will set out its plans in detail.
Last week, leaked draft plans suggested firms would have to recruit locally unless they could prove an "economic need" to employ EU citizens and ending the right to settle in the UK for most European migrants.
The report by Mr Blair's Institute for Global Change suggests reforming free movement rules, without "excessive" restrictions which would jeopardise the UK's membership of the EU single market.
It says the "structure of free movement" could be kept "broadly intact" with rules on access to benefits tightened.
Under existing rules, citizens of other EU countries can be removed after six months if they have not found a job, have no realistic possibility of finding one, and require support from the welfare system.
Mr Blair's report says EU nationals should already have an offer of work when they arrive and says those who did not earn permission to stay would be banned from opening a bank account, renting a home or claiming benefits.
'Out of touch'
The report also proposes restricting free healthcare for unemployed migrants and letting universities charge EU nationals higher tuition fees than UK students.
It says an "emergency brake" could be negotiated with the EU, which would allow the UK to impose temporary restrictions in certain sectors when migrant numbers were high.
An "emergency brake" - which would have affected migrants' benefits - was key to the package of EU reforms ex-PM David Cameron tried to use to persuade voters to back staying in the EU last year.
The co-chairman of the campaign group Leave Means Leave, Richard Tice, said Tony Blair's attempt to deny democracy would be seen for what it was, and ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage, referring to immigration, said Mr Blair was "the reason we are in this mess".
Unite union leader Len McCluskey said Mr Blair was "as out of touch now as he was in 2004".
He told Radio 5 live's Pienaar's Politics that "greedy bosses", not migrant workers, were to blame for undercutting wages, saying that unionisation and regulation were the only way to prevent this from happening.
Opening the TUC's annual conference in Brighton, general secretary Frances O'Grady said the government had "no realistic negotiating strategy" and was taking the UK towards a "kamikaze Brexit".
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morningTopeka physician and anti-pot stalwart Eric Voth didn’t mince words Thursday denouncing a legislation campaign that would legalize consumption of marijuana for medical purposes in Kansas.
Voth told members of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee that heartbreaking appeals in testimony Wednesday from families seeking to make use of the plant to address complex medical conditions afflicting their children didn’t alter reality of a plant that was unstable and unpredictable in treatment.
"Marijuana itself is not a benign recreational drug," he said. "Marijuana has serious toxic and long-term effects. As a smoked drug, it damages the lungs. Its use is associated with violence and spousal, domestic (and) dating abuse."
"More recent research has demonstrated that one of its espoused medical applications, PTSD, is actually worsened with increased violent behavior," said Voth, who has opposed pot consumption for decades.
He said medicinal marijuana campaigns in the states were a ruse to attain legalization for recreational purposes.
Chairwoman Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee, said she scheduled the two-day informational hearing on the subject to advance the learning curve for members of the Republican-dominated committee. It didn’t constitute a formal hearing on Senate Bill 9, which would establish Kansas as the 24th state to authorize medicinal use of pot.
The Cannabis Compassion and Care Act is an improbable candidate for passage during the 2015 Legislature. Similar bills have been introduced since 2009, but none emerged from a House or Senate committee.
Ed Klumpp, a former Topeka police chief and now lobbyist for three Kansas law enforcement associations, testified the Kansas Sheriff’s Association, Kansas Peace Officers Association and Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police recognized the difficult policy question faced by lawmakers across the nation regarding marijuana usage.
"Our association members are concerned about legalizing marijuana in any form, especially in a manner making a mockery of the physician-pharmaceutical system in place for the legitimate use of other controlled substances for medical purposes," Klumpp said.
He said the Kansas law enforcement groups wouldn’t oppose application of components of the marijuana plant for scientifically supported medical treatment approved through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration processes applicable to other medicines.
Rachelle Colombo, lobbyist with the Kansas Medical Society, said the FDA’s rigorous research and regulation approach was aggravating to people keen to find alternative treatments but was established to protect vital interests of patients.
She said the Kansas Medical Society would argue against state sanctioning of medical marijuana sales until the federal government concluded marijuana to be clinically equivalent or superior to legal medicines.
Kim Brown, chairwoman of the Kansas Association of Addictions Professionals, said the trade association opposed legalization of marijuana because that would muddle messaging that pot had serious consequences.
"Marijuana use is associated with dependence, respiratory and mental illness, poor motor performance and impaired cognitive and immune system functioning," Brown said.
Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, asked Voth if a bill might be narrowly structured to allow sale of marijuana byproducts, such as concentrated oils, with doctor and pharmacy participation to provide potential relief to children with chronic conditions.
"We heard some very compelling testimony from parents, grandparents of children with severe epilepsy," she said.
Voth, chairman of an organization known as the Institute on Global Drug Policy, said there were a handful of drug trials exploring the potential of chemicals available in marijuana plants.
Bypassing the FDA structure in any way, he said, would pose an unacceptable risk and serve interests of pot fans trying to slip the camel’s nose of medicinal marijuana under the tent so recreational legalization would be a step away.
"The advocates are relentless," he said. "Within two or three years, it’s wide open."Dear community,
We have always felt there is too much-unused potential in our community and concluded that we have to make use of it!
We know not everyone can contribute on a regular basis but can spare the time to craft a one-off piece of wonderment. Therefore, we have decided it is time for a contest! Based on the success of this endeavour, this is something we would love to do more of in the future.
Aim of the contest?
New Assets!
Create a new asset which would fit into the Neocron world. A box, a picture, Event items etc. or restore an existing asset in High Definition.
Whether you use a Spec/Gloss or Metal/Roughness workflow is up to you, as long as you orient yourself on PBR guidelines for a naturalistic/realistic look.
Making Engine-ready assets:
All assets need to conform to specific standards to work with Neocron's deprecated engine:
All assets will need to go through a special converter tool later, this tool only reads certain formats (.FBX binary works perfectly). Assets need to be in a metric scale.
Neocron does not yet support state of the art dynamic lightning, all textures need to be prepared as Unlit with baked environmental lightning. That means all information is baked static into a single diffuse map. A lossless diffuse map in.PNG is fine. Do not bake strong directional lights or reflections.
Polygon Budget:
Up to 5k, with appropriate LoD's. LoD's must have the format: meshName_LOD0.
Texture-size: 1024px/m. Maximum texture size is 2048px.
Tools:
Any tool you feel comfortable with and that can output.PNG and.FBX files
Your.FBX file must contain a non-triangulated original mesh to have options for changes.
The prizes?
Every asset which we decide to include in one of the upcoming patches will be awarded the following:
The honour of your asset being published in Neocron -> your name will be put in stone in the patch-notes!
A trophy* of your choice for one of your characters on Titan.
*Your choice of trophy excludes CopBot Trophies as well as Bronze, Silver and Gold Cups.
Get started and we look forward to reviewing the entries! To give you time to get your entry perfected over the busy holiday period, you have until Friday 11th January 2019 to craft and submit your entry.
Sent your entry via E-Mail to [email protected] with the subject "Asset Contest".
Good luck!
Your Neocron Support TeamA Republican woman in Iowa has been arrested on suspicion that she voted twice in the general election, according to a new report.
Terri Lynn Rote, 55, was arrested and charged with first-degree election misconduct, The Des Moines Register reported.
Rote allegedly voted early at an election office in Des Moines and then cast another ballot at a satellite voting location, according to police.
The woman is one of three people suspected of voter fraud in the county, according to the newspaper. Two others allegedly voted in person and also sent mail-in ballots, though Rote is the only one who has been arrested as of Friday morning.
Police are investigating the case.
The Blaze noted Friday that the woman was an early supporter of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE.
Trump has repeatedly warned his supporters about the possibility for voter fraud during the election.A little later in the pre-game, Coach Harbaugh approached: “You feel good?” “I feel great, Coach. I feel too good. Might even take off some of these pads.”
At the end of warmups, the entire team surrounded the 14-year veteran. “Fellas, I just beg you today. Take the next step. Let’s take the next step. We have one goal today. Get to 4-0 on our home field. On our home field! Defend this turf. Defend it!”
Of course, with Suggs, you get humor. He approached referee Ed Hochuli: “Ed, how are you doing today?” Hochuli: “Terrell, how are you doing?” Suggs: “Ed, I ask all the referees this. If they run the read option with their quarterback, when he fakes it, he’s a runner, and I can hit him anywhere as long as I don’t hit him with the crown of my helmet. Right?”
The muscled ref started to explain: “If he is a runner. But once he pulls out …” That’s when Suggs interrupted: “You have to understand, I am already going. I have the quarterback as my responsibility. If he clearly is giving himself up, I’m good, right?” Terrell didn’t wait for the answer, he turned and ran to his teammates. You could see Hochuli smiling.
During the game, Raiders left tackle Donald Penn, a good player who kept a polite banter with “Sizzle” all day, hit Suggs in the face with both hands. “Hey!” Suggs yelled. Penn: “My fault about that.” Suggs: “I’m telling on you. Ed, Ed, Hochuli. (Pointing at Penn) He has hit me in the face three times, and he’s even apologizing for it. Listen to him.” You could hear Penn chuckling.
What’s amazing when you watch Suggs up close is his strength. He takes 300-plus-pounders, throws them aside, and makes tackle after tackle. Once he got his hands on the runner, there was no escape. He is one powerful human being.In talking to a couple of people about why such high-powered candidates (Denis Schryburt, Thomas McVeigh, probably Jeff Morrison and also Lili Weemen) have piled into the city council race in Somerset ward so early, one interesting bit of informed speculation is that it’s not at all certain Diane Holmes is running again.
She says unequivocally that she is. She hasn’t registered yet but nominations only opened Thursday and most incumbents haven’t filed their papers; in 2010, she waited till February and many incumbents wait longer.
But the theory goes like this. Holmes has 30 years in. She’s in her 70s and although she’s as sharp and energetic-seeming as ever, presumably she’ll want to give politics up at some point. She just wants to make sure there’s someone there to whom she feels comfortable passing the torch, who’ll not only represent the downtown core as ably as she has, but in fundamentally the same way she has — a way that, it needs to be pointed out, has drawn her huge majorities in election after election. She doesn’t want to retire if it means après elle, le deluge. In this scenario, each of the candidates who’s declared early is trying to be the one who takes over from Holmes and convinces her she can safely depart.
But if she really does run again, as she says she will, who knows how many of them will stick around.
It is also common for any politician to say he or she is running for re-election right up until the last moment, because you become a lame duck the moment you announce you aren’t. You can get more done if you convince people they’re reasonably likely to have to deal with you beyond the next election, and then you announce you’re retiring. Since you aren’t running anyway, the consequence of the deceit is pretty trivial.These days it seems everybody has some sort of recycled/eco friendly paper offering. So what’s the big deal about a Swedish offering making its US debut on Earth Day this year?
White Lines factory reuses their carbon emissions in a closed loop, making for zero CO2 emissions, for one. Then they offset what they can’t reuse (transportation, etc) via planting trees in Africa, as coordinated by environmental consultancy U&W (interestingly pronounced “You & We” in Swedish) The wood used for the paper comes from locally sourced, sustainably managed forests, and woodchip waste from sawmills. And every package tells you the precise carbon footprint, the materials traced back to the source.
And then it gets interesting.
[social_buttons]
The paper uses white lines rather then black or blue. And? And that means less visual competition between pen/pencil strokes on the line. This does two things: When copying or faxing, the white lines disappear, so you can draw using grid paper as a guide, then when others see it, all there is is your drawing. For those learning to write, the focus is squarely on the writing, without the distraction of other lines.
For those that want to be thorough in their commitment to sustainable choices as a business, this would seem to be an excellent choice. Going paperless is an admirable goal, but as it stands, there’s still a need for paper use. Why not do it with paper of this caliber?
Update: I’ve now been told it’s available domestically in the US today, through Amazon. Official launch is Earth Day, but they’re quietly available now. I’m getting some myself, actually.
Readers: What other everyday things in your work do you see value in changing, and what are you doing/using to change it? Comment below please.This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: The United Nations is warning millions of Pakistanis are at risk of deadly water-borne diseases more than two weeks since Pakistan’s worst-ever flooding began. The World Health Organization says around six million people — over half of them children — face the threat of cholera and dysentery, as well as typhoid and hepatitis.
Thomas Batardy of Doctors Without Borders said in addition to destroying crops and homes, the floodwaters could bring further devastation with the spread of disease.
THOMAS BATARDY: [translated] People are swimming in floodwater, water that’s picked up all the dirt and germs that were in the ground and in places where sanitation standards were lacking. People are bathing in contaminated water. Obvioulsy that carries a health risk for the people.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: The flooding has killed over 1,600 people and displaced 20 million, nearly 12 percent of Pakistan’s population. Flood victims continue to hold protests against the lack of aid. On Monday, hundreds of people blocked a main road in Sindh province with stones and debris.
MOHAMMAD LAIQ: [translated] There seems to be no government here since the floods. We lost our children, our livestock. We could hardly save ourselves. Though we’ve come here, we are getting nothing. Where is the government? What do we do? Where do we go? We have to tell the government, and it’s the responsibility of the government to do whatever is possible.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Al Jazeera reports overwhelmed medical workers were forced to turn away patients at a main hospital in Peshawar in order to prioritize care for sick children. Despite the devastation, international donors have provided little help. Just 20 percent of a UN appeal for $460 million has been met.
In a visit to Pakistan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the massive floods as the worst natural disaster he has ever witnessed and urged greater international aid.
SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON: I will never forget the destruction and sufferings I have witnessed today. In the past I have visited scenes of many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this. The scale of this disaster is so large, so many people, in so many places, in so much need. Nearly one out of ten Pakistanis has been directly or indirectly affected. Possibly 20 million people, one-fifth of the country, is ravaged by floods.
AMY GOODMAN: That was UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pleading for international aid.
We’re joined right now by the UN’s top humanitarian official: Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes. He accompanied Ban in Pakistan this past weekend.
We’re also joined on the line from Pakistan by Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani analyst based in Islamabad. He writes regular columns for The News of Pakistan and Al-Shorouk of Egypt, which can be found at his website mosharrafzaidi.com.
John Holmes, let’s begin with you. What did you see in Pakistan? And what needs to be done?
JOHN HOLMES: Obviously the most striking thing when we were there was the sheer extent of the flooding, stretching from south to north for more than 1,500 miles and affecting, as you said, 20 million people. It’s not that this is a more dramatic disaster than, say, the Haiti earthquake, and certainly and fortunately, the death toll is much less. But the extent of it, the magnitude of it, the number of people affected, are, in many ways, unprecedented. That’s what we’re trying to face. That’s why it will be some time, I’m afraid, before all the people in need are reached either by the government or by UN agencies or NGOs or the Red Cross, Red Crescent, trying to help.
What we’re trying to do is make sure that the international community gives us the resources we need. Actually, things are improving. The latest figures this morning suggest that if you count the contributions and pledges, we’ve got about half of what we asked for last week. We asked for $460 million; we’re about at $220 million, counting the contributions and pledges. And that’s not a bad figure for this stage of an appeal. And, of course, other aid is flooding in from different countries bilaterally, as well. But it’s going to take a long time, because the sheer magnitude of the disaster is such that the numbers are overwhelming everybody.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And John Holmes, what is the issue now in Pakistan? The UN is warning against the spread of waterborne diseases. Can you talk about that?
JOHN HOLMES: Well, obviously, very large numbers of people have been displaced. They’re living in the open. They need food. They need water, clean water. They need shelter. And, of course, they need medical supplies. And our biggest fear, as you suggest, is waterborne diseases — acute watery diarrhea; diarrhea of different kinds; malaria, because, of course, mosquitoes are spreading in these kind of stagnant water conditions; skin diseases like scabies. These are all very much endemic in a disaster like this, and we need to do everything we can, working with the government, to make sure there isn’t a second wave of deaths, which actually could be much greater than the first.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe more what you saw on your trip with Ban Ki-moon, with the Secretary-General, who said this is the worst disaster he has ever seen?
JOHN HOLMES: Well, I say, what was striking was we flew in a helicopter for around a hundred miles altogether, down the Indus River and some of the other river systems in Punjab. And wherever we flew, wherever we looked, as far as the eye could see, there was water and flooding — villages cut off, crops flooded, roads destroyed, bridges destroyed, breaches in the dams, railways cut off, railway engines sitting in — halfway covered with water, power stations not functioning. It was the sheer size of what we saw. And, of course, what we were looking at was the most fertile area of the country, which the country depends on for its food supplies and, of course, partly for its economic success. And these crops, for the greatest extent, I guess, are already lost. And that points to another huge problem we face, not right now, but very soon, which is how to help the farmers restore their livelihoods. They need to get — as soon as they can get back onto their — back to their homes and back onto their fields, they need help in terms of seeds and fertilizers and tools and rehabilitation of the irrigation systems to start planting, because the planting season will be with us very soon. Otherwise, we’ll face another food security crisis of a very serious kind in a few months’ time, because there will be no crops.
AMY GOODMAN: John Holmes, we just played a clip in the lede into this of a man named Mohammad Laiq. He was protesting because he’s saying, “There seems to be no government here since the floods. We lost our children, our livestock. We could hardly save ourselves. Though we’ve come here, but we are getting nothing. Where is the government? What do we do? Where do we go? We have to tell the government, and it’s the responsibility of the government to do whatever possible.” What is the role of the government here?
JOHN HOLMES: Well, of course, the government is the primary responder. They are primarily responsible for looking after the welfare of their people. And we are there to help. And, I say, UN agencies and NGOs and others are doing their best to scale up our presence, get the resources, get more staff in, get the supplies there.
But the reality is also, as I was trying to suggest at the beginning, that we’re all overwhelmed, government included, by the sheer size of this disaster, stretching the length of the country and covering more than one-tenth of the population. It simply isn’t possible, with the best will in the world, and even with the best-organized government in the world, to reach all those people in a few days. That’s the nature of the challenge we face. If you remember, the Haiti earthquake, which was a huge disaster, beginning of this year, but that only affected three million people. Even there, it took us a long time to reach everybody with the food and clean water and shelter they needed. So, that’s some measure of the challenge we face here.
AMY GOODMAN: John Holmes, the world — the US, mainly — has spent more than a trillion dollars on war. What do you need countries to do right now for Pakistan?
JOHN HOLMES: Well, what we need in the immediate future is for countries to contribute to the appeal we’ve made for $460 million or send bilateral aid or make sure that the agencies and the NGOs have the help they need. That’s for the next few weeks. Then there will be the major problem of early recovery for farmers, in particular, as I suggested, and the beginnings of the recovery of some of the infrastructure — the roads and the bridges, which need to be repaired, at least temporarily, to enable movement to restart. And then, for the longer term, there is a huge problem of how to rebuild the infrastructure that’s been destroyed. There’s, again, the bridges, the roads, the power stations, the communications links of all kinds. That’s a program which may take years and will cost billions of dollars. And it’s very important that the international community not only responds right now, but it also responds in a sustainable way and helps the government deal with those longer-term problems, because, otherwise, the economic prospects of Pakistan are going to be very badly affected. And, of course, that will have a wider effect on the stability of Pakistan and the region.
AMY GOODMAN: This issue of war, though, whether we’re talking Haiti, where so many of the countries have not fulfilled their promises to Haiti after the earthquake, and Pakistan, the US continuing the drone attacks in northwest Pakistan, for example, in the midst of this, the worst crisis Pakistan has faced, natural disaster, in its history, what do you say about that?
JOHN HOLMES: Well, I think the immediate focus has to be on humanitarian relief for the flood victims. Now, unfortunately, it’s also true that the insurgency, whatever you want to call it, from the Taliban is not going to go away just because of these floods. There’s been a temporary lull, because everybody’s been affected by the floods, including the terrorists, no doubt. But that’s not going to go away. But the immediate focus has to be on this humanitarian relief. And there’s always been an argument about the balance between what you spend on military spending and military operations and what you spend on education and other things. We need to make sure we’re spending the right amounts of money on the civilian infrastructure, the civilian help, the civilian basic services like education and health, because that’s the key to long-term stability in any country.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And finally, John Holmes, the issue of climate change and global warming. This is the worst-ever flooding in Pakistan. You were in Niger earlier this year, which is facing a terrible drought. This is one of the hottest years on record, one of the hottest decades on record. How has global warming and climate change impacted humanitarian crises around the world?
JOHN HOLMES: Well, of course, you cannot legitimately ascribe any one disaster to climate change. We’ve always had natural disasters. We’ve always had floods and droughts. But what we’ve been predicting, what the scientists have been predicting, is these natural disasters caused by climate, whether droughts or floods or tropical storms or cyclones or whatever they may be, will become more frequent, more intense and more unpredictable. And that, I’m afraid, is exactly what’s happening. We had an extraordinary event in northern Pakistan, where ten times the normal annual rainfall for one of those areas fell in four days. This is unprecedented. And, of course, you see the similar sorts of things happening in Africa, in Asia, in Central America. The farmers no longer know when to plant, because the rains don’t come at the time they used to come. All these are the kind of effects of climate change that we’ve feared and are beginning to come to pass, I’m afraid.
AMY GOODMAN: John Holmes, we want to thank you for being us, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, as we turn in Islamabad now to Mosharraf Zaidi, the Pakistan-based analyst.
Describe what is happening there. This is a natural catastrophe of enormous proportions, Mosharraf, but also made worse by a government that many complaining are not there. In fact, literally, the president went to Britain while this was happening, even his inner circle begging him not to go.
MOSHARRAF ZAIDI: Yeah. I think, you know, it’s — I think it’s important to just separate out some of the facts from some of the sort of hoopla and the hype. It’s absolutely true that this government, and governments, in general, in Pakistan, tend to become tone deaf, you know, a few months after gaining power. And that’s because the spoils in Pakistan are so large. This is — people often don’t recognize how large a country this is. We’re looking at a population of anywhere between 180 and 200 million people. So, you know, there’s a lot to be enjoyed, in terms of the fruits of power.
President Zardari’s visit to the UK was ill-advised. He was advised against it, as you said, by his own inner circle, as well. He chose to go. But really, I think this narrative that’s developed about Pakistan over the last several years, and largely well-deserved narrative, of state — you know, state complicity with negative forces in Afghanistan and the state support for freedom fighters in Kashmir that then extends into terrorism in India — all of those negative storylines about Pakistan have now almost conspired to create a situation in which, even when, you know, in fairness, there’s no real grounds for the kind of brutal criticism that the Pakistani government is getting, it still gets it.
This is, let’s remember, as you just discussed with John Holmes, the worst natural catastrophe in the country’s history, possibly anything — I don’t think we’ve seen anything worse, in terms of number of people affected, for many, many decades. Just to give you a sense of how bad the rain was that caused this flooding initially, on the 28th of July, there was 318 millimeters of rain just on one day. To put that into context, the record, all-time record, for rain in Peshawar, which is where this number is from, for one month, the month of July, was 217 millimeters. So it rained more in one day than it had ever rained in an entire month for the monsoon season. The floods that have ensued — and there’s been two waves of these floods now — there’s no government in the world that could have prepared for this or that could have responded to this in the way that we would have liked it to.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And Mosharraf Zaidi, the US government has provided millions — billions in aid to Pakistan over the years, but in military aid. What is your sense right now of the international community’s response to this crisis? And also, what is happening right now with regards to the media in Pakistan and the crackdown on the media?
MOSHARRAF ZAIDI: Let’s — just on the aid first. I think the aid that Pakistan has been getting from the US until about 2008 was almost exclusively military. There was a few hundred million dollars for education and what have you. And, you know, there were some reviews, and they found some problems with the aid money. But the bulk of US assistance has been for military, for the Pakistani military, and for military hardware. Almost $4 billion of US aid to Pakistan has been sent back to the United States, so that the Pakistani military could acquire the latest and shiniest toys of destruction.
The current situation, in terms of aid, is that there’s a billion-and-a-half dollars a year that’s parked in Washington, DC, that the Pakistani government doesn’t have access to and that rightly, I think, many senators and congressmen want to make sure is spent in a way that delivers benefits to poor Pakistanis. But I think the floods represent an entirely new dimension. They represent a game changer. Hillary Clinton, on her visit recently to Pakistan, spoke for about $500 million of that $1.5 billion. The rest of the money, I think, without any delay, needs to be allocated towards humanitarian relief. And it doesn’t have to go through government. I think some of it will have to, just because there’s things that only government can do, but a large chunk of that money can go through the many, many international and domestic nonprofits and NGOs that are doing such a phenomenal job in the face of such a dire catastrophe.
AMY GOODMAN: Mosharraf Zaidi, we want to thank you very much for being with this, Pakistan-based analyst, writes columns for The News of Pakistan and Al-Shorouk of Egypt. You can go to his website at mosharrafzaidi.com.
This is Democracy Now!
We’ll go to, next, another catastrophe. It continues after seven months, the earthquake in Haiti. Thousands of people are
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General Election’ (unnamed Brown supporter).
Well, if as Chancellor he was the master of the meaningless soundbite, as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has surpassed himself. When he promised “British jobs for British workers”, he knew that any policy that actually delivered that would be illegal. And now we know that of the 1.7 million jobs created since 1997, 1.4 million of them have gone to immigrants.
2. Stalinist ruthlessness. ‘You cannot help admire the sheer Stalinist ruthlessness of it all’ (Andrew Turnbull, former Cabinet Secretary).
What could be more Stalinist than Gordon Brown’s cynical approach to Tony Blair’s education reforms? When he was in his ‘counter-intuitive’ phase, he was keen to emphasise the fact that he was retaining Lord Adonis as an education minister, and he said he would massively extend the number of city academies. But then Ed Balls let it slip that they were going to quietly kill the academies, by restoring the role of local education authorities.
3. Control freak. ‘It's a controlling thing – [Brown] thinks he has to control everything’ (Charles Clarke).(Updated, 10:57 a.m.) Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. finally admitted before the Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday that he became a US citizen in 1986.
Yasay made the admission before the CA’s committee on foreign affairs when Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Sato asked him to answer categorically with a yes or no whether he once became a US citizen.
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Sato noted that when Yasay first appeared before the panel last February 22, he categorically denied that he became an American citizen.
BACKSTORY: Yasay admits naturalization try, but insists he isn’t US citizen
But after that hearing, the congresswoman said the nominee handed her an envelope containing a certificate of loss of nationality of the US dated June 28, 2016.
The envelope, she said, also contained an affidavit dated February 23, 1993, which states that Yasay was granted US citizenship by the US District Court, district of New Jersey.
But the same affidavit also showed his admission that he was “ineligible and disqualified” to become US citizen as he had no intention to reside in the US.
“Mr. chairman, this clearly show that he has admitted that at some point in time particularly on November 26, 1986, he was granted an American citizen and up to this very moment, he would tell us now that he never was an American citizen,” Sato said.
“So I just want to categorically again ask him and for him to answer to categorically yes or no whether at one point in time in your life, were you ever an American citizen. Just a yes or no, Mr. Chair,” the lawmaker added.
Responding to Sato, Yasay said: “I wish I could answer that question with a yes or no but as directly as I could in answering that question, I have always admitted that I was granted US citizenship. That’s my answer.”
READ: Yasay apologizes for ‘misleading’ Commission on Appointments
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“I was granted US citizenship (on) November 26, 1986 but it’s my position that that grant of the US citizenship at that time was void…” Yasay added.
The panel later held an executive session and decided whether to confirm or reject Yasay’s appointment. IDL
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MOST READIn a city where the median household income is less than half the national average, 38 percent of residents live below the poverty line and 23 percent are unemployed, it comes as no surprise that at least 40 percent of customers are delinquent on their bills.
The water shut-offs have taken no prisoners. Since this year's shut-offs started at the end of March, at least 15,000 Detroit households have had their water turned off. But the campaign, a tactic designed to pressure Detroiters into paying their water bills, began with little or no publicity last year, when 24,000 homes had their water shut off, says Darryl Latimer, the deputy director of the water department.
The frequency of shut-offs gained momentum in the fall, shortly after the city’s bankruptcy was filed, and just a few months after the city contracted shut-off services out to Homrich, a demolition company. The city agreed to pay Homrich at most $6 million for work over 730 calendar days. Delinquent customers were given a grace period in December for the winter months, with shut-offs resuming upon the arrival of spring.
With the city’s average of just under three people per household, these numbers mean that roughly 100,000 Detroiters out of a total population that hovers just under 700,000 have already been affected by the shut-offs, with tens of thousands more awaiting their turn.
Clampdowns can seem to arrive out of the blue, as residents don’t receive any formal notification that their services are to be shut off. Heard’s bills, up until the last one, which was for $263.87, only contained a small “past due” notice at the end, informing her that she was behind on her payments and her service was “subject to disconnection.”
Latimer says 60 percent of the department’s customers show up to pay their bills within 24 hours of being shut off, and most of the rest pay up a couple of days after that. Latimer appears to take this as proof that customers can afford to pay, but are just being irresponsible citizens, taking advantage of the system as much as they can.
Latimer says revenue at the department is up. The department has seen an increase of 45 percent to 50 percent in collectables associated with individuals’ accounts compared to previous years, Latimer says. “The campaign has been extremely effective.”
But the stories of residents left without water suggest a scenario that’s less clear-cut. Heard, who lost her job as a program manager in a welfare-to-work program five years ago and has been picking up odd community-based jobs since, was among those choosing to pay her bill immediately after her water was shut off—although she did have to wait five days before the water was eventually turned back on.
However, many of her neighbors who could not afford to settle their debts instead chose to pay a local handyman $30 to have their water turned back on illegally. Detroiters in neighborhoods across the city who cannot face their accumulated water debts—even with the department’s offer to only collect 30 percent initially—are opting for the same solution.Get the biggest Weekday Swansea City FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The American revolution at Swansea City is seemingly gathering more pace, with D.C. United goalkeeper and United States international Bill Hamid reportedly training with the club.
The reports come from Washington Post sports reporter Steven Geoff who tweeted that Hamid is training 'informally' with the Swans.
Hamid has earned two caps for the USA national side and has featured at Under 23 and Under 20 level. The 25-year-old came through the ranks at DC United and won MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2014.
The reports come after Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson suggested Bob Bradley would bring in players from the MLS in a 'big gamble' in January.
Merson wrote: "The team that most needs help (in the January transfer window) is Swansea. They're in a little bit of trouble.
"I just fear they will bring in players from MLS because that's what Bob Bradley knows. That would be a big gamble."
Swansea City owner Jason Levien also has a major stake in the Washington-based MLS club, so it is perhaps not a surprise to see such rumours emerging.Get breaking news and SI’s biggest stories instantly. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers.
Four of Sports Illustrated’s projected playoff teams are featured on the covers of the baseball preview issue.
The Houston Astros, SI’s pick to win the World Series, are represented on the cover by Carlos Correa, Dallas Keuchel and Jose Altuve.
Chicago Cubs Anthony Rizzo, Jason Heyward, Kris Bryant and Jake Arrieta are projected to be the NL Central winners and the World Series runners-up. Their cover is accompanied by a Tom Verducci profile of 2015 Cy Young winner Arrieta.
Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Jeurys Familia of the New York Mets are SI’s NL East winners, and though the Dodgers are projected to finish over the Giants, Johnny Cueto, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner are predicted to earn San Francisco a wild-card berth.
This issue contains 39 pages of MLB scouting reports, a feature on Pirates “pitch doctor” and coach Ray Searage, along with a special report by Emily Kaplan on the fall of Johnny Manziel.
Each regional cover will be delivered to the following locations:
Cubs: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Eastern Missouri, Southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina.
Astros: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana
Giants: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Alaska
Mets: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., DelawareTACOMA, WA— Goals on either side of halftime were the only markers as Pierce County FC hosted Seattle OSA FC in a 1-1 draw at historic Stadium Bowl in NPSL action Wednesday night.
Visiting Seattle took a 1-0 lead just before the whistle in the 45th minute on a goal by John Reynolds. Home side Pierce County FC got level in the 49th on a goal from Christian Giuffrida.
The back and forth match came to a raucous conclusion when OSA player Anthony Ayala was sent off (red card) for violent conduct in the 89th minute. Pierce County couldn’t take advantage of the extra man in the time left.
Quinn Width shot photos of the match. See her gallery at Facebook.com/goalWA.
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Rank Northwest GP W L T Pts GF GA GD Pts/GP 1 PDX FC 5 3 1 1 10 10 5 5 2 2 FCM Portland 5 3 2 0 9 9 6 3 1.8 3 Kitsap Soccer Club 5 2 1 2 8 9 8 1 1.6 4 OSA FC 5 2 1 2 8 7 6 1 1.6 5 Spokane Soccer Club Shadow 6 1 2 3 6 5 9 -4 1 6 Pierce County FC 6 0 4 2 2 6 12 -6 0.3333A wide variety of synthetic biological circuits have been constructed to endow cells with functions analogous to those of electronic circuits. A long-term goal of these efforts has been to develop biological circuit design strategies that will enable cellular function to be programmed with the same ease with which we program electronic computers. This conceptual framework has motivated efforts to develop libraries of well-characterized, modular, and composable biological parts that, in principle, can be assembled to construct new types of circuitry in living cells. Furthermore, it has spurred the adoption of layered circuit designs11,16,17 in which the outputs of basic two-input circuit elements are fed forwards into other logic elements in the next layer. Although substantial advances have been made by using insulation strategies and advanced computer programs15 to reduce sensitivity to context, challenges remain to further scale up synthetic biological circuits.
Taking inspiration from the sophisticated circuits developed for DNA computing and self-assembly18,19,20,21,22,23 in test tubes and advances in RNA synthetic biology17,24,25, we have developed RNA-only circuits in bacteria that enable complex intracellular computations to be carried out in a single circuit layer. These circuits have various advantages for scaling up. First, these ribocomputing devices utilize programmable RNA molecules with de-novo-designed parts and prescribed interaction rules, allowing effective in silico designs. Second, they are composed of networks of precisely designed synthetic RNAs and function purely at the post-transcriptional level with no intermediate transcriptional or translational steps, minimizing delays and improving the reliability of signal transduction. Third, these devices take advantage of co-localization to integrate multiple circuit functions within a single transcript termed a gate RNA. Implementation of co-localized circuit elements enhances signal propagation to the output gene and substantially decreases the genetic footprint of the ribocomputing device by enabling one gate RNA to accomplish tasks that would otherwise require multiple independent RNAs.
The general architecture of the ribocomputing devices is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1a. A network of programmed RNAs provides input signals to the circuit and the output signal is a protein that is translated upon activation of the gate RNA. The gate RNA comprises the central signal-processing element of the device, employing modular sensor domains to detect the self-assembly state of the input RNA network. Input RNAs interact with themselves and the gate RNA through predictable base-pairing. Inputs that bind to the individual sensor domains on the gate RNA can independently trigger protein production and thus are used for OR logic operations. Input RNAs can interact with one another cooperatively to activate the gate RNA for AND logic or they can inhibit one another for NOT logic.
Figure 1: In vivo computation using synthetic ribocomputing devices. a, Ribocomputing devices use RNA molecules as input signals and protein as the output signal. Signal processing is carried out by a gate RNA that co-localizes sensing and output modules. AND, OR, and NOT logic results from self-assembly of input and gate RNAs in the device. b, Schematic of the toehold switches that form the RNA sensing elements of the gate RNA. The ribosomal binding site (RBS) and start codon (AUG) of the switch RNA are exposed upon trigger RNA binding to activate translation. X and X* are complementary sequences. c, Schematic of toehold switches optimized for AND logic. These toehold switches retain a weak hairpin upon activation by the trigger RNA that still allows efficient translation by ribosome. Full size image Download PowerPoint slide
The sensing modules within the gate RNA are taken from recently developed synthetic translational regulators called toehold switches17. Toehold switches translate an output gene only if a cognate trigger RNA is expressed in the cell (Fig. 1b). The trigger RNA binds to a switch RNA with a translation-repressing hairpin structure via a single-stranded toehold region. Trigger binding causes the switch RNA stem to unwind, which exposes the ribosomal binding site (RBS) and the start codon to activate translation of the output gene. Toehold switch designs optimized for evaluating AND logic were also developed for ribocomputing devices (Fig. 1c, Extended Data Fig. 1 and Supplementary Information). These devices feature a design in which the trigger RNA unwinds only the lower portion of the switch RNA stem to reduce translational leakage. Although the RBS remains enclosed within a stem-loop after trigger binding, the stem-loop is engineered to be sufficiently weak to allow ribosome binding and strong translation (see Supplementary Information and Extended Data Fig. 1b, c).
We initially constructed ribocomputing circuits that could evaluate two-input OR, two-input AND, and A AND (NOT B) operations, which constitute a functionally complete set of Boolean logic operators. Gate RNAs for two-input OR logic employed two toehold switch sensor modules concatenated upstream of the sequence of a GFP output (Fig. 2a, Extended Data Fig. 2a). The switch modules and GFP sequences were placed in the same reading frame and separated by short single-stranded regions designed to not encode in-frame stop codons. Both switch elements within the gate RNA can recognize their cognate trigger RNA and unwind its stem to enable recognition by the ribosome. Once the ribosome binds to the RBS and begins translation, it can scan through the gate transcript, unwind any downstream switch hairpins, and continue with translation of GFP. Thus, any cognate RNA can activate translation from the gate RNA to perform OR logic.
Figure 2: Two-input ribocomputing logic circuits. a, Two-input OR gate RNA composed of two switch RNA hairpins. Each switch module has an input RNA recognition site and its own RBS and start codon. Input RNA binding unwinds the corresponding switch stem to activate translation. b, Flow cytometry measurements of the two-input OR gate circuit for cognate and non-cognate inputs. c, d, ON/OFF GFP outputs for the two-input OR gate on linear (c) and logarithmic (d) scales. e, A two-input AND gate constructed from two input RNAs that bind to yield a complete trigger RNA. f, Flow cytometry measurements of the two-input AND circuit under four combinations of input RNAs. g, h, The truth table for the AND computation on linear (g) and logarithmic (h) scales. i, Operating mechanism of the A AND (NOT B) circuit in which a deactivating RNA (input B) uses direct hybridization or strand displacement to abolish trigger RNA (input A) activity. j, Flow cytometry histograms of the A AND (NOT B) circuit with chemical inducers aTc and IPTG. k, l, ON/OFF GFP levels for the A AND (NOT B) circuit on linear (k) and logarithmic (l) scales. ON/OFF GFP was determined from the geometric mean fluorescence of cells measured via flow cytometry 4 h after induction of RNA expression. Relative errors for ON/OFF GFP were obtained by adding the relative errors of ON and OFF fluorescence in quadrature. Errors for ON and OFF states are the s.d. of three biological replicates. OFF states were taken from the null-input case with no cognate RNA expressed. Full size image Download PowerPoint slide
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Ribocomputing circuits were first evaluated in E. coli BL21 Star DE3, an RNase-deficient strain, with T7 RNA polymerase expression induced by isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG; see Methods and Supplementary Information for full experimental details). Unless otherwise noted, analogous conditions were employed for testing the other circuits herein. The two-input gate RNA was co-expressed with different combinations of input RNAs, A and B, and decoy RNAs, X and Y (designed for other ribocomputing devices), to determine GFP expression in flow cytometry (Fig. 2b). Cognate inputs A and B produced robust GFP expression with increased signal output in the presence of both inputs, whereas the decoys yielded very low fluorescence output, resulting in ON/OFF levels over 400-fold (Fig. 2c, d).
To implement ribocomputing AND logic, we divided the trigger RNA sequence of a toehold switch evenly into two separate input RNAs (Fig. 2e) and used toehold switches optimized to compute AND expressions. When either input RNA is expressed, it is incapable of activating the switch because neither trigger sub-sequence alone can unwind the repressing hairpin. Complementary binding domains (u and u* in Fig. 2e) were designed between the two input RNA species to enable them to hybridize and form a complete trigger sequence when expressed (see Extended Data Fig. 2c for design schematic, Extended Data Fig. 3a, b for dimensioning study). Analogous associative trigger systems exploiting cooperative self-assembly have previously been implemented in vitro using DNA23,26,27. Measurements of the AND circuit demonstrated very low GFP output in all three logical FALSE conditions and a 900-fold increase in GFP expression for the logical TRUE condition compared to the null-input case with two non-cognate RNAs (Fig. 2f–h). Devices tested with non-RNase-deficient E. coli provided ON/OFF GFP levels of 175-fold or more (Extended Data Fig. 3c–f).
NOT logical behaviour was accomplished through direct hybridization of a deactivating RNA to a trigger RNA to silence its effect on the gate RNA (Fig. 2i, Extended Data Fig. 2d). The deactivating RNA can bind directly to free trigger RNAs and use the extended single-stranded domains of the trigger RNA (u and v in Fig. 2i) as toeholds to displace the trigger after it has bound to the gate RNA. These repressing systems evaluate A AND (NOT B) logic and were tested in E. coli MG1655Pro using the chemical inducers anhydrotetracycline (aTc) and IPTG to express inputs A and B, respectively (see Supplementary Information for experimental details). GFP fluorescence histograms (Fig. 2j) showed clear increases in fluorescence in the logical TRUE case with only the trigger RNA expressed and a 19-fold GFP decrease with both inputs expressed (Fig. 2k, l).
We next investigated scaling of the ribocomputing devices by testing circuits with increasing numbers of AND and OR inputs. Four different three-input AND circuits produced correct truth tables, with the best providing at least a 25-fold increase in GFP for the TRUE state compared to all logical FALSE states (Extended Data Fig. 4a–g). For four-input AND gates, we observed lower ON state output as we challenged in vivo RNA self-assembly with a circuit comprising five interacting RNAs (Fig. 3a, Extended Data Fig. 4i). GFP histograms from the 16-element truth table showed a ninefold increase in GFP for the TRUE state over the null-input case and at least a sixfold increase over the most leaky FALSE state (Fig. 3b, c). These performance levels are better than previous toehold-switch-based layered four-input AND gates17. Furthermore, they are comparable to a previous four-input AND gate constructed from layered transcription factors11. The ribocomputing four-input AND system is also genetically compact, requiring only five programmed RNAs with a total length of 392 nucleotides (nt). Measurements of a second four-input AND gate and a five-input AND gate are shown in Extended Data Fig. 4j–n.
Figure 3: Multi-input ribocomputing AND and OR circuits. a, Schematic of the input RNA interaction used in a four-input AND gate. b, Flow cytometry measurements of the four-input AND gate. c, ON/OFF GFP for the AND gate truth table showing ninefold signal increase upon expression of all four required inputs. Inset, ON/OFF GFP on a logarithmic scale. d, Schematic of the six-input OR gate RNA with six sensor modules. e, Flow cytometry measurements of the six-input OR gate. f, ON/OFF GFP for the OR gate showing that cognate inputs provide at least a 120-fold increase in GFP expression. Inset, ON/OFF GFP on a logarithmic scale. ON/OFF GFP was determined from the geometric mean fluorescence of cells measured via flow cytometry 4 h after induction of RNA expression. Relative errors for ON/OFF GFP were obtained by adding the relative errors of the ON and OFF fluorescence in quadrature. Errors for ON and OFF states are the s.d. of three biological replicates. Full size image Download PowerPoint slide
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We tested OR gate RNAs with increasing numbers of inputs (see Extended Data Fig. 5 for systematic study and Extended Data Fig. 6 for four- and five-input OR gates). The most complex gate RNA we tested consisted of six sensor modules and had a sensor region length of 444 nt (Fig. 3d, Extended Data Fig. 2b). Measurements of this six-input OR gate revealed low leakage levels generated from six decoy species and increases in expression of at least 120-fold for the cognate inputs (Fig. 3e, f). Despite the strong overall GFP signal for logical TRUE conditions, we observed substantial variations in GFP depending on the input RNA expressed. These variations could be attributed to the effects of downstream gate RNA secondary structure on ribosome procession and the additional amino acids incorporated into the output protein for the more upstream sensor modules. We also evaluated gate RNAs regulating other output proteins (Extended Data Fig. 7a–d) and implemented an 11-input circuit in which two gate RNAs were expressed simultaneously (Extended Data Fig. 7e–g). OR gate circuits were also tested in non-RNase-deficient E. coli strains and using different promoters (Extended Data Fig. 8).
Lastly, we constructed circuits that combined AND, OR, and NOT schemes to compute expressions in disjunctive normal form (DNF). DNF expressions can be used to evaluate any Boolean logic expression and consist of AND and NOT operations that provide inputs for OR operations. The most complex expression we evaluated was the 12-input RNA computation (A1 AND A2 AND NOT A1*) OR (B1 AND B2 AND NOT B2*) OR (C1 AND C2) OR (D1 AND D2) OR (E1 AND E2) (Fig. 4a). Inputs A1* and B2* are complementary to A1 and B2, respectively. We found that this circuit functioned robustly in vivo, displaying clear signal differences between TRUE and FALSE states for 28 input conditions tested (Fig. 4b). After 6 hours of IPTG induction, ON/OFF GFP for logical TRUE conditions ranged from 22-fold to 41-fold higher than the null-input case, with low signal leakage for multiple combinations of non-cognate RNAs (Fig. 4c). This 12-input single-layer ribocomputing circuit evaluates a logic expression that would require eleven two-input or signal inversion operations in a conventional layered circuit implementation. Measurements of eight- and ten-input DNF ribocomputing circuits are shown in Extended Data Figs 9, 10.
Figure 4: Twelve-input DNF ribocomputing circuit. a, Schematic of the 12-input DNF expression evaluated in E. coli. b, Flow cytometry measurements show low GFP output for 23 logical FALSE states and at least tenfold increases in GFP for the five logical TRUE states. c, ON/OFF GFP from the DNF circuit under 28 different input RNA combinations. Inset, ON/OFF GFP on a logarithmic scale. ON/OFF GFP was determined from the geometric mean fluorescence of cells measured via flow cytometry 6 h after induction of RNA expression. Relative errors for ON/OFF GFP were obtained by adding the relative errors of the ON and OFF fluorescence in quadrature. Errors for ON and OFF states are the s.d. of three biological replicates. OFF states were taken from the null-input case of the A1 AND A2 AND NOT A1* clause. Full size image Download PowerPoint slide
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We have developed a strategy for constructing RNA-based biological circuits that exploits the programmable base-pairing properties of RNA and uses co-localized sensing and output modules to enable complex translational regulation (see Supplementary Information for extended discussion). These ribocomputing devices are encoded in a small genetic footprint compared to typical protein-based circuits and have the potential to be scaled up using the large sequence space afforded by RNA. The ribocomputing device architecture requires self-assembly between the input RNAs for AND and NOT logic, and hence imposes some sequence dependencies on these RNAs. The use of a co-localized gate RNA requires additional N-terminal residues in the output protein, which could interfere with its function. Incorporation of ribocomputing devices into sophisticated layered circuits, such as those made possible with advanced genetic circuit design tools15, will require systems that can provide RNAs as output species. This functionality can be implemented using gate RNAs to regulate RNA polymerases or transcription factors, as has been demonstrated previously for toehold switches17,28. Integration of mRNA-sensing ribocomputing circuits with paper-based synthetic biology systems could improve the robustness and reliability of these diagnostic tools when they are deployed in the field28,29. Detection of mRNAs and other naturally occurring RNAs as inputs for AND logic, however, will require additional synthetic RNAs to interface native transcripts. Finally, the effective use of predictable and robust base-pairing interactions in ribocomputing devices suggests that this strategy could be applied in prokaryotic hosts beyond E. coli.Prinze George
Prinze George is Kenny Grimm (production/instrumental), Naomi Almquist (vocals) and Isabelle De Leon
(drums), who are based in Maryland. Kenny and Naomi grew up together in Prince George's County, where they met Isabelle while she was in college. Formed in 2013, Prinze George has quickly exploded onto the Indie scene. Following the release of their breakthrough single, "Victor," The Wild Honey Pie declared, "[This band] could be destined for Indie Pop royalty status." Climbing to #1 on the Hype Machine charts, the single and the band have won the attention of music blogs, fans and labels from all over the world. "Victor" was also selected for the movie soundtrack of Warner Bros.' biggest European release in 2014, "Honig Im Kopf," a film directed by Til Schweiger.
Through My Headphones calls Prinze George "[a band that] has all the makings of being one of the most talked about new acts." With their follow-up single "This Time" trending to the Top 10 on Hype Machine and the release of their most recent single, "Make Me," the newly formed Indie band has been compared to Lana Del Rey, Litle Ms Jeans, and MS MR. They will be releasing their debut EP in early 2015.By Derek Trum
The big news coming out of the Marvel Games Digital House of Ideas panel was the arrival of new Dr.Strange content coming to all Marvel games. On the game side of things Marvel is working hard to release new content to coincide with the release of movies and television events. In the last couple months players of Marvel Super Heroes 2016 were surprised with Agents of S.H.I.E.LD content that includes Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, and Quake as a team-up. Last week players not only got a new Netflix inspired Luke Cage costume, they also got Jessica Jones as a team-up. The new Dr. Strange content would be hitting all mobile games including Future Fight, Puzzle Quest, Avengers Academy, Tsum Tsum, Marvel Heroes 2016, and Contest of Champions.
Future Fight will see a whole story arc featuring characters from the movie and characters featured in the comics. Puzzle Quest will be getting new characters Dr.Strange and Kaecilcius. Marvel Super Heroes 2016 would be getting a movie inspired costume. No word on any new team-up. Avengers Academy will be getting visited by a very Harry Potter inspired teenage Dr.Strange. Tsum Tsum will see the addition of Dr.Strange, Ancient One, Mordo, and Mephisto. All designs shown were based on the comic book. Finally Contest of Champions was shown. Two new characters being added to the game. Movie inspired version of Mordo, and comic book version of Dr.Voodoo. Trailers were shown for each character gameplay. New content is expected to hit these games the week of the film’s release.
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
(Last Updated )
Related PostsA Bryan man is being charged for allegedly assaulting a family member after a child took the last can of Coca-Cola.
Police arrived on the scene Thursday afternoon in the 1900 block of Mockingbird to find the victim crying and with a bleeding nose.
After authorities conducted interviews, it was determined that Juan Maldonado was making tortillas when he allegedly became angry because a child found the last Coke can which he had hidden.
Maldonado then picked up and threw his PlayStation 4 game console to the floor, according to police.
The 20-year-old suspect began to yell at the child, according to a police report, and then went outside to argue with the child's parent.
Police say that's when Maldonado punched the victim in the head and face. He then went back into the kitchen to continue making tortillas.
Maldonado is being charged with bodily assault to a family member. His bond is set at $5,000.
Another family member told police Maldonado is no longer taking prescribed medication, and believes that may have played a role in his actions.On August 5th cops in Greece continued their campaign of repression against squats by raiding three squatted spaces in Patras: Parartima, Maragopouleio and the Self-managed Hangout inside the Technological Educational Institute (TEI). 16 comrades were detained in total; 5 squatters and 11 supporters.
While those showing solidarity were later released, the 5 occupants faced charges in court on the 13th. Therefore the next day we painted a banner to express our solidarity with squatters facing charges and evicted from their homes.
Additionally today we hung another banner to show solidarity with the squat Rigaer 94 and all those arrested during raids in Berlin on the 14th. The raids were supposedly related to arson attacks of various job centres and a Molotov attack against police, in solidarity with the revolts in Turkey after the eviction of Gezi Park in Istanbul.
We name ourselves ACAB because we are antagonists. We also name ourselves ACAB because we know that all cops are bastards who go to any lengths to attack the squatting movement internationally and the anarchist milieu.
The banners are now hanging from Canton police station that we appropriated for our own use in Cardiff. We squat here to show that not everyone is afraid, that some of us are bored of living in fear, and instead desire to fight back.
Solidarity with squatters facing charges!
Solidarity with squats under attack in Greece!
Solidarity with everyone evicted from their homes!
Antagonistic Collective Against Boredom (ACAB)
Source – Cardiff Squatters NetworkAs the 13:00 hrs train from Totnes Riverside to Buckfastleigh was running between Staverton and Buckfastleigh, at around 20 mph (32 km/h), a passenger and her small child attempted to enter a lavatory compartment in the fourth carriage. On opening the door, they found that the floor of the compartment was missing, exposing the carriage wheels below. The mother was able to catch hold of the child and prevent him from falling. The child reportedly suffered minor bruising and both were shocked.
The passenger reported the incident to the guard of the train, and the railway took action to secure the lavatory door. The incident was reported to the RAIB on 25 June.
The carriage, an ex-British Railways Mark 1 Open Second, had been put back into service after repairs to its braking system, which had required the dismantling of the lavatory floor. The floor had not been replaced and staff had placed a notice on the compartment door and attempted to secure it to prevent it being opened. This had not been effective.
Our investigation will examine:
the events leading up to the incident, including the repairs to the carriage and the actions taken to return it to service
the adequacy and suitability of the measures to secure the door
the railway’s safety management system, including the arrangements for managing the competence and fitness of the staff of the carriage and wagon department, and the systems in place for assuring the safety of rolling stock in service.
Our investigation is independent of any investigation by the railway industry or by the industry’s safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.
We will publish our findings, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of our investigation. This report will be available on our website.
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Russia will no longer allow the descendants of former citizens of the Soviet Union to cross its borders visa free. This affects the younger generation of stateless residents of Estonia, who so far have been able to travel to Russia without needing to overcome this particular bureaucratic obstacle.
“I think this is good news, as the group of residents that hold alien’s passports have always been one of Estonia’s worries. If this pragmatic privilege is now taken away from them, which might have been what made them hang on to the alien’s passport, this can only be good news for Estonia,” Kallas told ERR’s Vikerraadio.
Kallas pointed out that Russia hadn’t announced the change overnight, but decided as early as 2008 that only those who had been citizens of the Soviet Union would be able to enter Russia without a visa.
Young people who never were USSR citizens have been able to travel to Russia visa free with their parents up to the age of 18. But all those born after the now effective cut-off date are adults, and won’t be able to travel to Russia alone without a valid visa any longer.
The interesting question now was what those people would decide to do about their citizenship status, Kallas said. Last year, 624 stateless took on Estonian citizenship, and 445 got Russian passports.
Kallas pointed out that these numbers didn’t mean that Estonian citizenship was that much more popular than Russian citizenship, but that it had been mainly people over the age of 45 who decided in favor of becoming Russian citizens.
“There’s hope that those young people who decide to change their citizenship status will go for Estonian citizenship because they’ve lost the privilege to travel without a visa,” Kallas said. It was now in Estonia’s interest to inform those young people about the advantages of Estonian citizenship, for instance the fact that as Estonians they would be able to travel to the Schengen countries as well as the UK, the United States, and Canada without a visa.
Kallas added that a lot of the younger stateless actually already had the language certificates necessary to pass the Estonian citizenship test. For all those, becoming Estonian citizens is just a matter of formality.Ten months after he was declared not criminally responsible (NCR) for the worst mass killing in Calgary’s history, Matthew de Grood will start seeking freedoms.
“I fail to see any evidence that he poses a significant risk,” de Grood’s defence lawyer Allan Fay told Global News. “I think we’ve reached the point where he should receive more privileges so he can continue to demonstrate he’s not a risk.”
Describing him as a model
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Memorial Day holiday weekend, that warning is especially important.
Democrats and Republicans have fought for control of the narrative for months, keenly aware that an enthusiasm gap could spell doom. That’s one reason why Republicans have dumped so much money into the state, as they lag in 2018 generic ballot polls and are tied to a president with low approval ratings.
Since Montana is a massive state, many vote by absentee ballot. As of Tuesday evening, more than 250,000 voters returned their absentee ballots — more than a third of the 650,000 voters who were registered on Election Day 2016.
It could be difficult to use those numbers to predict the election’s outcome, but supporters of whoever wins will undoubtedly point to turnout as one reason for the victory.
Michael McDonald, an elections expert at the University of Florida, wrote Wednesday that Gianforte’s hopes could be boosted by the fact that the absentee ballot return rate in counties won by Clinton is below the statewide level.
But he added that Quist has good news in the absentee ballot figures, too — the number of absentee ballots returned in counties won by Clinton is up 16 percent.
Can Democratic populism win Trump voters?
Trump rolled through the Electoral College thanks in no small part to his populist appeal to white, working-class, rural voters who felt left out of the Obama economy.
Montana, a rural and politically independent state, could also serve as a battleground for two rival brands of populism.
Gianforte has leaned heavily on Trump and his surrogates to help connect with voters who delivered an emphatic win for Trump last year.
On the Democratic side, Quist, a popular folk singer in the state, is running as a populist Democrat — he joined with Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE (I-Vt.) in a swing through the state last weekend.
Many Democrats have looked at the 2016 results as proof the party needs to connect more with the working class through economic appeals. But that requires a careful balance in red states, where voters could be turned off by liberal policies.
Quist’s race could help show whether the party has figured out how to walk that line in the states they will need to win back.
What’s the post-election spin?
Whichever candidate wins, control over a single House seat won’t have much effect over who controls Congress. But the real impact of Montana’s election could be its effect on the national narrative.
Democratic messaging and fundraising has been boosted by the fact that the reliably red district is even in play. But the GOP could blunt that momentum somewhat if they manage to hang on to the seat.
A Quist victory would prompt the party to declare that the anti-Trump “resistance” has taken its first congressional seat, warning that Trump’s scandals and low polling numbers suggest a 2018 midterm wave. That enthusiasm could be key as the party rolls toward the Georgia special election runoff on June 20, where a follow-up win would create significant momentum.
Republicans would be left shaking their heads, questioning if Trump is creating an electoral nightmare down the ballot and lamenting the millions blown on saving what was once a safe seat.
On the flip side, the spin of a Gianforte win would likely depend on the margin. A close race will send a mixed message: Democrats will still claim that the race would have been a blow-out without Trump, while Republicans push back, arguing that a win is a win.
A Quist loss will also likely prompt Democrats to question the party’s level of financial investment in the race. While the party organization has poured money into the Georgia special election, official committees have largely steered clear of Montana.
Some Democrats argue that the decision helped to keep Quist looking somewhat independent of the national party. But that strategy might lead to questions as it did earlier this year, when Democrats outperformed in Kansas only to still fall short with little national investment.
A comfortable Gianforte victory would be a major relief for Republicans. That result could dampen enthusiasm among Democrats and continue the demoralizing trend of liberals falling short of actually winning a special election seat, a trend that could jeopardize Democratic enthusiasm moving forward.
How will Trump respond?
With Democrats racing to frame the tightening in Montana as a referendum on Trump, it’ll be worth watching how the president takes the results.
Since he’s finishing up his first international trip as president, Trump will likely be awake when the race is called. He’ll be in Italy meeting with the Group of Seven countries, with a winner expected to be crowned around early morning in Trump’s time zone.
After Democrat Jon Ossoff failed to win April’s special election all-party primary in Georgia, forcing him into a runoff with Republican Karen Handel, Trump tweeted twice to mock the Democrats and claim some of the win for himself.
Shortly after midnight, as votes were being finalized, Trump chided the “major outside money” and “FAKE media support” that he said helped Ossoff.
“Glad to be of help!” he added
The next morning, he chided Ossoff for “failing” in another tweet.
The fact that Trump’s son and vice president campaigned for Gianforte in Montana raises the stakes for Trump’s electoral brand in the special election.
Read more from The Hill:
GOP on edge over Montana electionCAMPAIGN
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Follow us on Twitter for the latest news! @kh_ux_naIn this post, we will learn how the default Angular styling mechanism (Emulated Encapsulation) works under the hood, and we will also cover the Sass support of the Angular CLI, and some best practices for how to leverage the many Sass features available.
We will talk about when to use each feature and why, talk about the benefits of component style isolation and also cover how to debug our styles if something is not working.
This is the second post of a two-part series in Angular Component Styling, if you are looking to learn about ngClass and ngStyle, have a look at part one:
Angular ngClass and ngStyle: The Complete Guide
Table Of Contents
This post will cover the following topics:
Angular Style Isolation - How does it work?
Debugging Angular Styles
The :host modifier, when to use it and why
modifier, when to use it and why The :host-context modifier, common use cases for theming
modifier, common use cases for theming The /deep/, ::ng-deep or >>> modifiers (upcoming deprecation)
, or modifiers (upcoming deprecation) How to style content that was projected using ng-content
Angular CLI CSS Preprocessors support - Sass, Less and Stylus
How can we use Sass to improve our styles
Summary
In order to cover each feature, we will be adding the multiple examples to this small Angular CLI sample application, that will use as external styles a Bootstrap default theme.
Why Style Isolation?
So without further ado, let's get started with our Angular Style Isolation deep dive. The first question that comes to mind is, why would we want to isolate the styles of our components? There are a couple of reasons for that, and one key reason is CSS maintainability.
As we develop a component style suite for an application, we tend to run into situations where the styles from one feature start interfering with the styles of another feature.
This is because browsers do not have yet widespread support for style isolation, where we can constrain one style to be applied only to one particular part of the page.
If we are not careful and systematically organize our styles to prevent this issue (for example using a methodology like SMACSS), we will quickly run into CSS maintenance issues.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to style our components with just short, simple and easy to read selectors, without having to worry about all the scenarios where those styles could be accidentally overridden?
Another benefit of style isolation
Here is another scenario: how many times did we try to use a third-party component, add it to our application just to find out that the component is completely broken due to styling issues?
Style isolation would allow us to ship our components knowing that the styles of the component will (most likely) not be overridden by other styles in target applications.
This makes the component effectively much more reusable, because the component will now in most cases simply just work, styles included.
Angular View Encapsulation brings us all of these advantages, so let's learn how it works!
A Demo of Angular Emulated Encapsulation
In this section, we will see how Angular component styling works under the hood, as this is the best way to understand it. This will also allow us to debug the mechanism if needed.
This is a video demonstration of the default mechanism in action:
In order to benefit from the default view encapsulation mechanism of Angular, all we need to do is to add our CSS classes to an external CSS file:
But then, instead of adding this file to our index.html as a link tag, we will instead associate it with our component using the styleUrls property:
The color red would then be applied to this button, as expected. But what if now we have another button, for example directly at the level of our index.html?
If you didn't know that there was some sort of style isolation mechanism in action, you might be surprised to find out that this button does NOT get a red background!
So what is going on here? Let's see how this mechanism works, because knowing that is what is going to allow us to debug it if needed.
How does Angular Style Isolation work? Emulated View Encapsulation
To better understand how default view encapsulation works, let's see what the app-root custom HTML element will look like at runtime:
Several things are going on at the level of the runtime HTML:
a strange looking property was added to the ap-root custom element: the _nghost-c0 property
custom element: the property Each of the HTML elements inside the application root component got another strange looking but different property: _ngcontent-c0
What are these properties?
So how do these properties work? To better understand these properties and how they enable style isolation, we are going to create a second separate component, that just contains a button with the blue color.
For simplicity, we will define the styles for this component inline next to the template:
And using this newly defined component, we are going to add it to the template of the application root component:
Try to guess at this stage what the HTML at runtime would look like, and what happened to those strangely named properties!
The host element and template element style isolation properties
With this second component in place, let's have a second look at the HTML. The way that these two properties work will now become much more apparent:
Notice the blue-button element, we have now a new host property called _nghost-c1.
The blue-button element is still tagged with the _ngcontent-c0 property which is applied to all template elements on the application root component.
But now, the elements inside the blue-button template now get applied the _ngcontent-c1 property instead!
Summary of how the host and template element properties work
Let's then summarize how these special HTML properties work, and then see how they enable style isolation:
upon application startup (or at build-time with AOT), each component will have a unique property attached to the host element, depending on the order in which the components are processed: _nghost-c0, _nghost-c1, etc.
together with that, each element inside each component template will also get applied a property that is unique to that particular component: _ngcontent-c0, _ngcontent-c1, etc.
This is all transparent and done under the hood for us.
How do these properties enable view encapsulation?
The presence of these properties could allow us to write manually CSS styles which are much more targetted than just the simple styles that we have on our template.
For example, if we want to scope the blue color to the blue-button component only, we could write manually the following style:
While style 1 was applicable to any element with the blue-button class anywhere on the page, style 2 will only work for elements that have that strangely named property!
So this means that style 2 is effectively scoped to only elements of the blue-button component template, and will not affect any other elements of the page.
So we now can see how those two special properties do enable some sort of style isolation, but it would be cumbersome to have to use those properties manually in our CSS (and in fact, we should not).
But luckily, we don't have to. Angular will do that automatically for us.
How does Angular encapsulate styles?
At startup time (or at build time if using AOT), Angular will see what styles are associated with which components, via the styles or styleUrls component properties.
Angular will then take those styles and apply them transparently the corresponding isolating properties, and will then inject the styles directly into the page header as a style tag:
The _ngcontent-c1 property is unique to elements of the blue-button template, so the style will be scoped to those elements only.
And that is how the Angular default view encapsulation mechanism works!
This mechanism is not 100% bullet-proof as it does not guarantee perfect isolation, but in practice, it will nearly always work.
The mechanism it's not based on the shadow DOM but instead in these special HTML properties, so if we really wanted to we could still override these styles.
But given that the native Shadow Dom isolation mechanism is currently available only in Chrome and Opera, we cannot yet rely on it.
This mechanism is very useful because it enables us to write simple styles that will not break easily, but we might want to break this isolation selectively from time to time.
Let's learn a couple of ways of doing that, and why we would want to do that.
The :host pseudo-class selector
Sometimes we want to style the component custom HTML element itself, and not something inside its template.
Let's say for example that we want to style the app-root component itself, by adding it, for example, an extra border.
We cannot do that using styles inside its app.component.css associated file, right?
This is because all styles inside that file will be scoped to elements of the template, and not the outer app-root element itself.
If we want to style the host element of the component itself, we need the special :host pseudo-class selector. This is the new version of our app.component.css that uses it:
This selector will ensure those styles are only targeting the app-root element. Remember that _nghost-c0 property that we talked about before? This is how it's used to implement the :host selector at runtime:
The use of the special _nghost-c0 will ensure that those styles are scope only to the app-root element, because app-root gets added that property at runtime:
If you would like to see a visual demonstration of the :host pseudo-class selector in action, have a look at this video:
Combining the :host selector with other selectors
Notice that the can combine this selector with other selectors, which is something that we have not yet talked about.
This is not specific to this selector, but have a look for example at this selector, where we are styling h2 elements inside the host element:
You could be surprised to find out that this style only applies to the h2 elements inside the app-root template, but not to the h2 inside the blue-button component.
To see why, let's have a look at the styles that were generated at runtime:
So we can see that the special scoping property gets applied also to nested selectors, to ensure the style is always scoped to that particular template.
But if we did want to override the styles of all the h2 elements, there is still a way.
The ::ng-deep pseudo-class selector
If we want our component styles to cascade to all child elements of a component, but not to any other element on the page, we can currently do so using by combining the :host with the ::ng-deep selector:
This will generate at runtime a style that looks like this:
So this style will be applied to all h2 elements inside app-root, but not outside of it as expected.
This combination of selectors is useful for example for applying styles to elements that were passed to the template using ng-content, have a look at this post for more details.
::ng-deep, /deep/ and >>> deprecation
The ::ng-deep pseudo-class selector also has a couple of aliases: >>> and /deep/, and all three are soon to be removed.
The main reason for that is that this mechanism for piercing the style isolation sandbox around a component can potentially encourage bad styling practices.
The situation is still evolving, but right now, ::ng-deep can be used if needed for certain use cases.
The :host-context pseudo-class selector
Sometimes, we also want to have a component apply a style to some element outside of it. This does not happen often, but one possible common use case is for theme enabling classes.
For example, let's say that we would like to ship a component with multiple alternative themes. Each theme can be enabled via adding a CSS class to a parent element of the component.
Here is how we could implement this use case using the :host-context selector:
These themed styles are deactivated by default. In order to activate one theme, we need to add to any parent element of this component one of the theme-activating classes.
For example, this is how we would activate the blue theme:
Have a look at this video to see a visual demo of the host-context selector in action:
All of this functionality that we saw so far was using plain CSS.
But especially in the case of themes, it would be great to be able to extend the CSS language and for example define the primary color of a theme in a variable, to avoid repetition like we would do in Javascript.
That is one of the many use cases that we can support using a CSS preprocessor.
Angular CLI - Sass, Less and Stylus support
A CSS pre-processor is a program that takes an extended version of CSS, and compiles it down to plain CSS.
The Angular CLI supports all major pre-processors, but the one that seems most commonly used in Angular related projects (such as for example Angular Material) is Sass.
In order to use a Sass file instead of a CSS file, we just need to pass such file to the styleUrls property of a component:
The CLI will then take this Sass file and convert it to plain CSS on the fly. Actually, we can generate new components using Sass files using this command:
ng new cli-test-project --style=sass
We can also set a global property, so that Sass files are used by default:
ng set defaults.styleExt scss
Demo of some the things we can do with Sass
A pre-processor is a great thing to add to our project, to help us write more maintainable styles. Let's have a look at some of the things that we can do with Sass:
If you have never seen this syntax before, it could look a bit surprising! But here is what is going on, line by line:
on line 2, we have actually defined a CSS variable! This is a huge feature missing from CSS
we can define not only colors but numbers or event shorthand combined properties such as: $my-border: 1px solid red
on lines 6, 10 and 11 we are using the variable that we just created
on line 9 we are using a nested style, and making a reference to the parent style using the & syntax
And this is just a small sample of what we can do with Sass, just a few very commonly used features. The Angular CLI also has support for global styles, that we can combine with our component-specific view encapsulated styles.
We can add global styles not only for the supported pre-processors, but for plain CSS as well.
Summary
There are a ton of options to style our components, so it's important to know which one to use when and why. Here is a short summary:In the past, we shared a list of 32 Famous People Rejected by Saturday Night Live. But rejection is a two-way street at Studio 8H, as these 10 equally funny famous people proved when they gave SNL the cold shoulder.
1. MINDY KALING
Saying “no” to SNL wasn’t really Kaling’s idea. But timing wasn’t on her side. In a 2007 interview with The A.V. Club, she revealed that she had auditioned for SNL just a few months earlier (a year after The Office’s American debut). “They didn't offer me a part, but the audition went pretty well, and that night, they were like, ‘Do you want to come write for the show?’ [The Office creator] Greg [Daniels] used to write for SNL, and he had known that being on SNL was my great dream. He said, ‘Listen. If you get cast on the show, I'll let you break your contract and go do it, but if they ask you to write, I can't, because you have a job writing here, plus you're on the show. So I'm not going to let you leave the show so you can go be in New York.’ At that time, I missed New York so badly. I hated L.A. for a long time, and I wanted to leave it. I had these fantasies of going to SNL and falling in love with some writer on SNL, of getting married and living in New York. That was really heartbreaking to have to turn down, but then I got to guest-write in the spring.’”
2. JOHN CANDY
SNL got a serious shakeup in the early 1980s. Following Lorne Michaels’ departure, the show was turned over to producer Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Dick Ebersol after one season following bad reviews. Just as Doumanian had tried to retool the show, Ebersol did the same, and set his sights on some of Second City’s most talented players. There was only one problem: The legendary comedy group had its own sketch comedy show, which featured John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis. That small detail didn’t stop Ebersol from trying to recruit Candy to SNL. According to Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad’s book, Saturday Night, Candy “was mortified at being caught in the middle of the tug of war between Saturday Night and SCTV.” He stuck with the latter, but did host SNL in 1983 (and made a couple of cameos).
3. CATHERINE O’HARA
Dick Ebersol’s SCTV poaching efforts were slightly more successful with Catherine O’Hara. She signed up to be a part of the 1981 season, but didn’t last long. “Maybe two [weeks],” she told the Toronto Sun of her SNL tenure. While many reports state that she was scared off by an incident in which writer Michael O’Donoghue yelled at the show’s other writers, O’Hara simply says that she made a mistake in leaving SCTV in the first place. “I hung out with some nice people, tried to come up with some ideas... but I never really felt involved,” she said of her decision to depart before the season even began. “I had to leave. I said I’d made a huge mistake. I'm not proud of that. I felt stupid doing it. But I had to come home. I couldn't not be with them.”
4. JOHNNY KNOXVILLE
“The ball was rolling on Jackass, but it was going slow,” Jackass co-creator Jeff Tremaine said in a 2006 interview with The A.V. Club. “We made a little tape basically showing what Jackass was. It was going around, and it was really popular. SNL got a hold of it.” The show’s producers liked what they saw and offered Knoxville a spot on SNL, which would make use of his stunting abilities. “It was at the point where I either say yes to my friends, where we had all the control, or yes to Saturday Night Live, where none of my friends were really going to be there and I had no control,” Knoxville told the Washington Times in 2005 of his choice to just say, "no."
5. BONNIE HUNT
Bonnie Hunt’s decision to turn down a role on SNL all came down to one question she posed to Lorne Michaels. “I asked, ‘If there's an end of a scene that doesn't feel like it's working, can you improvise?’” Hunt recalled to the Los Angeles Times. “And he said, ‘Absolutely not.’” And that was it.
6. ANDY DICK
“Early on in my career they just asked me if I wanted to do Saturday Night Live. Literally, they were just offering it to me,” Andy Dick told Laughspin in 2011. “I said no because I had just come off The Ben Stiller Show, but the truth of the matter is I was afraid I would not be able to do a few characters every week. I didn’t have the confidence that I do now... I can do it now,” Dick continued, “but I’m 45 years old. What’s the point? I’m too old for that club, anyway. They wouldn’t have me—unless they start a Saturday Night Live: Seniors; Saturday Night Dead.” When pressed as to whether he would say “yes” if offered a part on the show today, Dick replied that he “would jump at that opportunity. But you’re talking to a guy who, if Dancing With The Stars called, I’d say, ‘I’m putting my tap shoes on now, bitch.’” He wasn’t kidding: Dick hoofed his way to a seven-week stint as a contestant on the reality dancing show in 2013.
7. AMY SEDARIS
Following Janeane Garofalo’s departure in 1995, SNL was in need of another funny lady and Amy Sedaris auditioned for the spot, but at the same time she was starring in a play she had written with her brother, David. “I met with Lorne Michaels, but at that time we were doing our play One Woman Shoe, and it was everything I wanted,” Sedaris told Interview Magazine in 2001 of her decision to pass. “Maybe even three years earlier it would have been great, but at that point it was like, oh, it’s too late. A few years later Strangers with Candy fell into my lap. But television’s not something that I ever thought about or planned.”
8. JENNIFER ANISTON
Though the story of whether or not Jennifer Aniston was ever really, truly offered a spot on SNL has been heavily questioned, it’s Aniston herself who started the rumor. While promoting Just Go With It on Oprah in 2011, Aniston’s co-star—and SNL alum—Adam Sandler recalled, “being on the ninth floor where Lorne Michaels’ office was, and seeing Jen come in,” back in the early 1990s. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God. There’s Aniston. Is she about to be on our show?’” But Aniston, who was getting ready to star on Friends, says she declined because, “It was a boys’ club. They thought I was making a huge mistake.”
9. THE BEATLES
In 1976, six years after they had disbanded, The Beatles were offered $230 million by promoter Sid Bernstein to reunite—an offer they promptly declined. Shortly thereafter, Lorne Michaels made a live plea to the Fab Four to reunite as musical guests on SNL, stating that NBC had authorized him to offer them “a certified check for $3000.” In David Sheff’s book All We Are Saying, Lennon shared that they actually considered it: “Paul and I were together watching that show,” Lennon said. “He was visiting us at our place in the Dakota. We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired.”
10. CHARLIE BARNETT
YouTube
Legendary street performer and comedian Charlie Barnett, who was a mentor to Dave Chappelle, spent many years smarting from his missed opportunity with SNL. Barnett advanced quickly in the audition process but ended up ditching a final reading when he became concerned about his lack of education (Barnett had dropped out of school in the eighth grade). “I was too scared,” he admitted to People Magazine in 1983. “I read good, but I read slow.” Though he ended up finding success on his own terms (he had a recurring role as “Noogie” on Miami Vice during its heyday), Barnett admitted that for a long time he was extremely jealous of Eddie Murphy, the man who ended up taking what could have been his spot on the show.
Images courtesy of Getty ImagesA great flood is approaching. The end may be near. Cue Abba’s “SOS,” and then witness Agnetha Fältskog’s beautiful voice singing over all sorts of chaos in a trailer fitting for the final season of The Leftovers. All the dark laughs and trials and tribulations aren’t over yet for the characters on Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta‘s HBO drama. Based on the new trailer for the third and final season, which contains some huge hints for what’s to come, Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) and the world’s terrible predicament has never looked funnier or worse.
Below, watch The Leftovers season 3 trailer.
Going back to the start of season one, few people would’ve turned to Garvey for saving. He was a mess, a man with a bit of a drinking problem and a rock hard six-pack, but he’s come a long way since then. The events of season two might’ve changed the former cop in ways we’ll soon understand. With the flood coming, some people wonder whether Kevin, a man in touch with another side, is their savior. Returning along with Theroux for Australia-set final season are Carrie Coon, Margaret Qualley, Kevin Carroll, Regina King, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, Liv Tyler, and Scott Glenn.
Here’s the dark and cheeky The Leftovers trailer, which looks like the show’s biggest and strangest – and hopefully most intimate – season yet:
The third season can’t air soon enough. There’s not a barrage of questions Lindelof needs to confront or answer with the final season. There’s a few – the obvious ones involving Kevin and his father – but by this point, no fan watching this show probably cares about the reason for the rapture or keeps returning to see questions answered. This isn’t a show about answers. This is a show about some damaged characters trying to make sense of an even more damaged world. Hopefully, Lindelof and all involved came up with a worthy, emotional goodbye for these fantastic characters.
When it comes to delivering a satisfying ending, Lindelof said it all comes down to staying true to the spirit of the show:
I think that The Leftovers has carved out a space in the zeitgeist that’s much more culty, it’s a much smaller, impassioned audience. And so, I don’t feel the pressure that say a Breaking Bad or a Game Of Thrones or a Lost or Walking Dead feels, when they’re ending seasons or series. I feel like, if you like The Leftovers, if you’re watching The Leftovers, at this point, my job is basically to be as authentic to the same show that I’ve been writing all along and not really stray from that. And hopefully the audience will dig it, but that’s something that you can’t predict. And it’s a waste of time and energy to lay up at night, wondering whether or not people are going to like it. I just have to make the people around me like it.
The Leftovers returns April 16th.50 Shades of abuse? A new study says that the S&M-packed relationship between 50 Shades of Grey characters Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey perpetuates emotional and sexual abuse of women.
Amy Bonomi, author of the study and Michigan State University Professor, said that the work of fiction is a “gross glamorization of violence against women.” The means of seduction that the protagonist employs are consistent with definitions of intimate partner violence.
Clinical Psychologist Wendy Walsh said she agrees with Professor Bonomi’s assertion that the series glamorizes violence against women. She said that plenty of women mistakenly think they are adopting sexual freedom, but are really embracing the worst aspects of some male behavior.
Walsh encouraged education about the true nature of S&M. Bonomi emphasized that the fictional relationship in 50 Shades of Grey “violates every notion of what we know about consensual BDSM relationships… in consensual BDSM relationships, negotiations are egalitarian. They’re worked out. They’re not done in a pressured situation. All of those things are violated in Fifty Shades of Grey.”Two men have been filmed luring a squirrel to the edge of the Grand Canyon and then kicking the animal to almost certain death hundreds of metres below.
The footage shows the men, who are believed to be French, arranging a trail of breadcrumbs to lead the squirrel to the precipice of the canyon.
As the squirrel approaches the edge, one of the men puts on a shoe and then proceeds to kick the rodent off the ledge, as his friend takes pictures.
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 clip was uploaded by YouTube user Jonathan Hildebrand, who said he filmed the act of cruelty but was unaware of what the men planned to do.
He said: "I did not realise what was happening until it was too late."
He added: "I do not know who they are. All I know is that they were French."
Warning: Some people may be offended by this video
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CLEVELAND - Growing backlash about anti-LGBTQ fliers at Cleveland State University has resulted in heated controversy about freedom of speech and caused the university president to admit a "failure of personal outrage" about his initial response.
The fliers show a man hanging from a noose, surrounded by inaccurate facts regarding LGBTQ suicide. The flier reads "Follow your fellow [expletive]," above the image of the man.
"The man's arms were bound behind his back," said CSU student John Mark Strahan. "You cannot hang yourself with your arms tied behind your back. So he was lynched."
Strahan identifies himself as a gay man and says the fliers are not only sinister but the initial response from the university was hurtful too.
"It is a learning institution so let's use this an example, they're missing a huge opportunity to really set a standard here," said Strahan.
Tuesday, CSU President Ronald Berkman issued a new message to students and faculty that read in part, "While I find the message of this poster reprehensible, the current legal framework regarding free speech makes it difficult to prevent these messages from being disseminated. However, let me make it clear that I am committed to promoting a safe and inclusive campus for all members of our community."
The statement comes after an email was sent to students Monday citing free speech. Some students argue the initial response did not specifically address the issue.
The fliers were posted across campus and appear to be affiliated with the group Fascist Solutions.
"Every single time the LGBTQ community takes one step there's another group that wants to show us that who we are is not welcomed," said Eris Eady, the Program Director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
Students tell Fox 8 the fliers were posted on National Coming Out Day, the same day the new campus LGBTQ center opened Thursday.
The university president is inviting students and faculty to join him Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Main Classroom Auditorium to discuss concerns. Anyone unable to attend is encouraged to email: [email protected] Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a controversial gun bill into law on Wednesday. VPC
"Our state has some of the best protections for gun owners in the United States. And today we strengthen those rights protected by our nation's most revered founding document," Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said in signing the bill. (Photo11: John Rawlston, AP)
ELLIJAY, Ga. — It's legal for licensed gun owners in Georgia to pack heat in bars, schools, churches and some government buildings.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, on Wednesday signed the state's "Safe Carry Protection Act," which critics dubbed the "guns everywhere bill," in north Georgia, on the edge of the Chattahoochee National Forest and Cohutta Wilderness area.
"Our state has some of the best protections for gun owners in the United States. And today we strengthen those rights protected by our nation's most revered founding document," Deal said in signing the bill.
The new law, which goes into effect July 1, allows licensed gun owners in Georgia and visitors from 28 other states to bring a gun into a bar without restrictions and carry a firearm into some government buildings that don't have security measures. It also allows school districts to decide whether they want some employees to carry a firearm and religious leaders to decide whether to allow licensed gun owners to tote to their church, synagogue or mosque.
Since Jan. 1, 6 states have eased gun laws, 6 states have strengthened them and 4 states have both eased and strengthened firearm laws, according to Laura Cutilletta, senior staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
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these representatives truly cared about gay rights, they would take a different approach.
"ENDA is a terrible piece of legislation and our supporters in Congress should write legislation that really does protect the rights of LGBT Americans," said Queer Nation member Andrew Miller. "We need to kill ENDA and introduce comprehensive civil rights legislation."
Rep. McGovern's office released a statement saying, "Jim takes a back seat to no one in his support for the LGBT community. One look at his full voting record shows that.
"A comprehensive bill to end LGBT discrimination is obviously something Jim would hope to support," the statement said.
Rep. Tierney's office did not respond to several requests for comment.
Politicians are fond of talking about the speed of progress in gay rights over the past 15 years, especially the rapid legalization of gay marriage at the state level, said Miller, but it's unfair "to do this piecemeal."
He said all members of Congress should vote no on ENDA, calling it a waste of time. Queer Nation wants a bill that includes protections for LGBT Americans akin to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination not only in employment, but also in most aspects of daily life.
The group also has criticized House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and gay and lesbian members of Congress, over their support for ENDA.
In July, President Obama signed an executive order that banned discrimination against most LGBT workers at companies that receive federal contracts.
"If it's good enough for the executive oder, why isn't it good enough for Congress?" said Miller.We’re exploring what photography means to people and the power it can have to affect people’s lives. This is #MoreThanAnImage
Photography creates discussion. Anyone who’s ever been anywhere near a photo forum, or a photo news comments section or the pages of this very blog can see for themselves the huge variety of opinion and passion that comes from people who spend their time taking pictures.
At Wex we love talking photography. We talk about everything to do with image-making, from the cameras people buy to the subjects they shoot, and we love every second of it. Scrollthrough the Blog and you’ll find a multitude of photographers sharing what they love best about what they do.
However, we wanted to go further. Photographs are not just pictures – photographs have made history, photographs have changed lives. Photography can be a lifeline, a unique way of communicating with the world, and we wanted to further the conversation to reflect that, so we went in search of those stories. We looked for the photographers whose photographs meant something to them.
These are some of the stories we found.
This is #MoreThanAnImage.
Giles Duley
For documentary photographer Giles Duley, photography means storytelling, activism and identity. Having spent much of his recent career documenting the lives of refugees affected by conflict in the Middle East, Giles relies on the power of photography to present unique stories capable of delivering real change.
We’ll be releasing three short films as part of the project. Giles is the subject of our first, which you can watch below.
Jim Mortram
David hears a recording of his late mother. Image by Jim Mortram
For documentary photographer Jim Mortram, photography means a way to connect with his friend David. David is blind, the result of an accident he suffered when he was younger, and he struggles with the demands of living alone. David’s situation has become even more difficult since the death of his mother, Eugene.
Throughout 2014, Jim visited David frequently. Through the course of the documentary-photography project he developed a close friendship with David, understanding more about what David has faced since losing both his mother and his sight.
The image above depicts the moment David heard a recording of his late mother’s voice for the first time since her death. Jim told us it took a few listens for David to recognise the voice, and when he did, “David’s smile, as wondrous as sunrise, lit up his face.”
Julian Claxton
Morning prayer at Eden School. Image by Julian Claxton
For travel photographer Julian Claxton, photography means memories of a life-changing experience. Julian is the man behind a project called “Give a Child a Camera”, for which he brought the gift of photography to a school in a village in rural Uganda.
Julian has written extensively about the project for the Wex Blog already (Part 1; Part 2), and when reading through his adventures, what’s most striking is the boundless creativity and energy of his students. “The children of rural Africa never cease to amaze me,” he says. “Their commitment to learning and their ability to soak up information, producing wonderfully creative images as a result, is a testament to their personalities and resilient nature.”
Hannah Laycock
Brain fog. Image by Hannah Laycock
For Hannah Laycock, photography means making the invisible visible. Hannah suffers from multiple sclerosis, and imagery provides a powerful way for her to visually convey the reality of her condition to those who do not understand it.
This image represents the cognitive dysfunction, colloquially known as brain fog, that MS sufferers can experience.
Daniel Regan
Exploring the things left behind in abandoned Victorian asylums. Image by Daniel Regan
For Daniel Regan, photography means a way to cope. Daniel was hospitalised in 2004, and since then has suffered from mental-health issues. His Abandoned series, from which the above image is taken, provides a means for him to draw parallels with his own situation, and the things he was forced to leave behind in his quest for health and recovery.
You
Finally, it’s your turn. What does photography mean to you? Has taking pictures been a lifeline for you the way it has for Giles, Hannah or Daniel? Has it been a way for you to help or understand others, as it has for Jim and Julian? Have you formed connections with other people through photography? Has it changed who you are as a person?
Feel free to comment on the Facebook post above, or below this post, if you have something to contribute about what photography means to you. Whatever your story, we want to hear it.Secretary of State John Kerry hugs Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as he arrives for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on military intervention in Syria, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on September 3, 2013. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (center), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) (left) talk prior to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on military intervention in Syria, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on September 3, 2013. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (center) talks to Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) prior to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on military intervention in Syria, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on September 3, 2013. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L) grabs Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) as they talk prior to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on military intervention in Syria, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on September 3, 2013. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- That look Sen. John McCain had in a U.S. Senate hearing on President Obama's authorization request for a military response in Syria was really a poker face.
A Washington Post photographer caught the Arizona Republican playing poker on his iPhone during a hours-long Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday when Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel explaining the rationale behind Obama's request for a limited military response to evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime used chemical weapons on his people.
Even McCain commented about his virtual card game, posting on his Twitter page: "Scandal! Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing -- worst of all I lost!"
During an appearance on CNN, McCain said, "As much as I like always listening in rapt attention constantly [to the] remarks of my colleagues over a three-and-a-half-hour period, occasionally I get a little bored, but the worst thing is I lost thousands of dollars in this game... thousands and thousands of fake dollars."Flume has said that that he tries to distance his music from the EDM world.
Speaking to Digital Spy backstage at Reading Festival, Flume - real name Harley Streten - explained that he prefers playing to rock crowds.
"I've gotta say festivals like [Reading] are playing to people who I want to be playing to, who I feel are better crowds," Streten said. "I try to keep out of the EDM world, I try to keep Flume far from the EDM world."
He added: "Commercial EDM, the crowd is f**ked up kids basically. They don't care about the music, they want to hear one or two songs and that's it. I prefer to play to people who actually give a s**t about the music."
The 22-year-old also reasoned that like British duo Disclosure, there is no festival that could exactly reflect his sound.
"There's no festival that caters to my sound, kind of like Disclosure - they can do rock festivals and they can do dirty EDM festivals because there's no real festival that has that," he suggested.
"I feel like we're doing our own thing and people who like rock music like Flume, people who like dirty EDM also like Flume so it's a hybrid vibe and that's the best place to be because you can pick and choose where you wanna play."
Watch the music video for Flume & Chet Faker's 'Drop The Game' below:The Rev. Kent Doss, Jessica Riegert and Mark Richardson are far apart in their jobs, their focus, their political philosophies.
But when it comes to standing up to people they regard as intolerant bullies, the three stand together and are willing to lay their lives on the line.
On Sunday, Aug. 20, the pastor, the Democratic Socialist and the marketing consultant plan to march into the lion’s den and counter protest an America First! rally in Laguna Beach aimed at illegal immigration.
America First! demonstrator Jordan Davis, 25, of Berkeley, says he's protesting illegal immigration at a rally in Laguna Beach Sunday. (Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Before marching, counter protesters gather for a service at Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach on Sunday. (Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Sound The gallery will resume in seconds
Jessica Riegert, is a member of the steering committee for Orange County Democratic Socialists of America, an organization who will be protesting the "America First! Electric Vigil" in Laguna Beach this Saturday. Photographed in Mission Viejo on Friday, August 18, 2017. (Photo by Nick Agro, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Counter protesters march from Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach on Sunday to Main Beach to confront America First! demonstrators. (Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Kaela Saez, left, 29, of San Clemente, protests America First! demonstrators in Laguna Beach on Sunday. (Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A demonstrator for America First! explains to a counter demonstrator he stands for supporting first responders. He declined all personal information, saying his life had been threatened twice on Sunday. (Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Rev. Ben McBride, far left, and Rev. Kent Doss, a pastor in Mission Viejo, right, face a law enforcement blockade separating them from America First! demonstrators in Laguna Beach on Sunday. (Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)
That may sound like hyperbole. But the clashing demonstrations come barely a week after Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal, was mowed down by a man believed to be a white supremacist in Charlottesville, Va.
Doss, Riegert and Richardson say they hope both demonstrations remain peaceful. But regardless of the outcome — and let’s pray no one is hurt — I wonder if counter protests merely magnify the other side’s point of view, strengthen otherwise weak organizations, build paranoia making the few appear to be many.
Consider that a handful of KKK members staged a rally in Anaheim last year. More than 100 counter protesters showed up. Fights broke out, three people were stabbed, 13 arrested. The media exposure went global.
Call me a Pollyanna, but to update an old anti-war poster: “Suppose they gave a protest and nobody came?”
Doss, a former Unitarian Universalist pastor in Laguna Beach and now the reverend at Tapestry church in Mission Viejo, wrestled with similar questions before he committed to the counter protest.
“I had mixed feelings because I don’t want the town vandalized,” Doss told me. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
In the end, Doss concluded he had to make a stand. He also realized he needed to take a leadership role in nurturing non-violence.
“I don’t know that ignoring a bully is the most effective way to deal with them,” Doss says in a pastoral way. “It certainly hasn’t worked in America with racism. Real profound racism is still a part of American culture. It just festers.”
The reverend’s conviction goes beyond his religious views. He also walks in the shoes of discriminated minorities.
“As a gay man who grew up in a very conservative part of the country, I know what it’s like to feel very unsafe on the street. As a white adult, I stand with marginalized communities who feel unsafe.”
Doss will lead a 5 p.m. Sunday church service at Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann’s Drive, Laguna Beach. A march to Main Beach will follow with a 6:30 p.m. counter demonstration near the America First! rally.
Police plan to keep the two demonstrations separate and peaceful. But if name-calling matters, that may prove difficult.
The Democratic Socialists of America call their counter demonstration an anti-fascist protest and Riegert says they plan to chant, “No KKK, no fascist USA!
Several protesters I interviewed said if being called fascists bothers America First! demonstrators then so be it.
“We’re past the point of letting them do what they’re going to do,” explains Riegert, a history teacher. “Silence is complacency. Silence is violence.
“If you are silent on matters of oppression, by being silent you are basically making it OK.”
The teacher points to the White House, Twitter and the media for heating up the current national stew of hate. “White supremacy is getting bolder and bolder.”
She says it’s important to make clear: “We don’t want you in Orange County. There’s not a home for you here.”
Riegert points to a Sunday 2 p.m. seminar on non-violence at the Laguna Beach church. “We don’t want this to be violent,” she assures. “We don’t want to make this another Charlottesville.”
The Rev. Ben McBride of PICO California, a multiracial faith-based community-organizing network made up of 19 nonprofits, is flying in from Oakland to lead the seminar. He offers several points critical to successful non-violence. He also dismisses concern about chants that attack fascism, saying they shouldn’t bother someone who doesn’t match the brand.
“We will challenge them with our rhetoric,” McBride promises. “We will challenge them with a critique that may be upsetting to them.”
The PICO reverend calls it “exorcising the demon of white supremacy.”
He adds, “If you’re not a fascist, then join us. We don’t have an option to turn a blind eye to expressions of racism. Our history and traditions have taught us it’s imperative to challenge the manifestations of that. It’s our duty.”
McBride also is quick to emphasize that compassion is key. “We don’t come from a place of violence, but from a place of love — for ourselves, for those who oppose us, for those who have lost their way.
“My great uncle was hit over the head with a hammer and killed in North Carolina,” McBride says quietly. His point about the weapon is significant. While investigating white supremacy in Orange County several years ago, I learned claw hammers are a favorite weapon for white supremacists.
This expert in non-violence teaches demonstrators to stay calm during conflict, to avoid engaging in threatening behavior, to never dehumanize anyone.
“We will take a public space. We will express our views loudly,” he says. “But we will do it with discipline and love.”
Richardson grew up in Staunton, a town of 24,000 less than an hour from Charlottesville, Va. With a 52 percent African American student body, he attended Robert E. Lee High School, a name that still sticks in his craw.
He also grew up in what he calls a staunchly conservative family. But he explains his parents’ values are similar to Ronald Reagan’s style of compassion rather than President Donald Trump’s.
The marketing consultant went on to graduate from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and often walked the street where Heather Heyer was killed.
On Sunday morning, he plans to drive from his home in Mar Vista to south Orange County. “It’s important to make a statement because of the dangerous rhetoric from the far right.”
Richardson explains, “My goal is to go down to Laguna Beach and be a de-escalating presence.”
Let’s hope he’s successful in helping keep the peace.Olivier’s an impressive guy. Olivier is a nice-sized point guard who can score. He led the ACC in scoring, became a much better playmaker. He came in here and really impressed us.
SALT LAKE CITY — Olivier Hanlan is Canadian, but he’s no stranger to playing baseball. He’s never played it in an organized league, but he’s dabbled in the sport with friends on occasion.
Hanlan got to put his throwing skills to the test last Saturday at Smith’s Ballpark, where he tossed out the first pitch before that night’s Salt Lake Bees game.
For the record, the Utah Jazz second-round pick was motivated to do better than Dante Exum’s off-target throw from a year ago.
“I did a bit better,” he said.
But did Hanlan deliver a strike into the catcher’s mitt?
“You can call it a strike,” he said. “It made it there, so that’s all that counts.”
Hanlan is now dealing with a different kind of pressure — in an entirely different sport — to deliver while the crowd is watching.
It’s very early, but so far the 6-foot-4 guard, who was selected 42nd overall in the June 25 draft, has had a better performance on the baseball mound than he has on the basketball court.
Through two summer league games, Hanlan is averaging just 2.0 points on 14.3 percent shooting. He didn’t dish out an assist in either of the Jazz’s two victories, and he’s turned the ball over twice in 31 total minutes.
Hanlan is certain to get another big opportunity Thursday night as the Jazz wrap up their own summer league schedule against the Philadelphia 76ers. Starting point guard Exum is listed as doubtful after having sprained his left ankle in Monday's game.
While it’s a bit of a rough start in the pros for the Boston College star, Hanlan knew it might take some time to adapt to his new playing environment.
The speed of the game is quicker than it was when he led the ACC in scoring last year (21.9 points average).
There’s 11 fewer seconds to make plays happen with the 24-second shot clock.
And his opponents are often bigger, stronger and faster than he faced on a daily basis in college and while playing for the Canadian U-19 team.
Hanlan admitted to letting his nerves get the best of him right before entering Monday’s game for the first time.
“Obviously you try to get rid of the jitters,” he said. “But being a basketball player and competitor, I love these moments. I’m loving the process. It’s a learning process for me.”
Hanlan said he learned quite a bit in the days leading up to the Utah Jazz Summer Leauge, simply by going up against guys with NBA experience in second-year point guards Exum and Bryce Cotton.
He’s trying to take a workmanlike attitude as he battles for a roster spot in a crowded point guard field, which might get more crowded if the Jazz end up signing Brazilian playmaker Raul Neto.
“Every day they expect me to put in the hours,” Hanlan said. “If you just approach it like a job and take it seriously in terms of repetition and extra hours to get better. Especially for a guy like me coming in, I have to put the hours in to earn my stripes.” Even with multiple point guards on the roster and Neto on the periphery, the Jazz like what Hanlan brings to the court. If they don’t sign him this year, they could send him overseas to play so they can retain his rights.
Fighting for his spot is nothing new to Hanlan, an Alymer, Quebec native who said he’s done that throughout his life. The 22-year-old had to earn his spot at a new high school after moving from Canada to New Hampshire and then again when he started playing for Boston College in college.
“I’m just trying to go out there and play hard,” he said, “try to get some playing time, just try to stay aggressive and play like I was playing in Boston College.”
The Jazz, who’ve previously had success with a Boston College point guard (Howard Eisley), would love that.
Not only did Hanlan lead the ACC in scoring, but he was also the conference’s best 3-point shooter last season at 43.6 percent. He was also the ACC’s fifth-best free-throw shooter (81.0 percent) and 10th in assists (4.0 per game).
“Olivier’s an impressive guy,” Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said. “Olivier is a nice-sized point guard who can score. He led the ACC in scoring, became a much better playmaker. He came in here and really impressed us.”
Coincidentally, Hanlan is Canadian like the Jazz’s first-round pick, Saskatoon-born Trey Lyles. The two were also in the same pre-draft workout group in June.
Both guys knocked the Jazz’s socks off in that session.
“His fitness level was superior. He’s already a professional in his approach in how he handled himself, how he carried himself,” Lindsey continued about Hanlan. “We plan on taking a long look at Olivier this summer.”
TWITTER: DJJazzyJodyClimate change, ticks claiming moose in New Hampshire
By ANNMARIE TIMMINS
Monitor staff
Last modified: 7/29/2013 2:50:04 PM
In 1950, New Hampshire was home to just 50 moose. Today, the count is near 5,000, but state biologists fear that climate change – by way of winter ticks and other parasites – is threatening the herd.
“Shorter winters are a problem for moose because they give ticks a leg up,” said Kristine Rines, moose project leader for the state Fish and Game Department. “People have to recognize that the (climate) changes we are facing are not just changes in the Arctic. It’s not just polar bears that are going to be affected.”
Hoping to get a better handle on the problem, the Executive Council last week approved a four-year, $695,000 study of the state’s moose population. The herd was last studied in 2006. The work, which will involve putting radio collars on 80 to 100 moose and tracking their reproduction and mortality rates, will be paid for with federal money and coordinated by Fish and Game and the University of New Hampshire.
The results of the study will help the state manage the moose population by adjusting the number of hunting permits issued annually since New Hampshire introduced moose hunting in 1988. Rines said there have been signs of a problem over the last many months: People are seeing fewer moose, and the weights of moose taken by hunters is down.
A hit to the moose population is no small threat to the state’s economy.
According to Fish and Game, wildlife watching – think moose tours – generates $115 million in trip-related expenses annually. The town of Gorham has run moose tours for nearly a decade and uses the money to support its recreation department. Larry Hartle, who has run Pemi-Valley Moose Tours out of Lincoln for 15 years, charges $30 for adults and $20 for children, and his 44-seat passenger bus is booked solid for July and August. Business remains good, but the tour is an hour longer than it used to because it’s harder to find moose, Hartle said.
“Over the years, we were averaging seven or eight a night,” he said. “Now we average five a night. We’ve had to work harder to find them.”
The drop in numbers has hit the state’s coffers. It took in $14,800 last year from moose hunting applications and permits, a 60 percent drop from the peak in 2007, which was $410,000, according the project proposal. According to their project proposal, the numbers are down because hunters perceive a decline in the moose population.
New Hampshire’s not alone. Vermont and Minnesota are seeing the same declines; Minnesota canceled moose hunting this year as a result, according to Fish and Game. Maine, meanwhile, appears unaffected. Rines said because it’s just north enough to still get long, cold winters, which are needed to kill off the winter ticks.
It’s hard to imagine ticks taking down one of the state’s largest animals until you consider the magnitude of the problem.
In the recent issue of New Hampshire Wildlife Journal, Fish and Game biologist Dan Bergeron reported that the average number of winter ticks on a single moose in Alberta, Canada, is 32,000 but can be as much as 150,000, all of them feasting on the moose’s blood.
According to Bergeron, the number of winter ticks is directly related to fall and spring weather. If those seasons are mild and nearly snowless, ticks thrive. The winter ticks, which are different than deer or dog ticks, attach to the moose, mate and lay eggs, Bergeron wrote in his piece. That cycle repeats and repeats unless the state gets a traditional, long, cold winter.
“If the weather becomes consistently too warm, however, tick numbers are likely to remain high,” Bergeron wrote, “and the Fish and Game Department will be forced to reduce the moose population in order to reduce tick numbers, or to deal with higher annual moose mortality stemming from ticks.”
The four-year study approved by the Executive Council will help gather the information Fish and Game needs to develop its moose management plan.
Rines said the first step will be collaring the moose later this year. She said the department hopes to hire a “capture company” from Wyoming to fly over northern New Hampshire in a helicopter, locate moose and temporarily disable them by shooting either a tranquilizer or net from a gun. Someone will then jump out of the helicopter and collar the moose, she said.
A study can identify the threat to the moose population but not necessarily stop it, Rines said. “It’s hard to convince people of the larger problem” of climate change, she said.
People can tackle climate change or “pray for snow,” she said.
(Annmarie Timmins can be reached at 369-3323, [email protected] or on Twitter @annmarietimmins.)On Tuesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled plans for a spacecraft and rocket project that intends to put intelligent life on Mars: human life.
In a speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk announced that SpaceX will develop an interplanetary rocket and capsule designed to move roughly 100 people and their cargo to the red planet.
Musk said it would be a "super-exciting" adventure but also dangerous, at least initially.
Mars is located about 140 million miles from Earth and the journey takes anywhere from six-to-nine months, according to Reuters. Musk said the trek would occur around every 26 months, when the planets are favorably aligned for flight.
Gizmodo noted that Musk estimated a ticket runs about $10 billion per person right now, and he outlined four ways to make the ticket price hover between $100,000-$200,000. “The four ways include using reusable rockets; refueling the spaceship in space, and by using a methane fuel instead of traditional rocket fuels,” wrote Gizmodo. “Most excitingly, that methane fuel could be harvested on Mars itself.”
Future Mars mission departing from historic Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center https://t.co/kCtBLPbSg8 pic.twitter.com/Zvk4BNybee — SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2016
SpaceX’s first mission to Mars will be supported by NASA with a 2018 expected launch date. SpaceX will send an unmanned capsule, called Red Dragon, to the surface of Mars to “test descent, entry and landing systems,” according to Reuters.
Musk said Tuesday that Mars trips using the SpaceX interplanetary rocket and capsule could start as soon as 2023, according to Gizmodo. However, the SpaceX chief noted that this timeline, which is dependent on funding, is still in flux.
Notably, Musk’s speech comes as SpaceX reels from a recent failure after an unmanned rocket and its payload exploded two days before it was scheduled to launch. Although Musk acknowledged the heavy price tag, he hinted to overall interest some have in living on Mars.
“I know there’s a lot of people in the private sector interested in funding a trip to Mars, hopefully there will be interest in the government side as well,” he said. “Ultimately this will be a huge private-public partnership.”
Goal is 100 people on each trip, eventually more https://t.co/kCtBLPbSg8 pic.twitter.com/wbXJ6AeWyl — SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2016
Musk’s vision includes roughly 1 million people sent to live on Mars, according to NPR.
Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, a non-profit organization that aims to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades, told FoxNews.com that he wants to see more specifics on Musk’s plan. “Elon Musk has an amazing vision for the future of Mars and I am sure it will inspire millions about the future of space exploration,” he said, via email. “Based on the enormous scale of this plan, I really want to hear more details on how he will overcome many significant technical challenges (particularly in the timeframe he suggests) - and more details on how it will be funded. Those are no small challenges.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.I just want to start off with by saying that I am a fan of Tommy Hanson. I've followed his career since the mythical AA no-hitter, his anointment as baseball Jesus in his tenure in the Arizona Fall League, to the day he was called up to the big leagues, and began striking out big leaguers like they were little leaguers. But there's really no way to sugar coat it, so I'm going to get straight to the point: 2012 was Tommy Hanson's worst big league season, ever. And we as Braves fans have legitimate reason to be concerned about the pitcher we all imagined would become the eventual ace of the Braves' pitching staff.
In just about every single meaningful statistical category, Tommy Hanson's 2012 numbers were either his worst ever, or at least, a noticeable decline from a year ago. The only statistic where Hanson actually improved upon was the ever-so meaningful pitcher wins stat, where Hanson notched a career-best 13 wins on the season. Unfortunately, Tommy was 12-5 at one point, before going 1-5 to end the season at 13-10. Fortunately, a lot of us here at the Chop don't really care about the pitching W-L numbers, but unfortunately as a result, we're throwing the one positive stat out the window.
Otherwise, name a stat, and Tommy Hanson's 2012 numbers aren't pretty. Off the bat, Hanson allowed 761 batters to hit.271/.344/.464 (.808 OPS) off of him, which is the worst slash line he's ever allowed. Additionally, he had a career-worst 4.48 ERA and allowed a career-high 183 hits including 27 home runs and 71 walks. To make matters worse, this was done in a span of 174.2 innings; this was all worse than when he pitched in 28 more innings in 2010.
Going into some of the advanced stat categories, reveal mostly all negative as well; his 8.30 K/9 is a steep decline from a year prior, and his 3.66 BB/9 is a career-worst. 1.39 HR/9 is also a career-worst, as is his 1.45 WHIP. Across the board with his rate numbers, every single one of these is worse than his career averages.
Tommy's groundball-flyball ratio was a slight tick up, but still close to his career average of 0.99 GB/FB. But line drives were a career-high 20.7%, and as anyone who watched his starts should guess, his HR/FB rate was also a career-high at 13.5%. Regardless, the ERA is hardly a lie, because his FIP of 4.57, SIERA of 4.10 and tERA of 4.91 all also say similarly about his performance.
In terms of value, fWAR (Fangraphs) valued Tommy Hanson at 1.0 fWAR on the season; which is his career lowest value. Baseball-Reference's WAR (bWAR) is far less generous, as they do not account for FIP, and once again, Tommy measures in at a career-worst -0.6 bWAR on 2012.
To make matters worse, not that Tommy Hanson is expected to be a stalwart with the baseball bat by any means, but not to be ignored in the laundry list of things that went wrong for Tommy in 2012, is his batting line of.020/.059/.020. This was tremendously bad, even for pitcher standards. With one single out of 61 plate appearances, Hanson's.020 batting average and slugging percentage was the worst amongst all pitchers in the National League, and by some miraculous divine intervention, the fact that Tommy managed to nurse out two walks makes his OBP of.059 just second-worst in the league, nudging out Mark Buehrle's.049 OBP. To put some of this in perspective, there were six pitchers in the American League that managed to slap a second hit in under 10 plate appearances during Interleague.
So we've established the fact that Tommy Hanson did not have a good 2012 season. But now we would all like to know why. The good news is that just about anyone who watched Tommy Hanson's starts are going to know just as well as everyone who is simply examining the numbers.
Inconsistencies! On a month-by-month basis, Tommy Hanson's numbers and performances are absolutely maddening. Delving into his splits reveals parts of the season were Hanson is striking out guys like we expect out of Hanson, but is also either allowing too many walks, home runs, or both. Tommy notched a 3.00 ERA in June, but had an un-Tommy-like 6.25 K/9 and still allowed a staggering 2.27 HR/9. In August, Tommy got that HR/9 down to a diminutive 0.57 HR/9, but then ended up walking guys at a 4.02 BB/9 clip. It's like on a monthly basis, Tommy would try to correct the prior month's biggest issue, but then in the process of fixing the dam, another one would crack and leak the next month.
Home runs. As mentioned above, Tommy Hanson allowed a career-worst 27 dingers in 2012. How many of you watched Tommy Hanson starts and thought "man, Tommy cruises through the game, but then gives up these crucial late-game home runs before getting pulled?" If you're like me, then probably pretty often. Hanson starts never felt that comfortable unless the Braves padded him with big leads, which wasn't always that often, because of his propensity of giving up the long ball this season. Here's the breakdown by which innings Tommy gave up homers this season:
1st 5 2nd 1 3rd 2 4th 9 5th 3 6th 6 7th 1
So if your eye test thought that he gave up too many late-game homers, then you would correct. The worst part about all these homers. The fourth inning was clearly Hanson's biggest issue, followed by the sixth inning; the interesting thing about all those first-inning home runs, most of them came via the Washington Nationals, who apparently have in their book to attempt to ambush Hanson every time they saw him. The worst part about a lot of the late-inning home runs is that so many of them were in games where Hanson appeared to be pitching well enough, and managing his base-runners to a minimal worry. But then one of those later innings turns into scenarios where a walk or a single suddenly turns into a multi-run homer, and all of Hanson's numbers suffer subsequently.
And the biggest culprit of them all, decrease in velocity. It didn't take a genius to realize that across the board, Tommy Hanson's entire repertoire of pitches were all noticeably slower this year than they were at any point of his career. When he was called up, Hanson would routinely sit around 92-93 on his fastball, but in 2012, his average fastball velocity according to Fangraphs sat at 89.7 mph. It's no secret that a slower pitch is an easier pitch to hit, so it's safe to assume that just about all of his statistical woes stem from this problem. At 26-years old going into 2013, this is the kind of decrease in velocity that nobody wants to see this early in his career. If this pattern of decreasing velocity continues, then he could very well be pitching at around the same velocity as Paul Maholm. And nobody wants that.
Personally, I'm giving Tommy Hanson's woes the benefit of doubt that 2012 was also a season of the nagging injury. From the very start of Spring Training, there was the incident where Tommy Hanson was in a car collision, resulting in a concussion; as supposedly less-severe sounding that
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released a new working paper showing how arbitrary border decisions have affected war and civil unrest in Africa, particularly among split ethnic groups and their neighbors. Not surprisingly, the length of a conflict and its casualty rate is 25 percent higher in areas where an ethnicity is divided by a national border as opposed to areas where ethnicities have a united homeland. Examples of divided (and conflicted) groups are the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, and the Anyi of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The conflict rate is also higher for people living in areas close to ethnic-partitioned hot-spots.
Here’s the abstract:
We examine the long-run consequences of the scramble for Africa among European powers in the late 19th century and uncover the following empirical regularities. First, using information on the spatial distribution of African ethnicities before colonization, we show that borders were arbitrarily drawn. Apart from the land mass and water area of an ethnicity’s historical homeland, no other geographic, ecological, historical, and ethnic-specific traits predict which ethnic groups have been partitioned by the national border. Second, using data on the location of civil conflicts after independence, we show that partitioned ethnic groups have suffered significantly more warfare; moreover, partitioned ethnicities have experienced more prolonged and more devastating civil wars. Third, we identify sizeable spillovers; civil conflict spreads from the homeland of partitioned ethnicities to nearby ethnic regions. These results are robust to a rich set of controls at a fine level and the inclusion of country fixed effects and ethnic-family fixed effects. The uncovered evidence thus identifies a sizable causal impact of the scramble for Africa
on warfare.
Using a 1959 ethnic homeland map from ethnolinguist George Peter Murdock, the authors studied African conflicts from 1970 – 2005 (the “post-independence period”) and found that “civil conflict is concentrated in the historical homeland of partitioned ethnicities.” Colonial powers paid attention only to size and water — everything else that defines a nation state as we know it was disregarded. In short, the arbitrary borders of an entire continent have caused untold bloodshed and misery that could have been avoided. The authors conclude:Q. Dogs have such exquisite olfactory abilities; do they also possess a superior ability to taste things?
A. Their sense of smell may outweigh their sense of taste.
Dogs indeed have 60 times as many smell receptors as humans do, said Dr. Ann Hohenhaus of the Animal Medical Center in New York, and they have 40 times as much brainpower dedicated to smell, allowing them to differentiate 30,000 to 100,000 aromas.
“Thus, in dogs,” she said, “smell is likely the driving force behind food preferences and at least part of the reason dogs wolf down their food without savoring a bite.” She added that dogs had about 1,700 taste buds, compared with about 9,000 in humans — another suggestion that the chemical reaction in the taste buds may be less important to dogs.
A dog’s sense of taste is present at birth but takes several weeks to develop fully, she said. The taste buds are programmed to distinguish amino acids, the building blocks of protein. “While it has been reported that dogs possess taste receptors for salt, sweet, bitter and sour,” she said, “dogs generally prefer meat or meat-flavored foods.”Oh no! You’ve had a break and now your nails are super short. What to do? Well I’m in the same boat for the moment, so hopefully I can bring some decent nub nail art to you for the next couple weeks. Today I have a simple sponged gradient using Zoya Ling and Wednesday. I topped it with Marbles For Polish Blue Hawaiian and in the last two pictures I used Fresh Paint matte top coat.
I really love these colors together! I think Blue Hawaiian goes really well with a lot of different polishes. I love that it’s still a little twinkly under the matte top coat and really blingy with the glossy one. I can’t wait to show you what else I’ve got planned for my short nails!
AdvertisementsCopyright Enforcement Company Uses Sketchy Algorithms And Questionable Math In Hopes Of Becoming Copyright Trolls' Go-To Resource
from the DOES-NOT-COMPUTE dept
Stephen Moignard lives a quiet life in the Coonawarra wine district in South Australia, tending his vineyard and small wine company, the Hundred of Comaum.
He also beavers away until 4am most mornings writing software for a new business venture which he’s hoping will be a global winner in the internet age.
It detects breaches of international copyright on millions of websites and produces almost instantaneous legal letters of demand.
Shallow scan: (stage one)
Found with string: "Cartier gained notoriety in 1904 when Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch" on search page: 0
amongst total results of: 16 (weighted value: 1.6)
with snippet: "Cartier gained notoriety in 1904 when Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch for aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. This famous timepiece was known as the..."
Recorded on Plfer search page:fragrantica.com (in full:fragrantica.com/designers/Cartier.html)
This string was number: 16 on the page.
It has an improbability weighting of: 520.
The infringement has a duration of: 708 days.
The Plfer score is:-1741.
The complexity of the string of text, the time between the earliest and later dates and the total number of copies in existence can be used to create a score (plfer score)(10).
The lower the number (or the larger the negative number) the more serious the breach.
After a deep scan, the plfer score is updated with many more known factors. A shallow scan plfer score should not be solely relied upon to issue infringement notices.
Using both of these, Plfer arrives at this conclusion:
The plferer earned 1164 points which is greater than the score required to amount to an 'actionable infringement'.
Plfer differs from other online copyright service providers in that it takes no pecuniary interest in any of the copyright infringements it uncovers. It does not become a party to any of the cases it reveals but merely assists to provide evidence, pro-forma documents and "wizards" for users and their advisors.
The total value of fragrantica is $ 2,389,600 according to Alexa.com and WorthOfWeb.com. We have calculated the plferee's actual losses as follows:
Our daily advertising income is valued at a minimum of $3314. The proportion of our site contained in parentalstyle.wordpress.com is 5.51%, giving a proportionate advertising revenue loss of $182.60 per day.
The value of this loss over 708 days is therefore $129280.8 USD. Applying a penalty multiplier of 5 times gives a total fair and just actual damages amount of $646,404.00 USD. A standard fee for enforcing an infringement of this nature and degree is $1,998.00 USD.
The total amount payable is therefore $1,998.00 + $646,404.00 = $648,402.00 USD.
Plferer Alexa ranking: 15,105,799
Plferer value: 64
Plferee Alexa ranking: 8,185
Plferee value: 2389600
Duration (years): + 1.94
Penalty: + 646404.00
Fee: + 1998.00
Total: + 648,402.00
[C]opyright, like all intellectual property rights, is an incentive device, designed to elicit more of certain kinds of 'learning' or knowledge creation and certain kinds of knowledge processing by government, rather than being any fundamental sort of moral right...
For instance, Mike Masnick at TechDirt says:
"People copy stuff all the time, because it's a natural and normal thing to do. People make copies because it's convenient and it serves a purpose -- and quite often they know that doing so causes no harm in those situations."
There are a raft of similar postings by annonymous file-sharing fans such as Enigmax [TorrentFreak], who argues that all information should be free and authors should not receive anything.
Plfer stands in total opposition to the Enigmaxs and Mike Masnick's of this world, and can prove that the technology that makes copying easy also makes prosecuting infringers just as easy.
Digital 'internet' transmissions have obviously increased the risk that copyrighted works will be'reproduced' and 'distributed' in violation of the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners. Copyright law, however, has withstood attacks from other developing media.
Specifically, copyright has coped with the invention of broadcast media, copy machines, and the video cassette recorder, and technology is assisting copyright law to step up again today.
Its developers’ are assuming that the sheer volume of infringements will enable it to generate significant income despite offering these services at a fraction of the cost of equivalent legal advice.
With the increasingly commercial nature of all aspects of the public internet and the "monetisation" of site traffic via ubiquitous advertising services such as Google™ AdSense™ and other variants, it is difficult to argue any part of the internet is truly "non-commercial" and so the application of the "fair use" defence would seem to remain limited.
Yet another person thinks there's money to be made (albeit indirectly) in the copyright trolling business. (h/t to the Cyberlaw and Policy Blog Moignard survived the turn-of--century dotcom bust. He used to have a successful company that installed high-speed internet connections in office buildings, but his fortunes crashed with many others in the early 2000s.Now, he's looking to make some money by using an algorithm to hunt down "substantially similar" text across multiple websites and serve demand letters to alleged copyright infringers. His new business is called Plfer, and its detection algorithm bears many similarities to commercial plagiarism detection software, albeit with a few tweaks that allow it to bypass web formatting and other obstacles that might throw off comparisons.Moignard designates "victims" as "Plferees" and those using words written by others as "Plferers." At the site, you can view scans requested by site visitors, along with some very sketchy math used to determine potential damages. (Bad news for those of you who block Java by default: nearly the entire site is Java, so you'll be greeted with nothing but a banner. Incredibly annoying, but presumably there to prevent people like me from copying and pasting Moignard's words and thus becoming one of those pesky "Plferers.")One such example of sketchy math and questionable algorithms involves perfume site Fragrantica and some short-lived Wordpress blog. Somehow, the use of Cartier-related words adds up to more than $600,000 in potential damages. [ pdf link to printed report The report contains a lot of cool-sounding "weights" and "scores," all of which are presumably part of Plfer's proprietary algorithm.The Plfer score is explained on the " Getting Started " page:The last sentence makes no sense, but there it is. "Actionable infringement" doesn't need a score. Either it's infringement or it isn't, and much of what gets highlighted by Plfer's "Deep Scan" seems to be nothing but language that would be common to two sites covering the same subject matter. Here's a screenshot from one Plfer report on two SEO/web design companies' websites."Substantially similar" phrases include "understanding... signals algorithmically" and "reach your audience." For the two sites noted above, the "substantially similar" wording contains phrases that would be common acrossCartier biographical information. ("…")Finding matching phrases and keywords across two marketing sites and claiming it's copyright infringement is a bit like looking over the resume of someone applying for the same position as you and claiming the similar buzzwords and job descriptions are due to your competitor reading over your shoulder.Now, we get to the really fun stuff: potential damages. These numbers are key to Plfer's success. Plfer charges very minimal fees. "Deep Scans" and "Shallow Scans" run $1/per plus $0.85 in fees. There will presumably be small fees for demand letters and other forms, but the site is still in beta and no pricing is available. Plfer, notably, doeswant a cut of recovered damages, which doesn't make it so much a copyright troll as a copyright troll facilitator. From Moignard's advertorial PDF " 2015 - the end of copyright? Plfer may not partake of any damages recovered, but it still needs to sell its services. And when a scan returns an amount in the low hundreds, it still looks like a bargain because the infringed party only spent a few bucks in return for this "evidence" of "actionable infringement." (The PDF quoted above also hints at Plfer entering into mutually-beneficial contracts with IP-oriented law firms, but there appears to be nothing in place at the moment.)In the case of Fragrantica, the potential damages are. Here's the "math" behind the massive number.That's some, um,math, especially when the "plifering" site ranks 14 million places lower than the "victim" and would probably never surface in a search for Cartier products -- which would seem to make itdifficult to claim damages. Sure, Fragrantica could pursue this payout and present Plfer's proprietary Alexa math to a judge, but the numbers cited here as mathematically sound are actually beyond the point of speculative.Going beyond the sketchy math, there's the reality of the situation. Has anyone ever made money going after "scrapers," who "republish" posts of others in their entirety and whose sites contain 100% infringing material? Of course not. Smaller infringements like these -- which are closer to plagiarism than copyright infringement -- won't be moneymakers either. Plfer might have limited success selling $1 scans to the curious and litigiously stupid, but it's not going to change the face of copyright enforcement, much less supplant Moignard's vineyard as his primary moneymaker.So, why is Moignard doing this? Well, according to his own statements, it appears to be some sort of crusade against the internet's "devaluing" of copyright-protected content. In the FAQ, under the heading "Is copyright evil?," Moignard first points out that copyrightright...... before going on to make this a moral issue by quoting two supposed copyright opponents (at least one of which will be very familiar to Techdirt readers)...... and summing it up by claiming the high ground.He also presents the copyright industry's attitude towards technological advancement in a far better light than it deserves, while simultaneously portraying innovation as an "attack" on rightholders. (From the "End of copyright" PDF.)Yeah, if by "coped" you mean "pushed for favorable legislation" and "sued endlessly." That's not coping. That's finally relenting to the inevitable because you've exhausted all your options Plfer is positioning itself as a "volume" business, making money from quantity rather than quality.This puts it in the same group as copyright trolls like Malibu Media and Prenda Law, even if it doesn't directly benefit from settlements and awarded damages. What it hopes to do is become the starting point for aspiring copyright trolls, using questionable algorithms and damage assessments. It even wants to further limit fair use protections -- again, by using some questionable rationalizations.Fair use isn't limited to non-commercial enterprises. This misconception refuses to die, and self-proclaimed copyright enforcers like Plfer are doing their best -- either out of spite or ignorance -- to keep it alive. You can make money and still avail yourself of the fair use defense.Plfer is a mess. Moignard may be ambitious, but his "solution" to small-time infringement will either become another also-ran or the tool of copyright trolls. There's nothing here that doesn't point to either of these two outcomes.
Filed Under: automated threat letters, copyright, copyright troll, copyright trolling, damages, dmca, infringement detection, plagiarism, stephen moignard
Companies: plferThe iPhone is a revolutionary handset. But it is also the key to a virtual gold mine – the iTunes App Store, where independent developers can become multimillionaires in just a year.
Since its launch in July, the App Store has grown to become an indie developer's dream come true. Steve Demeter, developer of the vastly popular $5 iPhone game Trism, announced he made $250,000 in profit in just two months. His team? Himself, mainly, with a little bit of help from a friend and a contracted designer (whom he paid $500). If his profits continue at this rate, Demeter will earn nearly $2 million by July 2009.
"I
really didn't think about the money," Demeter said in a phone interview with Wired.com. "I got an e-mail from a lady who's like, a 50-year-old woman who says, 'I do not play games, but I love Trism.' That's what I did it for."
What's more, Demeter initially released Trism as a free native application in the Jailbreak community – meaning it was a game that users could play only if they hacked their iPhones. The prospects of making money were uncertain, but Demeter had a vision: He knew iPhone apps would get big once Apple released a software developer kit to allow third-party apps on the handset, and he wanted to get in on the platform early.
Though Demeter's success was fortuitous, he said he expects other applications to see similar numbers. He said the factors that made Trism stand out were unique gameplay (Trism is essentially a version of Bejeweled using the iPhone's accelerometer), high replay value and an online leaderboard that creates community. He said applications with great content will sell themselves, and that's ultimately what other developers need to focus on, too.
In a sense, the App Store, despite its corporate ties, has created an open market where developers can strike it rich with minimal resources – even out of a garage – so long as they possess the talent and the time.
Bart Decrem, CEO of Tapulous, would agree. His company's free application Tap Tap Revenge, a music-rhythm game that utilizes the iPhone's touch screen and accelerometer, hit a milestone of 1,000,000 downloads just two weeks after its launch. As of this writing there are 1.75
million users who have downloaded Tap Tap Revenge, according to Decrem, and the company expects that number to grow to 2,000,000 by next week.
As for profits, Tapulous just recently began inserting advertisements in the game, and the company also has plans to release a premium version that will cost money.
Decrem was mum to disclose profit numbers, but Demeter estimates that any top iPhone app is making its company roughly $5,000 to $10,000 a day.
Decrem's recipe for success with Tap Tap is similar to Trism's: Paying attention to detail; keeping the app engaging and alive with various forms of gameplay; and relying on those two factors to spread popularity with an old-fashioned marketing method – word of mouth. Similar to* Trism, Tap
Tap Revenge* was also an app that initially emerged in the Jailbreak community, and it spawned a loyal following there before breaking out into the broader market with the launch of the App Store.
Decrem, whose initial team was only four people including himself, said he views the
App Store as an exciting new landscape, as opposed to today's overcrowded world of dot-coms.
"I think it's a very interesting space, and it's very reminiscent of the early days of the web in terms of the amount of green fields and opportunity," Decrem said in a phone interview. "You really don't need a huge amount of capital. You need attention to detail and product, and that's going to keep increasing."
Not all App Store success stories started out with the iPhone in mind. Design by a Knife CEO Austin Sarner's story is a bit different from Demeter's and Decrem's. Sarner built his reputation as a coder who had developed popular Mac applications in the past: App
Zapper and Disco. He didn't even think about developing an iPhone app until much later in the game, he says.
Good thing he did: Sarner's $3 application, Pennies, a budgeting tool, was the 12th most popular in the App Store at one point.
Sarner echoes the idea that great content – not marketing – is what drives App Store success.
"You can come up with a generic idea, but implement it properly and you really are going to stand out," Sarner said in a phone interview.
"Basically everybody's on the same level once they submit an iPhone app. Unlike traditional marketing, there's no ad campaign: A user just sees what he sees in the iPhone store, and the applications kind of have to sell themselves to some extent."
All three of these developers – big fish in a small pond, if you will – have plans for future iPhone applications as well.
"I
have a sense of a bigger picture," Demeter said. "The community that has spread within *Trism – *the amount of people that use forum accounts and create a sense of community – I want to keep making great games, games people want to play."
Updated: 11 a.m., Sept. 23: Demeter provided documentation to Wired.com confirming his earnings.
__Also see: __
(Photo courtesy Steve Demeter)
(Screenshot credit: Wired.com, nwistheone/Flickr, Sigalkos/Flickr)FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2015 file photo, Monarch butterflies perch on a twig at the Piedra Herrada sanctuary, near Valle del Bravo, Mexico. The number of Monarch butterflies that reached wintering grounds in Mexico has rebounded 69 percent from last year’s lowest-on-record levels, but their numbers remain very low, according to a formal census by Mexican environmental authorities and scientists released Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File) The Associated Press
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The number of Monarch butterflies that reached wintering grounds in Mexico has rebounded 69 percent from last year's lowest-on-record levels, but their numbers remain very low, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Last year, the Monarchs covered only 1.65 acres (0.67 hectares), the smallest area since record-keeping began in 1993.
This year, the butterflies rebounded, to cover 2.79 acres (1.13 hectares), according to a formal census by Mexican environmental authorities and scientists released Tuesday.
The orange-and-black butterflies are suffering from loss of milkweed habitat in the United States, illegal logging in Mexico and climate change. Each year, the butterflies make a migration from Canada to Mexico and find the same pine and fir forests to spend the winter, even though no butterfly lives to make the round trip.
"Of course it is good news that the forest area occupied by Monarchs this season increased," said Omar Vidal, head of the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico. "But let*s be crystal clear, 1.13 hectares is very, very low, and it is still the second-smallest forest surface occupied by this butterfly in 22 years of monitoring."
At their peak in 1996, the Monarchs covered more than 44.5 acres (18 hectares) in the mountains west of Mexico City.
Lincoln Brower, a leading entomologist at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, has said that with anything below 2 hectares (4.1 acres), "they will remain in the danger category and I will continue to be concerned. " A population covering 4 or 5 hectares (9 to 12 acres) would be a sign of significant recovery, he added.
The butterfly population has plummeted before, and then partially recovered.
In 2001, driving rain and bitter cold killed millions, leading scientists to speculate that migrating populations would be seriously depleted in 2002. To their surprise, twice as many returned as some had predicted.
In 2004, unfavorable weather, pollution and deforestation caused a drastic decline in the population, but the next year, the butterflies bounced back.
But the overall tendency since 1993 points to a steep, progressive decline. Each time the Monarchs rebound, they do so at lower levels. The species is found in many countries and is not in danger of extinction, but experts fear the migration could be disrupted if very few butterflies make the trip.
The temperate climate of the mountains west of Mexico City normally creates an ideal setting for the Monarchs. Every fall, tens of millions of the delicate creatures fly thousands of miles to their ancestral breeding grounds, creating clouds of butterflies. They clump together on trees, forming chandelier shapes of orange and black.
The migration is an inherited trait: No butterfly lives to make the full round trip, and it is unclear how they find the route back to the same patch of forest each year. Some scientists suggest the butterflies may release chemicals marking the migratory path and fear that if their numbers fall too low, the chemical traces will not be strong enough for others to follow.
Extreme cold and drought also hurt butterfly populations, and in Mexico, illegal logging can punch holes in the forest canopy that shelters them, creating a situation in which cold rainfall could kill millions.
Vidal said Mexico has been able to essentially stop illegal logging in the Monarch protected reserve, but he said habitat loss in the United States remains a huge problem. Milkweed, the butterflies' main source of food has been crowded out by pesticide-resistant crops.
"The question we should all be asking now" is whether the U.S. can halt the loss of milkweed habitat, he said.College of Lore
fluff and lore, instead of rules and damage. (Which I'm a huge advocate for, evidenced by the Non-Combat Magical Item Series, First up is the College of Lore. I've only recently heard about this site, but it seems like a very cool place to find homebrew lore written by the community there. I love it because it is heavily focused onand lore, instead of rules and damage. (Which I'm a huge advocate for, evidenced by the Non-Combat Magical Item Series, Article 1 Article 2, and Article 3 ).
I highly recommend that you check it out. You can also contribute if you're interested.
RK's D&D Treasure Generator
I really love this treasure generator. It's very customizable, and even includes a section for generating spellbooks. This is definitely the best treasure generator for hoards that I've ever seen.
One thing I really take advantage of is the "Chance of Item Quirk" setting. As a DM I often never knew when to give an item a quirk, this makes it easy.
Javascript DDNext Character Generator
Lastly is this character generator from Pathguy. It's a little rough around the edges, and fairly slow running, but it is a great tool to create a player character (or NPC built like a player character) in a pinch. There are many options, some of which would be considered homebrew, but it can definitely help in making a character quickly without having to flip through the Player's Handbook too much.
Our last Online Tools Saturday Grab Bag was popular, so here is a sequel. All of these tools are designed with 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons in mind, but could likely be adapted to any by a crafty Dungeon Master.Former HLN host Nancy Grace is no stranger to pro wrestling fans as her show covered various wrestling related deaths over the years. Most recently, wrestling fans called for Nancy's show to be canceled back in 2014 when she brought on Diamond Dallas Page for an interview and tried tying all wrestler deaths to steroid use. Page later told RadarOnline that Grace ambushed him:
"I was asked to go on her show and talk about Warrior the man. I was even given bullet points from her producers about the topics we would discuss. After seeing the topics which were pretty basic. I felt it would be great to go on and discuss the legend he was and how I got to know him. With that being said, I wanted to share a story that when Warrior came back to wrestling back in the WCW days he sat myself and Bill Goldberg down and said he was watching all the fun we were having and wanted to be a part of it again. To hear him tell me that was the coolest thing. The Ultimate Warrior returning to wrestling because he was watching our stuff? How awesome is that! Fast Forward 18 years later to this past weeks WWE Hall of Fame speech. I mean The guy gave my DDP YOGA a shout out like four times during his speech simply because he was happy it was helping people and obviously he didn't have to do that. It just goes to show the man he was. What hurts is the fact that I couldn't say thank you to him for it. I went looking for him but couldn't find him. I wanted to call him but never got the chance. That's the Warrior that I wanted to discuss on her show. However, it's clear I was ambushed. Everyone has been asking me what would I say to Nancy Grace now after she had me on. The answer is easy. I don't need to say a word. Look on all the social media sites, the fans are saying it all!! I will not change who I am because of the way others act. Its just not me. However lesson learned."
Grace, who recently left HLN, appeared on The Jim & Sam Show with Jim Norton and Sam Roberts earlier today and walked out of the interview after a heated exchange. You can see that video embedded at the top of this post. Roberts, who is a big wrestling fan, brought up Nancy's interview with DDP. The exchange that followed went like this:
Roberts: You took a lot of heat too, for the report you did when The Ultimate Warrior died and you brought on DDP the wrestler, and you were talking about wrestlers dying of steroids and drug overdoses, things like that. When steroids weren't involved in The Ultimate Warrior's death...
Grace: No they were not.
Roberts: And on the people you listed, you listed a whole bunch of wrestlers that had died before they were 40. Some of the wrestlers you listed, one of them had fallen from the ceiling, one of them had been shot, there were all these guys, all these names...
Grace: I don't think it was ever said that those guys died from steroid overdose.
Roberts: No, but you said that there's...
Grace: Early deaths and untimely deaths in wrestling history.
Roberts: But you established the argument that there's drug abuse and steroids, then you said... here's a list of wrestlers that died young. So you didn't say that's why they died...
Grace: I really believe that professional wrestlers are not protected. I think everybody gets a big kick out of watching them and whether the wrestling is real or not, people love watching it. I think that those wrestlers, those women and men that go in the ring are not protected. I don't think anybody is ever looking out for them and I think that they are used badly.
Roberts: So if that was your intention and of course I can believe you on that, you're telling me that, what goes through your mind when a lot of wrestlers see your report and come back at you with venom, saying you're not representing us, you're not telling our story and what you're portraying isn't happening.
Grace: Then I'm sorry they feel that way.
Roberts: That's the way most wrestlers responded. The wrestlers that were on your show, Diamond Dallas Page, who was on your show, was furious. I don't know if you remember, about coming on your show. He said he came on under false pretenses.
Grace: I do remember. I thought he was a perfect gentleman, he could not have been nicer. And I don't want him to feel bad. I feel bad that he feels bad. But the fact remains, in the wrestling industry there is a very high occurrence of untimely deaths for a lot of different reasons. I feel it's the industry's fault. I don't think these guys and women, but mostly guys are the ones dying inordinately young, I don't think that they are told all the risks of what they're getting into.
Roberts: So when the people you advocate for when you're saying this, this is your intention to advocate for these people. When the people you're advocating for come to you and say, "we don't need you doing that for us, we don't like what you're doing, don't do it."
Grace: I've rarely had that happen.
Roberts: It happened in this case.
Grace: Yes it did, with that wrestler. He did not like the way the show went.
Roberts: And most wrestlers that watched that...
Grace: I disagree with you.
Roberts: I talk to wrestlers all the time...
Grace: I know you talk to wrestlers all the time and you have talked to several wrestlers that said that but that does not mean most wrestlers.
Roberts: A huge amount.
Grace: So, the fact that you have talked to some wrestlers that said that, I hear you, I respect that and I am sorry they feel that way. I really don't know what else you want me to say.
Norton continued to grill Grace about how she covers stories. She accused them of not liking her and talks about how she feels comfortable with her show and how she represents crime victims. Grace said:
"I'm sorry the wrestlers feel that way but the truth is that a huge amount of wrestlers die at a young age, for a lot of different reasons, and that is what that screen was for. Now if you or somebody else interpreted it a different way, I feel bad about that."
Nancy then commented that the hosts didn't ask one decent question from the time she walked in, accusing them of attacking her. They did promote her new TV show and her book but after some more back and forth, Grace walked out of the interview.Show following the lives of four twentysomethings post-college has been picked up for 10 more episodes.
Who run HBO? "Girls"! Well, at least they will for one more season. The Lena Dunham-created dramedy for the cable network has been renewed for a 10-episode second season.
The show, in which Dunham also stars alongside Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet, follows the lives of four twentysomethings as they navigate love, life and their careers in New York City post-college. Judd Apatow serves as an executive producer on the show.
The show, currently knee-deep in its first season, debuted on April 15 to lots of buzz and hype. To date, the Huffington Post reports, the show has averaged 3.8 million viewers, per HBO.
The young women on the show portray four very different Big Apple lasses. There's Williams' type-A gallery assistant, Marnie; Kirke's flighty, free-spirited Jess; Mamet's prissy, virginal college student, Shoshanna; and, of course, Hannah, played by Dunham, the show's main protagonist, a writer who talks a lot about her memoir without having actually done very much to get it off the ground and continues to rely on her parents for money.
"I would describe Hannah as a well-meaning but often trouble-making 24-year-old girl living in New York. She wants to be a writer but she doesn't realize in order to do that she actually has to write," Dunham explained to MTV News about her small-screen persona. "Despite being plucky, her circumstances aren't always going her way, so it's about some of those challenges for her. She loves to eat and dance alone in her room."The male suspects, including a 17-year-old, have each been charged in connection with the attack in Ballard that resulted in the victim being hospitalized for more than a month.
The beating lasted 45 seconds.
In a flurry of fists and feet, three young men pummeled, kicked and stomped a 36-year-old man after he stepped off a Metro RapidRide D Line bus on 15th Avenue Northwest in Ballard just after midnight April 5, according to court records and footage captured by video-surveillance cameras on the bus.
The victim suffered life-threatening intracranial bleeding and a fractured eye socket and will likely suffer long-term disability, say the first-degree-assault charges filed against his alleged assailants.
He was released from Harborview Medical Center on Tuesday, more than a month after he was admitted, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg.
The man, who apparently is homeless, did not respond to an interview request relayed by Gregg.
Charles “Dean” Stokes, 17, was arrested about 20 minutes after the attack, a half-mile south from the bus stop where the 36-year-old was attacked, say the charges.
Stokes, who has been charged as an adult with first-degree assault, remains jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail. Prosecutors are also reviewing another assault case against Stokes, who is suspected of punching another bus rider in the face in early March, breaking the man’s nose, according to charges filed in the April 5 incident.
A second suspect, Kulani Shintani, was arrested eight days later at his Ballard apartment, where his mother identified him from images taken from the surveillance video, say the charges. Shintani, 19, is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
King County sheriff’s detectives identified the third suspect, 22-year-old Duane Jack Jr., through police records and social media that connected him to Stokes, say the charges. Another bus rider who witnessed the beating positively identified Jack as one of the assailants, and Jack’s case manager and the director of a social-services program for youth also identified him from the bus footage, charging papers say.
He is also jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail.
The sheriff’s office provides police services to Metro Transit, which is why the agency is in charge of the assault investigation.
The Seattle Times obtained the video of the April 5 beating from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office through a public-disclosure request. However, the newspaper is not posting the video to protect the victim’s identity.
One assailant is heard on the video accusing the victim of trying to sexually assault a friend, but a possible motive for the attack isn’t mentioned in charging documents.
On the video, which shows footage from seven cameras, the victim is seated in the row closest to the middle door of the coach. Nearly eight minutes into the video, three young men are seen boarding the bus on Holman Road Northwest and Mary Avenue Northwest.
One man, in a black hoodie, says “hi” to the victim as he and the others head to
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hit on a theme that still resonates today. What role do spies serve in a world without the Soviet Union? In a world where they are possibly irrelevant? Unfortunately, every Brosnan Bond film after Goldeneye floundered trying to find its footing. Daniel Craig’s Bond found it by taking on threats that present more of a personal crisis for him. There is less of an emphasis on saving western civilization with Craig’s Bond.
Aesthetically the Bond movies are almost a time capsule. Ken Adam’s villanious lairs from the Connery films still look as fresh and exciting as they did 50 years ago. I would, without hesitation, live on Dr. No’s island as imagined by Ken Adam. Other visual elements have not aged quite as well. Sean Connery’s baby blue terrycloth “playsuit” or George Lazenby’s ruffled shirt and kilt from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service spring to mind.
The Craig Bond films have done a fine job presenting James Bond as a stylish man of his era without venturing too far into the ruffled tuxedo territory. That's not to say there aren't things that scream 2000s menswear. Just look at Bond’s massive Omega watch, rectangular sunglasses and linen shirt with epaulettes in Casino Royale. Those are the telltale looks of 2006. Particularly the epaulettes. Why did we ever think those were a good idea?
That said let's take a look at some of the defining looks from Craig's Bond era as well as the classic James Bond watch.
“You’re a kite dancing in a hurricane” – Spectre
I’ve tried to remain completely unspoiled when it comes to Spectre. I’ve seen the trailers but that’s about it. I’ll be able to get a better grasp of the outfits and how they tie into the plots and environments after I’ve seen the film. In the meantime I wanted to see if I had anything in my closet that gets close to what I’ve seen in the trailers.
My favorite outfit is Bond’s cableknit turtleneck from his meeting with Mr. White in the first trailer. Between this and Gap’s ad with Michael K. Williams last year I think turtlenecks are going to hit the mainstream in a big way. I’ve never really found them to be a good look for me but shawl necks can make a nice substitute.
Sweater – Weatherproof, $50
Jacket – H&M Cropped Pea Coat, $75 Similar – Old Navy, $75
Jeans – J.Crew Driggs – $40 Similar – Buffalo, $50
Boots – ASOS Engineer Boots $125 Similar – River Island, $116
Watch – Tiger Concepts 16800 on NATO Strap, $150
Scotland in Skyfall
Bond wasn’t always Scottish. Ian Fleming originally imagined the character as having much the same background as himself. That is to say so English as to be a stereotype. Connery's casting did not sit right with Fleming. Fleming felt Connery was too brutish to be a good Bond. After the success of Dr. No, and I imagine when the royalty checks started rolling in, Fleming changed his tune. From thereafter Bond was of Scottish descent. In Skyfall there is a deliberate attempt made to visually return Bond to his roots. So much so that the groundskeeper of the Skyfall estate, Kincade, was originally written for Sean Connery. While that's almost a bit too on the nose, the inclusion of Scotland, and the Aston Martin DB-5 returned Bond to his roots on many levels.
Probably the most striking item from the Skyfall look is Bond’s Barbour jacket. Barbour has been making waxed cotton jackets for generations of dwellers of the English countryside and they usually wind up being passed down with the land. These things are built to last. For a costume designer it is the perfect jacket to play into the mood of a gloomy Scottish day. They show that Bond belongs in his surroundings. Skyfall and Scotland are not his home anymore but he can still use it to his advantage. They are still a place of power for him. Compare that to Javier Bardem's look as Silva. With his black turtleneck and leather jacket he looks like the perfect Bond villian. But he looks out of place in Scotland compared to Kincade and Bond. Silva's look is far too urban. If you had Bond, Kincade, and Silva in a lineup he would be easy to pick out as the interloper.
Another nice nod to Bond’s roots is Bond’s full brogue wingtip boots. They are never really highlighted on screen but they are a subtle touch. While widely considered to be dress shoes today, brogues were originally outdoor country shoes. The perforations were to allow water drain from them. Like with dive watches they became a part of acceptable business and even formal wear as time went on.
While it may not look like much, a screen accurate Skyfall outfit will run you around $8000. That’s a bit too rich for my blood. But there are other more affordable options out there for a Bond in the great Scottish outdoors look.
Jacket – Barbour Burgat – $150 on closeout. Similar – English Laundry, $80
This Barbour model is discontinued but just about any waxed cotton jacket will do.
Sweater – Old Navy, $32.50
OCDB – Old Navy, $20
Scarf – Vintage ($10) Similar – Lord and Taylor, $34
Jeans – J Crew Urban Slim, $125
Boots – DSW House Brand $80 – any dark wingtip boot will do – Stafford, $65
Watch – Tiger Concepts 16800 on a Timex Weekender strap – $150
Bond in Port Au Prince – Quantum of Solace
As we pointed out before, as Bond is sent around the world his outfit is usually tailored to match his destination. His outfit in Quantum of Solace I think serves a different purpose. In this case it is meant to invoke Daniel Craig’s resemblance to Steve McQueen. McQueen, as you probably know, is an icon of men’s style and Daniel Craig over the last 10 years has taken on a similar role.
So Bond in Port Au Prince is going for that Steve McQueen look. That means means a harrington motorcycle jacket, white trousers, and a pair of dark brown chukkas. This is an outfit just as at home in 2015 as it was in 2008 as it was in 1965 before that. Just a solid look that indicates a sense of adventure without looking like a costume.
Jacket – Barbour Burgat $150 on closeout. Harrington Jacket – Topman, $95
This is actually a bit closer to what Bond wore in QoS than in Skyfall. Any cloth Cafe Racer or Harrington style jacket will work here.
Shirt – J Crew Factory Slim Fit Polo, $23
Chinos – Gap Lived In, $40
I don't wear white pants myself so I go with khaki. Besides it’s after Labor Day an all that.
Boots – Clarks Desert Mali, $150
The Desert Mali’s are the taller version of their ever-popular Desert Boots. It features the same crepe sole and beeswax leather option. I’ve replaced the laces on mine with uncured rawhide. In my experience the laces on Clark’s usually die after about 6 months of daily wear. Rawhide ages well and the lighter color gives a nice contrast with the beeswax.
Belt – Vintage. Similar – DSTLD, $45
Watch – Orient Blue Ray, $150
The Orient Ray and Mako are watches are some of the best affordable watches out there. Their thinner profile and stylish faces mean that they can be dressed up, down and every which way in between.
James Bond's Watch
James Bond is responsible for the iconic status of the Rolex Submariner. Well, he is not entirely responsible but he played a big role. Before the Connery movies the Submariner was a tool watch used by scuba divers. They were very well regarded but weren't something that was lusted after by the general public. Only after the Bond movies did it start to make it's move upmarket. Before Bond, a “gentleman” would never have thought to worn a Submariner with a suit. It was a sports watch. But by 1968 the Submariner was intrinsically tied to James Bond. For instance, the first thing George Lazenby did when trying to land the role was buy a Submariner. And the average guy started to think “if it's good enough for Bond to wear with a suit it's good enough for me.”
Connery wore his Submariner on a too small green, red, and black single piece nylon strap. The story behind this strap is nebulous and the truth lost to time. But the story that makes the most sense to me is the budget for Dr. No did not include Bond's Rolex watch. So producer Cubby Broccoli took the Submariner off of his wrist for Connery to wear. Connery's wrist, being larger than Broccoli's would not work with the bracelet. A replacement had to quickly be found and so the Submariner on the nylon strap came to be. It was the result of not enough time and a tight budget.
With the resurgance of the NATO strap as a fashion accessory the Bond NATO came along with it. Yet, Bond never wore the black and grey “Bond NATO strap.” Connery's Rolex was on a single piece nylon strap. A NATO strap is two pieces of nylon. Lazenby, Moore, and Dalton wore a variety of Rolex and Seiko watches but never on a NATO strap. When the production made the switch to Omega watches with Goldeneye every Bond film since has seen it on a bracelet or rubber strap. That's changed with Spectre. According to the producers Spectre is a continued attempt to connect Bond to his roots. Having Craig wear a Bond NATO is a nice little nod to the nerds who have been nitpicking about this for years. He now actually wears a Bond NATO strap.
If you're like me I imagine that a vintage Rolex Submariner is a bit out of your price range. That said there are a few affordable options that will help you get that vintage Bond look for less than $200.
A Tiger Concepts JB5508 ($129) paired with a James Bond Original NATO from Cheapest Nato Straps ($7) will get you that in look. The nice thing about this model is that it won't be confused for a modern Rolex by the average person. The Original NATO from Cheapest Nato Straps is a one piece strap much like the one Connery wore.
For the Spectre look the Casio MDV-106 on a James Bond NATO strap will do the trick. At $46, the MDV-16 is Casio's affordable dive watch and is a fantastic bang for your buck. With 200m of water resistance and quartz movement it's hard to go wrong with the MDV-106 for anything outdoor related.
If you're looking for a more traditional Rolex look the Invicta 8926OB ($84) is an homage to the more modern Submariner 16800. If you like the gold and black combo of Bond's Omega in the Spectre film check out the Seiko SNZH57 ($150). It captures that retro feel with gold accents without being a direct homage.
Any time you are pulling looks from a movie it's always best to keep what the costume designer intended in mind. These are great places to start but we are not looking to do cosplay here. Add your own own spin and find out what works best for your own individual look. I'm not built like Daniel Craig so not everything he wears works on me. The most important thing is that you wear it with confidence but not like you are wearing a costume.The idea of a "viking funeral," in which a fallen warrior's remains are set out to sea and then set on fire, is somewhat of a tricky thing to explain to someone. Things only get further complicated when you find yourself explaining how, in this instance, the fallen's mile-long penis had to be filled with fireworks prior to the ceremony so that the space pirate could get his rocks off one last time. Things get even more confusing when you try to explain that what you saw was one of the most moving things you've ever witnessed. Such was the position that I found myself in following the memorial service for Dave Brockie that was held on this relatively calm Friday evening at Hadad's Lake in Richmond, Virginia.
Brockie, better known as Oderus Urungus, frontman of Gwar, passed away the previous spring as the result of an accidental heroin overdose. The dates for the 5th annual Gwar-B-Q (also held at Hadad's Lake) had just been announced and I had just pitched my idea to trek down to Richmond and take part in the day-long affair, one that features a bevy of bands, Gwar-branded beer, Gwar-branded barbecue sauce and also sports the added perk of being held at a lake tucked away on a dusty road and surrounded by clapboard houses. Following the news of Brockie's passing, I received more texts and emails offering condolences than I did for my last birthday. Oderus wasn't the first member of Gwar to leave the planet so—obviously--the show was still going to happen. Obviously.
Just what the show would entail was by a wide margin the most discussed thing by revelers at Hadad's on Friday night during the service for Brockie. Now may be a good time to point out that the general idea for the weekend was that a service would be held to honor Brockie on Friday and then on Saturday Oderus would be given his final send-off. It was hard to tell just what to expect, mostly because all of the announcements sent out by the Gwar camp prior to the festival were just about dismembering people and how the beer was going to taste like piss.
As someone who reads lots of Thor comics and also grapples with the idea of just "hanging out" versus "hanging out big time," I arrived on Friday night expecting a party. Drink a lot of beer, hear some stories and then set the boat on fire. Jello Biafra, the evening's master of ceremonies, spoke first and insisted that no one would be receiving closure this evening. Instead, he said things like "Dude, you knew better" in regards to Brockie's battle with heroin and "Dave, I hope you are somewhere throwing Abe Lincoln and Jimi Hendrix into the great meat grinder in the sky." He also brought up the recent passing of Robin Williams and tied that into Brockie's passing, saying "You and Robin are going to have a lot of fun. He needs you, man."
Randy Blythe of fellow Richmond-based band Lamb of God spoke next and delivered an incredibly moving eulogy. He spoke lovingly about his friend—his friend who rushed to his defense while he stood trial in Czech Republic on manslaughter charges. The way that Blythe clutched his beer in his hand on stage, it was clear the wound hadn't totally healed. He talked about how only Brockie could warrant two funerals, and as an outlooker it was hard to shake the notion that this wasn't the first time that Blythe has given this speech, the first being at Brockie's actual funeral service months ago. Later in the weekend, Blythe posted a photo to Instagram along with a caption that reiterated what he had said on Friday. "[W]atching his alter-ego burn tore me up way more than the first memorial, maybe because there was Dave, the human who was my friend who just "left" us—I never saw his body—& and then there was Oderus, who was something else entirely. To watch his stage gear burn was like watching part of my life literally go up in flames," he wrote.
Other speakers followed but by this point, the crowd was well on its way to tying one on. The "Killsner," the specialty brew whipped up for the festival that was supposed to taste like piss but really was a crisp American pale ale, was flowing through most veins. Away from the stages and next to the lake, Oderus Urugus's suit was laid out on a boat. The costume cut an impressive silhouette in front of the setting sun: one comprised of horns, cloved hooves and the infamous cuddlefish filled with fireworks. The sound of bagpipes filled the wooded area while the thousands gathered rushed to the edge of the lake. As Oderus floated out to sea, Slymenstra Hymen lit a torch and then fired into the sea. Upon making contact, the boat was awash in orange flames. As it built, fireworks began to spring up. A final cum shot. "It was like the pinnacle of a laugh and cry scenario. Glorious," Mark Bronzio of Iron Reagan said the next day. As Oderus's remains burned out, the crowd seemingly took the moment to gather their thoughts and offer a moment of silence. This lasted for about a nano-second as some chisler decided to dive into the lake and swim toward the boat.
On Saturday morning, I found myself walking through town looking for the shuttle buses that had been promised to take revelers out to the lake. Monroe Park, the designated pick-up zone, was awash in activity. Wide swaths of clean looking folks in fresh khaki shorts and tucked in shirts were stationed all over the park and directing cars where to park while others lugged boxes in and out of the various buildings around the park. After noticing that virtually everyone in the area was either under 21 or over 50, I quickly realized that I was standing in the middle of move-in day for incoming freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. However, off in the northeast quadrant of the park, I saw a tall dude with shoulder-length hair and a Star Wars T-shirt smoking a cigarette. I looked closer and saw another guy crossing the street. He was wearing a bucket hat, sporting a Camelbak, and also was vaping like a real asshole. As I got closer, I saw others dressed in all black. These were my people. 15 minutes later and we were on the bus.
As our bus pulled onto the dusty road that lead to Hadad's, a Gwar B-Q staffer came running out waving his arms. "Go around to the back exit with this thing. It'll be easier for dropping off and picking up," he told our driver. After executing a 56 point turn to get out of the main entrance, our bus was back on the road. When we got to the back entrance, another staffer greeted us with a "Oh, hell no. What are you doing? You can't drop people off here." Our bus came to a halt once again as did the two buses behind us and the scores of cars behind them. Some just started parking on the side of the road. Our driver got out and tried to get to the bottom of things. The vaping asshole started chirping about how he didn't give a fuck. Evidently, it was very important to him that the other five people on this bus understood just how much he didn't give a fuck. Also, his name was Carl. In the midst of it all, Philadelphia's Eat The Turnbuckle was trying to maneuver their van through the gate as they were scheduled to take the stage in less than an hour. "Fuck you and your Charles Manson shirt. Nobody cares about your band," Carl roared from the bus, because he's a coward, when one of the members of Eat The Turnbuckle who had gotten out of the van to see if staffers wouldn't open the gate for the band. As Carl continued to demonstrate his ignorance, I had a scary thought. "Are these what actual Gwar fans are like?" The night before, waiting in line for beer, folks were friendly and eager to share their stories about both Brockie and the band. Some colorful language, but nothing like this. If Carl doesn't like hardcore music or pro wrestling, then it's fine that he's not into Eat The Turnbuckle. My main issue with him was his insistence on using the word "bitch" over and over again. Look, I'm not an complete moron. I understand that to say something offended me at the Gwar B-Q makes me sound like I should be in the Hamptons and not Hadad's, but Carl wasn't a space pirate from Antartica. He wasn't wearing an elaborate rubber monster costume. He had a neckbeard. He was just a guy who thinks it's okay to call everyone a "bitch."
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't spend so much time harping on this but I heard this guy's diatribes for nearly two hours. Due to some late cancellations from Revocation and Fuckface Unstoppable, the start time was pushed back by nearly an hour. Not that anyone standing in the line waiting to get in got that announcement. We all just waited about 45 minutes longer than we had expected to. By the time, anyone got through the gates Turnbuckle was already halfway through their set. They still managed to make quite the impression. While standing in line for my first beer of the day, I craned my neck to get a glimpse of the bloody mayhem and while doing so a guy sidled up behind me to inform me that he couldn't "stomach" Turnbuckle's set. When I relayed this encounter to Jay, the lead singer, later on in the day, he laughed and said that he couldn't imagine receiving higher praise. "We're on a bill with Gwar and all these other bands, and we're the ones they can't handle? Doesn't get much better than that," he said in between pulls from his Pabst. It was 11:30 in the morning and I was standing around with five shirtless dudes covered in blood.
Bands at the Gwar B-Q played in one of two areas: it was either the large main stage erected above the dirt or it was the smaller pavilion area which normally doesn't house thrash bands. Eat The Turnbuckle performed in the latter which provided them with ample space to use their barbed wire, ladders and steel chairs. As the day progressed, the second stage became more and more the place to be. It's where Baltimore's Noisem whipped up a fresh batch of fury that included the first of many instances in which people were climbing the scaffolding to rail and exercise any demons they may have arrived with. Later on, Richmond's very own Iron Reagan, who feature members from Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse, and Darkest Hour, upped the ante slightly and doled out what very well may have been the best set of the day. As more people climbed up into the rafters, more and more outsiders packed into the pavilion. For Iron Reagan to go this all-out, it wasn't just because their brand of thrash but it also seemed to have something to do with their relationship with Gwar and Dave Brockie. In 2013, the two bands toured together. Talking with guitarist Mark Bronzino before their set, he shared not just how tight-knit the two bands were but also highlighted how extraordinary Brockie was as a person. "He was my buddy on tour. Those in the audience may not realize this but, when you're on the road like that, you kinda pick that one person and say that's going to be my friend on tour. That's who I connect with and Dave was that for me. He would say to me 'You're the biggest freak in your band. I'm the biggest freak in my band. That's why we're hanging out."
At the main stage, the crowd truly came to life for the first time when The Meatmen stormed the stage. It may have had something to do with the fact that frontman Tesco Vee was brandishing a large inflated penis when he walked out on stage or it might have been more the fact that these four guys from Detroit and their hard-charging, wildly inappropriate brand of punk rock sounded like the most perfect thing to hear on a Saturday afternoon. They ripped and raged for as long as they could. They hardly paused in between songs. "We have a half-hour to play an hour and a half worth of songs," Tesco Vee announced. They hardly paused in between songs, and their set was a pretty even mix of cuts from their latest album, Savage Sagas, and older tunes. "If you want to be a legendary punk band, don't be fucking Black Flag," Tesco said in the middle of their set. The sentiment was almost too on-point, as less than an hour later Jerry Only and what the courts recognize as The Misfits occupied the same space.
Seeing The Misfits in 2014 was like a dream. Not a dream in the sense that it was everything one could hope for and more but rather it was like one of those dreams you have where you want to scream out in horror but you can't because you're asleep. Following on the main stage were arguably the two biggest bands of the day not named Gwar: Hatebreed and Body Count. Walking toward the stage after leaving the press area, I began to have trouble seeing as a massive dirt cloud had risen up over the area where earlier I had seen people. Not being able to really see anything, I had to rely on my hearing. What I heard was Hatebreed’s frontman Jamey Jasta continually and enthusiastically calling for a circle pit and, boy, did the people eat that right up. While I was fishing through my pockets for more beer tickets, I felt a sharp punch in the back. It was Taco, one of four guys whom I had shared a cab with the night before. "I've lost my phone and wallet and broke my sunglasses," he exclaimed before adding, "But it's worth it to fucking see this." Such is the effect of a good circle pit.
I lost track very early in the day of just how many times I heard someone say, "Isn't it weird that Ice-T plays a cop on TV but is going to perform a song called 'Cop Killer'?" Body Count came up time and time again throughout the day in whatever line I was waiting in. The line for the meet-and-greet with Ice-T and his wife, Coco, was the only one that rivaled the masses lined up to spend a minute with Gwar. And for all intents and purposes, Body Count gave the people what they wanted. I spent almost the entirety of their set waiting in line for the porta-pots but I could hear it all and I made sure to note when Ice said that he was changing his name to "Ice Motherfucking T, Bitch." I thought I had a real news scoop on my hands. A celebrity announcing a name change? Imagine my disappointment the next day when I discovered that Ice was merely just talking shit.
When Body Count's set ended, no one budged. Not a one. No one wanted to risk losing their spot as the band, who was hosting this whole shindig, was going to be taking the stage next. Those who didn't have a good view jockeyed for position. Lines for the bathroom, the burger truck and T-shirt vendors all blurred into one throng. No matter what line people were in, they kept an eye on the stage. It was almost time.
Talk about what Gwar might or might not do dominated just about all conversations throughout the day. In the press area earlier in the day, I very (dumbly) asked guitarist Pustulus Maximus what people could expect from Gwar during their set. "They can expect a lot of death and destruction and a lot of uncaring, unmoving speeches from me," he snorted. "It's going to be terrible and it's going to make you sick and you're going to fucking love every minute of it," he added.
I followed up by asking him what his thoughts on Oderus's passing were. "Where the fuck is he at? I had a truck bed full of chopped up hookers that we were supposed to fuck and he fucking bailed. What's better than that kind of fucking dinner date?" Colorful language aside, the answer wasn't surprising. Dave Brockie had memorialized the night before. Today was about Gwar. Today was about the remaining members of the band showing that they were going to continue on without their leader. Despite teeming with diehard fans from all corners of the country, there were a few times throughout the day where I overheard people doubting that the band would be able to soldier on. In talking with Pustulus, I quickly realized this was bullshit and Gwar wasn't going to be throwing in the towel anytime soon. Ever the true professionals, they were going to march on.
Boiled down, Gwar's set consisted of songs that were written by the members of the band who were on stage with a few of Brockie's choicest cuts peppered in. Returning member Mike Bishop, handled the bulk of frontman duties, at least in the beginning. The former Beefcake the Mighty had re-christened himself as Blothar as there was already a Beefcake on stage. And as promised, there were crass jokes and death and destruction. Justin Bieber had his guts ripped out and GorGor feasted on fetuses. At one point, Slymenstra Hymen tossed Oderus's ashes all over the stage. Toward the end of the set, Gwar manager Sleazy P. Martini returned to the stage and asked everyone to bow their heads. As it turns out, Balsac had dropped a crack rock and they were anxious to find it. Put simply, the band sounded great and no one died. (At least, no one who wasn't supposed to.)
When their set ended, everyone in attendance was given their marching orders. It was time to go. I walked the same dusty trail that I had descended upon that morning and stopped once I hit the wall of people waiting for the shuttle buses. I felt a tap on my arm followed quickly by a "Hey man, can I bum a smoke?" It was Carl. He was covered in fake blood and grinning like an idiot. He asked me if I had fun today. I told him that I had and in doing so, I realized that Carl was my people too. He's the drunk uncle that I keep my distance from or that one co-worker who is pleasant enough during the day but not someone you'd want to spend long stretches of time with. Whatever our differences may have been, I let it go. Maybe I had just been desensitized from a day’s worth of depravity or maybe it was the beers, but either way I could feel the large moron smile forming on my face.CDTA security cameras help local law enforcement solve crimes Copyright by WTEN - All rights reserved Video
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - If you hop on a public CDTA bus, there's a good chance that from the time you climb on and until you get off, your every move – and even some of what you say – is being recorded.
If you're committing a crime this is bad news for you, but if you're the police, it can help solve some of the toughest cases.
They are the moments that make up a mundane morning commute. The stream of videos is most like watching paint dry, but for one man, it has been his career.
"This is the curb side camera,” Rick Vines, Director of Risk Management, demonstrated.
Vines has made sure that over 200 CDTA buses, and soon to be many more, are outfitted with many cameras.
"We have an audio feature that's capturing the audio in this area of the bus as well any conversation,” he said. “We have this camera that's shooting down the rear of the bus."
Cameras mounted on the exterior provide a 360 degree view of bus stops, city sidewalks, store fronts and roadways. They are time and GPS stamped.
"Initially, it was first and foremost to protect our employees because we know they are vulnerable; they are out in the public," Vines explained.
It didn't take long for law enforcement to also realize that a roving security camera on wheels could be just as useful to them.
"We just started getting phone calls,” Vines said.
"It's such good quality that you can actually make identifications off of it and that's what we are looking to do,” Colonie Police Lt. Bob Winn said.
Case in point, the attack on Nancy Crowe.
"I heard a footstep that should not have been there,” Crowe told NEWS10 ABC.
NEWS10 reporter Anya Tucker spoke with Crowe in 2014 after she survived a brutal attack at the hands of a sex offender, who dragged her into some woods, stabbed her repeatedly and left her for dead.
"I had one advantage and one advantage only and that was the law,” Crowe said at the time.
"Nancy Crowe was essentially for the first couple of days a 'Who-dunnit',” Lt. Winn said.
Colonie Police did know that Crowe had just gotten off a CDTA bus prior to the attack. They requested the video, and lo and behold, it showed her attacker following her off the bus.
CDTA street cameras also captured him stalking her down Route 155 near where she was grabbed. He is now in prison.
The video was key in not only solving that case but making sure that the man could not hurt another person.
CDTA video also assisted investigators in solving the murder of local barber Jackie Porreca by placing the suspect’s car in the area of the crime.
There are also many less serious examples, too.
Bethlehem Police say the images helped them identify a burglary suspect as he raced to catch a bus. Looking closely at the images, you can see what police say were the stolen items tucked inside his coat.
Then there's the now infamous video of a 2016 fight on a CDTA bus that prosecutors say they'll use in court against two former University at Albany students. They are accused of fabricating a story of being the victims of a racial attack.
They pleaded not guilty, and the trial is scheduled for the spring.
The videos do raise an interesting question, though, about Big Brother watching all of us.
"I would not be concerned about it. We're not looking to watch anyone. We don't actively monitor the system,” Carm Basile, CEO/CDTA Director, said. “What we do is we use it when we have cause. Seventeen million people a year get on and off our buses. I think we have better things to do with our time. What we want to do though is ensure they are safe. Ensure that people around them are safe. Ensure that our employees are safe, and ensure that you and I are safe."
To be clear, CDTA does not work for the police. They say they only pull images as a courtesy to investigators.
Vines says the videos have had other initially unexpected benefits such as a training tool for drivers to avoid certain types of accidents.Former official: Archdiocese didn't report priest's pornography
By Madeleine Baran and Mike Cronin, Minnesota Public Radio
Upset that her superiors had refused to take action, a former church official reported to police that leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis had kept secret for eight years images of pornography — some of it appearing to show children — belonging to one of its priests.
Jennifer Haselberger, the archdiocese's former chancellor for canonical affairs, tried to get Archbishop John Nienstedt's attention by using what she called the "nuclear option."
Haselberger went back to her office, copied several images into an electronic document and sent the document to Nienstedt. Some of the images from the archdiocese's files on the Rev. Jonathan Shelley, 52, appeared to show boys performing oral sex.
The archbishop never called police, she said. Months later, the Rev. Peter Laird, Nienstedt's deputy, ordered her to hand over the pornographic images.
"I did as I was told," said Haselberger, who resigned in April. "I went back to my office. I closed the door and I called Ramsey County."
But officers with the St. Paul Police Department's sex crimes and vice units couldn't find the child pornography that Haselberger had reported, despite several reviews of the three disks of evidence the archdiocese had handed over. Police closed the case this week without charges.
The report from lead investigator Sgt. William Gillet cited insufficient evidence. In the report, Gillet wondered whether the archdiocese turned over all the evidence when he began investigating in March.
"It should be noted I do not have the computer as we were told that was destroyed many years ago," Gillet wrote. "Whether these discs given to me were the actual discs or copies of those discs after first asking for them, I do not know nor will I most likely ever know."
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis declined requests for interviews with senior leaders.
Laird, the vicar general, resigned Thursday, weeks after an MPR News investigation revealed that archdiocesan leaders hid sexual misconduct by the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer and allowed him to continue in ministry. Wehmeyer was sent to prison this year for sexually abusing two children and possessing child pornography.
• MPR News: Laird, top deputy of archdiocese, resigns
Shelley's case surfaced Thursday during a contentious Ramsey County court hearing on whether to unseal a list of names of priests accused of sexual abuse.
The archdiocese stood by its handling of the Shelley matter as it tried to keep his name from the public record. The judge agreed to refer to the priest only as "JS" but his name was already public in a police file that had closed the day before.
Shelley, who lives in Minneapolis, said he didn't do anything illegal.
"There was no criminal stuff involved in it or wherever, and it was 10 years ago," Shelley told MPR News. "If you're going to take my name and drag it through the mud now, 10 years later, for something that you clearly don't know all the facts on, that's something you're free to do. But I'm not going to add to it."
Nienstedt placed Shelley on sabbatical in June of last year. He had been assigned to the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Hugo, Minn., since 2008.
"This was the computer from the parish priest"
Joe Ternus was the person who alerted church leaders to the pornography he found on Shelley's original computer.
Ternus wanted to use the priest's old computer so his kids could play video games. He couldn't believe the images he found.
"I mean, this was something that a bunch of 6-, 7- and 8-year-old kids were going to be using." - Joe Ternus
"It was graphic. It was hard-core," Ternus said of the images he found on the laptop. "Just kind of freaked out everybody.
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","url":"/articles/helicopter-rides-what-to-expect","title":"I Was Terrified of Helicopter Rides. Then I Took One. "}]}}}},"translations":{"all":"All {{categoryName}}","article_by":"BY: ","article_url":"articles","bought":"bought","browseByRegion":"Browse by State or Province","categories":"Categories","categoryDealsInLocationHeader":"{{categoryName}} Deals in {{locationName}}","citiesUrl":"cities","close":"Close","dealsInPopularCities":"Deals in Popular Cities","discoverLocalDeals":"Discover Local Deals","events_path":"events","facebook_like":"Like it!","featured_video":"Featured Video: ","googleplus_share":"Share this on Google+","home":"Home","local":"Local","localDealsBlurb":"Make any day special with deals on the latest things to do, eat and see in and around your city.","more":"More","more_resources":"More Resources","moreCitiesLink":"More Cities","popularCategories":"Popular Categories","multiple_locations":"Multiple Locations","top_deals_heading":"Top Deals On {{categoryName}} In {{currentMonth}} In & Around {{locationName}}","popular_deals_heading":"Most Popular {{categoryName}} In & Around {{locationName}}","top_events_heading":"Events In {{currentMonth}} & {{nextMonth}} In & Around {{locationName}}","columbus_top_reviewed_heading":"Best Reviewed {{categoryName}} in {{locationName}}","readLess":"Read Less","readMore":"Read More","recommendedMerchants":"Recommended Merchants","regionGuideHeading":"{{regionName}} Guide and Deals","regionType":"State","relatedContent":"Related Reads","selectLocalMerchants":"Select Local Merchants","twitter_share":"Share with Twitter","video_home":"Videos","widgetTitle":{"brandSpecific":true,"generic":"Gemini Guide","groupon":"Groupon Guide","livingsocial":"LivingSocial Guide","gemini":"LivingSocial Guide"},"view_deal":"View Deal","view_all":"View All","online_deal":"Online Deal","hide_deals_like_this":"Hide Deals Like This","show":"Show","hide":"Hide","backTo":"Back to","book_now":"Book Now","claim":"Claim","get_coupon":"Get Coupon","free_to_claim":"Free to Claim","cash_back":"Cash Back","free_event":"Free Event","discount_off":"OFF","zero_concert_deal_msg":"We are sorry. There are currently no shows available at this venue. Please check back later.","local_path":"local"}}Rumor has it that Ridley Scott, before agreeing to direct the movie Gladiator, viewed the painting Pollice Verso by the 19th century artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. The painting shows as a gladiator waits while the Roman emperor turns his thumb down to order his death. Scott is said to have been so captivated by this image that he immediately decided to direct the film.
The only problem is the source of his inspiration was utterly wrong. Gérôme's painting is hands down responsible for one of the biggest fallacies of the 20th century, that is to say that thumbs down signaled death.
According to most historians the artist wrongly assumed the Latin "pollice verso" - "turned thumb" - meant "turned down" when in truth it meant "turned up."
More proof that thumbs up means death
If this weren't proof enough, the Roman medallion of the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. that was found in southern France in 1997 depicts two gladiators at the decisive moment and a referee pressing his thumb against a closed fist. The inscription on the medallion reads: "Those standing should be released."
The use of thumbs up signs can still be easily misinterpreted in today's world. In Russia, the Middle East, and South America, a thumbs up is seen as a very rude insult, similar to the Western V-sign. This has caused several problems in Iraq, where American soldiers cannot be sure whether locals are welcoming them or are ready to blow them up.
According to Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape, the positive connotations of the thumbs up in Britain can be traced back to the Middle Ages, where the sign indicated the closure of successful business deals.Students sitting in classroom (Photo11: Thinkstock)
Investing in a college degree should carry the often-cited disclosure: "past performance is not indicative of future returns." With rising tuition prices and a sluggish labor market, a college education is no longer an automatic windfall to a better life. In addition to majoring in a field that will hopefully lead to a decent-paying job after graduation, students need to pass several financial tests.
The initial price tag of attending college is only the beginning. Over the course of several years, students are faced with financial challenges that can spiral out of control if ignored.
MORE: 10 worst college majors for today's job market
In order to gain a better understanding of these challenges, MagnifyMoney, an organization that aims to educate consumers about personal finance, recently noted the worst financial mistakes to make while attending college.
1. Skipping financial aid
Not educating yourself about financial aid opportunities is one of the most common and worst mistakes you can make in the college process. According to the Institute for College Access and Success, 65 percent of students who are planning to attend college do not name grants as a source of financial aid, while 72 percent fail to name scholarships.
However, there is no harm in at least filing the FAFSA, and benefits include more money to help pay for college. The deadline for filing the FAFSA varies across different schools, but it should be done as soon as the form becomes available, right after January 1 each year, in order to maximize your financial aid opportunities. You can estimate financial information on the form such as income before your taxes are complete, and file a revision once you know the exact information. If
|
. 2H pencil
lines are used for breaks when the whole object is not shown. These are freehand drawn and only for short breaks. 2H pencil Type D lines are similar to Type C, except these are zigzagged and only for longer breaks. 2H pencil
lines are similar to Type C, except these are zigzagged and only for longer breaks. 2H pencil Type E lines indicate hidden outlines of internal features of an object. These are dotted lines. 2H pencil
lines indicate hidden outlines of internal features of an object. These are dotted lines. 2H pencil Type F lines are Type F [typo] lines, except these are used for drawings in electrotechnology. 2H pencil
lines are Type F lines, except these are used for drawings in electrotechnology. 2H pencil Type G lines are used for centre lines. These are dotted lines, but a long line of 10–20 mm, then a 1 mm gap, then a small line of 2 mm. 2H pencil
lines are used for centre lines. These are dotted lines, but a long line of 10–20 mm, then a 1 mm gap, then a small line of 2 mm. 2H pencil Type H lines are the same as type G, except that every second long line is thicker. These indicate the cutting plane of an object. 2H pencil
lines are the same as type G, except that every second long line is thicker. These indicate the cutting plane of an object. 2H pencil Type k lines indicate the alternate positions of an object and the line taken by that object. These are drawn with a long line of 10-20 mm, then a small gap, then a small line of 2 mm, then a gap, then another small line. 2H pencil.
Multiple views and projections [ edit ]
first-angle projection Image of a part represented in
first-angle (left) or third-angle (right). Symbols used to define whether a projection is either(left) or(right).
Several types of graphical projection compared
Various projections and how they are produced
Isometric view of the object shown in the engineering drawing below
In most cases, a single view is not sufficient to show all necessary features, and several views are used. Types of views include the following:
Multiview projection [ edit ]
A multiview projection is a type of orthographic projection that shows the object as it looks from the front, right, left, top, bottom, or back (e.g. the primary views), and is typically positioned relative to each other according to the rules of either first-angle or third-angle projection. The origin and vector direction of the projectors (also called projection lines) differs, as explained below.
In first-angle projection, the parallel projectors originate as if radiated from behind the viewer and pass through the 3D object to project a 2D image onto the orthogonal plane behind it. The 3D object is projected into 2D "paper" space as if you were looking at a radiograph of the object: the top view is under the front view, the right view is at the left of the front view. First-angle projection is the ISO standard and is primarily used in Europe.
, the parallel projectors originate as if radiated and pass through the 3D object to project a 2D image onto the orthogonal plane it. The 3D object is projected into 2D "paper" space as if you were looking at a radiograph of the object: the top view is under the front view, the right view is at the left of the front view. First-angle projection is the ISO standard and is primarily used in Europe. In third-angle projection, the parallel projectors originate as if radiated from the far side of the object and pass through the 3D object to project a 2D image onto the orthogonal plane in front of it. The views of the 3D object are like the panels of a box that envelopes the object, and the panels pivot as they open up flat into the plane of the drawing.[2] Thus the left view is placed on the left and the top view on the top; and the features closest to the front of the 3D object will appear closest to the front view in the drawing. Third-angle projection is primarily used in the United States and Canada, where it is the default projection system according to ASME standard ASME Y14.3M.
Until the late 19th century, first-angle projection was the norm in North America as well as Europe;[3][4] but circa the 1890s, third-angle projection spread throughout the North American engineering and manufacturing communities to the point of becoming a widely followed convention,[3][4] and it was an ASA standard by the 1950s.[4] Circa World War I, British practice was frequently mixing the use of both projection methods.[3]
As shown above, the determination of what surface constitutes the front, back, top, and bottom varies depending on the projection method used.
Not all views are necessarily used.[5] Generally only as many views are used as are necessary to convey all needed information clearly and economically.[6] The front, top, and right-side views are commonly considered the core group of views included by default,[7] but any combination of views may be used depending on the needs of the particular design. In addition to the six principal views (front, back, top, bottom, right side, left side), any auxiliary views or sections may be included as serve the purposes of part definition and its communication. View lines or section lines (lines with arrows marked "A-A", "B-B", etc.) define the direction and location of viewing or sectioning. Sometimes a note tells the reader in which zone(s) of the drawing to find the view or section.
Auxiliary views [ edit ]
An auxiliary view is an orthographic view that is projected into any plane other than one of the six primary views.[8] These views are typically used when an object contains some sort of inclined plane. Using the auxiliary view allows for that inclined plane (and any other significant features) to be projected in their true size and shape. The true size and shape of any feature in an engineering drawing can only be known when the Line of Sight (LOS) is perpendicular to the plane being referenced. It is shown like a three-dimensional object. Auxiliary views tend to make use of axonometric projection. When existing all by themselves, auxiliary views are sometimes known as pictorials.
Isometric projection [ edit ]
An isometric projection shows the object from angles in which the scales along each axis of the object are equal. Isometric projection corresponds to rotation of the object by ± 45° about the vertical axis, followed by rotation of approximately ± 35.264° [= arcsin(tan(30°))] about the horizontal axis starting from an orthographic projection view. "Isometric" comes from the Greek for "same measure". One of the things that makes isometric drawings so attractive is the ease with which 60° angles can be constructed with only a compass and straightedge.
Isometric projection is a type of axonometric projection. The other two types of axonometric projection are:
Oblique projection [ edit ]
An oblique projection is a simple type of graphical projection used for producing pictorial, two-dimensional images of three-dimensional objects:
it projects an image by intersecting parallel rays (projectors)
from the three-dimensional source object with the drawing surface (projection plan).
In both oblique projection and orthographic projection, parallel lines of the source object produce parallel lines in the projected image.
Perspective projection [ edit ]
Perspective is an approximate representation on a flat surface, of an image as it is perceived by the eye. The two most characteristic features of perspective are that objects are drawn:
Smaller as their distance from the observer increases
Foreshortened: the size of an object's dimensions along the line of sight are relatively shorter than dimensions across the line of sight.
Section Views [ edit ]
Projected views (either Auxiliary or Multiview) which show a cross section of the source object along the specified cut plane. These views are commonly used to show internal features with more clarity than may be available using regular projections or hidden lines. In assembly drawings, hardware components (e.g. nuts, screws, washers) are typically not sectioned.
Scale [ edit ]
Plans are usually "scale drawings", meaning that the plans are drawn at specific ratio relative to the actual size of the place or object. Various scales may be used for different drawings in a set. For example, a floor plan may be drawn at 1:50 (1:48 or 1⁄ 4 ″ = 1′ 0″) whereas a detailed view may be drawn at 1:25 (1:24 or 1⁄ 2 ″ = 1′ 0″). Site plans are often drawn at 1:200 or 1:100.
Scale is a nuanced subject in the use of engineering drawings. On one hand, it is a general principle of engineering drawings that they are projected using standardized, mathematically certain projection methods and rules. Thus, great effort is put into having an engineering drawing accurately depict size, shape, form, aspect ratios between features, and so on. And yet, on the other hand, there is another general principle of engineering drawing that nearly diametrically opposes all this effort and intent—that is, the principle that users are not to scale the drawing to infer a dimension not labeled. This stern admonition is often repeated on drawings, via a boilerplate note in the title block telling the user, "DO NOT SCALE DRAWING."
The explanation for why these two nearly opposite principles can coexist is as follows. The first principle—that drawings will be made so carefully and accurately—serves the prime goal of why engineering drawing even exists, which is successfully communicating part definition and acceptance criteria—including "what the part should look like if you've made it correctly." The service of this goal is what creates a drawing that one even could scale and get an accurate dimension thereby. And thus the great temptation to do so, when a dimension is wanted but was not labeled. The second principle—that even though scaling the drawing will usually work, one should nevertheless never do it—serves several goals, such as enforcing total clarity regarding who has authority to discern design intent, and preventing erroneous scaling of a drawing that was never drawn to scale to begin with (which is typically labeled "drawing not to scale" or "scale: NTS"). When a user is forbidden from scaling the drawing, s/he must turn instead to the engineer (for the answers that the scaling would seek), and s/he will never erroneously scale something that is inherently unable to be accurately scaled.
But in some ways, the advent of the CAD and MBD era challenges these assumptions that were formed many decades ago. When part definition is defined mathematically via a solid model, the assertion that one cannot interrogate the model—the direct analog of "scaling the drawing"—becomes ridiculous; because when part definition is defined this way, it is not possible for a drawing or model to be "not to scale". A 2D pencil drawing can be inaccurately foreshortened and skewed (and thus not to scale), yet still be a completely valid part definition as long as the labeled dimensions are the only dimensions used, and no scaling of the drawing by the user occurs. This is because what the drawing and labels convey is in reality a symbol of what is wanted, rather than a true replica of it. (For example, a sketch of a hole that is clearly not round still accurately defines the part as having a true round hole, as long as the label says "10mm DIA", because the "DIA" implicitly but objectively tells the user that the skewed drawn circle is a symbol representing a perfect circle.) But if a mathematical model—essentially, a vector graphic—is declared to be the official definition of the part, then any amount of "scaling the drawing" can make sense; there may still be an error in the model, in the sense that what was intended is not depicted (modeled); but there can be no error of the "not to scale" type—because the mathematical vectors and curves are replicas, not symbols, of the part features.
Even in dealing with 2D drawings, the manufacturing world has changed since the days when people paid attention to the scale ratio claimed on the print, or counted on its accuracy. In the past, prints were plotted on a plotter to exact scale ratios, and the user could know that a line on the drawing 15mm long corresponded to a 30mm part dimension because the drawing said "1:2" in the "scale" box of the title block. Today, in the era of ubiquitous desktop printing, where original drawings or scaled prints are often scanned on a scanner and saved as a PDF file, which is then printed at any percent magnification that the user deems handy (such as "fit to paper size"), users have pretty much given up caring what scale ratio is claimed in the "scale" box of the title block. Which, under the rule of "do not scale drawing", never really did that much for them anyway.
Showing dimensions [ edit ]
Sizes of drawings [ edit ]
ISO paper sizes
ANSI paper sizes
Sizes of drawings typically comply with either of two different standards, ISO (World Standard) or ANSI/ASME Y14.1 (American).
The metric drawing sizes correspond to international paper sizes. These developed further refinements in the second half of the twentieth century, when photocopying became cheap. Engineering drawings could be readily doubled (or halved) in size and put on the next larger (or, respectively, smaller) size of paper with no waste of space. And the metric technical pens were chosen in sizes so that one could add detail or drafting changes with a pen width changing by approximately a factor of the square root of 2. A full set of pens would have the following nib sizes: 0.13, 0.18, 0.25, 0.35, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm. However, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) called for four pen widths and set a colour code for each: 0.25 (white), 0.35 (yellow), 0.5 (brown), 0.7 (blue); these nibs produced lines that related to various text character heights and the ISO paper sizes.
All ISO paper sizes have the same aspect ratio, one to the square root of 2, meaning that a document designed for any given size can be enlarged or reduced to any other size and will fit perfectly. Given this ease of changing sizes, it is of course common to copy or print a given document on different sizes of paper, especially within a series, e.g. a drawing on A3 may be enlarged to A2 or reduced to A4.
The U.S. customary "A-size" corresponds to "letter" size, and "B-size" corresponds to "ledger" or "tabloid" size. There were also once British paper sizes, which went by names rather than alphanumeric designations.
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) ANSI/ASME Y14.1, Y14.2, Y14.3, and Y14.5 are commonly referenced standards in the U.S.
Technical lettering [ edit ]
Technical lettering is the process of forming letters, numerals, and other characters in technical drawing. It is used to describe, or provide detailed specifications for an object. With the goals of legibility and uniformity, styles are standardized and lettering ability has little relationship to normal writing ability. Engineering drawings use a Gothic sans-serif script, formed by a series of short strokes. Lower case letters are rare in most drawings of machines. ISO Lettering templates, designed for use with technical pens and pencils, and to suit ISO paper sizes, produce lettering characters to an international standard. The stroke thickness is related to the character height (for example, 2.5mm high characters would have a stroke thickness - pen nib size - of 0.25mm, 3.5 would use a 0.35mm pen and so forth). The ISO character set (font) has a seriffed one, a barred seven, an open four, six, and nine, and a round topped three, that improves legibility when, for example, an A0 drawing has been reduced to A1 or even A3 (and perhaps enlarged back or reproduced/faxed/ microfilmed &c). When CAD drawings became more popular, especially using US American software, such as AutoCAD, the nearest font to this ISO standard font was Romantic Simplex (RomanS) - a proprietary shx font) with a manually adjusted width factor (over ride) to make it look as near to the ISO lettering for the drawing board. However, with the closed four, and arced six and nine, romans.shx typeface could be difficult to read in reductions. In more recent revisions of software packages, the TrueType font ISOCPEUR reliably reproduces the original drawing board lettering stencil style, however, many drawings have switched to the ubiquitous Arial.ttf.
Conventional parts (areas) [ edit ]
Title block [ edit ]
The title block (T/B, TB) is an area of the drawing that conveys header-type information about the drawing, such as:
Drawing title (hence the name "title block")
Drawing number
Part number(s)
Name of the design activity (corporation, government agency, etc.)
Identifying code of the design activity (such as a CAGE code)
Address of the design activity (such as city, state/province, country)
Measurement units of the drawing (for example, inches, millimeters)
Default tolerances for dimension callouts where no tolerance is specified
Boilerplate callouts of general specs
Intellectual property rights warning
Traditional locations for the title block are the bottom right (most commonly) or the top right or center.
Revisions block [ edit ]
The revisions block (rev block) is a tabulated list of the revisions (versions) of the drawing, documenting the revision control.
Traditional locations for the revisions block are the top right (most commonly) or adjoining the title block in some way.
Next assembly [ edit ]
The next assembly block, often also referred to as "where used" or sometimes "effectivity block", is a list of higher assemblies where the product on the current drawing is used. This block is commonly found adjacent to the title block.
Notes list [ edit ]
The notes list provides notes to the user of the drawing, conveying any information that the callouts within the field of the drawing did not. It may include general notes, flagnotes, or a mixture of both.
Traditional locations for the notes list are anywhere along the edges of the field of the drawing.
General notes [ edit ]
General notes (G/N, GN) apply generally to the contents of the drawing, as opposed to applying only to certain part numbers or certain surfaces or features.
Flagnotes [ edit ]
Flagnotes or flag notes (FL, F/N) are notes that apply only where a flagged callout points, such as to particular surfaces, features, or part numbers. Typically the callout includes a flag icon. Some companies call such notes "delta notes", and the note number is enclosed inside a triangular symbol (similar to capital letter delta, Δ). "FL5" (flagnote 5) and "D5" (delta note 5) are typical ways to abbreviate in ASCII-only contexts.
Field of the drawing [ edit ]
The field of the drawing (F/D, FD) is the main body or main area of the drawing, excluding the title block, rev block, P/L and so on
List of materials, bill of materials, parts list [ edit ]
The list of materials (L/M, LM, LoM), bill of materials (B/M, BM, BoM), or parts list (P/L, PL) is a (usually tabular) list of the materials used to make a part, and/or the parts used to make an assembly. It may contain instructions for heat treatment, finishing, and other processes, for each part number. Sometimes such LoMs or PLs are separate documents from the drawing itself.
Traditional locations for the LoM/BoM are above the title block, or in a separate document.
Parameter tabulations [ edit ]
Some drawings call out dimensions with parameter names (that is, variables, such a "A", "B", "C"), then tabulate rows of parameter values for each part number.
Traditional locations for parameter tables, when such tables are used, are floating near the edges of the field of the drawing, either near the title block or elsewhere along the edges of the field.
Views and sections [ edit ]
Each view or section is a separate set of projections, occupying a contiguous portion of the field of the drawing. Usually views and sections are called out with cross-references to specific zones of the field.
Zones [ edit ]
Often a drawing is divided into zones by a grid, with zone labels along the margins, such as A,B,C,D up the sides and 1,2,3,4,5,6 along the top and bottom. Names of zones are thus, for example, A5, D2, or B1. This feature greatly eases discussion of, and reference to, particular areas of the drawing.
Abbreviations and symbols [ edit ]
As in many technical fields, a wide array of abbreviations and symbols have been developed in engineering drawing during the 20th and 21st centuries. For example, cold rolled steel is often abbreviated as CRS, and diameter is often abbreviated as DIA, D, or ⌀.
With the advent of computer generated drawings for manufacturing and machining, many symbols have fallen out of common use. This poses a problem when attempting to interpret an older hand-drawn document that contains obscure elements that cannot be readily referenced in standard teaching text or control documents such as AMSE and ANSI standards. For example, AMSE Y14.5M 1994 excludes a few elements that convey critical information as contained in older US Navy drawings and aircraft manufacturing drawings of World War 2 vintage. Researching the intent and meaning of some symbols can prove difficult.
Example [ edit ]
Example mechanical drawing
Here is an example of an engineering drawing (an isometric view of the same object is shown above). The different line types are colored for clarity.
Black = object line and hatching
Red = hidden line
Blue = center line of piece or opening
Magenta = phantom line or cutting plane line
Sectional views are indicated by the direction of arrows,as in the example right side.
History [ edit ]
Technical drawing has existed since ancient times, and formidable technical drawings were done in renaissance times, such as the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, but modern engineering drawing, with its precise conventions of orthographic projection and scale, arose in France at a time when the Industrial Revolution was in its infancy. L. T. C. Rolt's biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel[9] says of his father, Marc Isambard Brunel, that "It seems fairly certain that Marc's drawings of his block-making machinery [in 1799] made a contribution to British engineering technique much greater than the machines they represented. For it is safe to assume that he had mastered the art of presenting three-dimensional objects in a two-dimensional plane which we now call mechanical drawing. It had been evolved by Gaspard Monge of Mezieres in 1765 but had remained a military secret until 1794 and was therefore unknown in England."[9]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Image caption Kirsty Cox is thought to have scammed hundreds of people by claiming to have cheap iPads for sale
A woman who defrauded hundreds of customers in an iPad scam worth £450,000 has been jailed.
Kirsty Cox, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, took thousands of orders for the tablet computers between March and December 2012 after claiming she could source them at a reduced price.
Teesside Crown Court heard how the 37-year-old was paid for the devices but could not provide them.
Cox, who previously admitted four fraud charges, was jailed for two years.
Judge George Moorhouse said her offending had "caused misery" to children last Christmas after "tricking" their parents into thinking she could supply the presents.
The mother-of-two told people she had a contact who could provide her with iPads for £50 to £100 off the retail price, using her "niceness" to "deceive" customers, the court heard.
'Trusted her 100%'
Cox's former sister-in-law Karen Kennedy and her husband Saul took cash from work colleagues which they passed on to her.
Mrs Kennedy said: "I had a really close relationship with Kirsty and she had a really good reputation.
"She told me that she could get really cheap iPads and she had been supplying them to loads of companies and she just asked me to spread the word at my work.
"I trusted her 100% and I had no reason not to."
The court heard how on one occasion Cox spent £1.52m on iPads from PC World and then sold them at a loss in a bid to cover her tracks.
Image caption Saul and Karen Kennedy said they felt "helpless" after being scammed by Kirsty Cox
When she was arrested in December 2012, Durham Police kept her in custody for her own safety after angry customers gathered outside her home demanding to know what had happened to their orders.
Det Supt Neil Jones from Durham Police said: "The actual real cutting effect was for the people who had been saving the small amounts per week to buy iPads for the kids for Christmas.
"To find out the week before that your goods weren't coming was devastating, people's Christmases were ruined."
Mr Jones said one lady cancelled her own wedding to try and pay back the people she had taken money from to give to Cox.
Saul Kennedy said: "You're feeling everyone's pain and you can understand why everyone is so angry, but you feel absolutely helpless.
"You're in a situation where you can do nothing about it but these people have trusted you with their money. You are responsible."
Hundreds of people are believed to have been victims of Cox's scam. Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said the actual loss to customers was more than £1.1m.
Judge Moorhouse jailed Cox as she wept in the dock, despite hearing that her family had suffered while she spent six months on remand.
He said: "You have two young children who suffered miserably while you were on remand.
"I am afraid they are going to suffer even more."A pair of gay rights advocacy groups said Thursday a judge should halt Utah state laws that discriminate against LGBT students by restricting talk about homosexuality in schools.
The laws create a "chilling culture of silence that stigmatizes LGBTQ students," Equality Utah and the National Center for Lesbian Rights said in a news release a day after seeking a preliminary injunction against the laws. The move followed the filing of a lawsuit in October.
"Its only purpose is to express the state's moral disapproval of 'homosexuality' and codify the views of those within the community who harbor such disapproval," lawyers wrote in the legal filing.
The state of Utah has denied it has anti-gay school laws, saying the case quotes selectively from state law and school rules. They say the state school board is immune from the lawsuit and asked for the case to be dismissed.
Utah State Board of Education spokesman Mark Peterson said the board had no comment on the request for the injunction because it has not seen the filing. He referred questions to the state attorney general's office, where spokesman Dan Burton said the case is being reviewed and a response will be filed next month.
Several states have similar laws.
The Utah laws include a provision that prohibits instruction on "advocacy of homosexuality," contraceptives and sex outside marriage.
The provision was part of a wide-ranging sexual education bill passed with little dissent in 2001. The Utah State Board of Education adopted a similar rule a year earlier that applies to any class that covers marriage, childbirth or parenthood.
Supporters say the laws targeted in the lawsuit bar talk in school about any kind of sex, and the court case could result in wholesale changes to teaching other topics such abstinence before marriage.
Democratic state legislator Brian King introduced legislation Thursday that would strike the language in state law that bans "advocacy of homosexuality." King said his sex education reform bill wasn't spurred by the lawsuit, but he said that teachers need to be able to have age-appropriate, fact-based discussions with their students about homosexuality without worrying about violating the law.
The lawsuit also challenges a law put in place in the mid-1990s that bans gay-straight alliance clubs at school.
The case marks the latest effort by LGBT advocates in Utah to tear down what they see as discriminatory practices in the conservative state that until recently was seen as a hostile environment for gays and lesbians.
Three of the plaintiffs in the case are Utah students, including a boy in kindergarten who was targeted in a school bathroom, burned on a hot metal slide and beaten by other students for wearing dresses, the suit states.
His mother was told in 2014 that the law kept administrators from telling other kids it was OK to be gay or for children perceived as boys to wear girl's clothes, according to the suit. The mother eventually pulled her son out of school.
The groups say the laws also led a school district to put a book about a lesbian couple raising children behind the library counter in 2013 and require parent permission to check it out. It was put back on the shelves after the American Civil Liberties Union sued.
In the latest court filing, the groups contend the laws send the wrong message.
"The prohibition tells gay students that their sexual orientation is less valid than that of heterosexual students, and, thus, that they themselves are less valued," lawyers wrote.COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Police have arrested man they say raped a cat before throwing it out a seventh-floor window.
Someone called 911 Wednesday morning after witnessing 30-year-old Gerardo Martinez masturbating in front of his apartment window and then throwing a cat to the sidewalk below.
When police arrived they found a bleeding, gray cat barely alive on the sidewalk. With the help of witnesses, police were able to identify Martinez’ apartment.
When he answered the door, he did so shirtless and with his pants down. Police asked him to pull up his pants and then asked him about the cat.
Martinez first denied he had a cat, then changed his story saying his boyfriend had tossed the cat a few hours earlier.
When presented with the fact that they had witnesses saying the he threw the cat out the window a little more recently, Martinez then admitted that while high on meth he raped the cat and then threw it out the window along with a pornographic DVD.
Martinez was arrested and charged with animal torture, bestiality and indecent exposure. He turned 30 yesterday. Happy birthday, Gerardo! You’re a winner!“What Might Have Been” – The XF-85 Goblin – PHOTO TOUR
WARBIRD RADIO – It’s part James Bond with a dash of Star Wars thrown in for good measure, but at the end of the day…it’s still the Goblin. The XF-85 Goblin is one of the most recognized experimental airplanes the United States Air Force ever tested. Our “What Might Have Been” series wouldn’t be complete without it.
Here’s what the National Museum of the United States Air Force has to say about the one and only Goblin:
The XF-85 parasite aircraft was developed to protect B-36 bombers flying beyond the range of conventional escort fighters. In theory, a B-36 penetrating enemy territory would carry its protecting fighter in the bomb bay. If attacked by enemy aircraft, the bomber would lower the Goblin on a trapeze and release it to combat the attackers. After the enemy had been driven away, the parasite fighter would return to the bomber, hook onto the trapeze, fold its wings and be lifted back into the bomb bay.
Although the XF-85 was successfully launched and retrieved from an EB-29B on several test flights, it was never flown from a B-36. The test program was canceled in late 1949 when mid-air refueling of fighter aircraft for range extension began to show greater promise.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force has the first XF-85 built on display in its Cold War Gallery.
TECHNICAL NOTES: Armament: Four.50-cal. machine guns Engine: One Westinghouse XJ-34 turbojet of 3,000 lbs thrust Maximum speed: 650 mph Combat speed: 581 mph Maximum endurance: 1 hr. 20 min. Combat ceiling: 46,750 ft. Span: 21 ft. 1 in. Length: 14 ft. 1 in. Height: 8 ft. 3 in. Weight: 4,550 lbs. Crew: One
PHOTO TOUR:During the most recent NFL postseason, Utah Jazz reporter Hayley Byrnes asked a number of team members whether they preferred Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers or Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Brady ultimately won the poll between the two quarterbacks, but Bostonians may be a little concerned about one of the votes for Rodgers.
Current Jazz forward Gordon Hayward is a high-priority offseason signing target for the Celtics, with many fans hoping that the 27-year-old will reunite with his former college head coach Brad Stevens. Hayward, however, was one of the three players who voted against Brady; in fact, he went as far to say that he “can’t stand Tom Brady.”
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His explanation? Loyalty.
“I’m a Colts fan, so I can’t stand him just because he plays for the Patriots,” he told Byrnes. “I think he’s a good quarterback.”
Hayward was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and attended both high school (Brownsburg) and college (Butler University) in his home state.Foto: Chasing The Donkey
BLOGERICA S.J. Begonja, Australka irskih korijena, za Expats Blog nagradu prošle je godine napisala zanimljiv tekst o hrvatskim psovkama i korisnim izrazima, a za isti je pokupila i zlatnu nagradu pa je članak odlučila podijeliti sa svojim čitateljima.
Inače, već je 15 godina u braku sa suprugom Matom Begonjom, ali dugo se borila sa svladavanjem psovki koje je često teško objasniti.
Kako ističe u svom blogu, Dalmatinci vole "skraćivati riječi, pjevati i puno psovati", a u nastavku možete pronaći psovke koje vam, tvrdi autorica, mogu pomoći kada posjetite hrvatsku obalu.
Nemoj me jebat
Nije najpristojniji izraz, ali čut ćete fa često. Možda ne u šoping centrima ili u formalnim okupljanjima, ali kad netko priča priču koja je nevjerojatna, netko će iskoristiti ovu frazu. Kada biste na engleskom htjeli reći "jesi li ozbiljan?, iskoristili biste "nemoj me jebat".
Čaću ti jarca
Imate tvrdoglavu djecu? Ova bi vam psovka mogla poslužiti ako su vam djeca tvrdoglava kao magarci. Iako, još uvijek mi nije jasno zašto se ovo tretira kao psovka. No, ponekad je najbolje ne izgovoriti neke od navedenih fraza već samo biti svjestan njihova značenja.
Boli me kurac
Moj suprug Dalmatinac ovo neprestano izgovara. Ovo koristite kada vas za nešto nije briga. Iako doslovni prijevod nema smisla, ali ako upoznate mog supruga ili njegove prijatelje, ovo je dobro znati.
Ako želite biti pristojniji, reći ćete "boli me ona stvar", ali i dalje nema smisla.
Tekst se nastavlja ispod oglasa
Kako da ne
Doslovni prijevod bio bi "how yes no". Čula sam ovo nekoliko puta i shvatila da znači "naravno da ne".
Katastrofa
Iako je značenje isto kao i na engleskom, ne koristi se za pravu katastrofu već da biste naglasili svoju poantu. Ovo ćete čuti u kafićima, kod prijatelja, a koristit će je i baba kad govori o vjetru. Naime, Hrvati imaju iracionalni strah od vjetra, posebno bure. Slobodno je koristite kad uđete u pekaru i doznate da je prodana posljednja krafna.
Ne mogu više, hvala
Ako namjeravate posjetiti prijatelje Hrvate, pobrinite se da ne ručate prije dolaska jer doslovno će vas šopati. Isto vrijedi i za piće. Morat ćete isprobati sve, bili gladni ili ne, a neizbježno je da ćete jednog trenutka pojesti previše pa je dobro znati za ovu frazu. No, nemojte je pretjerano upotrebljavati nakon samo jedne kriške kolača ili rakije jer neće vam povjerovati.
Živjeli
Ovo je važna riječ ako namjeravati piti s lokalnim stanovništvom. Zdravicu ponekad prati lupanje čašom o stol.When 3.5 million people protested on July 19 in more than 80 Spanish cities and towns ― against the austerity measures announced a week earlier by the Popular Party (PP) government of Mariano Rajoy ― it came as little surprise. It built on the growing wave of popular anger.
Rajoy’s latest package, imposed as a condition of receiving the European Commission’s 100 billion euro “line of credit” to Spain’s debt-ridden banking system, increases the pain for those already hurt by previous cuts. It also brings new
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of dental disease.
“While fillings have remained highly effective in repairing large cavities, they are susceptible to wear-and-tear and can occasionally be in need of repair and replacement. This presents problems as the dentist could have to remove and fill a larger area each time and after numerous treatments the tooth may then have to be extracted.
“Creating a more natural way for the tooth to repair itself could not only eliminate these issues, but also be a far less invasive treatment option for patients. With dental phobia still being very common, using a natural way to stimulate the renewal of dentine could be an especially comforting proposal for these groups, for which undergoing treatment can often be a cause great anxiety.”
The procedure has so far only been used in mouse teeth, but it was shown to 'fill the whole injury site'.
And Tideglusib has already been shown to be safe in clinical trials of patients with Alzheimer's disease so scientists say that the treatment could be fast-tracked into dental practices.
The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.EUGENE, Ore. – Twenty-four former Ducks wrapped up their seasons in professional baseball. Three are in the major leagues, two in Triple-A, eight in Double-A, six in Class-A (Advanced), three in Class-A (Short) and one in Rookie League. Links for all 23 are listed below along with the team they are currently with, the league they play in, the level of professional baseball and the organization each player belongs to.
Jimmie Sherfy made his Major League debut on Aug. 20, becoming the fourth Duck in the modern era to play in the big leagues. He appeared in two playoff games for the Arizona Diamondbacks while Tyler Anderson became the first ever former Duck to pitch in the playoffs. Ryon Healy had a strong second year in the majors following his stellar rookie season with the Oakland Athletics.
Tyler Anderson, Colorado Rockies, MLB National League
Part of the Rockies' starting rotation to begin 2017 … Appeared in 17 games, starting 15, with a 4.81 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 86 innings pitched in second season with Rockies... A part of the Rockies' active roster for the NL Wild Card game, becoming the first former Duck pitcher to ever appear in a playoff game.
Ryon Healy, Oakland Athletics, MLB American League
Started at designated hitter on Opening Day 2017 for the A's … A mainstay in Oakland's starting lineup all season, appearing in 149 games and finishing second on the team in home runs (25) and RBI (78) while hitting.271.
Jimmie Sherfy, Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB National League
Called-up to the big leagues on August 20, 2017 and pitched in two games, picking up a win with three stirkeouts in two innings before being sent back to Triple-A Reno... Did not allow a run in 11 regular season appearances, striking out nine in 10.2 innings pitched with one save... A part of the Diamondbacks' active roster for the NL Wild Card game and Division Series.
Austin Grebeck, Tacoma Rainiers, Triple-A Pacific Coast League, Seattle Mariners
Appeared in 11 games with Class-A (Advanced) Modesto to begin 2017 before being sent to Mariners' extended spring training on May 10... Assigned to Everett on June 13 and hit.240 in 47 games with the Aquasox before being promoted back to Modesto on August 14... Sent back to Everett on August 22 before being promoted to Triple-A Tacoma on Sept. 1... Hit.207 in 75 games at three different levels with six doubles and three triples.
Jake Reed, Rochester Red Wings, Triple-A International League, Minnesota Twins
Started 2017 with Double-A Chattanooga, appearing in five games while posting a 2.45 ERA before being promoted to Triple-A Rochester on June 19 … Finished with a 2.05 ERA and five saves with the Red Wings, with 25 strikeouts in 30.2 innings pitched... Currently ranked 24th on the Twins' Top 30 Prospect List.The General Motors logo is seen outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan in this file photograph taken August 25, 2009. REUTERS/Jeff Kowalsky/Files
By Ryan McNeill and Paul Lienert
(Reuters) - At least 74 people have died in General Motors cars in accidents with some key similarities to those that GM has linked to 13 deaths involving defective ignition switches, a Reuters analysis of government fatal-crash data has determined. Such accidents also occurred at a higher rate in the GM cars than in top competitors’ models, the analysis showed.
Reuters searched the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a national database of crash information submitted by local law-enforcement agencies, for single-car frontal collisions where no front air bags deployed and the driver or front-seat passenger was killed.
The news agency compared the incidence of this kind of deadly accident in the Chevrolet Cobalt and the Saturn Ion, the highest-profile cars in GM's recall of 2.6 million cars with defective switches, against the records of three popular small-car competitors: Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.
The analysis found that the frequency of such accidents in the Ion was nearly six times that of the Corolla and twice that of the Focus. The Ion had 5.9 such fatal crashes per 100,000 cars sold, followed by the Cobalt, with 4.1, the Ford Focus with 2.9, the Civic with 1.6, and the Corolla with 1.0.
It is not clear how many of the deadly accidents identified by Reuters involved defective ignition switches, because crash reports typically do not include that data. That leaves open the possibility that air bags may have failed to deploy in some of the GM crashes for reasons other than faulty switches.
GM, which has offered few details of the fatal crashes related to faulty switches, told Reuters it derived the tally of 13 deaths from claims and lawsuits filed against the automaker. GM checked those claims and lawsuits against other sources available to it, including vehicle data recorders recovered from some crashes.
The Reuters analysis relied on the FARS database, which encompasses a much wider universe of accidents. GM declined to say whether it had used information from the federal database.
Reuters disclosed its findings in detail to GM and federal regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
GM declined to comment on Reuters’ findings or methodology, responding only that: “Our focus is on doing the right thing for customers — fixing the recalled vehicles as quickly as possible, addressing our civic and legal responsibilities and setting a new industry standard for safety.”
NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman told Reuters: “The final death toll associated with this safety defect is not known to NHTSA, but we believe it’s likely that more than 13 lives were lost.”
Toyota and Honda declined to comment. Ford said it took issue with the Reuters findings concerning the Focus, but didn’t specify its reasons.
GM engineers first encountered problems with the switches in 2001, a year before the first Ion went into production. The faulty GM ignition switches could cause engines to shut off while driving, leading to a sudden loss of power steering and power brakes, and the failure of air bags to deploy in a crash.
Managers subsequently considered, then rejected several proposals to repair or replace the switches because of the extra cost, GM told NHTSA and congressional investigators.
The automaker did not begin recalling the cars until February 2014, after a two-and-a-half-year internal investigation. Eventually, GM recalled every Ion and Cobalt built from model years 2003 to 2010. Reuters used those model years for its analysis.
Using the FARS database of crashes reported to U.S. safety regulators between 2003 and 2012, Reuters identified 45 front-seat fatalities in the Cobalt and 29 in the Ion. In similar crashes, there were 44 fatalities in the Ford Focus, 41 in the Honda Civic and 24 in the Toyota Corolla.
Reuters found the Focus had 43 fatal accidents, the Cobalt had 42, the Civic had 39, the Ion had 28 and the Corolla had 24. While the raw crash numbers appear comparable, the rate of deadly crashes was higher in the two GM models, as the Ford, Honda and Toyota models sold in substantially greater numbers.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a non-profit safety research group connected with the U.S. insurance industry, reviewed the Reuters analysis.
Story continuesThe Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Saturday demanded an immediate ban on SAB TV’s flagship programme, Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma, alleging that it had hurt the sentiments of Sikh community by portraying a series of what it said were blasphemous acts.
In a statement to the media, SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar said the serial had hurt the community by depicting a living character of tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, which was “against the Sikh tenets”.
“No actor or any character can equate himself with the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. Such an act is unpardonable,” he was quoted by PTI.
Badungar said that a character, Roshan Singh Sodhi, in the serial was projected as Guru Gobind Singh and this was unacceptable to the community.
The apex religious body of the Sikh warned the channel and the director of the show from showing “blasphemous” content on small screen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared the TV series one of the brand ambassadors of his per, Swacch Bharat scheme in the past.
The TV series is believed to be India’s longest running sitcom. It is produced by Neela Tele Films Private Limited. The first episode of the show went on air on 28 July, 2008. It airs from Monday to Friday on SAB TV. Reruns of the show started on Sony Pal on November 2, 2015.
The show is based on the column Duniya Ne Oondha Chashma written by columnist and journalist Taarak Mehta for Gujarati weekly magazine Chitralekha.A flat display variant of the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 has appeared on Chinese telecommunications site TENAA, indicating that it could soon be released. Xiaomi’s Mi Note 2 was unveiled at the end of October with its curved display being one of its most notable features. The new device – which has model number 2015213 – also makes use of a flat glass rear but otherwise houses the same specs as the Mi Note 2.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 had its first flash sale on November 1 and reportedly sold out 50 seconds after it was made available to customers who pre-registered for a chance to purchase the handset. Today, Xiaomi said that it took one minute to sell out in its second flash sale.
Xiaomi’s decision to produce a flat screen variant may allow it to sell this phablet at a lower price point compared to the curved version but to find out for sure we’ll have to wait for the Chinese manufacturer to make an official announcement.
The Mi Note 2 will next be on sale on November 11. Check out our initial impressions of the handset in our hands-on Xiaomi Mi Note 2 review.Encouraging Curiosity in Kids
Posted on October 28, 2011 Comments (24)
How do you help make your children scientifically literate? I think the biggest thing you can do is encourage curiosity.
One way to encourage curiosity it is by answering their questions (and not saying: I am too busy, don’t bother me, don’t ask me?, stop asking why…). I know adults are busy and have all sorts of stuff we are trying to get done; and the question about why I need to wash my hands doesn’t seem worth answering. But I think anytime a kid is asking why is an opportunity to teach and encourage them to keep being curious.
It is very easy to shut off this curiosity, in our society anyway (we do it to the vast majority of people). The biggest difference I see between adults and kids is not maturity or responsibility but curiosity (or lack thereof in adults) and joy (versus adults who seem to be on valium all the time – maybe they are).
As they grow up kids will have lots of science and technology questions that you don’t know the answers to. If you want them to be curious and knowledgeable, put in the effort to find answers with them. You have to help them find the answers in a way that doesn’t turn them off. If you just say – go look it up yourself (which really they can do), maybe the 2% that are going to become scientists will. But most kids will just give up and turn off their curiosity a little bit more (until eventually it is almost gone and they are ready to fit into the adult world). Which is very sad.
Once you get them used to thinking and looking things up they will start to do this on their own. A lot of this just requires thinking (no need to look things up – once a certain base knowledge is achieved). But you need to set that pattern. And it would help if you were curious, thought and learned yourself.
While walking in the park, see one of those things you are curious about and ask why does…? It is good to ask kids why and let them think about it and try and answer. Get them in the habit of asking why themselves. And in those cases when no-one knows, take some time and figure it out. Ask some questions (both for yourself – to guide your thinking – and to illustrate how to think about the question and figure things out). If you all can’t find an explanation yourselves, take some time to look it up. Then at dinner, tell everyone what you learned. This will be much more interesting to the kids than forcing them to elaborate on what they did today and help set the idea that curiosity is good and finding explanations is interesting.
It is fun as a kid if your parent is a scientist or engineer (my father was an engineering professor).
You often don’t notice traits about yourself. In the same what I know what red looks like to me, I figure we both see this red shirt you see the red that I do. But maybe you don’t. I tend to constantly be asking myself why. If I see something new (which is many, many times a day – unless I am trapped in some sad treadmill of sameness) I ask why is it that way and then try and answer. I think most of this goes on subconsciously or some barely conscious way. I actually had an example a few months ago when I was visiting home with my brother (who is pretty similar to me).
As we were driving, I had noticed some fairly tall poles that seemed to have really small solar panels on top. I then noticed they were space maybe 20 meters apart. Then saw that there seemed to be a asphalt path along the same line. I then decided, ok, they are probably solar panels to power a light for the path at night. Then my brother asked why are there those small solar panel on top of that pole?
A question like that, I hear maybe every couple of years from an adult (probably less) – other than hearing myself ask it (to myself many times a day, but even to others fairly often). I would much rather ask some question that a person might give me some new insight on, or answer some question I haven’t figured out than discuss some new movie or what new gadget someone is thinking of getting, or what they are going to do this weekend… But I notice I am very much an outlier in this desire to have someone explain what they know to me.
Anyway, that interaction with my brother made me aware of something I wasn’t really very aware of. I wasn’t aware how much (many times a day) I am curious and trying to figure out an explanation. Normally I think this curiosity is in some barely aware state. It feels like, only if I don’t semi-consciously figure out the answer do I push it to the forefront of my brain and really concentrate on it.
My impression is most people don’t do this, but it is hard to know if that is true. I base this on
how infrequently the questions are asked (but this is less than solid evidence) when I ask the question people normally have to think about it (they haven’t noticed, questioned and reach a satisfactory conclusion) when I directly ask people they don’t say they do (but my sample size for this is very small)
Related: Getting Kids to Rediscover the Great Outdoors – Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids – StoryCorps: Passion for Mechanical Engineering – Naturally Curious Children – What Kids can Learn With a Computer and Curiosity – Playing Dice and Children’s Numeracy – Who Is Explaining Technology To Our Kids – Illusion of Explanatory Depth (losing the desire for curiosity)Image caption The Recovery College plays an important role in rebuilding confidence, says student David
An innovative college for homeless people in London, the first of its kind in the country, is attracting hundreds of students.
Recovery College, set up in Southwark by St Mungo's charity, is providing courses which improve practical skills and help to rebuild confidence.
There are no charges, no entry requirements and students help to design and deliver the courses.
These range from help with literacy and music to raising self-esteem. There are courses for tough lives on the streets - overdose awareness, first aid and how to feed yourself on a small budget.
They include what volunteers can offer, such as singing lessons arranged through the Guildhall School of Music.
Each night the charity looks after about 1,700 people in London and the South East of England - and most of these will previously have been sleeping rough.
Cold weather brings homelessness into sharper focus. The makeshift bedding around the warmth of buildings seems more brutal and isolated as temperatures fall.
But the experience of the fledgling college suggests that homeless people want more than temporary support.
Self-confidence
Launched as an experiment in autumn 2012, the college was taken aback by the demand and found would-be students knocking on the door. At the start of the second term, there are now 395 people enrolled on 60 courses.
The most popular courses have proved to be about raising self-confidence and developing self-esteem, says Andy Williams, who helps to organise the college.
Image caption Steve takes three buses to get to the college. His last time in education was leaving school aged 12
This reflects the corrosive quality of homelessness and how it isolates individuals.
As an indication of its importance, a student at the college has taken three bus journeys from north London to get there. Steve, now in his 50s, says how much of a difference it makes to "have a bit of confidence".
Drifting out of school by the age of 12, his dyslexia not recognised at the time and "seen as an illiterate", he talks about his depression and drinking.
Now he is making a belated re-entry into education. He speaks with enthusiasm for the project - and says the courses he is taking have to be better "than sitting there with a can in my hand".
There are other courses aimed at developing skills to help people get jobs.
Once a student has taken six of these free-form courses they can be considered for something more formal. The college has links with Ruskin College in Oxford and the City Lit in London.
But this isn't going to be a traditional academic ladder.
"The college provides a structured environment for people - but without some of the demands of mainstream education. It seems to be filling a gap," says Stuart Bakewell, St Mungo's area manager.
Student identity
The status of "student" is itself important for people who are used to other labels being attached to them. It's also seen as important that it's located in its own separate building.
Another college attender, David, in his 50s, talks about using college courses as a fresh start - and a way to build more successful relationships than in the past.
"It's a chance to find out what went wrong. We're all in the same boat, we have to sort this out.
"The Recovery College shows you can do it."
Being students is a sign of equality, he says. He also talks about the importance of the social aspects of learning for people who might otherwise spend many hours alone.
"Having a laugh in class" is even more important among people who have vulnerable, dangerous, stress-filled lives.
Success is measured in small steps. Even volunteering takes a level of confidence - and there are plans to help students from the college to become volunteer helpers in a London museum.
Homelessness is often linked to other problems. People might have been through institutions and addictions. Many homeless people will be functionally illiterate.
"The vast majority didn't have a good time at school - so this is showing it can be enjoyable," says Mr Williams.
There is also a growing homeless population. According to St Mungo's, the number of rough sleepers in London is rising sharply - up by more than 40% in a year.
Getting them out of the cold is a start. "We want to be more ambitious for them," said Mr Williams.Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective[a] is an adventure game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo DS and iOS.[3] Ghost Trick's story centers on the recently deceased protagonist Sissel, and his ghost's struggle to discover who he was when he was alive and who killed him. The player assumes the role of this ghost, who has the ability to perform various Ghost Tricks to solve puzzles and navigate the world around him.
The lead development, writing and directing were handled by Shu Takumi, creator of the Ace Attorney franchise. The game is published by Capcom and was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on June 19, 2010; in North America on January 11, 2011; in Europe on January 14, 2011; and in Australia on January 20, 2011. A version for iOS was released in Japan on December 16, 2010 and the rest of the world on February 2, 2012.[3]
Gameplay [ edit ]
A view of the Ghost World, where time stands still and Sissel can transfer his spirit between nearby objects
Ghost Trick is an adventure game in which players control Sissel, a ghost that must use his powers to save lives. During gameplay segments, players can swap at will between the Land of the Living, where time flows naturally, and the Ghost World, in which time is stopped. In the Ghost World, Sissel can travel between objects within a certain radius. These objects are represented by blue cores, and in the Land of the Living, Sissel can animate these objects to perform actions, known as "Ghost Tricks", that open new paths or influence the characters around him. For example, moving a tray of donuts will prompt a character to change where he or she is currently seated, as well as giving Sissel access to new areas.
Much of the plot is driven by Sissel's ability to possess corpses. When he does this, he can return to the time four minutes before the corpse's death. In these four minutes, Sissel can attempt to use his Ghost Tricks to alter the situation, and ultimately change the future by saving the person's life. He can also communicate with the ghost of whomever he is saving, but only if the ghost is conscious. If the player fails to save the victim in time, he may choose to go back to the beginning of the four minutes, or return to a checkpoint created when the player manages to alter fate a little. Later in the game, players can switch control to Missile, the ghost of a small dog. Missile's spirit has a longer reach than Sissel, and has the ability to swap the position of two objects that are of the same shape.[4] The majority of Ghost Trick's gameplay segments consist of the puzzles that make up these scenarios.[5]
Plot [ edit ]
The game starts with the player (a spirit named Sissel) coming to consciousness with no memories of his past. He sees a corpse of a man on the ground in a junk-yard, and believes he just recently died. Another spirit named Ray tells Sissel about the nature of spirits, and his special abilities known as "ghost tricks". He demonstrates the ability to inhabit objects and manipulate them. Ray also tells Sissel that he can use ghost tricks to go back four minutes before the death of a person and attempt to save their life. Sissel does so to save the life of Lynne, a young detective, from an assassin. Sissel wishes to recover his memories, He then learns Lynne had come to the junk-yard to get information from him. Being the only lead to his past, Sissel decides to follow her. Ray warns that Sissel's spirit will dissipate at dawn.
As the night progresses, Sissel and Lynne work together to save others, as Sissel learns pieces about the past. Ten years prior, Detectives Jowd and Cabanela had arrested Yomiel, a man believed to be a spy for Sith, a foreign intelligence agency. Yomiel escaped and fled into a nearby park, taking young Lynne hostage. Jowd gave chase and before he could shoot Yomiel, a meteorite struck nearby and fragments from its impact struck and killed Yomiel. Jowd adopted Lynne into his family, including his wife Alma, daughter Kamila, and pet dog Missile. Five years prior to the present, Alma was inadvertently killed by a complex contraption that Kamila had built as a surprise for her birthday. Jowd hid the evidence and took responsibility for Alma's death to protect Kamila, going to prison under Cabanela's watch.
In the present, Sissel and Lynne discover that Sith has been behind the assassination attempt on Lynne, and is blackmailing the Minister of Justice into pushing for Jowd's execution, having claimed to have kidnapped his daughter, unaware that his subordinates mistakenly kidnapped Kamila instead. Sissel uses his ghost powers to help Jowd free himself from prison, though Cabanela recaptures him shortly thereafter. Without Sith's coercion, the Minister stays Jowd's execution, and tells Sissel and Lynne his fear that some spirit known as "the manipulator" is behind many of the recent events, including the death of Alma.
Cabanela is killed while investigating Sissel's body at the junk-yard, but Sissel, with help from Missile, now a spirit with his own ghost tricks, undoes his death. Sissel is surprised to see that the manipulator used his corpse, which had yet to show signs of decomposition, to shoot and kill Cabanela while vowing revenge on Jowd and Lynne. Cabanela reveals that the body Sissel's spirit assumes is that of Yomiel, which had gone missing shortly after he was pronounced dead, likely taken by the manipulator; Sissel is confused by this revelation. The body showed traces of the same radiation in the meteorite, which they suspect is preventing it from decomposing.
Sissel, Missile, Lynne and Jowd follow the manipulator (who is still using Sissel's body) to board a submarine belonging to Sith. They find Kamila and corner the manipulator before he can kill Lynne, but Sith then turns on Yomiel, extracting the fragments of meteorite still in Sissel's body and sinking the submarine after he escapes. Yomiel reveals he had been working with Sith's organization to bring the meteorite with its unique restorative powers to them, and had been taking steps to eliminate all those that knew about it, including Jowd, Lynne, and Cabanela. Yomiel had come to work for Sith as a spirit after finding his fiancee, also named Sissel, had committed suicide following his apparent death, having been promised the means to live a normal life by Sith once he had the fragments.
With apparently no escape and dawn approaching, Sissel realizes that Yomiel's corpse died ten years earlier and they can use their ghost tricks to travel four minutes before that point to try to change events. Sissel, Yomiel, and Missile all return to that point and are able to prevent Yomiel's death from the meteor fragment while keeping Jowd and Lynne alive. A new timeline is created. During this transition, Sissel comes to discover that he was actually a cat adopted by Yomiel after his fiancee's suicide, whom he gave her name to. Sissel had been in a cat carrier near Yomiel at the junkyard and struck by a bullet and killed. Further, Sissel finds that Ray is actually a long-existed version of Missile who had tried to go back in time to Yomiel's death without Sissel's help to prevent his death but had failed, and ensured that Sissel would help out to fix events. As a new timeline is written, Sissel has now been adopted by Jowd, Alma, Lynne, and Kamila, while Yomiel happily waits out his prison sentence to rejoin his waiting fiancee.
Development [ edit ]
Development was handled by the creator of the Ace Attorney series, Shu Takumi. "I first thought of this idea about five years ago," Takumi told Famitsu. "We were working on the third Ace Attorney and figured it was time to start thinking about the next thing. So I came up with a plan to make a new type of mystery, something different in style from Ace Attorney."[6] The game was originally titled as "Ghost Spy", and was later renamed as "Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective".[7] Following a release on the Nintendo DS in Japan on December 2010, the iOS version was released for the rest of the world on February 2, 2012. The first two chapters are available for free, with additional chapters costing extra.[8]
In an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine in 2013, Takumi said that he'd love to make a crossover video game between Ghost Trick and his other series, Ace Attorney, speculating that Phoenix Wright could be killed, while his killer would be prosecuted by Sissel.[9]
Reception [ edit ]
Critical reception [ edit ]
Ghost Trick was the best-selling DS game in Japan during its release week at 24,000 copies.[34] It dropped to number nine the following week with an additional 20,000 copies sold, and then to number 22 for its third week.[35][36] Capcom has listed the game as a contributor to the low sales of its first quarter of its 2010 fiscal year.[37] Results from a poll conducted by Dengeki showed that Japanese gamers found Ghost Trick to be the 13th most interesting game for the first half of 2010.[38]
Ghost Trick received significant praise for its "buttery smooth animation".[23] received significant praise for its "buttery smooth animation".
The game was well received on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[28][29] In Japan, Famitsu gave the DS version a score of two eights and two nines, for a total of 34 out of 40.[39]
1UP.com editor Justin Haywald praised the DS version's puzzles and story. But he pointed out that, "The concept is novel and fun, though you might feel occasionally frustrated by the trial-and-error process to get at a solution." Ultimately, the story's quick "concise plotting and entertaining puzzles" helped elevate the overall experience.[40] Daemon Hatfield of IGN gave the same console version an Editor's Choice award, praising the game's mechanics and animation, although he noted that it "gets a little wordy sometimes."[20] GameSpot praised the unique gameplay and memorable characters.[17]
411Mania gave the DS version 8.9 out of 10 and called it "a must have for your DS library. The game will provide you with 18 chapters and eight to ten hours of high quality entertainment and a gripping storyline. The deeper you dive into the game, the more compelling the mystery unfurls, and the more you’ll want to stay up late into the night finishing this addicting game."[41] The A.V. Club gave it a B+ and said that it was "just one indication that the DS, in its twilight years, is also in its prime."[42] The Escapist gave it four stars out of five and called it "a clever concoction that will stretch your brain in pleasantly unusual ways. It strikes just the right balance between whimsy and challenge, always just the right amount of difficult and bizarre."[26] The Daily Telegraph gave it a similar score of eight out of ten, stating that "The puzzling, while fearsomely inventive and effortlessly pleasurable, unfortunately doesn't fulfil its obvious potential. But if you are possessed by Ghost Trick's charms, you will find an affecting, charismatic game with a whole lot of spirit."[25] However, Wired gave it seven stars out of ten, stating that "Part of the appeal of the Ace Attorney series is the 'Eureka!' moment, that feeling of brain satisfaction that can only come out of solving a particularly grueling puzzle using nothing but your wits. Ghost Trick has no eurekas, only 'Oh... is that it?'"[43] Metro gave both the DS and iOS versions each a score of seven out of ten, with David Jenkins saying of the former, "The flaws are obvious, and in many cases needless, but personality (and fantastic animation) go[es] a long way in this eccentric puzzler";[44] and that the latter was "Still the same innovative-but-flawed puzzler as on the DS, but now far cheaper and with even more attractive visuals."[45]
Awards [ edit ]
The game was nominated for Best DS Game of E3 2010 by GameTrailers, though it lost to another Capcom game, Ōkamiden.[46] GameSpot gave Ghost Trick the awards for "Best Handheld Game"[30] and "Best Game No One Played,"[31] while also nominating it for the "Best Puzzle Game"[47] and "Game of the Year"[48] categories. The game also won the award for "Best Nintendo DS Game" of 2011 from GameTrailers.[32] Ghost Trick was also nominated for an Annie Award in the "Best Animated Video Game" category, alongside another adventure game Catherine.[49] GamesRadar+ included Ghost Trick in its list of the top 50 Nintendo DS games of all time.[50] GameTrailers nominated Ghost Trick for the "Best Story" award.[51] GameZone gave it the "Nintendo DS Game of the Year" award.[33]
In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Ghost Trick the 41st-best adventure game ever released.[52]
Notes [ edit ]
^ Known in Japan as simply Ghost Trick ( ゴースト トリック, Gōsuto Torikku)Several Iraqi civilians fleeing fighting in the city of Fallujah have drowned in the Euphrates while attempting to cross to safety into government-controlled areas.
Thousands of civilians are caught in the crossfire in and around Fallujah, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) group, as government forces and allied militias are trying to recapture the city.
Hundreds of Iraqi families were reportedly trying to cross the river into the government-held city of Amiriyat al-Fallujah, about 50km south of Fallujah.
In the absence of organised help by the government, many of the people fleeing have been using makeshift boats.
The UNHCR confirmed that several people, including children, had drowned while trying to flee the city.
The route is one of the "safe corridors" provided by the Iraqi army out of the city. Two other passages into government-controlled territory are not being used by civilians because of safety concerns.
Traumatised families
Caroline Gluck, a senior public information officer of UNHCR, said about 12,000 people have fled the conflict area since May 23 when the government offensive started.
"Many of them are desperate and travelled long journeys trying to avoid detection by ISIL with nothing but the clothes they wear. The fleeing families were traumatised, distraught and looked pale," she told Al Jazeera.
The families were housed in camps in Amiriyat al-Fallujah and other areas in the region, and Gluck called on the government to do more to provide displaced families with the help they need.
The operation for Fallujah has come at a dire human cost, with thousands of civilians trapped between ISIL fighters and the advancing Iraqi army.
READ MORE: Fallujah battle explained
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the need to spare civilians was slowing his forces, which have surrounded Fallujah but have stalled at the fringes of the city.
Government troops were backed by US-led air strikes as they retook Saqalawiya on Saturday, some 7km northwest of Fallujah, Colonel Mohammed Abd, an army commander in western Iraq, told DPA news agency.
"Security forces raised the Iraqi flag in the suburb after pushing deep into the area and killing at least 27 Daesh elements," he said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL
There are up 50,000 people still stuck in the centre of Fallujah struggling with dwindling water and food supplies.
No aid has reached Fallujah since September last year and residents have been living on dates, dirty water from the Euphrates river and animal feed, aid groups said.
With reporting by Ali YounesOn Aug. 27, 1994, the wrestling world changed forever when ECW Superstar Shane Douglas threw down his newly won NWA World Heavyweight Championship and denounced the prestige of so-called "technical wrestling." The "E" in ECW was changed from Eastern to Extreme and former WCW manager Paul Heyman led the direction for an organization that revolutionized sports-entertainment.
Over the following seven years, hardcore icons like Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman and Sabu represented a new generation of Extreme competition. But for all of ECW's notable main-event performers, many others who also had their moment in the Philadelphia spotlight. Some were local wrestlers who the fervent fans embraced as their own. Others were managers and broadcasters who defined ECW's voice alongside "The Extreme Announcer" Joey Styles. And then there were the freakishly talented athletes who just barely eluded major championships and further stardom.
These men who sacrificed their bodies for the entertainment of a temperamental ECW audience don’t always get the adulation they deserve, so WWE Classics spoke to ECW architect Paul Heyman about some of the organization's forgotten stars.
( WATCH PLAYLIST | VIEW PHOTOS | MORE ECW)
Tommy Cairo
Entering to Queen's famous "We Will Rock You" anthem, Tommy Cairo joined Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1993 as one of the most popular grapplers in the local area. That year, he won a Battle Royal to become NWA Pennsylvania Heavyweight Champion, a title he held for nearly three months. In ECW, he became an ally of The Sandman by forming a tandem
|
7% on the uninsured assets and leave the insured deposits untaxed. Or we keep the tax on uninsured deposits in single digits – say 9% – and tag the small deposits at 6.7%”. What do you think?
“Option 1: only tax the large deposits”. Go to 46
“Option 2: keep the top rate down and make the insured depositors pay at least something”. Go to 18
“There’s always the nuclear option. Let’s take this to the brink of default and see if De Grieux is bluffing”. Go to 2
8.
Tuesday morning
You wake up wearily, with a bad head after staying up too late the previous night, smoking cigarettes and strategizing over brandy with Maynard. The news throughout Monday continued to be bad; global markets took the news from Surpyc badly, with the Dow off as much as 260 points at the lows. Obviously you were blamed, and spent most of the afternoon fending off inquiries from your superiors, all of whom seemed to have been got to be Alexei Ivanovich and his organization.
And it didn’t even work. As soon as the banks opened after the Tuesday holiday, the lines snaked up and down the streets. The Surpyc depositors had no confidence that they would be spared second time round, and with the size of the banking sector deficit growing every day, it was increasingly obvious that there would be a second round. You still have the ticket stub from your journey home. You haven’t flown business class since that date.
YOU HAVE LOST
9.
“We won!” Maynard actually hugs you. “Extraordinary! I’d have thought it impossible!”. Clearly, “fifty fifty” was his attempt to spare your feelings. The television is now switching to the scenes of the demonstrations. They are getting distinctly rowdier, although you wouldn’t call what you see an actual riot at this stage. You stagger back to your hotel room, open the minbar and call room service. Tomorrow will be spent by the swimming pool; there is nothing to do but wait until the banks open.
Roll a dice:
If it comes up even, go to 47
If it comes up odd, go to 5
10.
Sunday morning
Maynard is already at his desk by the time you arrive. He directs you to the tablet once again. “We have offers”, he observes, placidly. “There might be some possibility here after all. But the news is decidedly not all good. The troika are … well, read it for yourself”.
Two documents have arrived on your secure email system. The first is from the troika representative. It is quite clearly bad news.
The IMF and ESM are together prepared to underwrite loans of EUR10bn. If a sustainable program with total funding EUR17bn can be agreed, the ECB is prepared to continue to extend Emergency Liquidity Assistance to your banking system. If the program cannot be so concluded, this lending will also be terminated, in which case you should make arrangements for the closure of your two largest banks.
We strongly recommend that you consider a one-off tax on deposits, to take advantage of the considerable offshore financial services industry. We would like to discuss this at your earliest convenience.
Yours, &c &c
M. De Grieux
Maynard sees the colour rise in your face and raises his eyebrows. “Had the same effect on me. Basically, requirements seventeen billion, resources, ten billion, result misery. I’ve got some provisional figures on the deposit system”. He pushes his legal pad across the desk:
Insured deposits…...........EUR45bn
Uninsured deposits….........EUR45bn
Total…......................EUR90bn
“Think on that. Write it down, you’ll need it. Meantime …”. He gestures back at your tablet. You start to read the second secure message, which is much shorter.
Mr Astley: Subject to agreement on minerals royalties and other commitments, my organization could be willing to advance EUR7bn on terms to be negotiated. Please contact me, immediately and in strict confidence. Best regards, Alexei Ivanovich
“So, a two way choice”, Maynard indicates. “I can set up one conference call this morning, and perhaps a second this afternoon. Who shall we speak to first?”
“The troika”. Go to 25
“The Russians”. Go to 35
“Actually it’s a three way choice. We don’t have to talk to anyone. We’re going to default. No, I know that means leaving the Euro. My mind’s made up”. Go to 40
11.
Tuesday morning
You wait for the earthquake, but the earthquake never comes. Deposits start to flood out of the country, but the ECB continues to provide the temporary loans to fund their exit. Shortly after the market open, you receive a visit in your office. M De Grieux and Alexei Ivanovich appear to have been communicating with each other independently of you. Between the two of them, they have been able to find the missing EUR7bn. The loan terms are onerous, but the show of commitment is impressive – the markets seem to be impressed that a new spirit is active in Europe, under which it can expect to see problems solved collaboratively and with much larger fiscal transfers.
“Who’d have known it? He was bluffing all along”, you chirp to Maynard, as the two of you wait for the airport taxi.
“I think we dodged a bullet there. Still, a win’s a win”.
YOU HAVE WON
12.
Sunday afternoon
Maynard swiftly and efficiently arranges a round-table meeting between you, Ivanovich and De Grieux. Talks go on for the whole afternoon, with the troika representative repeatedly leaving the room to talk on the telephone. Ivanovich never leaves the room; he clearly has authority to negotiate and sign off. He grows more and more amused as the afternoon wears on.
By seven o’clock, there is an agreement. The troika will contribute EUR11bn, Ivanovich’s company will buy the resources rights for EUR5..5bn, and the ECB will tolerate the slippage in the plan, effectively kicking the can down the road.
“Under the circumstances”, you say to Maynard, “I don’t see much benefit in us hanging around to see the market open”.
“A deal’s a deal”, he agrees. The two of you hail an airport taxi as De Grieux starts his press conference.
YOU HAVE WON
13.
Sunday night
It is hardly an hour before the phone starts ringing in response to your ultimatum. De Grieux greets you with surprising warmth. “Well”, he chuckles, “I suppose we need to open up the supposedly non-existent Plan B, then!”. The two of you work on details through the small hours, ready to draft a statement to be released before the markets open. The missing EUR7bn is back, or at least EUR5bn of it is, released from a variety of emergency budgets and bilateral loans.
Your career has survived another knock. Everyone accepts that Surpyc was an impossible situation. All the officials loudly assert that it doesn’t set a precedent, but the world knows now – when it came to the crunch, Europe blinked.
YOU HAVE WON
14.
Sunday afternoon
“Sensible”, says Maynard. “We keep some kind of concept of moral hazard alive, and we stop ourselves from having to guess the reactions of a crowd. Thump the tax on the lowest elasticity, that’s what I say”. You cannot help thinking he sounds like he’s whistling past a graveyard.
All afternoon, Maynard works with legislators on a bill for an emergency session to be held that evening, while you field increasingly intrusive and angry calls from Alexei Ivanovich. Someone is clearly leaking, and Ivanovich is equally clearly angry that you haven’t responded to his offer of a meeting. As the crucial vote draws near, you begin to worry that you have done the right thing.
Roll two dice.
If the total is nine or greater, go to 27.
If the total is eight or less, go to 32.
15.
Monday night/ Tuesday morning
Ivanovich never gets back to you. But as evening turns into night, De Grieux calls. The two of you work on details through the small hours, ready to draft a statement to be released before the markets open. The missing EUR7bn is back, or at least EUR5bn of it is, released from a variety of emergency budgets and bilateral loans.
Your career has survived another knock. Everyone accepts that Surpyc was an impossible situation. All the officials loudly assert that it doesn’t set a precedent, but the world knows now – when it came to the crunch, Europe blinked.
YOU HAVE WON
16.
Monday morning
Another day, another emergency session of the legislature. You are well rested, but Maynard has been up all night, fielding calls as international leaders step up pressure on the legislators. The failure of the first plan has unnerved markets somewhat, but you only need to win over eight waverers. Your hopes are reasonably high. You turn on the television and wait for the vote to be announced.
Roll two dice.
If the total score is five or greater, go to 29.
If the total score is four or less, go to 6
17.
Monday night/ Tuesday morning
After a brutal late night battle, your package is passed. You ring De Grieux at three in the morning, doing little to improve his temper, but confirming that the troika is prepared to proceed on the basis of EUR7bn raised from a tax on uninsured deposits.
Maynard yawns and heads for the hotel, saying “Well, now we see. The offshore depositors won’t like it, but we’ve got our money and the troika should play fair with us. Nothing to do until tomorrow morning”.
Over breakfast, the two of you rapidly cheer up.
Your Blackberry is still buzzing with angry messages from Alexei Ivanovich, who is calling you every name under the sun. But the financial press generally agrees that the final compromise was the best deal available, albeit after a lot of unnecessary drama. The people of Surpyc were pleasantly surprised to discover that, after all, their deposits were not to be confiscated; public feeling is still not exactly favourable and there are a number of hard cases of ordinary citizens who had the bad luck to have their house sale proceeds sitting in an account over the weekend. But the troika have paid up, and although the end of the tunnel is a long way away, crisis seems to have been averted. The principle that insured deposits are sacrosanct appears to have been strengthened, if anything, by your little adventure.
YOU HAVE WON
18.
Monday morning
Having stayed up all night trying to draft your legislation and build a coalition, you are now in the lap of the gods. Alexei Ivanovich has proved to be surprisingly helpful; all manner of international financiers have called your office expressing support for your “measured” approach, and, somewhat more ominously, asking questions about future tax treaties.
By late afternoon, Maynard is worried. Things have dragged on too late, and there will not be time to revise any plans if this does not pass the legislature first time. “We’re basically hoping that not too many of the coalition are bright enough to realize that this bill is electoral suicide. Let’s hope that they’re … sensitive to the concerns of the offshore lobby”, he informs you.
“Delicately put, Maynard”, you reply.
Roll a dice
If it comes up with a one, go to 21
If it comes up a two or higher, go to 38
19.
Tuesday morning
You and Maynard are sipping glasses of champagne in the airport bar.
“I think our sequencing was just right”, you say as you clink glasses.
“Can’t go at these things like a bull at a gate”, Maynard agrees. “Got to prepare the ground”.
Your Blackberry is rapidly filling up with angry messages from Alexei Ivanovich, who is calling you every name under the sun. But the financial press generally agrees that the final compromise was the best deal available, albeit after a lot of unnecessary drama. The people of Surpyc were pleasantly surprised to discover that, after all, their deposits were not to be confiscated; public feeling is still not exactly favourable and there are a number of hard cases of ordinary citizens who had the bad luck to have their house sale proceeds sitting in an account over the weekend. But the troika have paid up, and although the end of the tunnel is a long way away, crisis seems to have been averted. The principle that insured deposits are sacrosanct appears to have been strengthened, if anything, by your little adventure.
“Cheers”, you say, and drain your glass.
YOU HAVE WON
20.
Monday morning
The markets open but the domestic banks don’t. According to your orders, the bank holiday has been extended to Wednesday, to allow for the printing of a new currency, into which all of the bank deposits and assets are redenominated. All of your external liabilities are in default. The world pauses for breath …
Things go badly. Bank runs take off in Spain, Italy and even France. The ECB holds the line, eventually, but economic recovery has been set back by five years. The lost decade is a reality.
In the context of a recession-bound Europe, Surpyc never stood a chance. The new currency was inflationary, leaving the island plagued by shortages of import commodities, which eventually even undermined the tourist industry. Political instability was rife, with successive short-lived civilian governments alternating with “caretaker” administrations. Under these conditions, the natural resources were never likely to be successfully developed under anything other than kleptocratic terms.
Your career never recovered from the savaging that Maynard gave it in his report. Nobody can understand why you took such a crazy gamble. This was your last assignment.
YOU HAVE LOST
21.
Monday afternoon / Monday night / Tuesday morning
You do your best not to think about the deals that went on, through the afternoon and late into the night. You particularly do your best not to think about what Alexei Ivanovich might have been doing, hanging around the legislature with a mobile phone glued to his ear. But, for better or worse, around three o’clock in the morning, your bill passed. M De Grieux stayed up to watch television at your office, the two of you having come to a grudging accommodation. He was able to confirm the troika passage on the basis of the EUR7bn raised, although the look he gave you as he signed the documents suggested that he did not approve of your methods.
The small depositors of Surpyc were resigned to their fate; it seemed that years of recession and corruption had more or less conditioned them to accept the arbitrary seizure of their property. Importantly, there was no hint of contagion to the rest of Europe. You still worry for the people of Surpyc, but they can make their own destiny now, albeit under circumstances decidedly not of their choosing. Maynard is equally philosophical.
“We didn’t take on the big interests, and we kind of squeezed the little guy. But we had to win this one. I think it was a judgement call; people could criticize us, but we were the ones there. Politics isn’t a game for squeamish people”.
YOU HAVE WON
22.
Sunday night/ Monday morning
De Grieux greets you with surprising warmth. “Well”, he chuckles, “I suppose we need to open up the supposedly non-existent Plan B, then!”. The two of you work on details through the small hours, ready to draft a statement to be released before the markets open. The missing EUR7bn is back, or at least EUR5bn of it is, released from a variety of emergency budgets and bilateral loans.
Your career has survived another knock. Everyone accepts that Surpyc was an impossible situation. All the officials loudly assert that it doesn’t set a precedent, but the world knows now – when it came to the crunch, Europe blinked.
YOU HAVE WON
23.
Sunday afternoon
Maynard puts a call through to De Grieux’s office. It is not good news.
You were prepared for a bit of pushback, but not for the storm of rage occasioned by the suggestion. Bringing outside private companies into the bailout deal is well beyond your remit.
You are quickly left at the airport, with a printout of your e-ticket home, and without your Blackberry. The World Government will continue to handle this crisis, but your role is over.
YOU HAVE LOST
24.
Monday evening / Tuesday morning
The debate winds up early, at around five o’clock and the vote is not even really close. The President’s own party votes for your measure, but none of the opposition do. The evening news presenter is visibly embarrassed at the extent to which the legislature has decided to protect the offshore industry rather than domestic depositors. Maynard is almost physically shrinking away from you as you turn round from the television screen, embarrassed.
You wake up wearily, with a bad head after staying up too late the previous night, smoking cigarettes and strategizing over brandy with Maynard. The morning papers were bad; global markets took the news from Surpyc badly, with the Dow off as much as 260 points at the lows. Obviously you were blamed, and spent most of the afternoon fending off inquiries from your superiors. You protest that “it is hardly my fault that the legislators wouldn’t vote in their people’s interests”, but everyone knows that it was your job to deal with the realities of local politics. And in any case, fault or not, you were the guy at the helm when the ship sailed into the iceberg.
The package was EUR7bn short. This quickly turned into a EUR30bn shortfall, as the banking system collapsed. Contagion was contained, just barely, but Surpyc left the Euro, and the damage done looks like it will take years to repair. You are living in a rented flat, burning through your savings. You are trying to write a screenplay about your experiences but so far nobody wants to look at it.
YOU HAVE LOST
25.
Later, Sunday morning
M. De Grieux is an affable enough European technocrat, but he is unwilling to give an inch. There is no more money forthcoming from the troika, and the ECB is wholly inflexible. As he explains it, the banking system of Surpyc has been living on borrowed time for far too long. His voice trails away half-way through his explanation, however – you shoot a quizzical gaze to Maynard. After the meeting, Maynard explains:
“They’ve left it this long because they wanted to coincide with the bank holiday. They think that the deposit tax is a clever solution. I think they would rather like to use Surpyc as a testing ground; if creditors lose money here and the world doesn’t fall apart, then it sets a precedent which might be rather useful elsewhere.”
It is hard not to take a little bit of offense at being manipulated so much, so you resolve to confront De Grieux over lunch. This proves to be something of a mistake, as it costs you a shirt front covered in crumbs and spittle.
De Grieux is somewhat intimidating personally as he invades your personal space. “The internal politics of the troika are none of your business. You have a job to do and I suggest you do it. Make your budget, and make sure it passes the parliament”.
Maynard smoothes things over, a little bit, and describes the problem. You can set one tax rate on uninsured deposits, and one on uninsured, but the total tax take must be EUR7bn. If you set the rate on insured deposits too high, you are going to create massive popular unrest; on the other hand, the lower the rate on small deposits, the higher the rate on uninsured deposits will have to be. If the rate on the large deposits is too big, you will effectively have closed down the financial services industry, and that too will predictably generate opposition in parliament. De Grieux makes a wholly unpleasant noise as he indicates that he would not be too sorry to see the offshore banks close forever.
Back in your office, Maynard has done some rough figuring on his legal pad. “I think there’s two solutions worth considering”, he says. “Either we levy a charge of 15.7% on the uninsured assets and leave the insured deposits untaxed. Or we keep the tax on uninsured deposits in single digits – say 9% – and tag the small deposits at 6.7%”. What do you think?
“Option 1: only tax the large deposits”. Go to 14
“Option 2: keep the top rate down and make everyone pay at least something”. Go to 37
“There’s always the nuclear option. Let’s take this to the brink of default and see if De Grieux is bluffing”. Go to 43
26.
Tuesday morning
It is not good. The markets have taken Surpyc’s disorderly default very badly. The banking system is in collapse and the ECB has removed support. The island has become the first country to be expelled from the Euro. The immediate consequence of this has been a rapid liquidity crunch across Europe, as it becomes clear that the ECB’s doctrine of “Anything it takes” does not really mean “anything”.
“Pretty obvious who’s going to get the blame for this” Maynard mutters. “We are. He is trying to spare your feelings. He was just the advisor; you were taking the decisions. The failure to get a budget passed is going to end up at your door. You sigh, and dial for an airport taxi. You wonder about going back home and opening a restaurant serving deluxe hamburgers.
YOU HAVE LOST
27.
Sunday evening
The news begins to leak on Twitter about the whip-counts before the debate has even ended. Your measure is going nowhere. Somehow, all the populist legislators are melting away and the news bulletins are full of speeches about the future of the island’s financial services industry.
Alexei Ivanovich calls you up to gloat. “You made a very bad mistake, not talking to me”, he says in clipped tones. “You have no understanding of this island. You don’t just show up here and order people around. There are businesses here, relationships …”
You hang up on him. At this point, you don’t really care about being called unprofessional any more. There’s only one last chance. You signal to Maynard to get M De Grieux’s office on the line.
Roll a dice.
If it comes up six, go to 22
If it comes up any other number, go to 3
28.
“Unbelievable”. Maynard mutters. “Hasn’t learned a thing. OK, disorderly default it is then”.
Roll two dice
If it they up a double one or double six, go to 31
If they come up with any other numbers, go to 20
29.
“YES!” You and Maynard jump up and down like sports fans.
“Well, now we see. The offshore depositors won’t like it, but we’ve got our money and the troika should play fair with us. Nothing to do until tomorrow morning”.
You suggest a celebratory dinner, but Maynard excuses himself, as he is tired.
Roll a dice
If it is a one or two, go to 34
If it is a three or higher, go to 19
30.
Your message has been taken. You are assured that Secretary Lew is taking a direct and personal interest.
Go to 41
31. Monday morning
The markets open but the domestic banks don’t. According to your orders, the bank holiday has been extended to Wednesday, to allow for the printing of a new currency, into which all of the bank deposits and assets are redenominated. All of your external liabilities are in default. The world pauses for breath …
Europe survives. The ECB floods the market with liquidity and the banking system holds together. A quick sequence of new policies are agreed, putting together a true fiscal union, faster than anyone had previously believed possible.
Surpyc itself responds well. The capital controls you have instituted hold, and the very rapid currency devaluation quickly attracts investment into the tourism industry, and to develop your natural resources. There are shortages and imports need to be rationed, but the people pull together and a new spirit of trust and democracy animates public life.
The last time you see Maynard, he is shaking his head in disbelief. Nobody pays too much attention to the negative report he wrote about you. His career is still mired in crumpled-collar oblivion, but your star is ascendant. Nothing succeeds like success.
YOU HAVE WON.
32.
Sunday evening
The news begins to leak on Twitter about the whip-counts before the debate has even ended. Your measure has passed. You can see a dozen missed calls from Alexei Ivanovich, but these have long since gone past the point of being productive. He has already accused you directly of unprofessionalism and promised to personally wreck your career. All that you can do now is relax and see what the markets bring.
Roll a dice.
If it comes up one or two, go to 8
If it comes up three or higher, go to 36.
33.
The vote is not even really close. The President’s own party votes for your measure, but none of the opposition do. Maynard is almost physically shrinking away from you as you turn round, embarrassed.
“Always seemed too aggressive to me”, he mutters, hypocritically. “But … we’ve got time for another vote. We can try the other option now, and leave the insured deposits untouched”.
“Plan B it is, then”. Go to 16
“I think we’ve had our shot. Get the plans ready for a default”. Go to 44
34.
Tuesday morning
“Just sheer bad luck”, you mutter, as you and Maynard sip beer at the airport.
“We should have insisted on the troika rethinking”, Maynard replies. “You can’t just go around confiscating deposits like that. We thought we were being clever, just clipping the offshore depositors.”
All around the departure lounge, screens are tuned to financial channels showing the carnage in world markets. The deposit tax in Surpyc fell on nervous markets and has sent European debt spreads out past their highs. Emergency talks are taking place in Frankfurt but at present it looks unlikely that the Euro can be saved. Both Alexei Ivanovich and M De Grieux have sent messages to say that they hold you personally responsible.
“Them’s the breaks”, you mutter to yourself, draining your glass. You wonder about going back to law school.
YOU HAVE LOST
35.
Alexei Ivanovitch makes the appointment quickly and with a minimum of ceremony. He insists, however, that he is not willing to send details by electronic means, or to discuss anything beyond the broadest generalities over a telephone line. As you talk, you can see Maynard’s face screwing up in distaste.
When you get off the line, he explains himself. “I’ve tended to find that situations like this attract an awful lot of chancers and Walter Mitty types. I’d say there’s no better than a one in ten chance this guy is any use at all.”
“I must admit”, you add, glumly, “it’s not very encouraging that he won’t tell us who he’s meant to be representing”.
Roll two dice.
If the sum is eleven or twelve, go to 49
If the sum is ten or less, go to 4
36.
Monday morning
A beautiful cloudless sky greets you, along with the news that Asian markets are up by as much as 3%. The rest of the morning is just as welcome, as you accept the congratulations of Maynard and M De Grieux; the Surpyc affair is generally judged to have been handled as well as it could been. The longer term economic picture is still bleak, but contagion to the rest of Europe has been handled, and the debt path now looks manageable. You head for the airport in triumph, a bottle of local brandy in one fist. Somehow, however, you know that you’ll never shake a slight concern over the rage in Alexei Ivanovich’s voice. Maybe it would be better to get out of this game, look for something in an NGO perhaps.
YOU HAVE WON.
37.
Sunday afternoon
Your bill has been drafted and sent to an emergency session of the legislature.
“Do you think we’re going to get it through?”, you ask Maynard.
“Weeeellll”. He is affecting that languid public school drawl, but you can tell he is as excited as you are. And the furrow between his eyebrows suggests he is not totally approving. “Frankly, I think it’s no better than fifty fifty and potentially a bit worse. It is as controversial as hell to be taking so much from the uninsured depositors. I worry that the financial industry interest groups are not going to be strong enough to protect this legislation from some pretty heavy popular outrage.”
The television screen confirms that this is not going to be an easy ride. Protestors surround both the presidential palace and the legislature. So far, nothing has turned violent though. Maynard turns the sound up, as the television channel switches to the announcement of the vote …
Roll a dice.
If it is a one or two, go to 9
If it is a three or higher, go to 33
38.
Monday afternoon / Monday evening / Tuesday morning
The debate stretches on endlessly, as crowds of demonstrators form outside the legislative building waving placards and accusing the troika of stealing their savings. You, De Grieux and Maynard are beginning to lose patience with each other. It’s clear that the other two men regard your decision to hit small depositors as a clear error of judgement.
Close to midnight, the motion fails. “What were you thinking?”, asks Maynard, plaintively. De Grieux echoes his question, having long since made it clear that the troika package cannot be signed on this basis. You are too tired and ashamed to stay around. Drafting a resignation letter and slipping it under Maynard’s door, you hail a local bus and head for the wilder beaches at the east of the island. Now that the currency is in free-fall, your hard currency savings will last a while, long enough for you to decide what you really want to do with your life.
YOU HAVE LOST.
39.
Tuesday morning
It is not good. Nobody returned your calls The markets have taken Surpyc’s disorderly default very badly. The banking system is in collapse and the ECB has removed support. The island has become the first country to be expelled from the Euro. The immediate consequence of this has been a rapid liquidity crunch across Europe, as it becomes clear that the ECB’s doctrine of “Anything it takes” does not really mean “anything”.
“Pretty obvious who’s going to get the blame for this” Maynard mutters. “We are. He is trying to spare your feelings. He was just the advisor; you were taking the decisions. Nobody understands why you gave up so early, when there was plenty of time for another try at legislation. You sigh, and dial for an airport taxi. You consider starting a blog.
YOU HAVE LOST
40.
Sunday afternoon
“Reckless, in my opinion. You didn’t even try to negotiate. I very much doubt that the depositors will thank you for saving them a ten percent tax by giving them a bankrupt bank and a soft currency asset. I suppose that we can now meet the deposit guarantee fund claims by printing pound notes, but it’s hardly a great start to our new economy. Let’s see how it turns out”. Maynard is scribbling rather agitatedly at something which looks ominously like your assessment form.
Roll two dice.
If you get a double four, double five or double six, go to 31
Otherwise, go to 20
41.
Your call is taken. You are reassured that President Bernanke is taking a direct and personal interest in this case.
Go to 30
42.
The fear is palpable in De Grieux’s voice.
“My god, you are a cold fish”, he says. You smile, and flip him onto speakerphone. “I don’t understand how anyone can behave like that. Do you realize that there is an existential crisis for the Euro here?”
You decide to continue to play it cool. “Don’t bring me problems”, you tell him. “Bring me a solution”. You can see that Maynard is gaining respect for you.
Two hours later, De Grieux has revealed his “plan B”, and the two of you are drafting a press release. With a mixture of further lending, bilateral contributions and a small amount of presumption on the good nature of the ECB, the crisis is postponed, if not averted, and the banks can open on Tuesday.
You head for the airport and the next plane home. You may have made a lifelong enemy or two, but you’ve done your reputation nothing but good. Anyone can bully a little island – it takes a real operator to bully a continent.
YOU HAVE WON
43.
Sunday afternoon
“I am not a fan of madman strategies”, Maynard remonstrates.
“I am”, you reply, feet up on the desk. You can sense that you are driving Maynard crazy and rather enjoy it.
“At least, I am not in favour of madman strategies when applied to our own side”, he pleads.
“Who said De Grieux is on our side? Our side is for a sensible outcome to the crisis and as little contagion to global markets as possible”, you reply. “De Grieux represents the troika. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the enemy. Do it. Let’s play poker”.
Roll two dice:
If the sum is ten, eleven or twelve, go to 13.
If the sum is nine or less, go to 45
44.
Monday morning and afternoon
“You might be right”, Maynard sighs. Suddenly, he is looking very old. “This legislature is not going to agree that the situation is serious. Let’s put in a call to the guys with the money, and tell them that this chance is done. At least we’ve left them time to call their principals”.
You send him home to rest. Then you call the offices of M. De Grieux and Alexei Ivanovich, and have a long conversation with each. Then you wait.
Roll a dice
If it lands on a one or two, go to 15
If it lands on a three or higher, go to 39
45.
Sunday night/ Monday morning
It is less than an hour before the phone starts ringing in response to your ultimatum. De Grieux is incensed and wastes few words in telling you that you have made a bad mistake. He instructs you not to waste time contacting the troika office any more. There is nothing to do but default and let the chips fall where they may. And the chips fall pretty much everywhere.
The markets take Surpyc’s disorderly default very badly. The banking system is in collapse and the ECB has removed support. The island has become the first country to be expelled from the Euro. The immediate consequence of this has been a rapid liquidity crunch across Europe, as it becomes clear that the ECB’s doctrine of “Anything it takes” does not really mean “anything”.
“Everybody blames you”, Maynard says, as the two of you drive to the airport. “Nobody can understand why you went out of your way to annoy the only people who could help you”. The two of you stand at the departures terminal together, before what you know will be your last handshake. Maynard has some parting words.
“I’m going to need you to give me that Blackberry back”
YOU HAVE LOST
46.
Monday morning / afternoon
Having stayed up all night trying to draft your legislation and build a coalition, you are now in the lap of the gods. Alexei Ivanovich has proved to be more of an irritation than you had believed possible, not only bombarding you with calls himself, but bringing down a horde of Russians who want to lobby you against the decision to hit large offshore depositors. Before long, your official Blackberry is practically useless as a communication device.
By late afternoon, Maynard is worried. Things have dragged on too late, and there will not be time to revise any plans if this does not pass the legislature first time. “We’re basically hoping that not too many of the coalition are … sensitive to the interests of the offshore lobby”, he informs you.
“Delicately put, Maynard”, you reply.
Roll a dice
If it comes up with a one or two, go to 17
If it comes up a three or higher, go to 24
47.
Tuesday morning
The demonstrations continued through most of Monday and you felt it prudent not to leave your hotel, but Tuesday morning came and went with something of a whimper. The banks were packed with angry customers, and the wire transfers sent something like EUR5bn of deposits offshore at the open of business, but the ECB was as good as its word and the majority of offshore deposits stayed put. Alexei Ivanovich sent you an email congratulating you on your handling and asking you to stay in touch.
The small depositors of Surpyc were resigned to their fate; it seemed that years of recession and corruption had more or less conditioned them to accept the arbitrary seizure of their property. Importantly, there was no hint of contagion to the rest of Europe. You still worry for the people of Surpyc, but they can make their own destiny now, albeit under circumstances decidedly not of their choosing. Maynard is equally philosophical.
“You can’t solve every problem all in one go”, he muses. “I think we took a lousy hand and played it pretty well, all considered. With a little bit of luck”.
You share a taxi to the airport. You’re beginning to like each other.
YOU HAVE WON
48.
It is De Grieux.
“I am flabbergasted.”, he says. “You have done nothing. You have wasted all the time that you had here. I was waiting to hear your proposal, and you have done nothing. You have not even advanced a proposal to the legislature. There is nothing I can do now. This is all your fault. I hope you’re proud of yourself.” He hangs up.
“I don’t think I can add much to that”, says Maynard. He starts packing up the office. When you wake up in the morning, you are alone in the hotel, and the ATM in the lobby is showing an out of order message. The riot gas has already started to blow around the streets.
YOU HAVE LOST.
49.
Sunday morning
Alexei Ivanovich’s office is well-appointed and clearly long established in the central business district. The mystery of his “organization” is solved as soon as he hands over a business card; he represents one of the world’s largest natural resources companies, with a
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this section is a new addition and is still covered in a tyvek like building wrap.
Once through this next doorway the floor curiously transitions to asphalt, possibly to allow more flexibility and water permeability. There is a pump system and grating newly installed in the floor to deal with the water from the thawing frost. All of these water and freeze-thaw issues have been discovered since the vault was finished in 02008. The walls and ceiling of this section are about 25 feet wide and tall. The very rough surface is a product of the drilling and blasting into the loose local shist. The rock has been stabilized with large bolts roughly every 4′, covered in shot-crete, and then a white paint. This wall, ceiling and floor finish is the same for the rest of the vault, including the seed chambers. This hallway terminates in a large concrete wall with a metal door in it, and there are a few other doors on the right hand side at the end of the hall. Above are cable racks and the ever present ventilation tubes. One set of the tubes has frost building up on each joint section, these are the cooling pipes for the seed vault bringing them down from today’s ambient -5C to the desired -18C. We enter the doors on the right into a control room. This area has desks and a PC and a sign in book. The list of people who have signed in is impressive, Everyone from UN president Ban Ki-moon to President Jimmy Carter, and… us. I had assumed this was as far as we were going to get, but then Roland says that he is turning the lights on in the next section for us, and warns that camera lenses brought into the colder areas will fog up. We leave a selection of lenses here, and pass through the third lock. (Sound recording in the last hallway section)
Through the doors the asphalt starts sloping back upward and we enter into a lateral access hall where you can see each of the three seed vault doors. The doors are embedded in concrete walls blocking off each rough blasted chamber. The central chamber, vault 2, is covered in a thick layer of frost, cracked away around the door from the recent depositing of this years seed stock. The cooling pipes above are fully covered in thick frost here as well. The only adornment in the whole space is a spear-like metal shape on the wall, a seed sculpture by a Japanese artist who donates these pieces to seed banks all over the world.
There is a shelf here with some plastic bins and seed samples of the types found in the vault. Glass jars, vials and bags each containing labeled seeds from different seed banks around the world. Now they use a standardized mylar zip lock bag and plastic bin. However Roland points out the USDA submissions always use their own box, a cardboard one. It turns out that this seed vault is the second one on Svalbard. There was one created in the 01980s for just Scandinavian species which is inside a shipping container in one of the old coal mines. It was sealed 30 years ago and Roland hasn’t even been there. Roland explains that all the seeds arrive by cargo plane a week ahead of each deposit, upon arrival they use the airport x-ray machine to make sure there are only seeds being deposited (e.g. no bombs). In the last 3 years since the vault opened they now have over 637,000 varieties in the vault, and they have not even filled up one chamber yet. Roland also confirms what we learned from the University, that all the seeds here are edible crop seeds with one exception. Through a partnership with the University at Svalbard they have stored about 60 varieties of plants from the Spitsbergen Archipelago, none of which are edible.
Roland also mentioned all the crackpot theories and stories people have about the vault – like the one where it is really all the big bio-tech companies trying to control the world food supply. These of course are not true in the least. It is a Norwegian government project run by a consortium of academic, government and non-profit scientific entities. The seeds remain the property of each donating country, and the manifest is public (you can go to the website and download it now if you like). Depositors can pull their seeds at anytime for any reason. So far no company has submitted GMO seeds, likely because of how much disclosure they would have to do around them as part of the process. The really interesting question though is what happens if a country ceases to be a country, who then owns the seeds and the rights to access them? (Sound recording in the transverse tunnel)
Roland opens one of the empty vaults for us. We shuffle into the air lock area and after the outer door is closed, the next door is opened. This vault, number three, has no seeds or cooling system. It is about 100 feet deep and 30 feet wide and tall. Some of the same shelving used in the active vault is in here, along with the plastic bins ready for more seeds to be delivered. Amazingly the thick stone wall shared with the active vault two is covered in frost. Wires dangle from sensor equipment on each wall, and there is one spot you can see the fractured native shist where the shot-crete doesn’t quite meet the floor. We also go into the other empty vault, number one, and it is similar, except it is completely empty. We ask if the spaces were sterilized or treated in any way before the seeds go in. Roland says that they are not, and that the mylar bags and the cold are all the seeds need.
Then to our surprise, Roland offers to open the active vault. Jimmy Carter wasn’t even allowed into that vault. We crowd close to the ice covered door, we need to let as little cold air out as possible. Roland unlocks the door with one of only four keys in the world, and we hear the frost crack at the hinges.
We rush into the airlock, and the next door is opened. This vault is COLD. The difference between -5c and -18c (0F) is palpable. The inside of my nostrils hurts and the skin on my face tightens. Most of the space near the door is taken up by the cooling equipment. Apparently this equipment was installed just 6 months ago to replace the original equipment that was less efficient, loud and blustery. Ten feet in front of us is a locked gate, and ten feet beyond that are the shelves and shelves of boxes. Each box is marked with the logo of a seed bank from a different nation, the USDA cardboard boxes are front and center in the second row of shelves. We are allowed a few photos and video and are ushered quickly back out again.
After the visit I read some of the material we received. It doesn’t go too much into the “why” of things, just what happened in the building process. But what was apparent was that they had a very tight deadline, and I am not sure why. Most of the decisions, location, contractors, and material choices were made solely for this expediency. While it will likely be okay if people are there to maintain it, it seems some of the issues like the shist rock site, ferrous metal reinforced concrete, permafrost shifting and flooding, may require a lot of intervention to maintain the integrity of the vault.
I certainly learned a lot being here. Mainly that even if you put your site in the hardest to reach place in the world, people will still want to come and visit it – in droves. They did not design it for visiting, and are having to deal with this fact now.
We ended the day with a dinner up at Huset, the most northerly restaurant with a Michelin star. We ate scallops and reindeer with Roland and Anders as well as a seed scientist from University of Arizona who was in town to deposit their collection of desert legume seeds from around the world. What an amazing day.
Other Travel Notes:
Our last day here we finally got an opening in the weather. We arranged a guided “skooter” (snowmobile) tour and our original plan was to visit the Russian coal outpost of Barentsburg, but after talking to some folks we switched it over to Temple Fjord. I cannot recommend touring Svalbard this way enough. We even saw the direct sun for the first time since our arrival when out on the fjord. Be prepared for cold unlike anything you have ever experienced. Under the thick “skooter suit,” boots and helmet loaned to me by the guide I wore: expedition weight base layers, a complete down suit, a fleece, two pairs of thick socks, a neck gator and a balaclava. I still got chilled to the point of numbness. Any small chink in your armor, and the wind augmented by 50km/hr on the scooter cuts right to your bones. We encountered a dutch two masted sail boat that purposefully traps itself in the sea ice each year there. They operate it as a kind of outback adventure hotel. Do not miss touring these outer areas, they are spectacular.
Some notes about clothing. The Norwegian tradition of removing your “outside shoes” is honored almost everywhere on Svalbard. Bring snow boots that are easily removable, and carry some slippers or flip flops around with you so you don’t end up in your socks everywhere. The other pro-tip is to bring a pair of ski goggles with clear lenses (not dark tinted as you wont be able to see). Even if you are walking 500 yards, you will be glad you did in a snow storm. As you might expect bring lots of down, fleece and gore-tex layers. Neck gators, balaclavas, mittens and glove liners are also a must. It can rain, snow, blow 40 mph, and then turn to sunshine all within an hour. Headlamp and even a little red flashing jogging light is also a great idea for walking around after dark (eg. after 3pm).
There are some excellent eating and drinking establishments on Svalbard. The Michelin starred Huset up high in the valley is astonishingly good, (but pricey) and includes a wine list of over 1100 titles. Also the pub in town next to the market has one of the largest single malt whiskey collections in all of Europe, not to be missed. You should also stop by the Svalbard Museum, it has won several well earned exhibit design awards. Likely one of the most interesting and informative small museums I have ever been to.
A general note that if coming in winter (which I do recommend) that you put at least a day or two of float in your schedule. While you can do most things even in the worst weather here, it seems a bit silly to tour the fjords when you have 20 feet of visibility. Also note that there are 4 months of the year where there it basically as dark as night. We had plenty of indirect light on our trip at the end of February.
Living and travel costs in Scandinavia are expensive, but Svalbard is even more so. Pretty much everything aside from water, reindeer, and polar bears has to be imported by air to Svalbard. A personal pizza and drink can easily run $20-30, a simple dinner for two and a couple beers can come in well over a $100. Simple accommodations even in the slow season are hard to book and expect to pay over $150-300/night. The Polarrigg was nice as they have a full kitchen for guest use, and Mary-Anne let us use her vehicle several times at no charge. There is a Radisson which is very central, a huge benefit as its a very short walk to most local services (you can walk from the Rig as well but it’s about 1/4 mile in often bad weather). The funny thing though is some things cost less than on the mainland because of the unique tax status of Svalbard. Alcohol is much cheaper here, basically US prices.
Like many Scandinavian and northern areas where alcoholism is rampant, the state controls the liquor stores here. However Svalbard has the most control I have ever seen. There is one liquor store, and each citizen’s purchases are allocated and recorded. In addition visitors must present their plane ticket on which they write what you have bought to be sure you do not go above your personal allocation while there. You can fly in with liquor though…
An Update (August 02017)Developers run this world. They are responsible for building the apps on your phone, the social media platform you constantly check and the Web that you browse. So it seems only natural the field of Web development is quickly becoming one of the highest paid and well-respected careers in America.
The gleam of Silicon Valley has drawn thousands of smart, young professionals into the industry. California has more than double the number of developers as the second-highest state (sorry, Texas), but the tech industry isn't isolated along the Pacific Coast anymore. New York, Chicago, Boston and Miami all have thriving tech industries. The animated cartograph below shows how the United States would look if a state's area was determined by developer population. The map was generated by Lucidworks using the latest occupational statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor.
In Washington state, thanks to tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, one of every 35 employed people is a developer. That gives the Evergreen State the honor of having the highest developer per capita ratio with 28.74 hired developers per 1,000 jobs. At $109,244 a year, Washington is also the state with the highest average annual salary.
For more insights into the development industry take a look at the full graphic by Lucidworks:
Photo: Lucidworks/ Column Five
Feel inspired? There are countless options for learning to code for free online. Here are ten.Poll: Floridians on Nelson-Scott Senate race, Trump, Confederate statues
An expected 2018 Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott is a virtual tie, according to a new Florida Atlantic University poll, which also finds wide-open Republican and Democratic primary races for governor and mixed views on President Donald Trump‘s “both sides” remarks about Charlottesville.
While Floridians appear unclear about which candidates they prefer for Senate and governor, they have more pronounced views on statues of Confederate figures in public places. Forty-nine percent say the statues should remain. Thirty percent say they should be removed, as three Democratic candidates for governor advocated Monday in West Palm Beach.
FAU’s poll of 800 registered Florida voters, conducted last Thursday through Saturday, shows three-term incumbent Sen. Nelson getting 42 percent and term-limited Gov. Scott getting 40 percent in a hypothetical Senate race. That’s a virtual tie considering the poll’s 4 percent margin of error.
Scott hasn’t announced his 2018 plans, but the expectation he’ll run for Senate is so great that no other Republicans have entered the race.
In the race to replace Scott as governor, 53 percent of Republican voters say they’re undecided on a nominee a year before the primary. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is the leading GOP candidate with 27 percent, while recently declared state Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, gets 2 percent. Two potential candidates — House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land-O’Lakes, and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Palm Coast — get 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
The Democratic gubernatorial race is also very much up for grabs, with a 47 percent plurality saying they are undecided and trial lawyer John Morgan — who hasn’t said whether he’ll run — leading the field with 19 percent. Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham gets 14 percent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum 9 percent, undeclared Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine 8 percent and Winter Park businessman Chris King 4 percent.
Part-time Palm Beach resident Trump gets a 37 percent job approval rating in the FAU poll, with 47 percent disapproving. Nationally, the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls shows Trump with a 38.5 percent approval score and 55.6 disapproval rating.
Asked about Trump’s declaration that “both sides” bore blame for the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, 44 percent of Floridians disagreed and 42 percent agreed, with 14 percent undecided.UCLA freshman Cordell Broadus, the son of rapper Snoop Dogg, has elected to give up football.
Broadus, a four-star wide receiver recruit out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, had offers from several other national powers, including Florida State and Notre Dame, but he never reported to the Bruins' preseason camp.
Cordell Broadus, son of rapper Snoop Dogg, has decided to quit football but plans to continue his education at UCLA. Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
"Cordell informed me yesterday that he has decided to pursue other passions in his life -- in particular his love of film through his company Film School Productions," UCLA coach Jim Mora said Friday in a statement released by the school. "Cordell is an amazing young man with many talents, and we wish him nothing but the best as he continues to pursue his degree at UCLA."
The news of Broadus' decision was initially reported by Bruin Report Online. Mora had previously indicated that "a personal matter" was the reason for Broadus' absence from camp, according to InsideSoCal.com.
Broadus picked UCLA over USC, his famous father's favorite college team. He and his father were part of an ESPN documentary that chronicled his recruitment.
Meanwhile, UCLA appears to be faring better with the son of another hip-hop artist. In June, Sean "Diddy" Combs, father of Bruins reserve cornerback Justin Combs, was arrested for allegedly attacking strength coach Sal Alosi with a kettlebell. Diddy was reportedly unhappy with his son's treatment.
The case is still being reviewed, but it seems fences have been partially mended with the Combs family and UCLA, as Justin Combs is practicing with the Bruins in San Bernardino, Calif., and Diddy posted a photo of his son with a "GO BRUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" message on Instagram:
GO BRUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A photo posted by @iamdiddy on Aug 12, 2015 at 7:14pm PDT
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.Danny is currently ranked 5th in England and 217th in the world. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he won silver in the men’s team event and bronze in the mixed doubles. He is training at the world-famous Werner Schlager Academy in Austria alongside a host of top international players. But he wants more!
After taking a year away from international table tennis last season, to finish his Psychology degree, he is back to playing full-time and has set himself a rather challenging goal – to break into the top 100 table tennis players in the world. In many ways, it’s almost like Danny has started his own Expert in a Year challenge. He is going to give it a year and see how close he can get to his dreams.
Back in Episode 10 I spoke to Rory Scott about his goal of becoming a top 100 player on the England ranking list in a year. I’ll be putting similar questions to Danny to try and find out how achievable he believes this goal is and what kind of training he is doing in order to make it happen. We also discuss why a player needs to break into the top 100 if they are to be able to make a stable career for themselves from the sport.
In this episode you’ll learn:
How Danny first started table tennis at Ormesby TTC in Middlesbrough.
Why his coach Carole Moore was so influential in his rapid development.
How much training Danny was doing as an 11-12 year old.
All about his drive and determination to succeed even as a young boy.
Why he decided to study for a degree alongside his table tennis.
What he is currently working on (physically, technically, tactically and mentally).
How tough it is to make a living playing professional table tennis.
Danny’s plans for the next few years.
Why Danny believes players must put themselves under pressure in practice (Top Tip).
How to get in contact with Danny.
Links from this episode:
Thanks for listening!
Thank you so much for joining us for Episode 25 of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Danny Reed. I would like to say a huge thank you to Danny for joining me on the show. I hope you enjoyed hearing all about his current goals and training. There were lots of things in the interview that you can apply to your game regardless of your level.
Please share the show
We absolutely smashed it in October and the show clocked up 6,169 downloads. I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has subscribed on iTunes, and left the show an honest iTunes Podcast review, shared it on Facebook or Twitter, or simply just mentioned it to a friend. We couldn’t have done it without you and I appreciate your help so much!
It would be amazing to beat that again in November and get up to 7,000 downloads but… the only way that is going to happen is if you guys get sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Please use the buttons located to the left and share this episode NOW!
Thank you so much.
Next week I’ve got Brett Clarke from ttEDGE on the show and we’ll be sharing loads of practical coaching tips to help you play better table tennis.I’ve written before that the current state of smartwatches is reminiscent of the earliest Android tablets, before Google released a proper version of Android for larger screens. While some companies are trying to make Android-based smartwatches already, their efforts seem premature without Google’s guidance.
That support is reportedly coming soon. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google plans to a wearable software development kit based on Android in two weeks:
The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now
Google plans to release its own smartwatch, which will be manufactured by LG Electronics. But as with the Nexus line of smartphones that Google makes, the company wants to help lay out a “vision” for other developers to power their own wearable devices.
The LG-made smartwatch is just a rumor at this point, but CNet has claimed that it will debut in June with Google Now as a centerpiece.
Contact us at [email protected]. See unseen gameplay with live commentary right here. See unseen gameplay with live commentary right here.
The release of Naughty Dog's The Last Of Us on June 14th is very nearly upon us, and to celebrate, we teamed up with Access and GAME to put on a huge live event in East London on Friday, May 24th which we livestreamed online.
Exit Theatre Mode
There will be unseen gameplay revealed with live commentary from the developers, exclusive interviews with Naughty Dog and actress Ashley Johnson, a look at the forthcoming demo, plus a live Q&A which you can submit questions to via Twitter as it happens.
We'll also be giving away a bunch of The Last Of Us and Sony merchandise so make sure you tune in to this unmissable event!
Exit Theatre Mode
Who: IGN's Keza MacDonald, the internet's Dan Maher (@MrPointyHead), Access' community manager Hollie Bennett and YOU!
What: Explore the post-pandemic world of Naughty Dog's survival action game with IGN, Access, and GAME with a livestream of unseen gameplay, and a live Q&A with the developers and actress Ashley Johnson (Ellie).
Where: In this article!
When: LIVE on Friday, May 24th
Timezones:
19:15 PM - 20:45 PM BST (UK)
11:15 AM - 12:45 PM PDST (Pacific)
14:15 PM - 15:45 PM EDST (Eastern)
Saturday 04:15 AM - 05:45 AM AEST (Sydney)
Got questions and want to win stuff? Hit us up on Twitter at @IGNUK using the hashtag #TheLastOfUsLive.
We'll be giving away 10 The Last Of Us prize bundles, so ask a question and you could win! This competition is open to UK residents only with full terms and conditions coming soon.
The Last Of Us is coming to PlayStation 3 on June 14th.
Tom is IGN's UK Social Media Editor and a FUNGI to be around. You can stay abreast of his current pet peeves by following him on IGN and Twitter.Multiple air strikes have pounded rebel-held areas in and around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo over the past 24 hours, killing at least 48 people and wounding dozens of others.
The biggest strikes hit late Sunday in the Ferdous District, a marketplace district where 29 people, including several civilians, were killed in the air strikes according to rebels.
Other attacks targeted the Baedeen neighborhood and Tlajabin, a village on the city’s outskirts, which were both attacked by barrel bombs from helicopters.
Barrel bombs have become increasingly notorious during the civil war for their inaccurate nature and powerful destructive potential. They amount to little more than an oil drum packed full of explosives and rolled out of a helicopter, and tend to careen out of control when the explosives start going off, sometimes taking out bystanders blocks away from the intended target.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzWe hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, Ranker may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.
This list of bad books not to read is ranked by literature fans worldwide. Anyone can vote on this list of the worst books, which makes it a trustworthy resource for finding out which books just don't live up to their hype. You can even add your own list of bad books to these rankings, and save other people from the pain of having to read them. From the over-hyped to the just plain overexposed, these overrated books prove that you can't judge a book by its cover...or its reputation.
What are the worst books that people think are great? The most overrated books on this list have received a lot of praise, so don't feel bad voting for them! What are the most overrated novels? Vote on them here.Originally Posted by KaizoMK (Source) Originally Posted by
This is primarily in regards to Bast, the only CG with a hope of succeeding.
I get that CG's haven't been modified to take into account that attendance has dropped by 90%, fine. I get that it's pass or fail due to the nature of the CG, fine.
But if the damn system *desperately* needs meds, it damn well better start paying for them.
Are you telling me there's no way to manually adjust demand to reflect the mission at hand? A population in the billions is unwilling to put their budget into buying whatever meds they can get? I'm not even asking to Bork the supply, just make the demand make sense.
This nonsense has shown up a whole lot in CG's, systems with low pirate activity crying about pirates, and systems with demand for goods buying at below galactic average. You're certainly okay with preventing players from retrieving their ships from plague ridden stations, which I find questionable.
I'm putting out the umpteenth post regarding this, bearing in mind that the devs do care about our problems (I believe that) but have mentioned that they don't always catch these posts on the forums. So I'm bringing this discussion to the table once again in an effort to see this fixed. Is working as intended, and the people of Bast are suicidal? Is it a known but cannot be fixed? Any response would be appreciated.Steve King: Obama 'favors the black person'
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), well-known for his incendiary comments, has done it again.
During an appearance on G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show this morning to discuss Arizona’s immigration law, King suggested President Barack Obama was a racist and “favors the black person” while carrying out his presidential duties.
King also said that he was “offended” by both Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.
“When you look at this administration, I'm offended by Eric Holder and the president also, their posture. It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race,” said King. “And I don't know what the basis of that is, but I'm not a coward when it comes to that, and I'm happy to talk about these things, and I think we should.”
King added: “But the president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race — on the side that favors the black person.”
The King quotes were circulated by the group politicalcorrection.org, a unit of Media Matters for America, a liberal organization that fights conservative media bias.
POLITICO has asked King for further explanation of his remarks and will post a response as soon as we receive it.
This is just the latest episode in a long line of comments by King bashing Obama.
Last month, King took to the House floor to slam Obama over the president’s criticism of the Arizona immigration law. King said Obama viewed political controversies through a racial viewpoint..
According to King, “it seems the president has an inclination to engage in these kinds of things. When he had an Irish cop and a black professor, who did he side with? He jumped to a conclusion without having heard the facts, and he ended up having to have a beer summit.”
In March 2008, King said terrorists would be “dancing in the streets” if Obama won the presidency.Mr McKay stated the party believed Irish reunification was a matter of “when not if”. Sinn Fein has been accused by politicians of using Brexit to push for a united Ireland. The former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Lord Hain, suggested the party would benefit from the uncertainty of Brexit. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Mr McKay, who stood down from Sinn Fein in August last year, said if the party was to gain power it could look to introduce MPs from the north in the Irish parliament, the Dail.
BBC•GETTY Daithí McKay said Sinn Fein thought Irish reunification was a matter of "when not if"
Certainly from Sinn Fein’s perspective, it is now a matter of when rather than if Daithí McKay
He said: “Certainly from Sinn Fein’s perspective, it is now a matter of when rather than if and if Sinn Fein were to go into government in the south, they will have a number of issues on the table in regard to the north that may be the representation of MPs from the north in the Dail itself. “Sinn Fein are now in the south to stay. It has been part of their strategy for the past ten to 20 years and now they’re finally beginning to see the fruition of that.” Lord Hain has claimed that the uncertainty of Brexit is playing into Sinn Fein’s hands. Speaking on Radio 4, he said: “The nationalists and republicans have always wanted a united Ireland and I think that Brexit plays into their hands.
Brexit debate in pictures Mon, April 17, 2017 The debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg will focus on key issues of the Brexit talks including reciprocal rights for EU citizens, the peace process in Northern Ireland and trade Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 23 Former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage (L) gestures as he speaks with EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker (R) prior to a debate on the conclusions of the last European Council, at the European Parliament in StrasbourgCampaigners are set to start a month-long road trip throughout the country in an bid to lift the minimum standard of fresh water from wadeable to swimmable.
Photo: Supplied
National Institue of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) figures show that more than 60 percent of rivers fail the health standard for swimming.
The Choose Clean Water Tour is funded by the Tourism Export Council and kicks off on Sunday, taking a month to cover the country.
Council president Martin Horgan said he put $10,000 into the tour because water quality issues could damage New Zealand's 'clean green' reputation.
The four campaigners are visiting over 25 lakes and rivers, talking to locals and creating short films about each area.
Campaigner Marnie Prickett said the goal was for the government to toughen up regulations on fresh water quality.
She said rising levels of algae, nitrogen and phosphate were all making freshwater dangerous to swim in.
"People's kids can't swim anymore, it's harder and harder to find fish in the rivers and there's this toxic algae growth.
"It's really hurting a lot of New Zealanders, I'd say it's pretty desperate and a disaster for us really."
Ms Prickett said this year's review of the government's national policy statement on freshwater was the perfect opportunity to improve water standards.
Massey University environmental sciences lecturer Dr Mike Joy spoke to the tourism industry last year, and challenged them to do more for the environment.
Dr Joy said the current national bottom line for nitrogen levels was 6.9 milligrams per litre, which was introduced in 2014.
He said that wasn't strict enough.
"It's just a total and complete failure of government to protect our waterways and I'm really disapointed in how it's been let go. There's just been this total 'turn a blind eye on the impacts and just go for it in the agricultural intensification', which is behind most of the problems that we have."
In 2014, the environment minister at the time Amy Adams said the new standards balanced economic growth, and environmental sustainability.
The current minister, Nick Smith, has earlier acknowledged that there are many long-term problems that needed to be addressed, but the government - and farmers - had made many improvements.
The group currently has over 1500 signatures on a petition they plan to present to Parliament in March.SAN FRANCISCO — Two Israeli intelligence officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News Tuesday that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the US regarding ISIS plots to smuggle explosive laptops onto planes, and that it appeared that that intelligence had been shared with Russia without prior coordination.
The revelation that Trump had shared that intelligence with Russian officials was Israel's "worst fears confirmed," said one of the intelligence officers.
"We have an arrangement with America which is unique to the world of intelligence sharing. We do not have this relationship with any other country," said the officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity as he was not granted permission to speak to the press.
"There is a special understanding of security cooperation between our countries," he said. "To know that this intelligence is shared with others, without our prior knowledge? That is, for us, our worst fears confirmed."
The officer previously spoke to BuzzFeed News in January, when he said that Israeli officials had specific concerns about what Trump would share with Russian officials. Israel, he added, routinely shared intelligence that included sources of information and asset names, he said — the type of information that could endanger the lives of those providing the raw intelligence.
Israel's role in obtaining the intelligence passed on to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was first reported by the New York Times on Monday. Lavrov and Trump's discussion last week has been the subject of rapid pushback from an embattled White House, which has said that the president's disclosure was "wholly appropriate."
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the right of the president to share intelligence as he sees fit, telling reporters, "the president can always discuss common threats or common issues with host nations -- excuse me -- with other heads of government or other government officials as he deems appropriate to tackle the threats our country faces."
Without confirming that the source of the intelligence shared by Trump came from Israel, Spicer said, "We appreciate the relationship that we have with Israel and appreciate the exchange of information that we have with them."
Israeli officials, however, said it was "highly unusual" and "highly inappropriate" to share information without prior coordination.
"There has to be trust for this sort of arrangement. I cannot speak for Israel's entire security apparatus, but I would not trust a partner who shared intelligence without coordinating it with us first," said the intelligence officer who spoke to BuzzFeed News.
An official in Israel's Ministry of Defense said that while the US has passed on Israel's intelligence to other friendly nations in the past, it has always done so in a coordinated manner.
"There are situations where this is necessary. But there is always coordination... that is just good practice and manners," said the official.
A second intelligence officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed News via encrypted app and also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the US regarding an active threat to US-bound planes. Speaking to BuzzFeed News via a military base in northern Israel, he said Israeli intelligence officers were "boiling mad and demanding answers" as to whether Israel's military would continue its current intelligence-sharing agreement with the US.
Israel still maintains a large network of human assets, also known as HUMINT, who work in gathering intelligence on the ground in countries across the world. Unlike other western countries, who have given up costly HUMINT operations in recent years in favor of signals intelligence — or SIGINT, intelligence gathered through online systems, phone lines, and other communications — Israel still invests heavily in sending its own spies abroad and in cultivating a network of locals interested in selling or trading intelligence.
The Ministry of Defense official who spoke to BuzzFeed News said the network of resources Israel maintained made their intelligence both, "incredibly valuable and precarious," adding that real human lives were put in danger if that intelligence leaked out to the wrong parties.
The White House has suggested that Trump did not reveal the source of the intelligence during his meeting with Lavrov. On Tuesday, Spicer told reporters, "it would be impossible for the President to reveal the source of the information because, as General McMaster made very clear as he was leaving this podium, the President wasn’t briefed on the information and wasn’t aware of the source. So the President wasn’t aware of this. This wasn’t part of his briefing. So, therefore, to suggest that, therefore, he revealed it, is impossible."
The Israeli officials who spoke to BuzzFeed News said there has already been a push to stop sharing Israel's most sensitive intelligence with Trump's White House. It was Israel's political echelons, they added, who insisted the intelligence-sharing continue, and who were hoping to use Trump's mistakes as a way to gain leverage.
"We are concerned about our long-term intelligence gathering operations," said the Ministry of Defense official. "But politically [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi sees a way to get what he wants out of Trump. He can say to Trump, you screwed us, now give us this or that."
Privately, US national security officials said they had no way to know for that the leak would effect US-Israeli military relations or intelligence sharing between the two countries. For many, that was not the biggest issue of the leak. Rather, it was Trump’s push to normalize relations with Russia during the meeting where the leak happened, even going
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[SEPP Comment: Liquified natural gas to partially replace diesel fuel for locomotives.]
Methane hydrate: Dirty fuel or energy saviour?
By Richard Anderson, BBC, Apr 16, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27021610
Return of King Coal?
China is beating us in the burning-coal race
By Timothy Carney, Washington Examiner, Apr 7, 2014
http://washingtonexaminer.com/china-is-beating-us-in-the-burning-coal-race/article/2546893
Sensible Coal Revival
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Apr 17, 2014
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/sensible-coal-revival/
Coal gasification: The clean energy of the future?
By Richard Anderson, BBC, Apr 13, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26921145
Coal Returns to German Utilities Replacing Lost Nuclear: Energy
By Tino Andresen, Bloomberg, Apr 15, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-14/coal-rises-vampire-like-as-german-utilities-brave-crisis-energy
Japan backs coal after Fukushima disaster
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Apr 14, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/203465-japan-backs-coal-after-fukushima-disaster
Water shortages Threaten Global Coal Power
By Thomas Overton, Power News, Apr 17, 2014
http://www.powermag.com/water-shortages-threaten-global-coal-power/?hq_e=el&hq_m=2867565&hq_l=13&hq_v=5e660500d0
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Japan to keep using nuclear in new energy plan
By Staff Writers, Tokyo (AFP), April 11, 2014
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Japan_to_keep_using_nuclear_in_new_energy_plan_999.html
U.S. Nuclear Demise Amid Increases Elsewhere
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Apr 15, 2014
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/u-s-nuclear-demise-amid-increases-elsewhere/
Asgard’s fire
Thorium, an element named after the Norse god of thunder, may soon contribute to the world’s electricity supply
By Staff Writers, The Economist, Apr 12, 2014
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-tech
nology/21600656-thorium-element-named-after-norse-god-thunder-may-soon-contribute?fsrc=nlw|hig|4-10-2014|8283453|152586780|NA
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
AWEA spins price distortions to save PTC
By Lisa Linowes, Wind Action, Apr 15, 2014
http://www.windaction.org/posts/40279-awea-spins-price-distortions-to-save-ptc#.U08EIPldV-4
Report: That new $1.6 billion loan-guaranteed solar farm is basically a “mega-trap” for flying wildlife
By Erika Johnsen, Hot Air, Apr 9, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/04/09/report-that-new-1-6-billion-loan-guaranteed-solar-farm-is-basically-a-mega-trap-for-flying-wildlife/
Deal for 2,300 turbines to supply UK energy by 2020 called off
Ireland walking away from renewable energy, says Green Party leader
By Peter Smyth, Irish Times, Apr 13, 2014
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/energy-and-resources/deal-for-2-300-turbines-to-supply-uk-energy-by-2020-called-off-1.1760645
Death by solar farms: 71 species of birds killed, ‘entire food chains’ disrupted
By Douglas Ernst Washington Times, Apr 11, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/11/death-calif-solar-farms-71-species-bird-found-enti/
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
U.S. Navy to turn seawater into jet fuel
By Douglas Ernst, Washington Times, Apr 10, 2014
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/10/game-changer-us-navy-can-now-turn-seawater-jet-fue/
Bulletin: U.S. Navy Invents Perpetual Motion Machine
By William Tucker, American Spectator, Apr 15, 2014
http://spectator.org/articles/58747/bulletin-us-navy-invents-perpetual-motion-machine
Health, Energy, and Climate
Health Promoting Effects of Elevated C02 on Common Food Plants
By Staff, CO2 Science & SPPI, Mar 26, 2014
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/originals/health_promoting_c02.pdf
Oh Mann!
Decision in the Mann/UVa case, a blow to open science
Posted by Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 17, 2014
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/17/decision-in-the-mannuva-case-a-blow-to-open-science/
Environmental Industry
Are global warming alarmists just a conglomerate of eco radicals and third world grifters?
By Bruce McQuain, Hot Air, Apr 7, 2014
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/04/07/are-global-warming-alarmists-just-a-conglomerate-of-eco-radicals-and-third-world-grifters/
The IPCC: Bar the Media, Welcome the Activists
By Donna Laframboise, NFC, Apr 12, 2014
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2014/04/12/the-ipcc-bar-the-media-welcome-the-activists/
If you think the sky is falling, check out the prophecies of the 1970s
By Michael Barone, Washington Examiner, Apr 9, 2014
http://washingtonexaminer.com/if-you-think-the-sky-is-falling-check-out-the-prophecies-of-the-1970s/article/2547011
Environmental groups LCV and NRDC Action Fund team up to steer more money into politics
By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, Apr 14, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/environmental-groups-lcv-and-nrdc-action-fund-team-to-steer-more-money-into-politics/2014/04/14/4fe39aec-c3fb-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html
Triumph of the Drill
By Andy Kroll, Mother Jones, Apr 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/oil-subsidies-renewable-energy-tax-breaks
[SEPP Comment: This is big news? According to the report, over 90 years Oil and Gas received $479 billion, while over 30 years renewables received only $68 billion. The oil industry was big before there were any tax breaks. Also, remember the “Trust Busting” Standard Oil decision of 1911. The wind industry failed decades ago because it is unreliable, a problem it has not resolved. The argument is meaningless, in the US, less than one percent of electricity is produced from oil. The oil depletion allowance is gone for the major companies.]
Other News that May Be of Interest
Obamacare For Lunch?
By Patrick J. Michaels, CATO, Apr 11, 2014
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/obamacare-lunch
The slow death of free speech
How the Left, here and abroad, is trying to shut down debate — from Islam and Israel to global warming and gay marriage
By Mark Steyn Spectator, Apr 19, 2014 [H/t Climate Etc.]
http://www.spectator.co.uk/australia/australia-features/9187741/the-slow-death-of-free-speech-2/
Climate change a likely culprit in coqui frog’s altered calls
By Staff Writers, Los Angeles CA, (SPX) Apr 17, 2014
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_change_a_likely_culprit_in_coqui_frogs_altered_calls_999.html
[SEPP Comment: If so, it adapted to temperature change, which may be natural.]
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BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
Opening Night on the Taxpayer’s Dime
Review: The Traveling Government Global Warming Play
By Elizabeth Harrington, Washington Free Beacon, Apr 15, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://freebeacon.com/issues/opening-night-on-the-taxpayers-dime/
Climate Craziness of the Week: Oh noes! Moths affected by ‘hidden’ factors of climate change
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 15, 2014
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/15/climate-craziness-of-the-week-oh-noes-moths-affected-by-hidden-factors-of-climate-change/
[SEPP Comment: The expansion of the tree line could also be due to carbon dioxide fertilization.]
Friday Funny – climate ‘cliff notes’
Posted by Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 18, 2014
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/18/friday-funny-climate-cliff-notes/
Increased CO2 levels make fish unafraid of predators
By Pauline Askin, Reuters, Apr 15, 2014 [H/t Clyde Spencer]
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/increased-co2-levels-make-fish-unafraid-of-predators?
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9th International Conference on Climate Change
July 7 – 9 — Las Vegas, Nevada
Includes the Findings of the New Report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) Climate Change Reconsidered II, Volumes 1, 2, and 3
http://climateconference.heartland.org/
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RedditWhen we’re really into or still in love with somebody who we’re no longer with, but they still text, call, or ask us to hang out or to fix something, or even use us as a sounding board because, well, we’re ‘so good at that’, what do we do?
We tend to drop everything because we’re hoping that this person will fall for us again.
We’re hoping that if we keep doing some or all of the things that signify our devotion to them, that they will feel compelled to get back together, to see us in the way that we want to be seen. We hope they’ll drop everything for us.
What happens next? More often than not, we get hurt, badly.
They are not as careful with our feelings as we are about our devotion to them, and after a while we start to feel bruised and possibly quite angry and resentful beneath our veneer of calm and being ‘pleasing’.
To them, it seems clear that they’re not intending to get back together. They might even seem OK with having this seeming power to decide the fate of the relationship–clearly if we’re still engaging despite the lack of reciprocation, then they can safely assume that we’re a shoe-in.
They might think that this is what hanging out, being friends and caring about an ex is all about, and I get it, because when you’ve been in a relationship for some time and then you break up, it can feel so abrupt to just go from that to being friends or even not being in touch for a while. The thing is though, blithely carrying on as if it doesn’t matter that we still have feelings for them and as if they’re not messing us around (they are, even if it’s ‘unintentional’), isn’t fair.
We’re, however, also not being fair to us if we don’t draw our line and step back for our own self-care, and actually, if we continue to engage with them in the secret hope that they will feel inclined or yes, even obliged to give us another shot, we’re not being fair to them either.
We’ll keep opening ourselves up to being hurt and then call it something they’re doing.
That’s not to say, whether it’s consciously or not, that they aren’t engaging with us from a place that’s based on us having feelings for them that they enjoy but are not willing to truly reciprocate to the level that we desire, but until we honestly reflect about why we remain open to it, we can’t see where we’re hurting ourselves.
This past weekend, I binge-watched the final season of Broadchurch (excellent British crime drama with David Tennant and Olivia Coleman) and, without giving much away, there was this scene between a separated couple. He doesn’t want to be broken up so each time she calls, he comes running, and on this particular occasion, when she makes a comment about how he’s basically really good for unloading on, he finally does the right thing for the situation–he speaks up for himself and acknowledges the truth about the current state of their relationship.
Him: You can’t just call me to come meet you for coffee like everything’s still the same.
Her: Can’t I?
Him: No. You know you can treat me like your little dog. Give me a whistle and I’ll come running, but I need you not to do that. I need you not to give me any hope.
And, boom.
We resist being honest and drawing our line because we don’t want to admit the truth and extinguish the hope that’s been blocking us from accepting that the relationship is over.
We think we’re OK with being needed in this way and being, in some instances, someone’s ‘supply’…. that is until we realise how we’re extending our pain and making it suffering.
The object of our affections doesn’t necessarily want to admit that they’re, in effect, using us.
Intended or not, they want things on their terms, sampling the things that they enjoy about us and a relationship while talking themselves out of getting back together, all the while rationalising about friendship, enjoying our company, things not having to be so ‘cut and dried’, about how if we can’t cope, we’ll let them know and blah blah blah.
The thing is, if someone knows in their heart of hearts that they don’t, in all seriousness, want to get back together (or even that they don’t actually want to begin a relationship and want to keep it casual, another area where this issue arises), but they know, whether they admit it or not, that the other person is holding out hope and is too caught up in their feelings to read the writing on the wall, they need to do the responsible, respectful, loving thing, and step back, not string them along.
I always say to people who duck out of being truthful with somebody who is into them and basically, as one male friend put it, ‘keeping [them] on a string’:
If you’re so clear in thought that you know that you don’t reciprocate their feelings or that you don’t want to get back together (or be in a relationship), speak up! They’re into you and that clouds a person’s judgement.
Bringing it back to us though, we mustn’t string ourselves along and we need to step back at the point where we might be starting to lose a little or even a lot of respect for ourselves.
We mustn’t be that person who someone whistles for and we come running in the form of, for example…
Letting them dump their problems on us while we play armchair therapist (because we’re trying to show how we ‘get’ them better than anyone else)
Letting them slip into our bed (because we think that one day they’ll suddenly feel inclined to put a relationship and a ring on all the hassle-free sex they’re getting)
Playing text tennis with them for half the week (funny that they might be ‘too busy’ to actually spend time with us or pick up the phone though…)
Providing an ego stroke (not realising that we’re boosting them up so that can feel good about themselves while we’re feeling crappy and at a loss)
Being the back-up plan (letting them call us up the moment that things go belly-up with their latest fling, only for them to dump us yet again)
Being the one they call when they’re at a loose end (but not being included in the key stuff)
We need to not do that.
When we let somebody play with our affections, we turn it into hope, and it then gets turned into disappointment, and lather, rinse, repeat until we finally opt out of the disappointment cycle.
Even if they keep texting or calling after we draw our line, we need to see it for what it is and not be available, not because we’re playing games and hoping to trigger them into chasing us, but because we’re better than being an option.
We need to stop giving us false hope so that we can have the true hope that comes with treating ourselves with the love, care, trust and respect that we deserve. Only then will we not accept less than mutually fulfilling relationships.
Your thoughts?
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SaveSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is launching a faster version of its mobile service on Wednesday aimed at people with sporadic connections or little data on their smartphone plans, hoping to pick up users in harder-to-reach emerging markets.
People holding phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration
The company calls the version Twitter Lite and it will be aimed largely at users outside the United States. Twitter Lite works through a web browser, not a stand-alone phone application, but its appearance and functionality are nearly identical to what app users experience, according to a preview shown to Reuters.
The launch comes on the heels of similar products from other U.S. tech firms. Facebook Inc (FB.O) released Facebook Lite in 2015 and on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube unveiled a low-data mobile app designed for India.
San Francisco-based Twitter lags behind those companies in building a user base. It had 319 million average monthly active users at the end of last year, up 4 percent year-over-year but still a fraction of Facebook’s 1.9 billion users.
A primary reason in some parts of the world is how much data its app and earlier website consumed, Keith Coleman, Twitter’s vice president of product, said in an interview.
“We didn’t feel like we were reaching these other countries well enough, and this will allow us to do it faster, cheaper and with a better experience than we’ve had before,” he said.
The company estimates that, with several changes it is making to its mobile website, mobile.twitter.com, users will see their average data consumption on the browser version go down 40 percent.
With an additional data-saving feature users can turn on, data consumption will drop some 70 percent on average, said Patrick Traughber, a Twitter product manager. The reduction will come from differences such as initially displaying previews of pictures instead of full pictures.
Like YouTube, Twitter is eyeing India’s 1.3 billion people, and it timed the release of Twitter Lite in part to coincide with the start this week of a major cricket event there, the Indian Premier League’s Twenty20 tournament.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India and following sports in real time is one of the main ways people use Twitter, which unlike many other social media networks still has a chronological timeline to emphasize immediacy.
Other countries where the company said it expects Twitter Lite to be most useful include Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.Horror movies have had no shortage of iconic locations. Cabins in the woods, spooky houses, abandoned structures; there’s many real life filming locations out there for fans to visit. Many of the locations are now unrecognisable, while some retain much of what made them scary in the first place. Take a look at some iconic horror movie locations then and now.
The Exorcist
Everyone remembers the final death of The Exorcist as Father Karras hurls himself down the steep staircase
Behind the scenes of filming on the stairs. The stone steps at the corner of Prospect St NW and 36th St NW leading down to M Street NW in Georgetown were built in 1895 during construction of the adjacent Capital Traction Company car barn.
In a ceremony Halloween weekend 2015 that featured the film’s director William Friedkin, the Exorcist Steps were recognized as a D.C. landmark and official tourist attraction by Mayor of the District of Columbia Muriel Bowser. They remain a popular tourist spot for horror fans today.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The house in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was vital in creating the isolated atmosphere of the original film
Nowadays, its a cosy family restaurant called Grand Central Cafe
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Scenes in Freddy’s infamous boiler room were actually filmed at the Lincoln Heights Jail in California
The boiler room is now abandoned and mostly inaccessible, but Freddy fan ccarba managed to get these pictures inside. It’s still pretty spooky looking
Halloween
The Myers house spoke to every kid watching Halloween, there was alway ‘that’ house in every neighbourhood
The house was empty & abandoned at the time the producers used it in the film. Since then, it has been moved to the other side of the street, and now serves as a chiropractor’s office (the Alegria Chiropractic Center).
The Ring
The cabin where Rachel discovers the cursed video tape in The Ring managed to look eerie and threatening
The cabin is still located at 50th Ave. NW Stanwood, Wa. And it still looks pretty spooky
Friday the 13th
Camp Crystal Lake was the infamous location of Mrs Voorhees murders, so we’d imagine that it’s the last place you’d want to send their kids camping
It doesn’t seem to put the kids off though. The location was a Boy Scout camp before the film was made, and is still used by the Scouts today
The folks at FridayThe13thFranchice took these images of Camp NoBeBoSco as it looks today
Night of the Living Dead
The iconic opening scenes in Night of the Living Dead were filmed in the Evans City Cemetery, located on Franklin Road just 30 miles north of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
The trees are taller, but aside from that very little has changed in the cemetery since filming
Rosemary’s Baby
The ‘Bramford’, the brooding Gothic building where newlyweds Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse set up home is the Dakota Apartments, 1 West 72nd Street at Central Park West.
This is the building today, though it is now more famous for being the last home of John Lennon, and the site where he was murdered
The Blair Witch Project
The seemingly endless woods managed to terrify viewers in found-footage pioneer The Blair Witch Project
From a distance, those trees look at lot less threatening. Most of the filming took place here, at the Seneca Creek State Park
The Birds
The Tides Restaurant, seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds still exists in Bodega Bay, though it’s been remodeled since filming.
It’s still a functioning restaurant, though it’s almost unrecognisable from the film
Session 9
Here’s a location with a long horror history. The now abandoned Danvers State Hospital was the setting for the 2001 horror film Session 9.
Here’s the building in it’s early days, 1893. The hospital served as inspiration for the infamous Arkham Sanatorium from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep”
Lovecraft’s story of course inspired the creation of the infamous Arkham Asylum in Batman’s universe
Much of the historic building has now been demolished, though horror fans still explore the ruinsCalifornia Latino LGBT and HIV Service Center Evicted 48 Hours After Opening
Bienestar, an organization serving Southern California's Latino LGBT, HIV-positive and at-risk communities, was evicted from its new Van Nuys offices two days after opening. The landlord allegedly told the organization they were "bringing disease" to the building.
A Southern California center serving the Latino LGBT and HIV-positive community has been evicted from its new offices just two days after opening, the organization reports. Bienestar is a non-profit social services organization offering testing, support and information to the Southern California Latino LGBT, HIV-positive, and other at-risk communities since 1989.
Just 48 hours after opening in a new Van Nuys location, the landlord forcibly evicted the organization, saying it was "bringing disease" to the building. Bienestar has filed a lawsuit to regain access to its property, still locked inside the building.
On Monday, August 13, Bienestar began providing services at their new location at 14546 Hamlin St., in Van Nuys, Calif. On Tuesday, August 14, Bienestar reports the landlord demanded the organization remove its belongings and vacate the premesis. That same day, a locksmith arrived to change the locks on the building, denying Bienestar members access to their property inside the building, including confidential client files.
On August 15, the landlord informed Bienestar that he was immediately and permanently terminating the three-year lease signed by the organization. Bienestar reports that the landlord initially gave no justification for the eviction, but later claimed that Bienestar was making inappropriate use of the space and "bringing disease" to the building.
"We feel that we have been treated unfairly," Oscar De La O, president and CEO of the organization, said in a press release. "The landlord's actions are a shocking example of the kind of LGBT and HIV/AIDS discrimination that Bienestar has committed itself to fight against and overcome... This situation is very unexpected and distressing, especially when we have performed these same services half a block down the street from this Van Nuys location for 12 years. We have never faced this kind of situation before at any of our nine Southern California centers."
Bienestar will offer limited services in Van Nuys from its mobile unit, currently located outside the organization's former office at 14515 Hamlin St. Services, including case management, rapid HIV testing and referrals, will be available every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bienestar is a community-based grassroots social service organization aimed at positively impacting the health and well-being (bienestar in Spanish) of the Latino LGBT, HIV-positive and other at-risk communities in Southern California. Bienestar also seeks to raise awareness around HIV, AIDS, and substance abuse. The organization boasts nine community centers in Southern California, including several in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernadino counties.How did this happen? Anyone who’s used English in any capacity knows that “you” is a sorry excuse for a plural pronoun. Imagine the confusion of walking into a crowded room and yelling, “You need to listen up!” Who would everyone assume you were referring to? How could they tell? It’s rare to find a scenario in which a person is clearly addressing a group of people that doesn’t include an implied qualifier (as in, in the context of a speech) or an unnecessarily long explicit qualifier (“you all”) to specify that “you” is doing the duty that it has been assigned as a plural pronoun. This is some terribly inefficient language, and it’s high time for a fix. It’s time for “y’all.”
Other countries might laugh at our difficulty. Spanish speakers in Spain have their vosotros; Spanish speakers elsewhere have ustedes. German has ihr. Swahili uses nyinyi. But modern English requires that “you” be jury-rigged in order to fulfill its true plural purpose.
Americans have created their own ingenious solutions to provide the proper plural context. “You guys” seems to be the most dominant, with “you all,” “youse,” “you-uns,” or even “yinz” popping up in different local contexts. The Brits have “you lot.” Trinidadian Creole uses allyuh, which from its construction seems related to “you all.” And then there’s our precious gem, “y’all,” a staple of both Southern English and African American Vernacular English (AAVE), which either spun from or spun off Southern English itself.
“You guys” isn’t sufficient as a national solution. Firstly, we live in an era of increased scrutiny and consideration over the gender of pronouns that we use, especially as feminism and trans activism expand and shape languages. “They” is entering the picture as a formal gender-neutral singular and plural pronoun. And although “guys” has lost some of its masculine connotation in the English language by proximity to “you,” it’s still a word that immediately connotes a group of men. As workplace and social situations seek to become increasingly inclusive of women and people who don’t conform to gender binaries, “you guys” feels more and more archaic.
Plus, it’s just a damn clunky way to speak. There’s no flow to it, and the slang nature of “guys” makes it ill-suited for formal speeches or addresses. “I say to you guys today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream,” takes some gravitas away from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., no? Even in the realm of slang, “you guys” isn’t really all that cool, conjuring visions of the Fonz in his leather jacket. Or Eric Cartman. The only person to successfully get away with “you guys” and sound cool was Sloth, and very few people will ever be as awesome as Sloth.
Which is why we need “y’all.” It doesn’t suffer from having the gender implications or general lameness of “you guys.” It sounds elegant, warm, and inviting. It offers both economy and an end to second-person ambiguity. Teach it in schools across the country. Mouth it to babies. Put it on end-of-grade tests. With respect to “youse,” “yinz,” and “you-uns,” its lesser-known cousins, “y’all” is the most widely practiced of the options and could be the easiest to implement.No legal reason US could not walk away from Iran deal: official
The Iran nuclear deal would fall apart if a US administration walked away from it, as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to do, the State Department said Thursday.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had argued on Wednesday that the deal -- which saw world powers lift sanctions on Tehran in return for controls on its nuclear program -- has been enshrined in international law.
The outgoing US administration is proud of the agreement and has no intention of dropping it, but Trump said several times during his campaign that moving away from it will be a priority once he takes power in January.
An Iranian woman walks past a mural on the wall of the former US embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran on November 9, 2016 ©Atta Kenare (AFP/File)
"Any party -- and I'm speaking very hypothetically here, because I don't want in any way to attempt to hypothesize about what the incoming administration's going to do -- I'm just talking purely about an agreement that any party can walk away from," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
"And that will have profound consequences on the integrity of the agreement."
Toner said that the Iran deal was not a legally binding treaty, but that the current US administration believes it is in Washington's interest to continue it.
Asked whether if the US withdraws support for the deal whether Iran might start building a nuclear weapons program, Toner said: "Yes. That's the reality of the situation."
"This is why we believe it to be in everyone's interest, including the world's interest, that if Iran abides by this agreement, and all the parties abide by the agreement, then we have shut-off Iran's path to a nuclear weapon," he said.
During the election campaign, Trump described the deal as "disastrous" and said it would be his "number one priority" to dismantle it.
On Wednesday, Rouhani said: "Iran's understanding in the nuclear deal was that the accord was not concluded with one country or government but was approved by a resolution of the UN Security Council and there is no possibility that it can be changed by a single government."Red Cross: Start preparing now for Cascadia earthquake
A 'Prepare Out Loud' event in Tigard outlined tips for preparing and surviving the disaster.
When a magnitude-9 earthquake rocks the Pacific Northwest, few who feel it will have ever lived through anything like it before — and it won't be a trivial event.
That was a point that presenters at a "Prepare Out Loud" event at Tigard High School Tuesday evening, Sept. 26, wanted to impress on the hundreds in attendance. The threat of a major earthquake is omnipresent in the Cascadia subduction zone, it is very real and it is very serious.
The fault lies just off the Northwest coast — it stretches from southern British Columbia to northern California — where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate meets the continental shelf. The last time it ruptured is believed to be Jan. 26, 1700, before the region was settled by Europeans and their descendants. The next time it will happen is unknown, and there will be little to no warning before it does.
"There's no way to predict when this will happen," said Mike Harryman, Oregon's state resilience officer and one of Tuesday night's speakers. "It could be in my lifetime or my kid's lifetime, but Mother Nature's going to do something eventually off that coast."
Steve Eberlein said geologists believe there have been 43 major earthquakes in the Cascadia subduction zone over the past 10,000 years — many of them involving a complete rupture of the fault. That pencils out to one about every 233 years, for a very rough average.
"No one can predict when the next one will be," Eberlein said. "All we know is we are technically overdue, and we have a lot of work to do to get ready for that next one."
Oregon encourages '2 Weeks Ready' preparedness
Eberlein works for the American Red Cross Cascades Region and lives in Portland. After surviving the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2004 in the Indian Ocean while living in Sri Lanka, he returned to his home state of Oregon and created the Prepare Out Loud program, which seeks to educate Oregonians about the dangers of a Cascadia quake and how to get ready for one.
And that's no simple feat.
"About three years ago, the Oregon Office of Emergency Management kind of made a fundamental shift," Harryman said. "Traditionally, you would hear states or the Red Cross talk about having a 72-hour kit for an emergency either at home, at work or in your car. And based on the data that we collected, scientific data from the Cascadia subduction zone, how hard it's going to shake the state and break a lot of our systems that we're dependent upon — our roads, our water, our natural gas lines and things like that — we felt we needed to kind of change that dynamic from 72 hours to a two-week (preparedness)."
He admitted, "That's not been easy, because it's not easy to prepare. I have a family of four, and four people for 14 days of water, that's a lot of water. So we have to think of creative ways of doing it."
What Eberlein suggests is that people take a methodical approach to putting together their supplies.
Residents of the Portland area, like other places within the immediate area of effect of a Cascadia quake, are now urged to keep the equivalent of 42 meals per person on hand, ready nourishment in case "the Big One" hits and they need to survive on their own for a while. Eberlein said he encourages people who find that number daunting to make it manageable, perhaps picking up one nonperishable meal to add to their stockpile every time they go grocery shopping. (If it still seems out of reach, he also noted that what people should eat first in case of an earthquake is the food — fruits and vegetables, breads, leftovers, and even meat and fish — that is already in the kitchen.)
Water, as Harryman mentioned, is another basic necessity. Emergency management officials recommend each person have at least one gallon per day available for drinking, cooking, bathing, brushing teeth and other needs — meaning 14 gallons per person, under Oregon's "2 Weeks Ready" guidelines. Eberlein said empty soda bottles make great containers for water and can be stored indefinitely, although he doesn't recommend using milk jugs because of the difference in the quality and durability of the plastic.
Preparation is partially practice as well
The list of supplies Eberlein, Harryman and other experts recommend is voluminous. But beyond those material assets, people need to think about what the actual experience of a Cascadia quake will be like, and what they and their families are going to do in the minutes, hours and days after it strikes, Eberlein said.
"I know you're all cheering for a June earthquake," Eberlein said to laughter. "It's the one we imagine, that really 'inconvenient' June-6th-at-7-in-the-morning earthquake, on a Friday, right after I went shopping — ugh. No. We need to get ready for the 3 a.m. earthquake in November. That's the one you need to start imagining. Start imagining the one you really don't want — the one that's going to be cold."
Statistically, most people are likely to be in one of three places when the Big One hits, Eberlein said: at home, at work or in the car.
The moments during an earthquake will almost certainly be confusing, even for someone who knows what to expect. The ground will shake so violently that pieces of furniture will be flung around like umbrellas in a windstorm, as Eberlein poetically put it. Windows will shatter, the power will fail, gas and water lines may break, cabinetry will collapse and fall, fire sprinklers may activate, airbags may deploy. Most of the Portland area's bridges are not rated to withstand an earthquake. Many of its buildings aren't
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are broke. The U.S. federal government is broke. The only way that we can keep things going is to borrow increasingly larger amounts of money.
But when we do borrow even more money we make our long-term problems even worse.
The day of reckoning for the U.S. economy is fast approaching and we are headed for some extremely difficult economic times.
Are you ready?Indications are mounting that the assault on a bus carrying US soldiers at the Frankfurt Airport on Wednesday afternoon was an Islamist terror attack.
The alleged perpetrator, Arid U., who admitted on Thursday to having carried out the attack, appears to have had extensive contact with radical Islamists via his Facebook page. SPIEGEL ONLINE has also learned that the shooting, which killed two American airmen and injured two others, possibly came after the gunman, identified as Arid U., was unable to leave Germany and travel to Afghanistan. Instead, the 21-year-old airport employee opted to attack US troops in Germany, according to a jihadist website. No proof for the assertion is offered, but the jihadists claim to have been in contact with acquaintances of Arid U.
SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Arid U., told police that he acted alone. He says that one day before the attack, he watched a video on YouTube which he says showed the rape of Muslim women. He says the film upset him so much that he decided to take action. Investigators consider his testimony to be credible, but are continuing to look into possible accomplices. Such films as that described by U., often propaganda videos, have circulated among jihadists for some time.
The attack is thought to be the first deadly, Islamist-motivated attack in Germany. And investigators doubt that it was as spontaneous as Arid U. makes it sound. On the one hand, he appeared to know when and where to find US soldiers at the airport. On the other, SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that he told interrogators that he bought the weapon used in the attack months ago.
Arid U., who is originally from predominantly Muslim Kosovo, has left plenty of digital clues pointing to his adherence to radical Islamism. Two weeks prior to the shooting, he posted a link on his Facebook wall to a jihadist battle hymn. "I can no longer stand this life of humiliation among you," read the lyrics. "My weapon is ready at all times."
A fair number of his 125 Facebook friends would also seem to be sympathetic to radical Islamism. Anti-Semitic, anti-American and anti-Shiite comments are plentiful on both Arid U.'s Facebook page and those of his friends.
Some of the connections, however, are of particular interest to investigators, especially those with well-known figures in the Islamist scene. "He seems to have belonged to an unstructured militant-Salafist environment," said a source familiar with the investigation.
'Veritable Who's Who of German Salafism'
Salafists are pious Muslims who place particular emphasis in emulating as far as possible the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the first generation of his followers. It is a movement that has been growing for years. While most Salafists are more political than they are militant, there is a segment with significant crossover with the jihadist-terror scene. Several of Arid U.'s contacts appear to come from this gray area. In referring to U.'s contacts, one high-ranking security official spoke on Thursday morning of a "veritable who's who of German salafism."
Among others, U. appears to have a Facebook connection with Sheikh Abdellatif, a preacher originally from Morocco who now lives in Frankfurt. German security officials searched his home just last week on suspicion that he has encouraged his followers to take up arms. Sheikh Abdellatif was not arrested pending the completion of an analysis of his computer and other materials confiscated during the search.
"They will find nothing but animated films," Sheikh Abdellatif said in a recently released video, in which he also claims that he has never called on his followers to join the jihad. "In Europe, they hate us because we are Muslim," he says. He also claims that those who accuse preachers of speaking of the jihad receive "thousands of euros" from officials.
Sheikh Abdellatif, 39, is part of the Dawaffm network, a group which offers presentations on how to live a life which conforms to Islam on its website. Though there are no explicit calls for violence, the material on the website is clearly marked by Salafism. In one video, for example, Sheikh Abdellatif warns that prayers from women who do not obey their husbands are not heard by God.
Rapid Radicalization
For German investigators, the links are a clear indication that the Wednesday attack in Frankfurt could have an Islamist background. They also found that a large number of people, many of them well-known Islamists, became Facebook friends of Arid U. just in the two weeks immediately preceding Wednesday's attack. Investigators suspect that the wave of new contacts could have something to do with the airport assault. One theory holds that Arid U. radicalized extremely quickly and became part of a scene that urged him to act. Technicians are attempting to secure and evaluate all of Arid U.'s communications from recent weeks. His Facebook page was no longer accessible on Thursday morning.
In real life, such connections were not nearly as apparent. Arid U. lived with his parents and two brothers in a three-room apartment in a 1970s-era housing project in the Frankfurt quarter of Sossenheim. There are many immigrants who live in the buildings, most of them from Turkey but many from the former Yugoslavia as well.
Neighbors describe the family, which has lived in the first floor of one of the concrete blocs since the late 1990s but which has been in Germany for decades, as being unobtrusive. The father, a former roofer, periodically complained about loud children playing outside their apartment. And the family, one neighbor said, lived austerely. Whenever he visited, he said, the children and wife were forced to leave the living room. Arid U. lived in a single room with his older and younger brother.
Everyone in the complex was surprised when, on Wednesday evening, just hours after the attack, a large number of German police showed up and spent hours searching the family's apartment. Arid U.'s parents have stayed indoors since then and did not answer the doorbell.
'Seemed Like a Loner'
One neighbor said that her daughter went to school with Arid U. nearby. She never considered him to be a radical. She said that Arid U. never seemed to place great stock in symbols of Islam -- he didn't wear a beard or traditional clothes the woman, who wears a headscarf herself, said.
Another neighbor described Arid U. as "withdrawn." He almost never greeted neighbors and often just walked past wearing a large backpack, his eyes on the ground. In contrast to his brothers, who were always "very friendly," Arid U. "seemed like a loner," the neighbor said.
Investigators are unsure whether Arid U. may have been abetted or otherwise encouraged to carry out the shooting. Officials are also trying to determine whether anyone had prior knowledge of the attack and whether, as the jihadist website claims, he was indeed interested in traveling to Afghanistan. The FBI has also become involved in the investigation.
According to SPIEGEL ONLINE information, Arid U.'s parents have so far had little to contribute to the investigation. On Wednesday, they told police that they couldn't explain why their son did such a thing. They say that Arid was a believer but that he didn't have contacts to a radical milieu.
The parents first learned of the attack from the police. Up until that point, they had merely wondered why he hadn't returned as usual from his job at the Frankfurt Airport. The airport is Germany's main international hub and is used by a large number of US military personnel traveling between the United States and Europe.Sign up to volunteer for Donald Trump's campaign, and you might be giving up more than you bargained for.
Earlier this week, reporters began poring over the 2,271-word nondisclosure agreement that Trump's campaign requires its volunteers sign. The forms are extraordinarily broad, virtually prohibiting any volunteers from criticizing Trump or his family for the rest of their lifetimes, according to Rachel Sklar, a lawyer and CNN contributor.
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On Twitter, Sklar noted that the forms also bar volunteers from criticizing Trump's brands, disclosing anything personal about Trump (including his taxes), or from even employing people who work for Hillary Clinton's campaign. (That last one's illegal, Sklar says.)
In case you were wondering if this was standard campaign practice, the answer seems to be no.
Writing for Cincinnati.com, reporter Jeremy Fugleberg notes:An entry of the Test Automation Tips discussing how we can use the Perl 5 testing system to run TAP producing test in any language. This entry was first sent out as part of the Test Automation Tips. Visit here to subscribe. Recently I have started to prepare a web site and I wanted to write the code behind it in Perl 6. For this I decided to reuse the Perl 6 port of HTML::Template that was created by the developers of the November wiki. The problem is that it is part of the November project and it does not have a separate releases. I am not sure if November has any official release or they are just copying the files to the production machine? After all it is a very experimental project. Running Perl 6 locally Anyway as I was only running my code on my own development machine that was not a huge issue as I could use the checked out version of the November git repository by writing the following at the beginning of my code. BEGIN { @*INC.push('/path/to/november/p6w/'); } This is of course not flexible enough and does not allow easy sharing of Perl 6 packages. So I decided I should try to put Perl 6 packages on CPAN and reuse the already existing packaging, *testing*, distribution, and installation system of Perl 5. Later as we learn more about what Perl 6 will need we can migrate over our code to a new kind of CPAN server. Shimming for Testing Packaging the code was not an issue but allowing the standard installation process to run the unit test was a challenge. The problem is that the make test phase of the standard Perl 5 installation process will run the test files with the current perl, which is perl 5. It would be nice if I could tell Test::Harness to use some arbitrary executable with some arbitrary parameters that the package developer can define but it is not yet available. Luckily Adam Kennedy helped me out pointing to the idea of shim. In our case that means that I renamed all my *.t test files to *.t6 files and during the first step of the installation process I create a small wrapper for every.t6 file using the same name but with the.t extension. The.t file contains the following Perl 5 code: use strict; use warnings; use Config; use File::Spec; my $sep = $Config{path_sep}; my $rakudo_dir = File::Spec->catdir($ENV{PARROT_DIR}, 'languages', 'rakudo'); my @libs = $ENV{PERL6LIB}? split (/$sep/, $ENV{PERL6LIB}) : (); $ENV{PERL6LIB} = join $sep, $rakudo_dir, @libs; my $parrot = File::Spec->catfile($ENV{PARROT_DIR}, 'parrot'). ($^O eq "MSWin32"? '.exe' : ''); my $rakudo = File::Spec->catfile($ENV{PARROT_DIR}, 'languages', 'rakudo', 'perl6.pbc'); (my $file = $0) =~ s/t$/t6/; system "$parrot $rakudo $file"; That is, the only thing it will do is to run the.t6 files with the same name but using Rakudo over Parrot as the interpreter. This means the TAP stream of my real tests will flow directly to the code executing the *.t files. This way actually we could wrap TAP streams generated by any language such as Python, PHP or even JavaScript and integrate them into our standard reporting systems. Improvements Looking at the above code again I can see a couple of possibilities to improve it. I should use exec instead of system just to keep the same process and to make sure the exit code does not get lost. I think I could easily tell any of the packaging tools of Perl to look for some other files and not.t file such as shim_testname.pl files. That way I could keep my real test files as.t. I am not sure though how much added value that would bring to languages other than Perl 6. AFAIK Python or PHP tests files don't normally have.t extensions. Shimming library I could wrap both the above script and the code that generates the small shimming files into a module to make it easier to reuse. e.g. Makefile.PL could contain something like this: use Test::Shim prepares => '*.t6', executer => 'path/to/interpreter param param'; or use Test::Shim prepares => '*.t6', recurse => 1, executer => 'path/to/interpreter param param'; That would create a.t file for every.t6 file in the t/ subdirectory possibly recursing deeply. The small.t file can then contain only use Test::Shim run => 'filename.t6', with => 'path/to/interpreter param param'; that would run 'path/to/interpreter param param filename.t6' Installing using CPAN.pm After the testing was solved I tried to see if I can install the newly created package with CPAN.pm and indeed the command cpan. installed my new package into the standard Perl 5 installation tree. I could then configure the PERL6LIB environment variable to list all the directories in the @INC of my perl 5. Uploading to PAUSE and Indexing Uploading to PAUSE is not an issue but then I got an e-mail from PAUSE telling me that it could not find any package in my distribution so it won't index anything. It was not too surprising as PAUSE is very perl 5 oriented and it probably is trying to load my modules using perl 5 which it will fail. Even if it only parses my code looking for the "package Foo::Bar;" definition it won't find it as the Perl 6 code contains "class Foo::Bar;". I asked Andreas Koenig and he quickly replied that I should provide the indexing information in META.yml but I could not figure it out yet how exactly I am supposed to do it. So for now you probably cannot use CPAN.pm directly to install the package. search.cpan.org does show it so you can check it out, it is called Perl6::Conf and probably you can also install it using pip which gets a URL of a.tar.gz file, fetches that file and then uses your already setup CPAN.pm to install all its dependencies and the module itself. It will work as this module does not have any dependency. Dependencies Which brings me to the probably last issue we will have to solve. The current standard build systems of Perl 5 will probably fail to recognize the existence of an already installed prerequisite Perl 6 module. We'll have to provide an alternative way to check if the modules our module requires are already installed and to tell CPAN.pm and CPANPLUS that they should install the dependencies before trying to install this module. Conclusion Well, this story might not be entirely about testing but I think the shimming technique suggested by Adam can be reused to integrate many testing libraries into one stream so it might be useful to you as well. Comments and Discussion If you would like to discuss this on a public mailing list, subscribe to the Test Automation discussion list This entry was first sent out as part of the Test Automation Tips. Visit here to subscribe.This video is no longer available
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Video title:
BLM Calls Trudeau a White Supremacist Terrorist
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August 8 2017
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DevonMeyer
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Reuploaded from YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTp6kGjTBRA Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1TvHJYF Yusra Khojali calls Justin Trudeau a white supremacist, terrorist. It gets kinda annoying seeing how these words can be thrown around, and watered down so easily. I don't care much for Trudeau, so it felt kind of weird making a video standing up for him. Thank you guys so much for watching! -Contact- Email: [email protected] -Follow Me- DeviantArt: http://bye-bye-my-ai.deviantart.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DevonMeyerX Twitter: https://twitter.com/DevonMeyerX Instagram: DevonMeyerX -Videos Used Under Fair Use- Rebel Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4R0bWC41g4&t=262s BLM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpi0xM1S-g&t=60s -Sources- Andrew Loku: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/04/22/one-death-two-versions-finding-the-facts-in-the-killing-of-andrew-loku.html Jermaine Carby: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/09/28/jermaine-carbys-family-suing-peel-police-for-12-million.html https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/07/21/no-charges-against-peel-police-in-death-of-jermaine-carby.html https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/05/13/officer-who-shot-jermaine-carby-says-he-wouldnt-do-anything-differently.html
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270Prince Announces Intimate Kazoo & A Bullhorn Tour
In the midst of his surprise “Piano & A Microphone” performances, enigmatic rock star Prince has revealed that his next concert series will feature an even more intimate experience for his fans.
The “Kazoo & A Bullhorn” tour will see the iconic musician deliver stripped-down versions of his tunes with just a kazoo and bullhorn in yet-to-be-announced locations around the country, giving audiences a concert event like never before.
“I wanted to offer fans a glimpse into my songwriting process,” Prince said quietly in his purple bedroom to no one in particular.
“And as I’ve said before, every one of my songs started out with just a kazoo and my voice projected through a bullhorn.”
It is possible that helium balloons may be incorporated in select cities but probably not nitrous.Image copyright Thinkstock
Skinny jeans can seriously damage muscles and nerves, doctors have said.
A 35-year-old woman had to be cut out of a pair after her calves ballooned in size, the medics said in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
She had spent hours squatting to empty cupboards for a house move in Australia. By evening, her feet were numb and she found it hard to walk.
Doctors believe the woman developed a condition called compartment syndrome, made worse by her skinny jeans.
Read more
Other hidden health risks in your wardrobe
Who, What, Why: Are skinny jeans bad for your health?
Compartment syndrome is a painful and potentially serious condition caused by bleeding or swelling within an enclosed bundle of muscles - in this case, the calves.
The condition caused the woman to trip and fall and, unable to get up, she then spent several hours lying on the ground.
On examination at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, her lower legs were severely swollen.
Although her feet were warm and had enough blood supplying them, her muscles were weak and she had lost some feeling.
As the pressure had built in her lower legs, her muscles and nerves became damaged.
She was put on an intravenous drip and after four days was able to walk unaided.
Other medics have reported a number of cases where patients have developed tingly, numb thighs from wearing the figure-hugging low-cut denim trousers - although the chance of it happening is still slim for most people.
Priya Dasoju, professional adviser at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: "As with many of these warnings, the very unfortunate case highlighted is an extreme one.
"There's no need to ditch the skinny jeans just yet, simply avoid staying in the same position for too long and keep moving throughout the day. If you do suffer any prolonged pain you should of course seek help, but no-one should be alarmed by this warning or change the cut of their jeans."The film's first footage was warmly received at Comic-Con last month.
Deadpool is coming to Conan.
Ryan Reynolds is set to appear as a guest on the TBS talk show Tuesday, where he will debut the redband trailer for the highly anticipated film. Reynolds stars as the title Marvel character.
Read more Ryan Reynolds: I "Wept" When Seeing the Finished 'Deadpool' Costume
"Ryan Reynolds debuts the new redband trailer for Deadpool," reads a message on Conan's website about the forthcoming episode. "We're filling up his dressing room with chimichangas in anticipation."
On Monday, Conan's Twitter page posted that the show's TV rating would be bumped up from its usual TV-14, due to the trailer's content: "It’s so NSFW, our TBS rating will be TV-MA."
The Fox film's trailer first screened at Comic-Con last month, with the studio opting to wait to officially release it, despite footage of the spot having leaked online following the event.
Morena Baccarin, Gina Carano and T.J. Miller also star in director Tim Miller's film. Deadpool hits theaters Feb. 12, 2016.
Tomorrow #CONAN premieres the #Deadpool red band trailer. It’s so NSFW, our TBS rating will be TV-MA. OMG, so many acronyms. — Team Coco (@TeamCoco) August 3, 2015
Aug. 5 at 11:55 p.m. Updated with tweet about the show's rating.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @_RyanGajewskiThe Flames and Aggies have scheduled a home-and-home series in 2018. What's the deal?
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@libertyflamesWhy in the world are Liberty and New Mexico State playing each other twice in the same season? Andy Coffaro @andycoffaro
As you may or may not know, the latest FCS squad to jump up to the FBS ranks after Coastal Carolina does this season is Liberty. It will play one FBS game this season against Baylor and then compete as an FBS Independent in 2018.
The school recently tweeted out its finalized 2018 slate that features seven road games and five home contests.
As we reported here, the Flames are paying Old Dominion the unheard of sum of $1.32 million to ensure its first ever game at the FBS level would be against an FBS opponent. The staggering amount is thought to be the most ever paid by an FBS program in its first game at this level and possibly the biggest check ever written from one Group of 5 school to another.
RELATED: College Football: Ranking All 12 Sun Belt Conference Helmets
Now look at back at that tweet from the athletic department. Notice anything funky?
Yeah, looks like the grad student who put it together accidently has the Flames playing a home-and-home series against New Mexico State.
In the same season.
What gives?
While we did see two FBS squads play each other twice last season, that's only because North Texas and Army ended up meeting in the Heart of Dallas Bowl after battling it out inside Michie Stadium earlier in October.
This unique situation came to fruition in part because the Sun Belt is booting out NMSU after the 2017 season. Unlike fellow abandoned conference mates Idaho, the Aggies will not drop down to the FCS level but will play as an FBS Independent starting next year. This means that New Mexico State is in the same boat as Liberty: Without the built-in schedule of consistent conference games, both school must work their tails off to fill up 12 slots person.
Compare that to teams in the Pac-12 who only need to fill three slots each year due to nine conference games.
So essentially it's a win-win for both schools and something we might see fellow FBS Independent team UMass do in the future.
The Liberty athletic department has done a mighty fine job with its future schedule considering the Sun Belt denied it entry into the conference (maybe Conference USA is a better match down the road)?
Flames fans will see the following teams visit Williams Stadium in the upcoming years: New Mexico (2019), Army (2021, 2026), BYU (2022), Wake Forest (2025), and Virginia (2027).WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard published a list of recommended actions today that its service members and their families can take to cope with the continuing government shutdown, including selling their bodily organs and taking part in extramarital prostitution.
The guidance is a 7-step checklist given to the thousands of families and federal employees who will not be receiving a paycheck due to the furlough.
With no end in sight, the Coast Guard has recommended the following actions and tips, assuring those affected that “you may have to temporarily make changes in the way you handle your finances, but by following these steps, you’ll be more likely to get quickly back on track when the furlough period is over.”
Understand the Details – Find out the Specifics of Your Furlough
Chances are that if you are being furloughed, it is for a completely invalid reason and the result of someone’s personal agenda. Keeping that mindset, this is a perfect opportunity for you to ask your command for answers, but know that you will likely not get a reasonable response. We encourage you to reach out to your Administrative Officer for additional information, even though they’re also on furlough and probably unable to answer your question
Crunch the Numbers
Assess your financial situation so that you can make good decisions during these trying times. Getting organized is key because only God and James Mattis know when you’ll actually be getting paid again.
Get Lean
Evaluate your spending. Do you really NEED food and water? That PT test next quarter will be here before you know it, and you could probably stand to lose a few. What better thing to motivate you to get fiscally responsible than incomprehensible government furloughs with no end in sight?
Consider your needs. History shows that a lot of people actually went their entire lives without electricity before Ben Franklin. Why not pay tribute to our founding fathers? Save some bucks and unplug/unhook everything in your house. Make it a fun game for the kids!
Supplement Your Income
Finding alternative methods of income is a wise decision during government furloughs. Have you considered selling your non-vital organs? Nobody ACTUALLY needs both kidneys. Why not make easy money and save someone’s life?
Another great idea is to have your spouse frequent street corners and questionable hotels, conveniently located just off any military post worldwide. The Coast Guard is full of families, and its time each member start pulling their own weight. Studies have shown that prostitution is a great way to make extra bucks, and much like driving for Uber or Lyft, you get to pick the hours you work!
When low on cash, just remember – “Sell Your Organs, Start Hooking.”
Avoid the Credit Trap
Don’t be afraid to talk with your creditors. Somebody has got to be the one to tell them why your mortgage payments and credit card bills won’t be paid this month, and it’s definitely not going to come from us or the federal government.
Your credit score will undoubtedly take a hit during this period of no-pay, but if you prepare enough, it will be less depressing a year from now.
Don’t Go At it Alone
One team, one fight. You are not alone in this time of potentially crippling debt and depression, there are many other families and federal contractors out there screaming themselves hoarse with rage over this nonsensical furlough. Find others to vent your frustration with. Because in the hardest of times, it is important for us to stick together despite your employer completely abandoning you.
Coast Guard officials could not be reached for immediate comment.7th May 2008, 02:26 pm
Lately I’ve been playing again with parametric surfaces in Haskell. Surface rendering requires normals, which can be constructed from partial derivatives, which brings up automatic differentiation (AD). Playing with some refactoring, I’ve stumbled across a terser, lovelier formulation for the derivative rules than I’ve seen before.
Edits:
2008-05-08: Added source files: NumInstances.hs and Dif.hs.
2008-05-20: Changed some variable names for clarity and consistency. For instance, x@(D x0 x') instead of p@(D x x').
instead of. 2008-05-20: Removed extraneous Fractional constraint in the Floating instance of Dif.
Automatic differentiation
The idea of AD is to simultaneously manipulate values and derivatives. Overloading of the standard numerical operations (and literals) makes this combined manipulation as simple and pretty as manipulating values without derivatives.
In Functional Differentiation of Computer Programs, Jerzy Karczmarczuk extended the usual trick to a “lazy tower of derivatives”. He exploited Haskell’s laziness to carry infinitely many derivatives, rather than just one. Lennart Augustsson’s AD post contains a summary of Jerzy’s idea and an application. I’ll use some of the details from Lennart’s version, for simplicity.
For some perspectives on the mathematical structuure under AD, see sigfpe’s AD post, and Non-standard analysis, automatic differentiation, Haskell, and other stories.
Representation and overloadings
The tower of derivatives can be represented as an infinite list. Since we’ll use operator overloadings that are not meaningful for lists in general, let’s instead define a new data type:
data Dif a = D a (Dif a)
Given a function f :: a -> Dif b, f a has the form D x (D x' (D x''...)), where x is the value at a, and x', x'' …, are the derivatives (first, second, …) at a.
Constant functions have all derivatives equal to zero.
dConst :: Num a => a -> Dif a dConst x0 = D x0 dZero dZero :: Num a => Dif a dZero = D 0 dZero
Numeric overloadings then are simple. For instance,
instance Num a => Num (Dif a) where fromInteger = dConst. fromInteger D x0 x' + D y0 y' = D (x0 + y0) (x' + y') D x0 x' - D y0 y' = D (x0 - y0) (x' - y') x@(D x0 x') * y@(D y0 y') = D (x0 * y0) (x' * y + x * y')
In each of the right-hand sides of these last three definitions, the first argument to D is constructed using Num a, while the second argument is recursively constructed using Num (Dif a).
Jerzy’s paper uses a function to provide all of the derivatives of a given function (called dlift from Section 3.3):
lift :: Num a => [a -> a] -> Dif a -> Dif a lift (f : f') p@(D x x') = D (f x) (x' * lift f' p)
The given list of functions are all of the derivatives of a given function. Then, derivative towers can be constructed by definitions like the following:
instance Floating a => Floating (Dif a) where pi = dConst pi exp (D x x') = r where r = D (exp x) (x' * r) log p@(D x x') = D (log x) (x' / p) sqrt (D x x') = r where r = D (sqrt x) (x' / (2 * r)) sin = lift (cycle [sin, cos, negate. sin, negate. cos]) cos = lift (cycle [cos, negate. sin, negate. cos, sin]) asin p@(D x x') = D (asin x) ( x' / sqrt(1 - sqr p)) acos p@(D x x') = D (acos x) (-x' / sqrt(1 - sqr p)) atan p@(D x x') = D (atan x) ( x' / (sqr p - 1)) sqr :: Num a => a -> a sqr x = x*x
Reintroducing the chain rule
The code above, which corresponds to section 3 of Jerzy’s paper, is fairly compact. It can be made prettier, however, which is the point of this blog post.
First, let’s simplify the lift so that it expresses the chain rule directly. In fact, this definition is just like dlift from Section 2 (not Section 3) of Jerzy’s paper. It’s the same code, but at a different type, here being used to manipulate infinite derivative towers instead of just value and derivative.
dlift :: Num a => (a -> a) -> (Dif a -> Dif a) -> Dif a -> Dif a dlift f f' = u@(D u0 u') -> D (f u0) (f' u * u')
This operator lets us write simpler definitions.
instance Floating a => Floating (Dif a) where pi = dConst pi exp = dlift exp exp log = dlift log recip sqrt = dlift sqrt (recip. (2*). sqrt) sin = dlift sin cos cos = dlift cos (negate. sin) asin = dlift asin ( x -> recip (sqrt (1 - sqr x))) acos = dlift acos ( x -> - recip (sqrt (1 - sqr x))) atan = dlift atan ( x -> recip (sqr x + 1)) sinh = dlift sinh cosh cosh = dlift cosh sinh asinh = dlift asinh ( x -> recip (sqrt (sqr x + 1))) acosh = dlift acosh ( x -> - recip (sqrt (sqr x - 1))) atanh = dlift atanh ( x -> recip (1 - sqr x))
The necessary recursion has moved out of the lifting function into the class instance (second argument to dlift ).
Notice that dlift and the Floating instance are the same code (with minor variations) as in Jerzy’s section two. In that section, however, the code computes only first derivatives, while here, we’re computing all of them.
Prettier still, with function-level overloading
The last steps are cosmetic. The goal is to make the derivative functions used with lift easier to read and write.
Just as we’ve overloaded numeric operations for derivative towers ( Dif ), let’s also overload them for functions. This trick is often used informally in math. For instance, given functions f and g, one might write f + g to mean x -> f x + g x. Using applicative functor notation makes these instances a breeze to define:
instance Num b => Num (a->b) where fromInteger = pure. fromInteger (+) = liftA2 (+) (*) = liftA2 (*) negate = fmap negate abs = fmap abs signum = fmap signum
The other numeric class instances are analogous. (Any applicative functor can be given these same instance definitions.)
As a final touch, define an infix operator to replace the name “ dlift “:
infix 0 >-< (>-<) = dlift
Now the complete code:
instance Num a => Num (Dif a) where fromInteger = dConst. fromInteger D x0 x' + D y0 y' = D (x0 + y0) (x' + y') D x0 x' - D y0 y' = D (x0 - y0) (x' - y') x@(D x0 x') * y@(D y0 y') = D (x0 * y0) (x' * y + x * y') negate = negate >-< -1 abs = abs >-< signum signum = signum >-< 0 instance Fractional a => Fractional (Dif a) where fromRational = dConst. fromRational recip = recip >-< - sqr recip instance Floating a => Floating (Dif a) where pi = dConst pi exp = exp >-< exp log = log >-< recip sqrt = sqrt >-< recip (2 * sqrt) sin = sin >-< cos cos = cos >-< - sin sinh = sinh >-< cosh cosh = cosh >-< sinh asin = asin >-< recip (sqrt (1-sqr)) acos = acos >-< recip (- sqrt (1-sqr)) atan = atan >-< recip (1+sqr) asinh = asinh >-< recip (sqrt (1+sqr)) acosh = acosh >-< recip (- sqrt (sqr-1)) atanh = atanh >-< recip (1-sqr)
The operators and literals on the right of the (>-<) are overloaded for the type Dif a -> Dif a. For instance, in the definition of sqrt,
2 :: Dif a -> Dif a recip :: (Dif a -> Dif a) -> (Dif a -> Dif a) (*) :: (Dif a -> Dif a) -> (Dif a -> Dif a) -> (Dif a -> Dif a)
Try it
You can try out this code yourself. Just grab the source files: NumInstances.hs and Dif.hs. Enjoy!
Lately I’ve been playing again with parametric surfaces in Haskell. Surface rendering requires normals, which can be constructed from partial derivatives, which brings up automatic differentiation (AD). Playing with some...As the American economy continued to lurch, and the country's politics became more and more enflamed with worry (and shameless demagoguery) over our long-term fiscal health, the Esquire Commission to Balance the Federal Budget — comprised of esteemed former Senators Bill Bradley, Bob Packwood, Gary Hart, and John Danforth, and chaired by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell — met in New York in
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every fan supports Fontcest, and this particular ship is contentious within the fan community, causing sharp divides. When it comes to shipping, Undertale fans have worked to combat the toxicity contributed by other users.
The Fandom Now
In August 2017, the Undertale fandom has become considerably quieter, though fanart keeps coming and cringe-videos are being uploaded all the time. Even so, some fans say the community does have a good side. Undertale, as Kotaku’s own Nathan Grayson has argued in the past, is about community and building friendship—to wit, Grayson mentioned that the game inspired him to be a better friend in 2015.
Some fans who reached out to Kotaku said that being a part of the fandom helped them improve their artistic skills, such as drawing and composing music, because they were able to receive constructive feedback from other fans. Discord user Stiv_oo told Kotaku that being a part of the Undertale fandom allowed them to get better at drawing and playing guitar. They said, “I did practice in front of random people in the /r/undertale voicechat. I wasn’t that good but they cheered for me like no one else would do and that made me extremely happy.” Really, Undertale fans do recognize problems within their community. Discord user Modern thinks that some fans have a tendency to be overwhelmingly obsessive, which they feel may give newer players “a negative view of the game and by extension the fandom.”
Undertale isn’t an entirely bad fandom, nor is it uniquely “toxic”— fanbases, especially large ones, can misdirect their fiery passions and harass casual observers or even their own members, as we’ve seen with Five Nights at Freddy’s and Steven Universe. Every fandom has “bad” fans, and “good” fans. With the new release of Undertale on the PS4, new fans are joining the fold—and perhaps this will be a new opportunity to redefine the fandom.Imagine trading in your 2011 Camaro SS and selling your 1969 Camaro SS to buy a brand new ZL1 Camaro. These cars are borderline race cars with almost 600HP and about 550 lb.-ft of torque. Not for the weak of heart…
The ZL1 is your baby and you treat it with the best care you can. The car only gets driven about 11,000 miles in the two years you own it. But then you take the car into the dealer for some warranty work for an issue with the paint.
At 9:00AM Monday morning the dealer calls you saying your car has been totaled. What would you do in that situation?
That’s exactly what happened to one member over on Camaro5. According to his story, the car was dropped off for some paint issues. On a Sunday an employee of the dealership came in and took the car for a joyride. While out testing the limits of the car, the employee lost control of the car and wiped out a telephone pole.
As of right now the whole case is being hashed out by the owners and dealers insurance companies. The owner is asking for a brand new ZL1 and it looks like the dealer doesn’t want to do that. There is a lot of talk on the forum as to what is right and wrong. Even the local media has also picked up the story and has been doing their investigations.
Whatever the outcome may be, it’s not going to be a pretty one. The owner lost out on his pride and joy and the dealership will lose out on money and its reputation.Associate Justice Antonin Scalia eked out a victory against the Environmental Protection Agency in a 5-4 opinion today limiting the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases. However, the decision however does not prevent the EPA from using other means to regulate the pollutants linked to global warming. Specifically the vote means that the Clean Air Act does not allow for the EPA require a point source to obtain a PSD or Title 5 permit. The vote was a straight ideological division with Justice Anthony Kennedy joining his conservative colleagues in the majority. The majority held that “A brief review of the relevant statutory provisions leaves no doubt that the PSD program and Title V are designed to apply to, and cannot rationally be extended beyond, a relative handful of large sources capable of shouldering heavy substantive and procedural burdens.” Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency is the lead case of six cases on the regulation of greenhouse gases.
The decision reverses part of the 2012 opinion supporting the authority of the EPA on requiring permits for some industries. However, the difference may be quite small. The EPA interpretation allows the agency to reach some eighty-six percent of the targeted industrial sources while other means would still allow it to reach eighty-three percent.
As we discussed earlier, the Supreme Court ruled previously that EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases as a threat to human health and to the environment. The EPA proceeded in June 2010 to deal with pollution from cars and trucks (“mobile sources”) and then larger, stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions. That latter move prompted a determined challenge from the all-powerful utility and energy industries both in Congress and the courts. The case saw a division of states, with California and New York supporting the administration. Scalia held that the D.C. Circuit failed to make a finer distinction between pollutants:
The Court of Appeals reasoned by way of a flawed syllogism: Under Massachusetts, the general, Act-wide definition of “air pollutant” includes greenhouse gases; the Act requires permits for major emitters of “any air pollutant”;therefore, the Act requires permits for major emitters of greenhouse gases. The conclusion follows from the premises only if the air pollutants referred to in the permit requiring provisions (the minor premise) are the same air pollutants encompassed by the Act-wide definition as interpreted in Massachusetts (the major premise). Yet no one—least of all EPA—endorses that proposition, and it is obviously untenable. The Act-wide definition says that an air pollutant is“any air pollution agent or combination of such agents, including any physical, chemical, biological, [or] radioactive... substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air.” §7602(g). In Massachusetts, the Court held that the Act-wide definition includes greenhouse gases because it is all-encompassing; it “embraces all airborne compounds of whatever stripe.” 549 U. S., at 529. But where the term “air pollutant” appearsin the Act’s operative provisions, EPA has routinely given it a narrower, context-appropriate meaning.
Recall that in April, the Court handed a big victory to the Administration in another case in upholding the regulation over 28 states in the Midwest and South to reduce ozone and fine particle emissions that flow north and east into other states.
The Court closed the door on PSD and Title V but left another open:
To sum up: We hold that EPA exceeded its statutory authority when it interpreted the Clean Air Act to require PSD and Title V permitting for stationary sources based on their greenhouse-gas emissions. Specifically, the Agency may not treat greenhouse gases as a pollutant for purposes of defining a “major emitting facility” (or a “modification” thereof) in the PSD context or a “major source” inthe Title V context. To the extent its regulations purport to do so, they are invalid. EPA may, however, continue to treat greenhouse gases as a “pollutant subject to regulation under this chapter” for purposes of requiring BACT for “anyway” sources. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part.
Here is the opinion.
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FacebookJony Ive's role at Apple is changing again. When Scott Forstall was pushed aside in 2012, Ive was promoted to oversee both hardware and software design at the company. Now he's being promoted again, according to a profile by Stephen Fry in The Telegraph. As Apple's Chief Design Officer, Ive will still oversee hardware and software design, but he'll hand off day-to-day management to Richard Howarth and Alan Dye, respectively.
9to5Mac also has an internal memo from CEO Tim Cook:
Design is one of the most important ways we communicate with our customers, and our reputation for world-class design differentiates Apple from every other company in the world. As Chief Design Officer, Jony will remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas, and future initiatives. On July 1, he will hand off his day-to-day managerial responsibilities of ID and UI to Richard Howarth, our new vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, our new vice president of User Interface Design. Richard, Alan, and Jony have been working together as colleagues and friends for many years. Richard has been a member of the Design team for two decades, and in that time he has been a key contributor to the design of each generation of iPhone, Mac, and practically every other Apple product. Alan started at Apple nine years ago on the Marcom team, and helped Jony build the UI team which collaborated with ID, Software Engineering and countless other groups on groundbreaking projects like iOS 7, iOS 8 and Apple Watch.
It's not clear what Ive's new role means for his future at Apple—he will apparently be able to "travel more," both to oversee the design of Apple's retail stores and (as others believe) to spend more time in his native UK to raise his kids—but this move has evidently been in the works for some time. Apple "introduced" Howarth and Dye to the public by way of Jony Ive- and design-focused profiles in the New Yorker and Wired, respectively, and Apple's PR machine does nothing by accident.
For now, don't expect much about Apple's design or public presentations to change. The teams that brought you the Apple Watch, the MacBook, and the flat look of iOS 7 and OS X Yosemite are still in place. Ive has never really been a fixture of Apple's keynotes or product events, aside from his much-imitated product video narration. But going forward, pay attention to how frequently interviews with Ive, Howarth, and Dye pop up. If Apple intends to pass Ive's design torch to others, it's going to be a months- or years-long transition, and Apple will want its employees and shareholders to be comfortable with whoever replaces him. Apple pursued a similar strategy when Tim Cook took over for Steve Jobs—Cook already had a couple of stints as interim CEO under his belt when Jobs officially passed the reins in August of 2011.The British magazine "The Spectator" launched a contest on Monday that will reward the person who writes what it deems to be the best "filthy and insulting as possible" poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with 1,000 pounds (1,266 euros, $1,440).
The lewd example provided by the creator of the contest, Douglas Murray, is in limerick form. While the magazine says "almost everything insulting that is worth saying can usually be included within the five lines of that beautiful and delicate form," it says it will not exclude other forms of poetry.
German late-night television host Jan Böhmermann recited a poem on public television that called Erdogan a "pervert" and "zoophile" who has sex with goats, represses Kurds and watches child pornography.
Watch video 26:03 Share Quadriga - Germany’s Satire Affair - Who Will Have the Last Laugh? Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/1IW9h Who will have the last laugh?
Turkey responded by requesting that Böhmermann face criminal prosecution. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the poem was "deliberately offensive" and that she would allow Turkey's request for prosecution to continue. In Germany, it is against the law to insult a foreign head of state, although Merkel has admitted it is time for the law to be repealed. Böhmermann has since been put under police protection as the charges are examined.
"The fact such a trial could even be contemplated demonstrates that Germany is becoming little more than a satrapy of Erdogan's," Murray writes in "The Spectator."
He adds "I'm a free-born British man, and we don't live under the blasphemy laws of such despots" before announcing the poetry contest.
Initially, no prize was offered, but the online story was amended to announce that a reader "who shares The Spectator's belief in the freedom of speech" had offered the prize of 1,000 pounds. In outlining the selection criteria, Murray writes "limericks will be excluded from consideration from the top prize if they are (a) not obscene or (b) non-defamatory" and encourages sexual jabs such as those in Böhmermann's poem.
Debate in Germany over Böhmermann's case has centered on where satire ends and deliberate insults begin in the context of a free press.
The magazine's website claims it is "the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language." Despite existing since 1828, the site reads, "The Spectator's taste for controversy remains undiminished."(CBS) - Remember that scene in "Batman Begins" where Bruce Wayne encounters a ton of bats as a child, develops a phobia and later becomes the Batman due to his fear of them? Yeah, this video is a lot like that, but totally real. Do not watch if you have a phobia of bats.
I seriously got goosebumps seeing that clip. The video was captured by Istueta Roofing in Miami who write:
Our crew is in for a surprise when they begin the tear off process of our clients' old roof and hundreds of bats come flying out from underneath the tiles!
And just like that, I've developed a slight fear of bats and a major mistrust of roofs. Go figure. But in all seriousness, I really do hope the little guys find a new home. So what did you think of this caught-on-tape moment? Feel free to leave me some of your thoughts and experiences below.Florida Gators first year offensive coordinator Kurt Roper has seen and coached his fair share of quarterbacks. Roper coached Eli Manning who won the Maxwell Award and was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year as a senior at Ole Miss.
At 6-4, 230 pounds and with a rocket arm, Jeff Driskel may be the most physically gifted player that Roper has coached at the quarterback position. In fact, Driskel might have even have been too big when Roper first arrived. The new offensive coordinator challenged Driskel to shed some pounds.
“When I first got there his weight was 240,” Roper said. “If you’re 230 pounds you’re a big guy. So that was kind of the weight that we talked about, being able to run the football, be elusive.”
Roper used Manning as an example for Driskel. Manning would come into fall camp around 225 pounds and enter the season somewhere slightly below 220. Driskel is, obviously, a very different style of quarterback than Manning, but he can still hold his own at his new, slightly lighter weight.
However, Driskel’s size, while an advantage, isn’t the first thing that sticks out to Roper about the quarterback. Or any quarterback for that matter.
“The first thing that I want is a guy that is mentally tough, that you can’t shake him,” Roper said when explaining what he looks for in a signal caller. “It doesn’t matter if the crowd boos him running off the field. It doesn’t matter if you have a four-interception game. It doesn’t matter if you go on social media and everybody tells you, ‘You’re not any good.’”
You can challenge some of his decision-making, but mental toughness isn’t a question when it comes to Driskel. That was clear the last time you saw Driskel on the field in orange and blue. A broken fibula brought Driskel to all fours, yet, when Florida’s medical staff urged him to sit tight and get carted off the field, Driskel refused.
“Looking back on it, I don’t know how smart it was,” Driskel said with a short chuckle. “But I don’t know, just being a competitor I didn’t want to get carted off the field after a pick-six.”
His toughness earned the respect of his coaches and teammates but Roper wasn’t in Gainesville at the time. He was busy leading the Duke Blue Devil offense to their most successful season in decades. So when Roper arrived, he wanted to see if his quarterback was mentally tough enough and confident enough to handle being the leader of a team.
“There’s one guy in this world that can take Jeff Driskel’s confidence from him and that’s Jeff Driskel. It’s not me as a coach. It’s not anybody else. And if he will buy into that and believe that, now you’ve got a mentally tough guy that can go play the game. And I think that’s very important.”
The toughness is there, but is the confidence. Driskel is 12-4 as a starting quarterback but he’s been criticized for his decision-making and for too many turnovers (14 TD to 10 INT in his career.) But Roper, who’s coached confident guys like Manning and Houston Texans running back Arian Foster, doesn’t see any wavering in Driskel’s confidence.
“He’s a confident guy. He’s got a great look in his eye. He’s a bright-eyed guy. I don’t think he’s ever lacked confidence,” Roper said of Driskel. “I think where you see the confidence growing is in understanding what we’re doing offensively. The more understanding you have, the faster you can make decisions, the faster you can play, which you have to be able to play fast and be decisive.”
Despite a game where turnovers created a loss in Miami and his abrupt departure against Tennessee, Driskel insists he never lost confidence in his team or himself.
“I don’t think we’ve ever lacked confidence. I think that our confidence is higher now than it was before just because we’ve done some things to boost our confidence up,” said Driskel. “We’ve made a lot of big plays against a really good defense. When that happens, you start to feel a little bit more excited and a little bit more confident. I think that we have a good thing going on offense and we just have to keep getting better.”
The offense has looked better in practice — and that’s against what should be a pretty good defense this year.
Driskel is checking off the boxes that Roper laid out for him. Physical size? Check. Toughness? Check? Grasp and command of the offense? Check.
The next box he needs to check off will give Roper his first win at the University of Florida.
It’s not the last box Driskel wants to check off in 2014, either.Jeff Lagerquist, CTVNews.ca
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson says he plans to step away from his job as Canada’s top Mountie in June after a nearly four-decade career in law enforcement.
The announcement Monday comes as the force grapples with a number of serious internal issues.
Paulson, in his letter of resignation, acknowledged the RCMP has “serious challenges and work ahead,” highlighting “historical yet persistent harassment claims,” mental health issues among officers, and labour code charges related to the shooting of five Mounties in Moncton, among other challenges.
Resignation letter of RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson:
After what will be almost 39 years of service, 32 in the RCMP and five and a half as Commissioner, the time has come for me to retire. My last day of work will be June 30, 2017 and I am excited to be able to focus on my family.
This will give the Government time to identify my replacement and we will no doubt hear more about that in due course.
In the meantime though, we have some challenges and work ahead of us.
We must try to resolve these historical yet persistent harassment claims;
We will continue to build, expand and improve our nascent mental health strategy to preserve and restore our employee’s mental and emotional wellness;
We must continue to improve our workplace for all of our employees by focusing on respect, inclusiveness, tolerance and diversity;
In April we will be tried on labour code charges arising from the murder of our colleagues in Moncton;
And of course I am committed to pursuing equitable pay and providing a modern labour relations framework for our employees.
No small list. These issues and those who follow them closely will make for a busy and challenging spring but we will -- as we do -- persevere in order that we can keep delivering on our primary mission -- keeping Canadians safe and secure.
As I said when I was first appointed Commissioner in 2011, it is a profound honour and a privilege to be able to serve in this great Force along side the good men and women who come to work each day and commit to this vital mission.
Here’s a look at some of the issues the new commissioner will face:
Sexual harassment controversy:
Federal court Judge Ann Marie McDonald certified a class action lawsuit last month involving as many 20,000 current and former officers who may have suffered gender-based discrimination and harassment on the job -- essentially all women who work for, or did work for, the RCMP starting in 1974.
Last October, Paulson delivered an abject apology to hundreds of current and former female officers and employees who were subjected to bullying, discrimination and harassment from fellow members.
“To all the women, I stand humbly before you today and solemnly offer our sincere apology,” an emotional Paulson told a news conference in Ottawa.
“You came to the RCMP wanting to personally contribute to your community and we failed you. We hurt you. For that, I am truly sorry.”
Ottawa has set aside about $100 million to compensate victims. The RCMP agreed to address systemic issues of gender discrimination.
Mental health:
In 2014, the force formally delved into the issues of suicide and mental health within its ranks, revealing some 32 serving and retired members have taken their lives since 2006.
A five-year mental health initiative launched by then- assistant RCMP commissioner Gilles Moreau found significant stigma associated with seeking help for mental health issues, and aimed to encourage officers to seek assistance if they are in need.
“I think it's a first step -- it's very focused on education and stigma reduction, which I think is needed,” he told The Canadian Press in 2014. “But I think there are huge gaps in the strategy in areas in developing resilience, treating trauma and conducting research to determine the extent of the rates of PTSD and other mental health concerns in RCMP employees.”
RCMP labour code & union talks
RCMP officers won the right to organize a union two years ago, but a collective bargaining bill remains in limbo.
The Liberal government tabled a bill to create a new labour relations regime for RCMP members and reservists last March. The legislation allows for collective bargaining and independent, binding arbitration to resolve disputes, but no right to strike.
Currently, RCMP officers have voluntary associations funded by members, which work with management to establish pay and benefits. However, top management has the final say.
Senators sent bill C-7 back to the House of Commons in June after removing a list of contentious issues that had been excluded from collective bargaining.
Moncton shootings
The RCMP is facing a lawsuit from Employment and Social Development Canada regarding its response to the 2014 shooting rampage in Moncton, N.B. that left three officers dead.
The federal labour market watchdog alleges RCMP members and supervisors were not provided with appropriate information, training, and equipment to handle the active shooter event.
Gunman Justin Bourque shot and killed constables Doug Larche, Fabrice Gevaudan and Dave Ross, and wounded constables Eric Dubois and Darlene Goguen with a semi-automatic rifle on June 4, 2014 during a manhunt that lasted roughly 30 hours.
The trial is set to begin on April 18.
With files from The Canadian PressLynch arrived to Los Angeles in the very early 1970s, when he accepted a scholarship at the prestigious American Film Institute. The AFI was then located at the Greystone Mansion (905 Loma Vista Dr, Beverly Hills 90210) the estate of the 1920s millionaire Ned Doheny. The mansion was built between 1927 and 1930 and it represented the kind of splendor that Jazz-Age Los Angeles, flush with the success of the film and oil industries, wanted to show the rest of the world. Doheny was shot in his mansion in 1929 in a confusing episode, only a few months after he had moved his family in. By the time Lynch arrived, the AFI had been leasing the Doheny property from the city of Beverly Hills for five years.
In 1972, Lynch decided to start working at “the Center” (as he referred to the AFI and the mansion) on his first feature, an ambitious, strange project called Eraserhead. He commandeered the Doheny stables, down the road from the main building, and proceeded to turn them into “the Eraserhood.” “It was a little mansion in and of itself,” Lynch said in the authorized book of interviews Lynch on Lynch. “It had a maids’ quarters, and places above for different people who worked for Doheny, kitchens, bathrooms, like a little hotel, with a lot of other stuff around. And I got four or five rooms and the hayloft and a couple of garages.” Over the next few years, Lynch would obsessively work on his first cult masterpiece in his little fiefdom within the grounds of the Greystone Mansion.GURGAON: A day after a 23-year-old woman was abducted and gangraped in the city, the Gurgaon administration on Monday passed an order virtually absolving its responsibility of ensuring women are safe. The administration has told all malls, commercial establishments and pub owners that they cannot have women employees working beyond 8pm.
Gurgaon deputy commissioner P C Meena said permission from the labour department would be required for a woman employee to work beyond the stipulated time in these establishments. For staffers permitted to work after 8pm, the employer would have to provide transportation for them to go home, he said.
By banning them from late-night jobs, the administration seems to be viewing women as the problem. The DC invoked an existing law -- the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act -- while passing the order. He directed employers to maintain a log book to record details of vehicles used to transport women employees, their time of departure, name of driver, etc.
“Any information about women employees working after 8pm should be sent in advance to the labour department. During inspection, the permission received from the labour department for deploying women beyond the permitted time will have to be produced when asked for by district administration officials,” said Meena.
Meena directed officials to conduct surprise checks to ensure the order is being implemented. Owners of malls, pubs and commercial establishments have been asked to install CCTV cameras at pick-up points near buildings.
Expressing concern over incidents of eve-teasing, molestation and assault, Meena said it shall be the responsibility of pub and malls owners to ensure that these places are shut within the closing time indicated in their licences.“If any owner is found flouting licence norms, a case shall be registered against not only the defaulting pub owner but also the mall owner,” added the administrator. Malls have been directed to disconnect electricity connections of pubs that stay open after closing time.Pub operators have also been asked to maintain records of visitors. They should keep a photocopy of the customers’ identity cards and show these to the area SHO once every 15 days.Meena has asked each pub owner to create an IP address and provide direct internet access to the area DCP so that activities inside these premises can be monitored and recorded. The owners have yet again been asked to install CCTVs on their premises with a pan-360-degree view so that no corner is left without electronic surveillance. These CCTVs should have a recording backup of a minimum 30 days.He asked the police to increase their vigilance and act with strictness against drunken driving outside the malls. The mall owners should also get their bouncers verified with the police, he said. These orders are applicable to all malls and pubs operating in the Gurgaon district, Meena added.
Times watch
In recent times, TOI has tried to avoid carrying disturbing reports of rape and suicide, especially of minors, on front page (even today we have put one such report inside). While our primary duty is to report news without attaching any value judgment, we also believe it is our responsibility to spare our readers the trauma such reports cause (to the extent possible).But every now and then, we are left with little option but to make exceptions to our rule, particularly when law enforcers appear apathetic — at times, even callous — in their approach to prevention, investigation and/or prosecution.The unchecked spate of violent crimes against women in Gurgaon is one such instance where the local and state administration's approach amounts to negligence. Till such time as we see greater seriousness from the police, we will continue to highlight such crimes, even if it means unsettling our readers in the morning. The administration needs to feel the heat of public outrage.As the epic battle continues, the demonic horde of the Nethervoid has begun to pour forth into the mortal realm, causing the divine light of Shangri-La to dim under the corrupting presence of this ancient evil unleashed upon our world. As all hope fades and life turns to dust, you embark on a final quest to the very underbelly of the Dark Carnival to seek out the one who’s forbidden power could be either the key to turning the tide…or your own utter demise!
Designed by Jumpsteady and Louis Simpson, with art created by the legendary Tom Wood, this highly anticipated expansion for Into the Echoside, the deckbuilding game, includes 120 devastating new cards! Along with new Dark Carnival, Psychopathic, Underground, Item, Fiend, Epic, and Flavor cards, there will also be the inclusion of the all-new Tarot and Gambit cards! As if that weren’t enough, this expansion will also come with a rule book, 2 custom 12-sided dice, and 4 numbered wheels to help you keep track of your Karma.
Make sure to stay updated at www.intotheechoside.com and to find out more.
Also, if you want to get a firsthand look at the incredible artwork in store for this expansion, then make sure to attend the Dark Carnival Games Con (www.dcgcon.com) April 21-23 at the Gibraltar Trade Center in Mount Clemens, MI, where Tom Wood himself will be debuting some of the dope Oracle of the Three Rings artwork! Whoop whoop!Story highlights President Barack Obama says his wife and friends kept him grounded
He says his friends never call him Mr. President
Washington (CNN) As his second term as President of the United States nears its end, Barack Obama reflected on the role friendship has played in his life in a wide-ranging exit interview with his friend and former senior adviser David Axelrod, saying his relationships have given him "serenity."
"One gift I do seem to have is getting really, really good friends around me who've got my back. And that gives you a certain serenity in the midst of a lot of foolishness," Obama said in the latest episode of "The Axe Files" podcast.
He also expressed gratitude for his relationship with his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, and how her honesty and support have helped him remain grounded through difficult times and political losses.
"And you know, Michelle, I can't underestimate the degree to which having a life partner who is so grounded and so strong and steady and fundamentally honest helped," Obama said.
Read MoreRozelle shop owner started fatal fire to 'get out of lease', court told
Posted
A Sydney convenience store owner set fire to a shop in 2014, killing three people, because he wanted to get out of a five-year lease on his failing business, a court has heard.
Adeel Khan was charged with murdering Chris Noble, as well as Bianka O'Brien and her baby son Jude, who lived in separate units above the Rozelle shop.
Mr Khan had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In the New South Wales Supreme Court, prosecutors said Mr Khan had placed up to 10 plastic containers of fuel around the shop and laid fuel-soaked cloth trailers between them.
It is alleged Khan lit one of those trailers under the back door and the force of the massive explosion, left him trapped beneath a large fridge.
Only his hand was poking out when emergency services arrived.
Prosecutors alleged Khan knew Mr Noble and two other men were living in the unit directly above his shop and there were people living in the unit above the adjoining mobile phone store.
"He was prepared to accept the real risk of people dying as a result of him setting fire to his shop," crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC said.
The court heard Khan realised soon after acquiring the business in December 2013 it was not going to be as profitable as he had hoped.
"It was very quiet and the takings were meagre," Mr Tedeschi said.
It is alleged Khan knew the store had to be destroyed, not just damaged by fire, for him to be cleared of his obligation to pay rent, which he could not afford.
Prosecutors also said Khan planned to draw on a contents insurance policy.
"He decided to set fire to his shop to resolve his financial predicament," Mr Tedeschi said.
The court was told that days before the fire, Khan purchased almost 40 litres of fuel, which he pumped into four separate containers at a petrol station in Croydon Park.
This was captured by CCTV cameras.
Topics: arson, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, rozelle-2039AMD’s Mark Papermaster has had an interesting past. Before becoming AMD’s CTO and SVP, he spent 26 years at IBM, working his way into its Integration & Values Team and Technical Leadership Team – two exclusive and highly confidential workforces. Following his tenure at IBM, he went on to join Apple, Cisco Systems, before taking up position at AMD. Papermaster is a man armed with a wealth of knowledge and so, when he says that AMD is on its way back into the big leagues, ready to go toe-to-toe with Intel and Nvidia once again, you sit up and listen.
Papermaster is also the first to admit that AMD fell behind. In server-grade architecture Intel owns practically 99% of the market; Intel dominates in the high-performance CPU space; and Nvidia is absolutely killing it in the high-end graphics department. But AMD hasn’t been sitting on its laurels for the past few years, it’s been actively working towards coming back bigger than ever, and it’s within the next year that AMD will see the investment really begin to pay off.
“As you know, semiconductors aren’t like software, where you can say you’re shifting focus and within the year have a new software product out,” Papermaster explains to me as we meet to discuss the future of AMD. “We shifted our focus years ago, and it takes that long [to make a change]. The products we’re rolling out now are high-performance products – it’s a return to our roots and we’re very focused.”
"It’s a return to our roots and we’re very focused."
But what, exactly, is the company focused upon? Well, according to Papermaster, AMD used to be 90% dependent on the PC business – today, more than half of its revenue comes from the semi-custom business. Games consoles form a large part of this, and that’s why the three key areas of AMD’s comeback strategy focus around games, “immersive platforms” and, erm, data centres.
Clearly, of the three areas that form AMD’s focus, the data centre is the least sexy area, but it’s the one with the largest potential for change. Intel – AMD’s biggest rival – holds 99% of this market, having stolen back most of the 30% share AMD once enjoyed back in its heyday. Seeing as AMD predicts that the data centre space will be worth $18bn by 2019, grabbing back that 30% or more is sure to be lucrative for AMD’s growth.
In the games space, however, AMD is already absolutely crushing it. As an industry, games is worth more than $15 billion a year – and will only continue to grow. For now, AMD dominates the home-console market, supplying chips for the Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U – with the Xbox Project Scorpio and PS4 Pro also set to use AMD chips. In the PC space, however, it needs to fight back against the ever-growing force that is Nvidia and it’s high-end graphics cards.
Chipset of a Radeon RX 470 - Fritzchens Fritz, Flickr
It is in “immersive platforms” that AMD is ready to take its biggest leap, though. Papermaster sees the growth of VR, AR and Mixed Reality as a key space for AMD and its future. “We’ve gone from radio to TV; sound to audio-visual to interactive. But each one of these progressions engages you further… immersive computing is clearly the next way we’ll interface with computing. It isn’t just about seeing and hearing; it will involve all of your senses because you’re truly surrounded by audio, visual and – eventually – haptics.
“We've had the technology to create VR for years, but now it's affordable. The breakthrough this year is not only the development of head-mounted displays, but the development of CPUs and graphics that can drive them. Several years ago, we made a decision to invest in high-end graphics and high-end computing, and we've come out with a set of products ready to create a great VR experience.”
It’s these products that form the lynchpin of AMD’s revival plan.
Its upcoming Zen CPU is slated to be the first high-performance chip from AMD that can compete on a par with Intel’s own architecture – benching the same, if not better than Intel’s Broadwell E Core i7. Zen also offers 40% better performance than it’s Excavator chipset using the same amount of energy. AMD’s Radeon range also brings VR-ready graphics cards to the market, with the RX 480 – which sits between Nvidia’s 1060 and 1070 cards – capable of pushing out power at a much more affordable price point. Suddenly, with these products, AMD is back in the running.
Video of Breakthrough Performance of Next-Generation “Zen”
“There’s pent-up demand for competition.”
Being a competitor is exactly what AMD wants to be within these spaces. “There’s pent-up demand for competition,” explains Papermaster. “High-performance desktop and server [are areas that both] have a clear lack of competition. Both are dominated by our competitor and hungry for a competitive product – which is exactly what Zen will bring.
“We’ve committed to a very strong roadmap, and my commitment is absolutely competitive, generational improvements. When our customers come back to us once we’ve released Zen and see we’re back in the thick
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. He was somebody that really helped me with continuity and making the storyline and the arc of this album be cohesive."
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Mensa said being a fan of Jay before meeting him ultimately benefited their working relationship.
"I've been a superfan of Hov's music before I ever met him," Mensa said. "That's one of those relationships where I felt like I knew him before I met him, because I was so in depth with the music. That's what rap is at its best, like you may really know a person. Even though Pac and Biggie passed, I feel as if, in a certain sense, I know those men. That's the same way I knew Hov before meeting him. He's really that person that he is on record.... Working with him, he's imparting this wisdom on me man-to-man and not just through lyrics."
BpZzg2NDE6uiAqS0H8mag42AHFJ319hu
It wouldn't be a Breakfast Club interview without an uncomfortable question being tossed into the mix, and that's just what Charlamagne did toward the end, at the 47:08 mark. He addressed the broken relationship between Vic and Chance The Rapper, which has been festering since last year. Charlamagne begged the two to make amends, and Mensa responded by saying they were already ahead of him.
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"We’ve been talking," Mensa said. "I feel like that's also a part of my journey—putting this positive energy into the world. Chance is my brother. We grew up together. If you have a brother, if you've ever had a brother, you know brothers fight, man. That happens. Especially growing up and everybody is there to watch it. That's what I'm unpacking in this album, so many situations that were hectic and toxic, as life can be sometimes.... We ain't supposed to beef. The city needs us to be unified. That’s the place that I'm at."
Despite their rocky relationship, Chance posted on Instagram earlier this month, urging his followers to support Mensa's debut.
“Me & Vic met at a high school open mic when we were 14," he wrote. "We’ve been on this journey for along time. This is much bigger than a moment THIS IS MY BROTHERS DEBUT ALBUM. I've decided I'm waiting til it drops to listen. I've been through a lot with him but I want to hear it told in his words."
POST CONTINUES BELOW
Early Monday morning, Chance took to Instagram again to big up his fellow Chicagoan for what he called a "special" project.
So inspiring. Vic's debut album means something special to me, but I guarantee this song will touch you regardless of how well you know him. GO GET #TheAutobiography NOW A post shared by Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) on Jul 31, 2017 at 3:13am PDT
In the rest of the Breakfast Club interview, Mensa dives into the real-life stories that inspired his album, and recalls when Hov told him to remove a line from one of the tracks. He also takes a minute to talk about the influence other hip-hop pioneers like Public Enemy, N.W.A, and Grandmaster Flash had on his style. Peep the whole conversation in the video above.***
Jake: Hi guys, nice to meet with you. Can you tell us your names, what you play, and your favorite animal?
Nick: I play the guitar, and occasionally other things. Favorite animal? Tiger.
Dan: I’m Dan, I play the drums, and…
Nick: Maybe a cheetah.
Dan: Oh. So I’m Dan, I play the drums, and the xylophone, and the glockenspiel, and occasionally the Moog, and my favorite animal is a lamprey.
Harry: I’m Harrison, Harry for short. I play the bass, and also occasionally play Moog, keyboards, also unofficial recording engineer. Red panda.
Pete: Hi, I’m Pete. I play all the saxophone in A Troop of Echoes, and my favorite animal is Dan.
Dan: Ooh, hey buddy.
Harry: The Danimal.
Bethany: When did you guys start making music? Individually and as a group.
Dan: I think our first band practice was in 2004, so it’s been a while.
Nick: So, 2004 was when the band became a thing. I mean, I’ve been playing guitar since 2000…?
Dan: And Nick is the first person I played music with, so we’re still going strong seventeen years later.
Harry: Yeah, I started in 2000 as well. I actually knew a mutual friend who knew Pete, and he said Pete was trying to get a band together, and he needed a bass player. And so he recommended me, and I was 14 when I joined the band. And I’m 27 now. So, yeah, we’ve had a lot of maturing to do over the course of this band.
Pete: So yeah, I started playing in 1995... I was in third grade. I barely played, though, until I was 16, which would’ve been 2002, and then I hit it pretty hard.
Dan: Wait Pete, when did you start playing?
Pete: 1995.
Dan: When were you guys born?
Bethany & Jake: 1997.
Dan: Nice. Pete’s saxophone is older than you guys.
Jake: How would you guys define your genre, or style?
Pete: So, we’ve had a big problem with that over the years, partially because we’re a rock band with a saxophone, but also because our style changed so much at times. So like we used to be kind of a math rock band, and now we’re essentially post-rock, as much as none of us really like that label at all. We sound like other bands that kind of exist in that space, so we kind of use that now.
Dan: Labels aren’t always bad.
Nick: We’re an instrumental band with an atypical structure at times.
Harry: It’s not always straight ahead, verse-chorus-verse type of thing. But, you know, when you have to be quick and pithy, sometimes you just have to be like, “Alright, this is sort of the sandbox we’ve been playing in.” Make that compromise – not a compromise, but sort of make that call.
Bethany: So I read your Facebook bio… I know Peter, Nick, and Harry, you guys study music, and Dan, you’re a geology PhD at Brown. How does what you study relate to your music? Do you see it reflected in what you play as a band, or not so much?
Dan: That’s a heady one.
Harry: I think that at least, for Nick and Pete and I, the music majors, I think being in that academic setting, you would get introduced to some music that you might not necessarily think about. Like, I got really heavily into 20th century classical music when I started to be a music major. And, granted, we’re not writing huge pieces for 50-piece orchestra with graphic notation, but it’s just sort of opening the doors about what is out there and what can be done. And I think it’s helped us hone our skills, to be able to have the theory.
Nick: Yeah, it definitely infects the language that you end up using – kind of more technical language at times, just because you have the name for something. But I think, procedurally, it’s not much different from what every other band does. Just get in a room together and try to make some cool stuff. Generally, when we’re playing, we do a lot of writing through spontaneous jamming, like a lot of bands do. So it’s still totally an intuitive process, but you can’t help having the things that you study kind of infect the things you’re going to do. It’s sort of like what you read determines how you’re going to write in a lot of ways, same kind of deal.
Dan: There are a couple songs on the new album with string arrangements, horns, something like that, and those kinds of embellishments would’ve been tricky to do without some sort of education.
Nick: We probably would’ve had to talk to someone else, at least, to help us get it on the paper or whatever. Whereas, instead, any of us could just score something out and write actual music and give it to some string players and be like “Hey, this is exactly what we’re thinking of.” So I guess having a little bit of that background helped us sort of make that a possibility.
Harry: Also, at the same time, though, sometimes that language hinders you. Dan, especially – some rehearsals we’ve had where we’re just talking for thirty, forty minutes about something and Dan’s just like, “Nah, play it, like, more open” and we’re like, “What,” and he says “Just play it open!” and we play it again and it’s like “Oh, yeah, yeah, just do it like that!”
Dan: Just play it really loud.
Harry: So sometimes being tied to those technical terms does hinder you.
Dan: I think the worst music we wrote was when you guys all were in school together because we were basically just so far up our own asses with technical stuff. The songs got lost in the technique, so it was only a few years after they got out of school where we started to make it more organic, started to breathe a little more.
Bethany: Continuing on the influences, most of the bands we tend to interview are Brown student bands who haven’t had much exposure to the broader Rhode Island-Providence music scene. How do you think being a part of that has shaped your style as a band?
Pete: I could go on about this, but the thing about being part of the Providence music scene is that we’ve been lucky to grow up around bands who are so ridiculously amazing. Some of them are famous and a lot of them are not, and Providence just has this huge creative energy in the community. When we started, we didn’t have that exposure to that community, because we were right out of high school, so the first thing that happened to us as a band was going out to shows together. We were just soaking in it the whole time and being influenced by the people who are around us, and we got really lucky to be born in a town where that actually works out, you know. That’s what I’ve taken out of it.
Harry: I also think that Providence is so diverse. And there are certain people who… I wouldn’t say they’re heroes of the local music scene, but they’re people who have been in bands for twenty years – like the guys from Dropdead, you’ll see them at the vegan restaurant down the street, or you’ll see them at a show or something like that, and they’re all really really positive about everything. Some of them will be like, “Well, your music’s not my thing, but I’m really happy that you’re here and that you’re doing it.” And to have that kind of support and just do what we want to do, play the music we want to play – we’re glad to have that here in this scene. That’s really what’s important, and I can’t imagine this band working anywhere else besides Providence, honestly.
Dan: Yeah, in those early days, we’d go see bands together a lot and shamelessly rip them off. We’d go see Lightning Bolt and want to write a noise jam, but with a saxophone. And then we’d see Mahi Mahi and want to write an electro-dance-rock piece, but with a saxophone. We jumped off the ship of aping the scene once everyone in Providence started folk bands.
Harry: Or doom metal bands.
Dan: We skipped the doom metal stage.
Harry: And then we started to do things like, alright, how do we combine this into something else? Something a little less isolated from song to song; combine it into something that’s a little more… coherent.
Nick: Yeah, we just found a sound that we all liked and wanted to build on.It’s that time of year! The kids are going back to school, Fall is fast approaching, and apples are in season. A sweet and simple crocheted apple cozy is the perfect accessory to your apples. Not only does it keep them from bruising but they dress up the fruit, making it a great gift for teachers, neighbors, friends and family! I love using variegated yarn for this project because it adds a lot of color. It works up quick and the use of fun button is a nice finishing touch! My boys brought one for each of their teachers on the first day of school.
Materials:
MY LATEST VIDEOS
MY LATEST VIDEOS MY LATEST VIDEOS
-Worsted Weight Yarn. I used Red Heart with Love in Waterlily. I also used this same yarn in THIS project.
– Size G crochet hook
– 1/2 or 1 inch button
– Tapestry needle
Abbreviations:
Magic Ring Tutorial
SC = Single Crochet
The pattern below fits a small apple (about 3 inches tall and 8-9 inches round) but you can easily add rounds and rows to make it larger.
Apple Cozy Pattern:
Magic ring, chain 1 and make 8 SC in ring (Continue to crochet in rounds.. do not join)
Round 2: 2 SC in each stitch around (16 SC)
Round 3: 2 SC in first stitch, SC in next, repeat around (24 SC)
Round 4: 2 SC in first stitch, SC in next 2, repeat around (32 SC)
Round 5-6: SC in each stitch around (32 SC)
now you will work in rows, not rounds
Row 7-15: SC in first 30 stitches, chain 1, turn (leaving 2 stitches unworked) (30 SC)
At the end of row 15, single crochet along the edge of the open space, just before you get to the top of the other side of the dip, chain 20, join. Fasten off and weave in ends.
On opposite side, sew on button.
To make larger cozy:
After round 4 (this will be round 5), make another increase row: 2 SC in first stitch, SC in next 3 (40 SC)
Rounds 6-8: SC in each stitch around (40 SC)
Round 9- top of apple: SC in first 38 stitches, chain 1, turn
*** You may make and sell products from my patterns but if you do I ask that you link back to my post. Please do not copy and post this pattern and claim it as your own. Please do not re-publish photos as your own.*** Want more free patterns? Keep in touch on my Repeat Crafter Me Facebook Page for new pattern sneak peeks and when they will be available on my blog! And feel free to post pictures of your finished hats and/or links to your shops on myFacebook wall so all can see. Be sure to also follow me on Instagram! I love when you tag me (@repeatcrafterme)! NEW!! I would love for you to join my brand new private Facebook group: Repeat Crafter Me Crochet. Tons of kind and supportive women with crocheting skills of all levels. Post your current projects, ask questions, and get inspired!Reuters will no longer permit its photographers and freelancers to submit RAW images for publication.
As first reported by Michael Zhang, Reuters instituted the ban on RAW images in the name of both speed and ethics. Photographers will be required to submit original JPEGs instead.
“As photojournalists working for the world’s largest international multimedia news provider, Reuters Pictures photographers work in line with our Photographer’s Handbook and the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles,” a Reuters spokesperson told us via email.
“As eyewitness accounts of events covered by dedicated and responsible journalists, Reuters Pictures must reflect reality,” the spokesperson stated. “While we aim for photography of the highest aesthetic quality, our goal is not to artistically interpret the news. Speed is also very important to us. We have therefore asked our photographers to skip labour and time consuming processes to get our pictures to our clients faster.”
While RAW images provide far more latitude for post-process manipulation, those edits are also harder to disguise. Edits to JPEG images, however, are easier to mask and most pro cameras have JPEG profiles which can boost contrast and saturation without ever needing post process manipulation–which was one of the reasons World Press Photo changed its submission rules in 2015 to require only RAW image submissions for most categories. “The techniques used to reveal JPEG forgeries are not very reliable,” Jessica Fridrich, a professor at the T.J. Watson School of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Binghamton, told us in the spring for our story on catching image manipulators.
Reuters has in the past used software developed by image forensics experts Hany Farid and Kevin Conner (elements of which are available at izitrue) to verify the authenticity and integrity of JPEG images. Connor told us he wasn’t sure if the software was currently being used by Reuters. When asked how Reuters would ensure the integrity of JPEG images, the spokesperson declined further comment.
“It sounds like a knee-jerk reaction attempting to create a solution to a problem that isn’t really a solution,” said Sean Elliot, chair of the Ethics Committee of the National Press Photographers Association. “If the problem is photographers who don’t understand basic ethical standards of not altering images, then eliminating the use of RAW files will not actually solve the problem….The ease of post-processing with RAW files as compared to JPEGs is certainly real, but I don’t see this as addressing the deeper issues any better than applying a code of ethics.”
The move by Reuters, while abrupt, is not surprising. The manipulation of photojournalistic images has been a hot topic since World Press Photo disqualified 22 percent of images submitted to its 2015 contest–more than double the number of images that were disqualified in 2014. In a recent panel discussion hosted by Adobe during PhotoPlus Expo, New York Times photojournalist Lynsey Addario said she was shocked by how fellow photographers shooting the same scene would turn in heavily processed images that took liberties with the reality she saw before her eyes.If Donald Trump becomes president, Hillary Clinton will have only herself to blame. The latest CNN/ORC poll shows Trump jumping to a five-point lead against her in a four-way race, with Trump at 44 percent and Hillary at 39 percent. Trump is now ahead among independents, 46 percent to 28 percent; before the convention, he was behind 34 percent to 31 percent. Hillary has a 44 percent to 39 percent advantage against Trump among college voters, but he’s ahead among non-college educated white voters by a stunning 62 percent to 23 percent margin. 46 percent of Americans now have a positive view of Trump, an increase of seven points; 52 percent say Trump is running for the good of the country rather than personal gain, as opposed to 44 percent for Hillary; 43 percent say that Trump is honest and trustworthy, and most importantly, 46 percent of Americans say that Trump understands the problems they face in their daily lives.
Meanwhile, a whopping 68 percent of voters say Hillary isn’t honest or trustworthy.
Her wild political incompetence is now on full display for the entire American public to see. In the last week, she’s made five crucial errors that demonstrate just how terrible she is at the game of politics.
Portraying Trump As “Dark.” Last week, Donald Trump gave an RNC speech in which he focused on America’s problems in unsparing detail. And Hillary and her campaign – accompanied by the media – promptly brushed off those problems as exaggerated. The media universally labeled Trump’s speech “dark” and Hillary’s team began suggesting that America isn’t in particularly dire trouble. That’s incredible incompetence. People obviously feel that America has problems – the polls show that nearly 7 in 10 Americans believe we’re moving in the wrong direction. Hillary’s out of touch – she hasn’t driven a car since the mid-1990s – so naturally, she thinks things are hunky dory.
Picking Tim Kaine. Picking Tim Kaine didn’t change the narrative one iota. It looked like a safe pick for a candidate who thinks she’s ahead. Contrary to conventional wisdom, vice presidential picks don’t in any way guarantee their home states to their running mates. And Tim Kaine is perhaps the most boring pick Hillary could make – at a time when even her old boss, Barack Obama, is saying on national television that Hillary Clinton isn’t the most rousing speaker. Ouch.
Playing The Victim. On Sunday, the following words exited Hillary Clinton’s mouth: “I often feel like there’s the Hillary standard and then there’s the standard for everybody else.” Yes, yes there is. Americans know it. And Hillary doesn’t. She thinks she’s been treated unfairly by life. Americans will never stop laughing at her arrogance.
Brushing Off The DNC Scandal. Hillary’s main job at this convention is to unify her party after a brutal primary with Bernie Sanders. So she led off the convention by completely ignoring the DNC WikiLeaks scandal – she went on 60 Minutes and said she hadn’t seen any of the emails, and then Kaine said that lots of people at the DNC have opinions about the candidates. This is absolutely tone deaf. Even more tone deaf: her statement about the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the head of the DNC – she simply praised Wasserman Schultz and said she looked forward to continuing to work with her on her campaign. Naturally, this has not quieted the Bernie Bros.
Blaming The Russians. The Hillary campaign has essentially blamed the Russians for leaking the DNC emails – and they’ve said that the Russians did it on behalf of Donald Trump. That may very well be true. But it looks paranoid, and it looks like blame-shifting for a scandal that’s entirely internal to the DNC. At a time when Hillary wants to project stability, she’s failing utterly to do that.
And so Hillary’s in trouble. She may recover with a small bump from the convention this week, but events outside her control keep throwing her incompetence and corruption into sharp relief. And that’s a serious problem for a candidate nobody wants to see in the light of day.RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - The former governor of Rio de Janeiro state was arrested on Thursday as part of a corruption investigation linked to a World Cup project and other works worth billions of dollars, in a blow to Brazil’s ruling party that may fuel political instability.
Adriana Ancelmo, wife of former Rio's governor Sergio Cabral arrives at the Federal Police headquarter to give a testimony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Federal prosecutors accused Sergio Cabral, 53, of leading a criminal organization that took 224 million reais ($66 million) in bribes from construction firms in exchange for infrastructure contracts from 2007 to 2014, the years he served as governor.
The projects included the renovation of the famed Maracana soccer stadium, where the final match of soccer’s 2014 World Cup was held, along with public works in some of Rio’s biggest slums and the construction of a major highway around the city’s outskirts.
Federal police and prosecutors are also investigating several infrastructure projects related to this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. They have not yet taken any action on those inquiries.
As Cabral, the most powerful figure in Rio politics for the past decade, was driven out of the garage of his apartment building on Thursday morning in a black federal police SUV, dozens of people who had gathered hurled insults as TV cameramen and photographers encircled the vehicle.
Cabral made no comment. His lawyer declined to comment when reached by phone.
Following anti-corruption rallies, Cabral resigned his governorship in April 2014 with nine months left in his second term.
Cabral’s arrest capped the decline of the Rio de Janeiro branch of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), President Michel Temer’s party, which was voted out of the city government last month amid graft probes into a number of its prominent figures.
“It creates a nervous environment which could delay our economic recovery if investors get cold feet,” a presidential aide told Reuters. The aide also said the Rio state government was close to insolvency, and the Temer administration fears a domino effect hitting the finances of other Brazilian states.
Cabral is the latest high-profile politician to be arrested in a two-year corruption probe known as operation “Car Wash,” which began by unraveling a massive political kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras.
Cabral was a close ally of former President Dilma Rousseff, removed from office in August on charges of illegally using money from state banks to bankroll public spending, and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose trial on corruption charges in the Petrobras probe begins on Monday.
Executives from several construction firms have turned state’s witness and the companies have signed leniency deals. That has provided testimony about endemic corruption in Brazil’s political and business establishment, igniting dozens of new inquiries like the one resulting in Cabral’s detention.
Testimony from executives of the construction and engineering firms Andrade Gutierrez and Carioca Engenharia formed the basis of Thursday’s arrests, prosecutors said.
“There are strong indications of the cartelization of works executed with federal resources, through the payment of bribes to Sergio Cabral and other (state) employees,” federal prosecutor Lauro Coelho said.
Operation Car Wash also stoked the political upheaval that ultimately toppled leftist president Rousseff.
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“Cabral’s arrest is unlikely to hit the Temer administration directly, but it will fuel political instability as the investigation seems to be setting its sight on the PMDB and other parties,” Leonardo Barreto of Brasilia-based consultancy Factual Informacao e Analise said.
Cabral’s arrest came a day after another former Rio governor, Anthony Garotinho, was arrested for alleged voter fraud in a state struggling with a severe fiscal crisis and anti-austerity protests.Mango ladoo recipe with step by step photos. Learn how to make mango ladoo with just 4 ingredients with this easy recipe.
Today I am sharing a real tropical treat for all mango lovers. Mango and coconut are two star ingredients of tropics and when you combine these both the dish ought to be good and so is this easy 4 ingredients mango ladoo recipe. Fresh sweet mango pulp, grated fresh coconut, sweetened condensed milk with a touch of freshly pounded cardamom and 10 minutes are all you need to make this delicate and impressive sweet.
I had loads of coconut at home last week and was thinking coconut burfi, but when some mangoes came home, I changed the plans and made this easy coconut mango ladoo recipe. The only work you have in this mango ladoo recipe is grating coconut. If you prefer to use store bought desiccated coconut you can make this ladoo in 10 minutes flat. So sweet and tasty with a hint of mango and cardamom flavor, this easy ladoo will make a big impression when served.
To make mango ladoo recipe you can use homemade or store bought mango pulp. I always prefer to use homemade mango pulp. Use alphonso mangoes for good vibrant color. I have added cardamom powder for flavor. You can even use rose essence, it will be good.
Serve mango ladoo as dessert or snack. Keeps well for 3-4 days at room temperature.
Here is how to make mango ladoo recipe with step by step photos. Also check coconut ladoo with condensed milk, coconut ladoo with khoya, besan ladoo recipes
Step by step mango ladoo recipe
1. Peel and roughly chop the mangoes. Puree it along with 3-4 cardamom pods. Masure 3/4 cup of mango puree and takein a thick bottomed pan.
2. To the mango puree add 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk and mix well.
3. To this, add 1 1/4 cups tightly packed grated coconut. Mix well and start heating. Cook in low flame, stirring continuously for 4-6 minutes.. The mixture will come together very quickly and leave the sides of the pan. You can add 1 teaspoon ghee if required. Once the mixture turns into a soft mass remove from flame.
4.Apply some ghee in palms, and shape into small ladoos. Roll over the remaining grated coconut and arrange in plate. Set aside for 20 minutes before serving mango ladoo.
mango ladoo recipe card:
5 from 1 vote Print Mango ladoo recipe | How to make mango ladoo Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 10 mins Total Time 20 mins Mango ladoo recipe. Sweet tropical mango coconut fudge balls with just 4 ingredients! Course: Dessert Cuisine: Indian Servings : 12 Calories : 321 kcal Author : Harini Ingredients (1 cup=250 ml) 1 1/4 cup + 3/4 cup grated coconut
3/4 cup mango pulp mango+ cardamom pods
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk Instructions Peel and roughly chop the mangoes. Puree it along with 3-4 cardamom pods. Masure 3/4 cup of mango puree and take in a thick bottomed pan. To the mango puree add 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk and mix well. To this, add 1 1/4 cups tightly packed grated coconut. Mix well and start heating. Cook in low flame, stirring continuously for 4-6 minutes.. The mixture will come together very quickly and leave the sides of the pan. You can add 1 teaspoon ghee if required. Once the mixture turns into a soft mass remove from flame. Apply some ghee in palms, and shape into small ladoos. Roll over the remaining grated coconut and arrange in plate. Set aside for 20 minutes before serving mango ladoo. Recipe Notes 1. You can add rose essence instead of cardamom.
2. You can add crushed pistachios along with coconut for a crunchy texture.
Sharing is caring!Buildings. Bridges. Jet engines. That’s the beauty of 3D printing: you can create virtually anything. It could be argued that it’s also worst thing about 3D printing, with nothing stopping you making a fully working gun or a personalised 3D-printed fetus paperweight – should you want your colleagues to move desks.
But, back in the sane world, inventors have seen great potential in the technology, and no other field is more exciting than medicine. Here are five examples of 3D-printed technology that could well be helping doctors, nurses, students and patients over the upcoming years:
3D-printed bones
We’ve covered 3D-printed bones before. A quick refresher: scientists at the University of Nottingham have managed to create a Play-Doh style material that can be printed into any bone of your choosing. Not only that, but the material has been designed to let in cells and proteins.
But it’s still subject to clinical trials. For the here and now, we’ve seen a handful of real-world results in more conventional materials. Back in 2012, an 83-year-old woman got a 3D-printed lower jaw in the Netherlands, and just this week, a man in Spain received the world’s first 3D-printed rib to replace a section of his chest lost to sarcoma.
According to Adam Knight of CSIRO – the company that printed the rib – the real advantage of this technology is that custom-fitted bones can be made to order on the same day: “The advantage of 3D printing is its rapid prototyping. When you're waiting for life-saving surgery, this is the definitely the order of the day.”
3D-printed organs
In contrast, 3D-printed organs are still very much in their infancy, but their potential is massive. If scientists can create fully-functioning organs to order, long transplant waiting lists could vanish overnight.
You’ll have to wait for a fully working heart or lung, but developments are being made all the time. Just last year, scientists from Sydney and Harvard universities overcame the seemingly insurmountable challenge of printing fully-functioning blood vessels. In the TED talk below, surgeon Anthony Atala runs through the challenges and potential of a 3D-printed kidney:
Video of Printing a human kidney - Anthony Atala
We’re some way away from a full transplant, though. Just making a replica of an organ doesn’t mean it will function as we expect in the human body. As Cornell engineer Hod Lipson puts it: “You can put the cells of a heart tissue in the right place together, but where's the start button? The magic happens after the printing has taken place.”
3D-printed rats for dissection
I love the concept of this: it’s so simple, and yet so brilliant.
Not only is cutting up rats in science class not ideal for the rats involved, it’s also problematic for vegetarian children and too expensive for poorer schools to maintain as part of their curriculum. The answer? 3D-printed rats.
A replica rat has the same innards as a previously living, breathing rodent, with none of the ethical concerns, and each imitation cadaver is around a quarter of the cost of a real one. Better still, the people behind the concept, Bart Taylor and Tara Whittle, are planning to make the schematics free for schools to download and print themselves. “A few people just couldn’t believe it. We’re not looking to sell this,” said Whittle.
3D-printed pills
If bones, organs and rats can be printed, then pharmaceuticals shouldn’t be a challenge. The bigger issue is regulation, but the first hurdle was passed in America last month when the first 3D-printed drug received FDA approval. It’s Spritam levetiracetam, and reduces seizures for those with epilepsy.
The real advantage of this technique is that, unlike traditional pills, the dosage can be measured more precisely. This could lead to specific doses for different patients, ensuring their requirements are met by their own personalised pill.
Video of Lee Cronin: Print your own medicine
There are potential problems with this, most notably the booming counterfeit drugs market. But, there are ways around that particular issue, such as the encrypted blueprints described in the above TED talk from Glasgow University’s Lee Cronin.
3D-printed medical tools
If pills can be made, why not equipment? No reason at all, as a number of enterprising individuals have shown.
Take Tarek Loubani, a doctor working in Gaza City. The blockade between Gaza and the neighbouring countries of Israel and Egypt was causing serious problems in the hospital, such as serious shortages of equipment. Loubani got around the problem by designing his own 3D-printed stethoscopes through the Glia Project, where working models can be manufactured for just $2.50 per print.
Field Ready takes a similar approach, manufacturing medical supplies in the field where crises are in progress, such as the earthquakes in Haiti in 2010 and Nepal earlier this year.
While 3D-printed tools aren’t a necessity in most Western hospitals, it’s reassuring to know that the printing revolution isn’t leaving the developing world behind.
Images: Keith Kissel, ArtBrom, Anatomics, Frank Wojciechowski, Mattza, Jasleen Kaur.Getty Images
As the Browns try to “reboot” their coaching search without Chip Kelly in the mix, the spin from Cleveland is, essentially, “It’s not me, it’s you.”
According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Browns decided to walk away from Kelly after sensing that he was “waffling” on whether to leave college football.
Sorry, but we’re not buying that one. The Browns ultimately need to be able to say that they got the right man for the job. That includes being able to say that Kelly, who appeared as of Friday to be the right man for the job, was the wrong man for the job.
And while we’ve had a little too much fun chiding the reports that a deal between the Browns and Kelly was close, the Browns had every reason to dispute those reports, if they weren’t true. Instead, the Browns remained silent until after Kelly spent more time than expected meeting with the Eagles on Saturday– and possibly trying to get Philly to match or to beat whatever the Browns had offered him.
So while it’s clear that something happened that soured the Browns on Kelly, it likely has more to do with how he handled the negotiations to make the move to the NFL than whether he’s ready to make the move at all.Sad Obama, so very sorry for himself
Will Pflaum Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 3, 2016
Obama’s Rolling Stone interview is a disgrace to himself, the magazine, and America
Wrecked the party. Got rolled by Republicans. Trashed war powers provisions of the constitution. Obamacare sucks. Promoted loser Hillary. No wonder he’s so sad and looks beat. Losers get beat.
“If you look at the data from the election, if it were just young people who were voting, Hillary would have gotten 500 electoral votes.” — Barack Obama, November 30, 2016
Wrong Barack. If only young people could vote, Bernie Sanders would be president.
Remember the primary? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
The primary was stolen. Get over it? Why? When the Democrats have learned nothing and made no changes to the process?
Obama has learned nothing. He still opposes Kieth Ellison as DNC head even now. Obama is leaving a Democratic party with no black leaders, no black people with top positions as senate staffers, completely broken and waffling. Shambles, and very coastal and very banker and very white.
Stolen, not rigged, is justified. Read the Observer and the Intercept. We now know that the debates were rigged, the primary calendar was made for HRC’s benefit, reporters collaborated with the campaign, the DNC spread false stories about Bernie and his supporters (“throwing chairs”), kicked people off the voter rolls, closed primary voting locations, came up with this super delegates fiasco, that Google intentionally elevated Clinton in various ways, etc. That’s no democracy.
Now for Rolling Stone. The word “wikileaks” does not appear in the article. No questions about why Michael Froman of CitiBank picked his cabinet and then got more TARP funding than any other entity.
If Obama doesn’t have an answer for this problem, then he is a sell out. Someone has to ask him to explain this spreadsheet or he has no legacy.
Seems like it’s not polite to mention WikiLeaks around Democrats. The problem is WikiLeaks has 100% record of accuracy.
Now, one
|
that should be clarified and addressed. How the NIH makes the funding decisions it does needs to be made explicit. What means it has to adapt its funding algorhythm to new and emerging diseases (such as ME/CFS and FM) is a good question to ask.
Fortunately, the conversation about what disorders the NIH should be focusing on is occurring. The recognition that NIH funding at times bears little resemblance to disease burden is growing. A recent book indicated this is a worldwide problem. Op eds are showing up in major newspapers. The NIH is being forced to respond.
That a group of primarily women’s disorders are getting short shrift (again) has not yet become a talking point in the media. Why that hasn’t happened is something of a mystery to me but getting that question into the mainstream media would make a big difference.
The best way to shift the conversation (and the funding algorhythm at the NIH) may simply be to continue focusing on the economic impacts these disorders have – and making visible the funding gap that is present.
Is the NIH fulfilling its mandate to serve all Americans or is it picking winners and losers in the illness funding game? That’s a question the NIH should be confronted with regularly.
____________________
The “Others”
Other (8)Written by Steven Capozzola, guest post on May 20, 2016. Posted in Latest news
Everyone has heard the famous statement that 97% of scientists say global warming is real. Of course, that in itself is a meaningless statement, since no one disputes that the earth has warmed by roughly 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past century or so.
But the “97% of scientists believe in global warming” mantra became gospel on May 16, 2013, when President Obama tweeted:
{source}
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/climate?src=hash”>#climate</a> change is real, man-made and dangerous. Read more: <a href=”http://t.co/4lEEBYtVqf”>http://t.co/4lEEBYtVqf</a></p>— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/335089477296988160″>May 16, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
{/source}
What the president was referring to was a 2013 paper by the University of Queensland’s John Cook. In his research, Cook studied 11,994 papers published between 1991 and 2011 that mentioned the search words “global warming” and “global climate change.”
Guess what Cook found? Only 32.6% of the papers endorsed the view of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming. But of that group, 97% said that “recent warming is mostly man-made.”
And so, by a nice sleight-of-hand obfuscation, the great “97% consensus” was born.
Don’t believe me? Check out the actual paper, or the abstract, or the original article. In fact, let’s just say thank goodness that the originals are still posted online. Typically, when someone pulls off a con of such massive, world-wide proportions, they subsequently burn the evidence to cover their tracks.
Still don’t believe me? Here’s the actual, posted statement:
We find that 66.4% of abstracts expressed no position on AGW, 32.6% endorsed AGW, 0.7% rejected AGW and 0.3% were uncertain about the cause of global warming. Among abstracts expressing a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the consensus position that humans are causing global warming.
Bottom line: In the actual study in question, only one-third of the 11,994 academic papers studied could be construed as arguing for man-made warming. Possibly the other two-thirds were more focused on the unprecedented increase in solar activity seen over the past century.
Regardless, the big lie has taken hold, and is now being used to push for “decarbonization” policies, and to silence critics of “global warming.”
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Time As The Enemy for Ph.D. Students
Most Ph.D. students worry at some point about how long it’s going to take to finish their research, write a dissertation, and defend it successfully so they can finally move on. The majority will manage to get it all done within a reasonable amount of time (albeit usually longer than they were expecting at the outset), but many others will struggle for several months, or even years, only to finally finish after much, much too long. Many others will quit in frustration along the way.
The aim of this article is to help graduate students avoid some common pitfalls associated with long Ph.D. completion times, particularly those related to research. The most common hindrances to good progress through a Ph.D. program can be anticipated and avoided, and if not avoided, there are ways to diminish their impact once they are recognized. I will suggest some steps for maintaining good progress, and for those who may have already fallen off the rails, I’ll offer suggestions for getting back on track toward timely program completion. The advice applies most directly to doctoral programs in the various fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (referred to as STEM fields, in the U.S.), but much of it applies also to doctoral programs in the humanities and fine arts.
Doctoral students and their supervisors share the responsibility of ensuring completion within a reasonable time frame, so it’s essential that they work well together. Not surprisingly, conflicts sometimes arise, which can put at odds the interests of student and supervisor. Whether justified or not, some doctoral students actually see their supervisors as significant obstacles to timely completion!
When Dr. Ryan Raver invited my comments on this topic, he set the stage with the following questions:
Some grad students voice concern of being taken advantage of by their professors to squeeze that last bit of data out in attempt to get in a better journal. But what if those experiments don’t work and are the only thing standing between you (the grad student) and graduation? And what if you do all that extra work, submit the paper to a peer-reviewed journal and the reviewers ask for something completely different (maybe in retrospect it was all in vain)?… To put it in perspective, how does it take someone 4.5 years vs. 6.5 years to graduate (if say you kept the workload constant and both were to hypothetically have similar research projects)? Since it is a symbiotic relationship between the student and the professor, how can both benefit without the balance tipping all to one direction?
There are at least two separate issues behind Dr. Raver’s questions. One issue concerns the timely completion of a doctoral program, while the other has more to do with navigating around an obstructive supervisor. Problems with the first issue can sometimes arise as a consequence of the second, of course. I will suggest a few things about coping with a difficult supervisor after first discussing the more general issue of finishing the Ph.D. in a timely manner.
The 3 Stages of a Ph.D.
To get an idea of how long a Ph.D. should take and how things should progress along the way, let’s divide a typical Ph.D. student’s program into three stages: early stage (roughly the first 12-18 months, or so), middle stage (the second, third, and in some cases, part of the fourth years), and final stage (fourth or fifth year). Note that these time frames may vary across disciplines, and across individuals, depending on the nature of their research. The important distinction for now is between the early, middle, and final stages.
Research-related activities during the early stage may consist of reviewing the literature, discussing important research questions, and coming up with a proposal for the Ph.D. research. In many cases, a student will start collecting data during the early stage, at least from pilot experiments, some type of preliminary analysis, or feasibility assessment. If a doctoral student is given a research project that is part of an established and ongoing line of research, it is usually possible to begin collecting key data for the dissertation during the early stage.
Communication between supervisor and student must operate effectively from the outset. Students need to feel they are receiving proper direction from the supervisor, and that expectations are clear and consistent. It’s also important that students know throughout the early stage of their program how things are going. Normally, the supervisor establishes effective means for all this to happen, and the student gets off to a good start.
But some new doctoral students discover after a few months that their supervisors have been neglecting them, either because they are too busy, distracted, or just plain neglectful. Students in this situation must not wait too long before taking control of things themselves.
It is important to have a regular meeting time during which the student and supervisor discuss problems. By “regular” I mean something like every Wednesday at 2 pm. Having a fixed time makes it less likely that a busy professor will neglect meeting with grad students. An hour, once a week or every two weeks, is usually enough. The supervisor should normally be the one to request the regular meeting time, but a student should not wait for that to happen.
Don’t worry if these meetings are often cancelled because there is little or nothing to update since the last meeting. The important thing is to have the provision to meet at a fixed day and time, if needed. This way, the student is assured to have the supervisor’s attention when the need to discuss something arises. (It goes the other way, too — meeting regularly eases the professor’s task of monitoring the student’s progress).
The middle stage of the Ph.D. program is when the bulk of the data are collected. It tends to be a very busy period, lasting from several months up to a few years for most successful Ph.D. students. Many people fail to maintain healthy eating and sleeping habits during this busy period. This can become a significant problem for some, and it certainly has an adverse effect on the performance and general wellness of many. It’s not worth it, and increases the risk of burnout.
Regular meetings between student and supervisor should continue during the middle stage. To the extent that it is possible, specific milestones should be established to indicate the approximate dates by which various points in the overall project should be reached. These milestones set out a critical path for the student’s research. But since we are talking about original research, which by definition does not always go as expected, the critical path should be frequently revisited.
The time it takes to write a dissertation is usually much longer than anticipated, and the importance of getting an early start on a first draft cannot be overemphasized. As soon as possible during the middle stage, a draft of the introductory chapter should be written, even if it has some gaps, and a rough draft of each chapter should be written as each corresponding part of the overall project is completed.
In an ideal situation, a student enters the final stage of the Ph.D. having completed the actual research, or at least nearly so. The final stage is mostly about tying-off loose ends in terms of data production, and of course the major task of putting together a final version of the dissertation. If drafts of the introductory chapter and the other major chapters have already been written, this stage should last only a few months.
A common mistake is to wait until all the data are in and the results are clear before starting to write in a concerted way. Most of the writing can actually be done before the all the data have arrived, and understanding this is key to getting an early start on those initial drafts of the dissertation during the middle stage of the program. For example, one does not need to know the results of an experiment before writing most of the report, either for a manuscript to be published or for a chapter of the dissertation. After all, the rationale for having done the experiment doesn’t change with the results, so the introduction can be written without knowing the results. The methodology does not depend on the results, nor does the nature of the analyses that will be preformed on the data; so a framework for the results section can be written before the data are in. Much of the discussion can even be framed before knowing the final results.
Now, some experienced researchers might argue that the results must be known before one can put the proper spin on the introduction. That might be necessary (sadly) in order to get a paper published in a top journal, but spin is not needed for the dissertation — and it’s not how objective scientists and researchers are supposed to behave, anyway.
What are the reasons for your delays
There are no doubt a wide variety of reasons why people fail to complete a Ph.D. in a reasonable amount of time. Here, we will only consider reasons related to the research and production of the dissertation. ‘Real-life’ reasons such as health problems, substance abuse, having children, or finding employment, should receive a dedicated and thorough discussion at another time and place.
One of the most common reasons for a long completion time is a slow start to the research. If a student does not become engaged early on with the intellectual issues, such as formulation of research ideas and experiments, many of the remaining activities are likely to be a mix of compromises and inefficiencies. The message here is simple: If you are in the beginning stages of your Ph.D. program, do not procrastinate about getting started with your research. And this doesn’t just mean reading the literature. You should be doing that already, anyway. You need to start collecting data, as soon as possible.
A second common reason for a long completion-time is a student or supervisor who is never satisfied, who can always think of a way to improve results, and who therefore has difficulty bringing projects to a conclusion. Perfectionism can be an asset for scientists and researchers, but not when it hampers progress. In most instances, if a student would just write up whatever he or she has already achieved, and discuss it with the supervisor, this would clarify whether any changes or refinements are necessary, what additional data may be needed, or whether it makes sense to attempt additional work in light of the time it would require.
Another major reason for delay is distraction from the primary line of investigation. Some students can’t resist the temptation to explore all the interesting byways or potential side-projects that come up during the course of any major research project. Curiosity and a willingness to work long hours are important attributes for any new scientist or engineer, but they need to be harnessed and channeled toward completion of the Ph.D., not just toward support of the supervisors’ research program.
Delays can also occur when students spend too much time on tasks that keep them in their comfort zone; for example, working in the lab, collecting data, or reading the literature — instead of writing. Don’t fool yourself into believing that if you’re always amassing more and more data, then you’re being productive and making good progress. You are only being productive and making progress if you are turning those data into peer-reviewed papers and chapters for your dissertation.
The same goes for reading. You need to be on top of the literature, both current and historical — but don’t read too much! You don’t need to read it all, and anyway, it’s counterproductive to try to make everything fit together. The literature in every field is full of discrepant findings and competing ideas. These are natural products of research, and it’s a mistake to expect that reading just a few more papers will bring greater clarity. Just get writing. The writing process will help your ideas become clearer and better organized.
Is your supervisor holding you back?
All professors are aware that doctoral students need to complete the program and move on. On the other hand, some will argue that anyone hoping for a career as an independent researcher should worry more about prudently disseminating the results of their Ph.D. research in good-quality journals, and less about the precise number of months it takes to write and defend the dissertation. I would generally agree with this sentiment, but only for students who are planning to find a postdoctoral research position and eventually apply for an academic job. To be competitive in the postdoc and academic job markets, and to get the most leverage possible from your doctoral training, it is better to finish strong than to finish fast. (If you’d like to read about an example of why this is so, check out The Sham Ph.D., a short article I posted on my blog a while back).
The foregoing arguments apply to only to a minority of doctoral students, however. Most will not end up with an academic position. It’s not because they aren’t qualified or capable — it’s because there simply aren’t enough academic jobs around for more than a small fraction of the students currently pursuing a PhD in a science or technology field. Besides, not everyone is interested in an academic research career following the Ph.D. (for a reality-check on the academic job market, check out this article from The Economist).
Although some professors might not care whether their grad students develop successful careers of their own, most professors do care a great deal. Problems can arise, however, because the needs of the doctoral student are not in complete concordance with those of the professor, and it is easy for a well-meaning professor to lose sight of the differences.
Students should not to assume too much about their supervisor’s motives. It is unlikely that the professor is intrinsically evil or sadistic, or has a pathologic desire to control and oppress graduate students. It’s more likely the professor has simply been overlooking the student’s need to complete the program and move on to the next stage of his or her career.
Students should generally give their supervisor the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps your professor is not as indifferent to your interests as you think, and they simply haven’t been informed of your long-term career plans. Unless informed otherwise, some professors assume that every doctoral student they supervise wants to pursue a research career, and probably in an academic setting. Maybe they aren’t aware of your concerns about the Ph.D. taking more than a reasonable amount of time. Maybe they are actually ready to help you try to complete by a particular target date.
You just might need to shake your supervisor a bit to momentarily get his or her attention away from your newest data, or the revisions to the manuscript you’ve been working on, or their need for a progress report on your next study, or the undergraduate projects you’ve been supervising… These issues are of shared interest to the graduate student and professor, and if the professor is allowed to take control of every serious discussion about the student’s progress, such things will naturally be the focus of nearly every conversation.
A frank discussion is needed to make the supervisor aware of the student’s concerns about timing the end of the Ph.D. research and the defense of the dissertation. One way to make sure the professor gets the message is for the student to request a special meeting for the express purpose of discussing the dissertation. This meeting should be in addition to the regular student-supervisor meetings, and if possible, it should take place in a different setting. Such measures might make it less likely the conversation will end up drifting to the same topics as usual.
No other issues should be mentioned when asking for this meeting — only the dissertation. If the meeting does eventually occur, make sure it begins with your issues, before it slides toward a discussion of those shared interests. You need to really control the direction of this discussion, because your supervisor may conflate your issues pertaining to completion of the Ph.D. with the interests you both share pertaining to the research.
Professor: “Sure, Mike. I agree…, we should talk about your timeline for finishing the Ph.D. and finally getting out of here. Okay, so I guess we should start by talking about those latest data and what we need to do next.”
Mike: (sigh)…
Disconnect your writing projects
Sometimes a professor who feels pressure to publish some data will project that pressure onto the students involved in the work. The student and professor share interests in seeing the work through, but if doing so means the student’s dissertation will be on the backburner for a while, this will be a significant concern only for the student. Not a big deal for the professor.
Doctoral students on the academic career path should try to disconnect development of their research credentials from the compilation of their dissertation.
Here’s what I mean by that: Every Ph.D. student understands that a successful research project should culminate in at least two major writing tasks. One task is to write the manuscript for publication in a research journal or some other appropriate outlet. The other task is to write the relevant portion of the dissertation. Some of what is written will be used for both purposes, but that is beside the point.
It’s essential to think of these two objectives, the publications and the dissertation, as two distinct writing projects. What makes them distinct is not the comprehensiveness of the story or the format in which it is written — the important distinction is that one of these projects is of vital importance to the student only. The professor wants the publications as much as the student does, but only the student’s career is dependent on the production and defense of the dissertation.
An important truth for all Ph.D. students to remember is that those significant results your supervisor is waiting for may indeed be necessary for publication, but that does not mean they are necessary for the dissertation. Consider a situation in which the results of a key experiment point toward a particular conclusion, but the data overall do not make as convincing a case as would be needed in order to get published in a top journal. The corresponding chapter of the dissertation should be written up, regardless; if the reviewers of a journal manuscript has pointed to certain limitations in the data, those should become part of the discussion at appropriate points in the dissertation.
For the purposes of the dissertation, it is important that the student acknowledges limitations in the data and has ideas about how they could be improved by future work. As long as the student’s work was done properly and the data were analyzed thoroughly, there is no reason why additional work necessary for publication in a good journal cannot be completed after the dissertation has been defended.
If you are a doctoral student on the academic career path, you must understand that your career has already started. How far you go toward ultimately fulfilling your career goals will depend on how you come across as a researcher and scientist. No one will look to your dissertation for insight — they will look at your publications, they will want to know what ideas you have for future research, and what grants you will apply for.
This might not sit well with someone who is currently working on their Ph.D., but the truth is, no one will care about your dissertation once you have defended it. As Dr. Karen Kelsky, an academic career counselor, explains in an article for Chronicles of Higher Education, the more you discuss your dissertation, the less likely you are to land an academic job (at least in a STEM field, whereas this may be less so in the humanities or social sciences). And no one in a position to hire you for a postdoc, or as an assistant professor, will ever ask or even care how long it took you to finish your Ph.D.
Your ultimate goal should be publication of your findings in a good journal. Even if you’ve decided you won’t pursue an academic research career after your Ph.D., you owe it to yourself and to the other people you have worked with and who have supported you in some way (including your supervisor), and you owe it to the taxpayers who paid for it all.
But, publication of one’s findings is not a criterion for completing a Ph.D. program. If you feel under pressure to publish at least some of your data before finishing and defending your dissertation, you need to pause and figure out exactly why you feel that pressure. Is your supervisor really the direct source, or does it come from within?
Strategies for avoiding delays
Many problems related to student-supervisor conflicts and long completion times can be avoided with the following strategies:
1. Use your Ph.D. committee, not just your supervisor
Students often fail to make efficient use of their Ph.D. committee, choosing instead to deal with only with their supervisors when planning research and monitoring its progress. This has become the normal way of doing things in many doctoral programs today. Most professors are content to work closely with their own Ph.D. students, so they make little or no effort to draw their faculty colleagues into the process.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. And it shouldn’t be, because a student’s supervisor isn’t the only professor around who can be gleaned for knowledge, advice, and feedback.
Resourceful grad students create their Ph.D. dissertation committees as early as possible, usually after first establishing with the supervisor some general aims or scope for what will comprise the doctoral research. It is wise to get everyone involved at this point by putting together a written or oral proposal that is evaluated by at least one or two members of the committee, other than the supervisor.
Students need to keep on top of this process, and not expect someone else to take it over. It is a good idea to have a progress-report meeting with the Ph.D. committee, at least those members internal to the student’s program (i.e., from the same department) every 12 months, or so — with the option to have additional meetings if major problems arise with the work that’s agreed on, and if there are reasons to change the direction of the research. When many people are involved it is less likely the student will fall behind without anyone noticing.
2. Write every day — even if you don’t feel like it
This is probably the most important advice for nearly any graduate student. It really can’t be emphasized enough. It takes a lot of practice to get good at writing. And every grad student knows there is always something in need of being written up. Students who are having difficulty with the writing process often procrastinate on major projects, such as a manuscript or dissertation, resulting in feelings of guilt and anxiety, in addition to the delays.
Dr. Inger Mewburn manages The Thesis Whisperer, one of the most helpful websites I know for scientists and researchers who need advice on the writing process. Graduate students should check out the archives and the many helpful resources available. The blogs provide fresh insights into various facets of the early to mid-stages in an academic research career.
Getting into good writing habits will smooth much of the way through a doctoral program. Writing frequently will reveal gaps in one’s knowledge or understanding. Vague and disorganized writing often reflects vague and disorganized thinking. Writing about complex arguments or concepts helps most people understand them more deeply.
3. Don’t operate in passive mode
A salient difference between undergraduate and grad school is the degree of self-reliance required. New grad students need to realize that it will be largely up to them to teach and train themselves. The graduate supervisor’s primary role is to keep students on track and facilitate their self-education. The professor should also be a resource of knowledge and advice, but it’s up to the student to seek it.
Some students waste a lot of time in the early months of grad school, as they wait around for their supervisor to tell them what needs to be done. Most eventually figure out they need to take the initiative to make certain things happen. Meanwhile, time is lost due to the slow start.
Take the initiative for arranging the necessary meetings with your supervisor and other members of your Ph.D. committee. Taking matters into your own hands might even make a good impression on others that you didn’t anticipate, perhaps including professors from whom you will later need references.
4. Get to know your potential supervisors before you make a commitment.
This applies to prospective new grad students, of course, rather than those who are already in a Ph.D. program.
Interpersonal problems between student and supervisor are behind a large proportion of grad school dropouts. (I have written more about this in a previous commentary). If it becomes impossible for a particular grad student and supervising professor to continue working together with mutual respect, it may be possible to switch to a different supervisor part way through a program — if the student can actually find a professor in the department who is willing — but it is next to impossible to gracefully change supervisors. And there is no doubt that changing supervisors will add considerable time to a Ph.D. program.
You can’t ask people directly whether they are good graduate supervisors, but you can look for clues. Making a personal visit is the best way to find out in advance how a particular professor works with students. One should give at least as much attention to meeting with a professor’s graduate students as to meeting with the professor. Use your intuition, but also look for other warning signs that there may have been problems in the past, such as current students who have been working on their Ph.D. for an unusually long time, or stories of former grad students who either quit without finishing or changed to a different supervisor part way through their program.
Dealing with a difficult supervisor
Universities do not generally have much in the way of quality-control mechanisms to ensure that individual professors do a good job of supervising their graduate students. Luckily, relatively few professors truly abuse their authority over students. There are some bad apples, of course — professors who think of grad students and postdocs as research employees, without any regard for their career-development or personal needs. It’s not an all-or-nothing attribute; some professors are far worse than others.
A student who feels that he or she is in this kind of situation may need to clear a few potential impediments before taking steps to deal with it. One potential obstacle to resolving such conflicts concerns the emotional state of the student
Conflicts that arise between graduate student and supervisor tend to be emotionally charged. This can seriously impede attempts to resolve issues to the student’s satisfaction, because strong emotions can cloud a person’s judgment and bias his or her perception of a situation.
If you feel angry with your supervisor for letting you down, that may in fact be justified. But if you want to get through a predicament you absolutely must shed the anger and forget about the blame game. Remember that your goal is to finish the program — it’s not to take your supervisor to task for something you think is an injustice.
But there is no doubt that some professors spend more time managing their own career than looking out for the interests of their students. The effectiveness of a student’s efforts to work through a Ph.D. program with an unsupportive or abusive supervisor will depend on their perception of the student-supervisor relationship and expectations regarding how this relationship is intended to work for the benefit of both parties.
Many professors share the notion that giving doctoral students plenty of work to do in the lab is all that’s needed to train them to become good researchers. But all this does is train a student for a career as someone else’s research employee, and this is exactly the type of career that many doctoral students end up with after years of “training” — one postdoctoral position after another, never having long-term job security, and never becoming an independent researcher with grant money and facilities of their own.
Students should push back at being treated like an employee. The greatest danger is accepting that this is the way it’s supposed to be. It’s easy to get lulled into that belief over time, especially when other professors and grad students seem to have accepted that this is the right way. But it is not supposed to be that way. Students must fight the illusion that they are their supervisors’ employees. Those who assume the role of employee and behave accordingly are likely to continue being treated that way, and some of their needs as doctoral students may be neglected.
If it gets to the point that there is too much distrust or other bad feelings between you and your supervisor, or if you suspect you are being abused, it will be necessary to seek advice and support from the Graduate Program Director (GPD). The GPD probably knows your supervisor in ways that you don’t, and may know some things about this professor’s supervising history. The GPD is likely to at least understand your situation and offer perspectives you haven’t been able to see. Thus, at the very least, the GPD should provide hope that you’re not entirely under the thumb of your supervisor.
One should also keep the other members of the Ph.D. committee abreast of what’s going on. Since your supervisor doesn’t own you, you are free to seek advice or guidance from other professors. It might not seem that way, depending on the prevailing culture amongst students and professors in your program; but just because the majority of your peers tend to consult only with their supervisors, that does not mean you have to limit yourself in such a way. Most of your professors are extremely knowledgeable and willing to help. But they will not come to you, so you must go to them.
One or more of those other professors might even have some novel insights or useful suggestions for you. When asking a professor for advice or guidance on such a touchy subject, however, it is important to behave in a professional manner at all times. If seeking advice from another professor, do not speak disparagingly about your supervisor or blame them outright for any of the problems. This never helps, and it usually costs the student some credibility.
Remember that these other people will be watching how you deal with this difficult situation. You are likely to need letters of recommendation from them at some point in the future, either when applying for a postdoctoral position or for some other employment.
Further Reading
About The Author
Dave G. Mumby, PhD is a professor at a major University in Montreal, Canada. He is an academic advisor for undergraduate Psychology students, as well as a graduate supervisor for Master’s and Ph.D. students who share interests in behavioural neuroscience. Dr. Mumby is on many selection committees in his department, and is a regular contributer to MyGraduateSchool.com, which features advice from experts on applying to graduate or professional school.We (the KDE Plasma Team) are sitting at the SUSE office in Nürnberg, Germany right now, kicking off the already 6th edition of Tokamak, which is the name for (most of) our Plasma meetings. A Tokamak is a container for Plasma, which uses magnetic force to keep the Plasma in one (very hot) place. For the Plasma team, it provides a high-bandwidth setting where we can discuss, design, review and hack on the technology behind the Plasma workspaces. This meeting’s topic is Plasma2, the evolution of Plasma into the Qt5 and Wayland world.
First, we agreed on a bottom line: “Plasma 2 will be at least as good as the current Plasma, and probably better in many aspects.” This means that we’ll have to invest considerable effort and time into stabilization. At this point, where we are probably still a year or so away from a Plasma2-based release, making it part of our planning now will allow us to focus on the things that we think, matter. Among that is making sure the transition to KDE Frameworks 5, Plasma 2 and Wayland will be as seamless as possible, and perceived as an upgrade to our users.
But why are we doing this? Why are we putting so much work into it, what’s the benefit for the user?
Why switch graphics stacks?
In the past years, the landscape of graphics under Linux has changed quite a bit. Many things, like memory management of the graphics stack, rendering of primitives, font rendering, and a few other things involved in the process of “getting pixels onto your screen” have changed, and they’ve changed for the better. With a stack based on Wayland (and in extension Qt5), we are able to utilise modern graphics hardware better, to reduce maintainance effort and hopefully grow the community around the graphics stack, and not at least, to make sure that every frame that ends up on the screen is perfect. In the X11 world, we can’t really control it, since we have no idea when something is painted, in which way it is, where it’s painted, and when the pixels end up on the screen. With Wayland, this process of event processing, rendering and blitting is structured and guaranteed to happen in a certain order. In the end, this transition will enable us to put 60 perfect frames every second on the screen.
The new architecture also allows us to split the rendering into its own thread, so data processing or event handling in the application doesn’t end up delaying rendering. 60 frames per second will make the UI feel smooth as buttery silk, leading to less strain on the eyes and a nicer user experience.Singaporean author and artist Desmond Kon has clinched an independent publishing award for his book Babel Via Negativa, which was published here last year.
He won a Gold in the Poetry category at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards, which were given out by the Independent Book Publishers Association in the United States last Friday.
These "honour the best in indie publishing across a variety of fiction and non-fiction categories for children and adults", according to a press statement issued by the association.
The 44-year-old bachelor is the first Singaporean to win this accolade.
Babel Via Negativa is co-published by publisher Ethos Books and Kon's own literary press Squircle Line Press. It is a book of experimental writing, including essays, poetry, hybrid scriptings and texts written like tweets.
It beat two other books - Become A Message: Poems by Hungarian poet Lajos Walder (Upper West Side Philosophers) and Orbital Paths: Poems by American poet Richard Meyer (Science Thrillers Media).
Kon tells The Straits Times that he is "floored and humbled" by the win. He says: "It's taken quite a long time for contemporary poetics to accept experimental writing, much less recognise such work... Perhaps it was the sheer ambition of the collection, in trying to jam so many different styles, forms, genres and traditions, that got it noticed by the judges."
Kon, who has a Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University Of Notre Dame in the United States, was trained in book publishing at Stanford University in the US. He has produced an epistolary novel, two hybrid works and six poetry collections so far.
He is a writer-in-residence at the Nanyang Technological University this year.
Earlier last month, he also won in seven categories at the USA Regional Excellence Book Awards, which "recognise and reward excel- lence in books that take readers into the heart of a 'place', delivering the experience of a locale".
The awards are open to works in English and are given out to works that mention or allude to regions in the US.
Kon's wins include Sanctus Sanctus Dirgha Sanctus (Poetry, Midwest region), Singular Acts Of Endearment (Adult Fiction, Northeast region) and Eye/Feel/Write: Experiments In Writing (Anthology, South-west region). Babel Via Negativa also won for Spirituality in the North-east region.
He has just released a poetry collection, titled Thirty-Seven Reasons Red Is Rad, and will publish another poetry collection later this year, titled Mirror Image Mirage.
• Babel Via Negativa retails at $21.50 and is available at ethosbooks.com.sg and squirclelinepress.org
Correction note: An earlier version of
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Wide Receivers: (9) – Tim Brown (also KR), Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Henry Ellard (also PR), Marvin Harrison, Torry Holt, Sterling Sharpe, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith.
Tight End: (1) – Mark Bavaro.
Running Backs: (14) – Shaun Alexander, Ottis Anderson, Tiki Barber, Jerome Bettis, Roger Craig, Stephen Davis, Terrell Davis, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, Edgerrin James, Daryl Johnston, Jamal Lewis, Herschel Walker (also KR), Ricky Watters.
Offensive Linemen: (23) – Willie Anderson (T), Tony Boselli (T), Jeff Bostic (C), Lomas Brown (T), Jim Covert (T), Bill Fralic (G/T), Jay Hilgenberg (C), Chris Hinton (G/T), Kent Hull (C), Joe Jacoby (T), Jon Jansen (T), Mike Kenn (T), Jim Lachey (T), Kevin Mawae (C/G), Mark May (G/T/C),Tom Nalen (C), Nate Newton (G), Orlando Pace (T), Chris Samuels (T), Mark Schlereth (G), Will Shields (G), Tra Thomas (T), Steve Wisniewski (G).
Defensive Linemen: (12) – Al “Bubba” Baker (DE), Jerome Brown (DT), Carl Hairston (DE/DT), Charles Haley (also LB), Jevon Kearse (DE), Dexter Manley (DE), Charles Mann (DE), Steve McMichael (DT/NT), Fred Smerlas (NT), Greg Townsend (DE), Ted Washington (DT/NT), Bryant Young (DE).
Linebackers: (13) – Cornelius Bennett, Tedy Bruschi, Kevin Greene (also DE), Ken Harvey, Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest (also DE), Karl Mecklenburg, Matt Millen, Sam Mills, Junior Seau, Chris Spielman, Darryl Talley, Zach Thomas.
Defensive Backs: (16) – Eric Allen (CB), Steve Atwater (S), Joey Browner (S), LeRoy Butler (S), Thomas Everett (S), Rodney Harrison (S), Ty Law (CB), Albert Lewis (CB), John Lynch (S), Terry McDaniel (CB), Tim McDonald (S), Frank Minnifield (CB), Shawn Springs (CB), Troy Vincent (CB/S), Everson Walls (CB), Darren Woodson (S).
Kickers/Punters: (5) – Morten Andersen (K), Gary Anderson (K), Jason Elam (K), Sean Landeta (P), Nick Lowery (K).
Special Teams/Position Players: (2) – Brian Mitchell (RB/PR/KR), Steve Tasker (also WR).
Coaches: (14) –Don Coryell, Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, Tom Flores, Mike Holmgren, Jimmy Johnson, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Richie Petitbon, Dan Reeves, Lou Saban, Marty Schottenheimer, Clark Shaughnessy, Dick Vermeil.Update 5: At 6:18 P.M. Eastern Dyn said the DDoS attacks have been resolved. Fingers crossed another wave doesn't occur, as happened earlier today. You can find Dyn's incident report here. Update 4: Dyn is being hit by a third wave of DDoS attacks Friday afternoon. The attacks are “well planned and executed, coming from tens of millions of IP addresses at the same time,” the company told CNBC. Update 3: A DownDetector.com heat map purportedly showing backbone internet provider Level 3’s East Coast outages was removed from this piece at 2:50 p.m. Eastern, as a Level 3 spokesperson says its network “was operating normally this morning, and [the company] did not see an East Coast outage.” See the informative Periscope from its CSO embedded below. As of 3:45 P.M. Eastern, Dyn reports its engineers are still working to mitigate the issue. Update 2: Dyn says it was hit with another DDoS attack at 11:52 A.M. Eastern. Currently, Twitter, Etsy, Spotify and the other sites affected by the earlier attack are offline from my location in the Northeast U.S. The outages have spread to other parts of the United States and apparently Europe at this point.
Update: Dyn says services were restored at 9:36 A.M. Eastern time, and I can now connect to the affected websites again—which indicates the two events were indeed related.
Every morning, I sit down at my PC with a cup of coffee, crank some tunes on Spotify, and scour r/techsupportgore for gnarly PC disaster pics to tweet out. Not this morning, because it appears a massive Distributed Denial of Service attack targeting DNS host Dyn has knocked a big chunk of the Internet offline Friday morning.
The Domain Name System (DNS) converts human-readable URLs (like “pcworld.com”) to their underlying numeric IP addresses. Dyn hasn’t confirmed that the outages and its DDoS attack are related, but given that these sites keep going down every time Dyn gets slammed, it seems highly likely.
Hacker News users report the following sites are down:
Twitter
Etsy
Github
Soundcloud
Spotify
Heroku
Pagerduty
Shopify
Intercom
Trying to connect to all of those sites indeed proved fruitless this morning. Zoho, SaneBox, and iHeart Radio also appear to be down on my end, in New Hampshire. Netflix, Slack, Imgur, HBO Now, PayPal, PlayStation Network, Yammer, Seamless, and many more services have also experienced interruptions today.
At roughly 7 A.M. Friday morning, Dyn posted the following status report:
“Starting at 11:10 UTC on October 21th-Friday 2016 we began monitoring and mitigating a DDoS attack against our Dyn Managed DNS infrastructure. Some customers may experience increased DNS query latency and delayed zone propagation during this time.”
This afternoon, Dale Drew—the chief security officer for Level 3, a tier 1 Internet backbone provider—broadcast an informative Periscope video explaining what exactly is going on here. He also says Dyn isn’t the sole victim. “We’re seeing the bad guy rotate through quite a few DNS providers, trying to add some instability to the Internet.” A portion of the attack originates from the gigantic Mirai “Internet of things” botnet, Drew says, which was recently used in a DDoS of unprecedented size. About 10 percent of the Mirai botnet nodes are active in this attack on Dyn, though those nodes aren’t the only ones targeting the DNS provider.
Check it out in the embedded tweet below... assuming Twitter is working for you.
If the sound of silence is troubling you while the Internet burns, Twitch and YouTube are still working just fine.Here are today's key developments in the phone-hacking saga so far today.
• BSkyB has reported pre-tax profits of £1bn in the year to the end of June, as the company announced a £750m share buy-back to appease investors unhappy after the failure of News Corporation's bid to takeover the satellite broadcaster.
• James Murdoch received a ringing endorsement from BSkyB directors yesterday. The satellite group's board meeting ended with support for Rupert Murdoch's youngest son to continue as chairman, after the collapse of the family firm's bid for the 61% of the satellite business it did not already own.
• Jonathan May-Bowles, who threw a foam pie at Rupert Murdoch at last week's Commons committee hearing, has been convicted of assault and causing harassment, alarm or distress.
• The chair of the Press Complaints Commission, Lady Buscombe, appears about to be the next victim of the phone-hacking scandal. She is said to be preparing to make a formal announcement of her resignation today.
• The Guardian reported yesterday that Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard that they have found evidence to suggest she was targeted by the News of the World's investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who specialised in hacking voicemail.
We will have live coverage of all today's developments as they unfold.
Sky News is reporting that Colin Myler, Tom Crone and James Murdoch will not be recalled to the culture select committee. More as we get it.
Colin Myler, the former News of the World editor, and Tom Crone, the paper's former lawyer, have said James Murdoch was wrong in his testimony to the culture committee last week.
Murdoch told the select committee that when he approved a big payout to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, he did not know phone hacking at the News of the World went beyond one "rogue" reporter. But Myler and Crone released a statement saying they informed Murdoch of an email – known as the "for Neville" email – suggesting the practice went further.
Jonathan May-Bowles, who threw a pie at Rupert Murdoch last week, pastiched the media mogul's most distinctive line at the culture committee, emerging from court to say: "This has been the most humble day of my life."
Labour MP Tom Watson has said that his attempt to recall Rupert Murdoch and his son James to give more evidence to the Commons culture, media and sport committee over phone-hacking has been voted down.
Watson revealed the rebuff by his colleagues at a news conference after the committee met today to discuss its next steps in its investigation of the scandal.
Further written evidence has to provided by 11 August. The committee will then decide which witnesses to recall.
MPs will write to law firm Harbottle & Lewis to see whether it can provide further evidence about the extent of the phone-hacking scandal now that News International has relaxed the confidentiality clauses in its contract.
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons culture committee, said:
We have considered this morning the evidence we received last week from Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks and subsequent statements by certain individuals have raised questions about some of the evidence we have received. As a result of that, we are going to write to ask for further details from various areas where evidence is disputed. We are writing to Colin Myler, Tom Crone, John Chapman. We are also writing to James Murdoch to follow up on a number of questions which he promised us further information last week.
My colleague Nicholas Watt was at the culture committee press conference earlier. He says it is wrong to interpret what the committee members said as suggesting James Murdoch, Tom Crone and Colin Myler would not be recalled.
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the committee, said that letters would be sent out to the three today – and former News International lawyer Jon Chapman – and that after that they would probably recall them.
What Tom Watson said was that he wanted to recall them immediately – that was voted down.
So James Murdoch, Myler and Crone are likely to be recalled to give evidence again to the culture committee.
Louise Mensch (left) is the Tory MP who accused CNN talk show host Piers Morgan of admitting to phone hacking during his time as editor of the Daily Mirror in his autobiography during last week's culture committee hearings. He furiously denied this and the relevant passages of the book do not back her up.
Now Mensch – who writes chick-lit novels under her maiden name Louise Bagshawe – has been accused of relatively minor incidents of impropriety during her years working for EMI in the 1990s, and has hit back by publishing both the allegations and her own responses and denials.
A self-described investigative journalist called David Jones accused Mensch of the following:
• Taking drugs in the company of violinist Nigel Kennedy at Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham "including dancing on a dance floor, whilst drunk, with Mr Kennedy, in front of journalists".
• Writing a novel "of a sexual nature" on her EMI work computer during working hours, leading to EMI terminating her employment.
• In the resulting novel, basing a character on her line manager Roger Lewis, and making "derogatory references" to this character.
Mensch sent out the following replies:
1. Although I do not remember the specific incident, this sounds highly probable. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Nigel Kennedy, whom I remember with affection. Additionally, since I was in my twenties, I'm sure it was not the only incident of the kind; we all do idiotic things when young. I am not a very good dancer and must apologise to any and all journalists who were forced to watch me dance that night at Ronnie Scott's. 2. Writing the first few chapters of Career Girls on my EMI computer is quite correct. However, it was all done after work hours. It was also not why I was fired by EMI. "Leaving work early" and "missing the odd day at work" along with "inappropriate dress" were the reasons quoted to me. 3. Career Girls was my first novel. I used the names of many real people I knew for minor characters, such as journalists, chauffeurs, bankers, and so forth. Roger Lewis was probably amongst them, as were (off the top of my head) Therese Coffey MP, now my colleague on the Select Committee, Jeremy Quin, Damian Hinds MP, Maurice Oberstein, Rod Clayton, James Robertson, and many more. None of them have ever complained about my using their names in this way.
She adds: "Most importantly, I have not the slightest intention of being deterred from asking how far the culture of hacking and blagging extended in Fleet Street."
Mensch embarrassed herself with her accusations against Morgan at the culture committee hearings, which were not correct, and which she would not repeat outside parliament, where she has immunity from libel law. But in my opinion she has reacted straightforwardly and admirably to this attempt to drag her name into the mud via these minor allegations. The only one of any degree of seriousness is the accusation and admission of taking drugs, although since many much more senior politicians than Mensch have admitted various kinds of drug taking in recent years this is unlikely to make any waves. And the mentions of dancing, writing a novel "of a sexual nature" during work time and making derogatory references about a character based on someone she once worked with are so irrelevant they are laughable.
As for Piers Morgan, my colleague Roy Greenslade has more on his record as Mirror editor and attitude to phone hacking here.
Piers Morgan, not surprisingly, is affecting to miss the point about his link to phone hacking. It isn't that he hacked himself or published anything that resulted from hacking while editor of the News of the World (1994-95) and the Daily Mirror (1995-2004). It's all about the fact that his past remarks on the subject show that he didn't believe it was ethically wrong to engage in the practice. (No other editor, you might note, has left any such hostages to fortune). In a series of typically show-off statements, he made it clear that (a) hacking was no big deal, (b) he knew how to do it, and (c) lots of journalists were at it … The truth about Morgan is that he viewed journalism as a game.
Nicholas Watt has just sent me the key quote from culture committee chairman John Whittingdale about recalling James Murdoch, Tom Crone, Colin Myler and Jon Chapman to give further evidence. Whittingdale said:
Obviously we want to see the responses they send to the letters we are writing. But Tom Crone and Colin Myler and apparently Jon Chapman have all said they dispute evidence given to this committee by James Murdoch. We want to hear exactly how they dispute that, in the first instance in terms of written responses. But I suspect very likely we would want to hear oral evidence. If they do come up with statements which quite plainly are different to those given to us by James Murdoch we would want to hear James Murdoch's response to that. Chances are that may well involve oral evidence again as well.
Breaking: The Press Complaints Commission has confirmed that its chair, Lady Buscombe, is to step down in January. More details soon...
See this Guardian report for background details.
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons culture committee, has just been speaking to BBC News; he reiterated that after letters went out to James Murdoch, Tom Crone, Colin Myler and Jon Chapman, he would be likely to call them to give evidence to find out if Murdoch misled the committee in his testimony last week.
We've agreed to ask them to give us those extra details … When we have received this response we may well call them in.
Whittingdale was asked why he did not go along with Tom Watson's plan to call them in immediately, which was voted down by the committee. Whittingdale said:
Because we haven't got the information yet. What I want to have is a detailed submission from those individuals who dispute part of James Murdoch's evidence … If we are to reexamine James Murdoch we need to know much more about the areas where they say he is wrong.
He was asked what sanctions he had available if anyone – ie Murdoch – were found to have misled the committee. Whittingdale said "misleading parliament is a serious matter". He would present a report to the House of Commons, and then another committee would decide how to take it forward. But he said such misleading would be relevant to the police and judicial inquiries too.
He expected James Murdoch to "find a space in his diary" as he did last time, if called.
The Guardian reported yesterday evening that Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard that they have found evidence to suggest she was targeted by the News of the World's investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who specialised in hacking voicemail.
Her cause had been championed by the News of the World, and in particular by its former editor, Rebekah Brooks. Brooks yesterday said the latest allegations were "abhorrent" and "particularly upsetting" because Sara Payne was a "dear friend". In a statement, Brooks said:
The idea that anyone on the newspaper knew that Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mr Mulcaire is unthinkable. The idea of her being targeted is beyond my comprehension. It is imperative for Sara and the other victims of crime that these allegations are investigated and those culpable brought to justice.
Interestingly, in Brooks's speech to News of the World staff telling them the paper was going to close, which was leaked on 8 July, she lists Sara Payne as one of the hacking victims.
You can hear it here at five minutes in. Speaking about the idea of her resigning as News International chief executive – as she eventually did – she tells News of the World staff:
Say I had seen these allegations, had no idea if they weren't true, but put in my resignation and said: "Fine … I'm sick of this crisis. Someone's made an allegation against me that I've no idea if it's true and no one knows if it's true but because it's me and because it's the usual, y'know, Guardian/BBC witch-hunt I'll go." Right? Say I did that, do you think then, who would have carried the can for the dead soldiers, the 7/7 victims, Sara Payne and all the other alleged claims that came out?
As my colleague James Robinson points out, Brooks could have been referring to rumours – denied at the time, but now confirmed by the Guardian – that Payne's phone may have been targeted.
Here's the full story on Press Complaints Commission chair Lady Buscombe standing down.
Here's Nicholas Watt on the likelihood of James Murdoch being called back before the Commons culture committee.
James Murdoch is likely to be summoned to appear before MPs for a second time after a former director of legal affairs at News International joined other former executives to challenge his evidence to the commons culture select committee. John Whittingdale, the committee's chairman, said it was "very likely" that the BSkyB chairman would be asked to appear in person again if his evidence is contradicted by the former News International executives. MPs on the committee decided yesterday to write to Murdoch to ask him to explain in writing his remarks to the select committee on 19 July about his decision to approve a £700,000 payout to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association. Murdoch told the committee that at the time of approving the payout he had no knowledge of an email which raised questions about the News of the World's central defence in the phone hacking scandal – that it was the work one one "rogue reporter". The committee is also writing to Colin Myler, the NoW's former editor, and Tom Crone, the paper's former head of legal affairs. They issued a joint statement two days after Murdoch's evidence session saying that he did know of the so called "for Neville" email which raised the possibility that Neville Thurlbeck, the paper's former chief reporter, knew about phone hacking. Whittingdale announced that he would also be writing to Jon Chapman, News International's former director of legal affairs, who has written to the committee challenging Murdoch's evidence. Tom Watson, a Labour member of the committee who has led the campaign against phone hacking in parliament, had wanted to issue an immediate summons to Murdoch and the former News International executives. But he was outvoted after Whittingdale said that they should be asked to explain themselves in the first place in writing. Whittingdale made clear that he expects the committee will summon them in person when it meets again in the week beginning 14 August. He said: "Obviously we want to see the responses they send to the letters we are writing. But Tom Crone and Colin Myler and apparently Jon Chapman have all said they dispute evidence given to this committee by James Murdoch. We want to hear exactly how they dispute that, in the first instance in terms of written responses. But I suspect very likely we would want to hear oral evidence. If they do come up with statements which quite plainly are different to those given to us by James Murdoch we would want to hear James Murdoch's response to that. Chances are that may well involve oral evidence again as well." Whittingdale and Watson said that they were keen to ask Myler and Crone why they highlighted the importance of the "for Neville" email last week after dismissing its significance in evidence to the culture committee on 21 July 2009. A week earlier the Guardian investigative journalist Nick Davies had presented the "for Neville" email to the committee. Asked by the Guardian at today's press conference whether the Myler/Crone statement of last week raises questions about the evidence they gave to the committee in 2009, Whittingdale said: "I don't think it just raises questions. It appears to be directly contradictory."
The culture committee has today published correspondence relating to its hearings into phone-hacking last week. As my colleague Nicholas Watt points out, one of the letters includes an admission by Louise Mensch (see 1.18pm) that she was wrong to accuse Piers Morgan of admitting to phone hacking in his autobiography. Mensch writes to the committee chairman, John Whittingdale:
Dear John, I write in response to the letter sent to the Committee by Trinity Mirror, in order to correct an error in my questioning during the Committee's evidence session of Tuesday 19th July. In my questions to Rupert and James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, I wrongly stated that Piers Morgan, formerly editor of the Daily Mirror, had been open about personally hacking phones in a book he wrote. This was based on my misreading of an article in the Daily Telegraph published on the 13th July, which covered Mr. Morgan's description in his book of how to hack a phone and how he won the Scoop of the Year on the story of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Ulrika Johnson. The Telegraph report covers the claim of a blogger that this story was acquired by phone hacking, and I misread that as Mr. Morgan himself claiming this to be true. Therefore, I must apologise to Mr. Morgan and the Committee for this error about his book. I would have done much better to stick to quoting the figures for the Daily Mirror (and for Associated Newspapers) in "Operation Motorman", as identified in the report "What Price Privacy Now". The question for me was always was illegality confined to the News of the World and News International titles, or whether those papers had an air of entitlement in a Fleet Street culture where hacking and blagging was in fact widespread. I welcome the review announced by Trinity Mirror into practises in its newsroom. Yours ever, Louise Mensch MP
Other correspondence published today by the culture committee:
• A letter from James Murdoch saying he "answered truthfully" at the culture select committee and "I stand by my testimony". Murdoch says he is preparing a written response for the committee.
• A letter from Jon Chapman, former News International lawyer, reiterating his claim that there were "a number of serious inaccuracies" in evidence given to the select committee and saying he is happy to cooperate with them.
• A letter from Harbottle & Lewis, News International's former solicitors, confirming that their solicitor-client privilege has been waived with respect to answering questions from the police and parliamentary committees. Another letter says the firm wants to ensure "our response to you does not contain information which the Metropolitan police would prefer to be kept out of the public domain while criminal investigations and proceedings are pending".
• A letter from Sly Bailey of Trinity Mirror, publishers of the Daily and Sunday Mirror, criticising Louise Mensch for making "uncaveated statements purporting to be facts … allegations that are wholly untrue" (see 2.27pm) regarding Piers Morgan, refuting them and asking for Mensch to correct her statements. It quotes the relevant passage from Morgan's book, The Insider:
I've been called to another interview with the DTI next month. Rather worryingly, this development leads to a flurry of calls from journalists asking about it. Given that the DTI has not to my knowledge leaked anything about this case to anyone, I am mystified. But someone suggested today that people might be listening to my mobile phone messages. Apparently if you don't change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don't answer, tap in the standard four digit code to hear all your messages. I'll change mine just in case, but it makes me wonder how many public figures and celebrities are aware of this little trick.
• And here's Louise Mensch's letter of apology to Morgan (see 2.27pm).
Incidentally, Mensch refers to the information commissioner's report What Price Privacy Now? (1998), which lists publications that it has evidence to show took part in "the illegal trade in confidential personal information" (page nine). The Daily Mirror was third on the list with 681 transactions. The Observer was ninth with 103. The Guardian was not on the list.
In February this year, Stephen Pritchard, the Observer's readers' editor, explained how the paper came to be on the list.
The report, "What Price Privacy Now?", did not deal with phone-hacking – which is a criminal offence with no public interest defence – but with potential offences under the Data Protection Act, to which there is a public interest defence. And no offence is committed if the information is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime... A cross-referencing of targets in [private investigator Steve] Whittamore's register with names that appeared in the paper establishes that many stories in the public interest were being produced. Examples include articles on racketeering landlords, radical Islamic clerics, germ warfare test victims, fugitive war criminals and crooked politicians. Where does this leave the paper today? The Observer has said that in the past it has used a private investigator to help it establish stories it believed to be in the public interest. Publishing in the public interest is entirely defensible under the Data Protection Act. And that's the important distinction: intercepting another person's phone messages is just plain illegal.
Roger Alton, the Observer editor at the time of the publication of What Price Privacy Now?, said: "Yes, the Observer has used the services of an outside agency in the past, and while there were strong public interest defences for most of those cases, it is possible that some of the inquiries did not sufficiently fit that criterion. As a result, I have now taken steps to ensure that no inquiries will be made through outside agencies unless I believe that there is a compelling public interest to do so." This instruction continues under John Mulholland, the current editor, today.
Tom Parmenter of Sky News is tweeting that Glenn Mulcaire (left), the private investigator jailed for phone hacking in 2007, has issued a statement saying he "acted on the instructions of others", expresses his regret and finishes: "In the light of the ongoing police investigation, he cannot say any more." More details soon...
News International's original defence was that Glenn Mulcaire and NoW royal editor Clive Goodman, who was also jailed, were the only bad apples in the company. But this has been undermined by the Guardian's revelations, and Mulcaire's statement – if the Sky report is accurate – would deal it a final blow.
Here is the statement from Glenn Mulcaire's solicitors (see 3.08pm):
Glenn Mulcaire has already expressed his sincere regret to those who have been hurt and affected by his activities and he repeats that apology most sincerely. He was effectively employed by News of the World from 2002 to carry out his role as a private investigator. As he accepted when he pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges of phone interception he admits that his role did include phone hacking. As an employee he acted on the instructions of others. There were also occasions when he understood his instructions were from those who genuinely wished to assist in solving crimes. Any suggestion that he acted in such matters unilaterally is untrue. In the light of the ongoing police investigation, he cannot say any more.
It is interesting the Glenn Mulcaire statement describes him as an "employee" of the News of the World.
The prime minister is to face questions on the Leveson inquiry into phone-hacking, politicians, police and the media from select committee chairs when he faces the liaison committee on 6 September.
The liaison committee – which is made up of the chairs of all the other Commons select committees – will quiz David Cameron at 4pm for an hour and a half on 6 September, it announced today. Questions will be grouped around two themes:
• Developments in Europe; impact on the UK (presumably this refers to the ongoing eurozone debt crisis).
• Government, politics and the media.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for James Murdoch to consider his position. In a statement, the Lib Dems also call for the Press Complaints Commission to be replaced by "a bold regulator that editors can't ignore".
Lib Dem MP Don Foster said the PCC had "clearly failed" and welcomed Lady Buscombe's resignation.
Several people involved in the phone-hacking scandal have already paid for their mistakes, with one notable exception. James Murdoch should now be considering his position. Peta Buscombe joins a list that should grow longer yet.
Here's Nicholas Watt's full story on the culture committee being likely to recall James Murdoch following challenges to his evidence.
Here's another couple of good links:
• Glenn Mulcaire: I acted only on News of the World's orders
• MP Louise Mensch apologises to Piers Morgan over phone hacking comments
Glenn Mulcaire's statement comes after News International announced it had terminated "with immediate effect" its arrangement to pay the legal fees of Mulcaire in his case. The decision came after James Murdoch told the Commons culture, media and sport select committee he was "as surprised as you are" when he discovered "certain legal fees were paid to Mr Mulcaire".
But my colleague Lisa O'Carroll reported today that NI may have to continue paying Mulcaire's fees; his solicitors have written to Rupert Murdoch's News Group publishers to put them on notice that the company is still legally liable to indemnify the investigator in a high court appeal he is taking.
Sources at News International said it had verbally notified Mulcaire's representatives that it was ceasing funding Mulcaire, and had written to Payne Hicks Beach to confirm this. "If they haven't already received this letter, they will do so shortly," said the source.
Mulcaire is appealing against a high court order requiring him to identify the News of the World journalists involved in phone-hacking. Up to now this case was being funded by News International.
David Cameron has put out a message to supporters thanking them for their backing. On phone hacking, it says:
As recent weeks have shown, being in government produces all sorts of challenges that need a clear response. The hacking scandal has been shocking in terms of the dreadful things that have happened, and profound in terms of its long-term impact. I hope you agree that with a judge-led inquiry now being established; a proper police investigation under way; the BSkyB merger now off the agenda; and maximum transparency being delivered, we have dealt decisively with this issue.
Here is a summary of today's key events:
• Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for phone hacking in 2007, has issued a statement describing himself as a former News of the World "employee" and saying he "acted on the instructions of others" (see 3.13pm).
• James Murdoch is likely to be summoned back to the culture select committee to answer questions about his evidence, following challenges to it by former News of the World figures Colin Myler, Tom Crone, and (less specifically) Jon Chapman (see 2.22pm). Myler, Crone and Chapman may also be called to give evidence.
• Louise Mensch MP has apologised to CNN talk show most Piers Morgan for wrongly saying at the culture select committee last week that he admitted phone hacking when editor of the Daily Mirror in his autobiography (see 2.27pm). She also hit back after minor allegations of impropriety.
• Lady Buscombe, the chair of the Press Complaints Commission, is standing down (see 2.21pm).
• Jonathan May-Bowles, who threw a foam pie at Rupert Murdoch during last week's culture committee hearing, has pleaded guilty to assault. He emerged from court pastiching Murdoch's most distinctive line from that session, saying: "This has been the most humble day of my life" (see 12.35pm).
My colleague Esther Addley writes that a senior police officer who worked on the Sarah Payne murder investigation has today spoken of his suspicions that his own police-issue phone was hacked by the News of the World.
Detective Chief Inspector Martyn Underhill from Sussex police, who was second in command of the Payne investigation, said he had received a "very strange phonecall" in 2002 or early 2003 from "a senior executive" at the paper threatening to print a story about his involvement with the Payne family which he believed had originated with messages left on his voicemail. "I was the main contact with Sara [Payne]," he told the BBC's World at One programme. "Sara, over a long period of time, became my friend, and we often left each other lengthy voicemails, which were intimate, because we were friends, and which could be misinterpreted or this allegation about the Payne family could have been construed from it." He had told the executive that the allegation was completely untrue, he said, and threatened to sue if they printed it. It never appeared. "The fact they didn't run the story would suggest their source was illegal," he said. Underhill said he had contacted officers from Operation Weeting with his suspicions two weeks ago, and had been told that they could not immediately find him on their database, but it would be three to four weeks before they could fully check their records. Asked about the potential implications of his phone being hacked, Underhill said: "To tap into anyone's phone is outrageous.. But if my phone was tapped, tapping into a police officer's phone has other implications, on that case and on other cases. I was running covert inquiries, sensitive inquiries, that would have been subject to answerphone messages.
Here's a link to today's World at One. The report about Underhill begins at 23.16 mins into the programme.
Over to George Michael (left) for a second. The singer has commented passionately and entertainingly on Twitter over the last couple of weeks as the News of the World phone-hacking allegations have unfolded, and today tells a story about Lady Buscombe, the outgoing chair of the Press Complaints Commission, his next door neighbour "(in the countryside, not London)".
Michael tweets:
Many years ago i had a housewarming for about 150 people, and invited my new neighbours to join us … Which they did. Baroness Buscombe, now LADY Buscombe, attended with her hubby, they stayed 2 or 3 hours, were given a tour of the house … And left all smiles :)... but a couple of hours later … She called the police and asked them to do something about the noise at my house!!!! … Wait people, it gets better! A few years later for my birthday at the same house, I thought I would turn the other cheek … (or possibly both at a certain angle)...and invited her again … She only bloody turned up! Now THAT is what you call a thick skin! … I just behaved as though it never happened. My mum [would] have been proud of that particular bit of restraint.
This is David Batty - I'm taking over the live blog for the rest of the day. You can follow me on Twitter @David_Batty
Rupert Murdoch's biographer reckons the Murdoch family won't be running News Corp in two months' time. Michael Wolff also predicts there's likely to be a massive shake-up at the company as it tries to detach itself from the "toxic" Murdoch name.
Wolff, a Vanity Fair columnist and editorial director of Adweek, told Reuters Insider TV that News Corp would face a "lifetime of litigation" if the Murdochs remained in charge.
I think actually the Murdochs have to and will step out of not only day-to-day running, but they won't have jobs within the company. To restore credibility and to restore trust to this company, the newspapers have to go and the Murdochs have to go I think at the end of the day, what we have here is that the Murdoch name is toxic. I think that this company, its shareholders, its directors, its other managers will want to get as far away from that name as possible.
The Reuters interview follows Wolff's speech at the London School of Economics last night in which he said the chance of the "discredited" James Murdoch succeeding his father as chief executive was "nil".
Wolff, also predicted that News International would soon be separated from the rest of News Corp, the New Statesman reports.
He also dismissed the claim that Murdoch was unaware of what was happening at his newspapers as "totally bogus".
Everybody in the company is doing what they think Rupert wants them to do. It all flows down from not just trying to
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looked at Chef and OpenStack. Pairing up those tools was the proposed plan to deliver CI/CD to the software development lifecycle.
The team then needed to decide how to manage this new computing platform.
Its choices were to manage the platform in house, which would require hiring skilled operational engineers, additional support personnel and developing a stable private cloud deployment strategy, or to hire a team of experts who could do all of that for them.
Since they didn’t have the in-house expertise — nor the interest in spending to acquire it — to manage the platform, the team chose Rackspace, which provides all the OpenStack experts necessary to deliver a highly available OpenStack cloud with an uptime SLA attached. By leveraging Rackspace’s private OpenStack cloud, the bank team was able to accelerate the provisioning of development resources by giving developers the ability to spin up virtual machines and move code through the various stages to production.
Rackspace private cloud design
The bank went with Rackspace’s standard OpenStack private cloud reference architecture with the option of adding additional storage through a Swift cluster. The computing resources were broken up into three distinct regions. The first region will incorporate multiple availability zones, one zone to represent each environment (development, quality assurance and staging).
The two remaining regions will deliver individually pre-production and production resources:
Outcome
Fast-forwarding through weeks of deployment and setup, the bank’s development teams created “cookbooks” which deliver application sprints (complete application stack) on top of their private cloud. For one of the applications, each sprint build delivery includes the creation of more than 70 instances of different flavor sizes, all dependent on backend software installation and the deployment of the specific customer-facing applications.
The complete build time average was roughly 15-20 minutes end to end. With these cookbooks, the bank team could then traverse the code through the environments, allowing for automation-triggered unit tests, which eventually ended in deployment to production.
As I mentioned earlier, this optimization improved feature delivery to the bank’s customers by almost ten-fold, and reduced deployment man-hours.
Rackspace Private Cloud powered by OpenStack delivered a stable OpenStack platform, including a dedicated cloud architect assigned to the bank’s account, with support and monitoring by experts who live and breathe OpenStack — after all, Rackspace helped develop this open source platform, and remains the standard bearer, operating some of the world’s largest private clouds.
We offer service level and operational level agreements tied to the level of support we provide. That includes a laser-focus attention to detail, quick responses to questions and concerns and the willingness to be flexible with configurations.
All that expertise and support means this financial institution doesn’t have to waste precious resources managing its private cloud; instead it can remain focused on the needs of its business — and its customers’ business.
In our next use case post, we’ll describe how one of the leading retailer brands is using Rackspace Private Cloud to deliver an improved e-commerce experience for its customers.“According to one recent poll, 80 percent of Americans believe that cities that arrest illegal immigrants for a crime should be required to turn them over to immigration authorities.”
— Attorney General Jeff Sessions, news briefing, March 27, 2017
“I think the last poll I saw on this issue, on sanctuary cities, was somewhere in the 80 percent that American people don’t support sanctuary cities, they don’t want their tax dollars used to finance people who are in this country illegally.”
— White House press secretary Sean Spicer, news briefing, March 14
On March 20, the Department of Homeland Security began publishing a weekly report of noncitizens released from local custody after facing criminal charges. The reports are required under President Trump’s executive order cracking down on cities, counties and states that adopted such “sanctuary” policies.
Opponents of sanctuary jurisdictions say local and state officials should turn such individuals over to federal immigration officials to figure out whether they should be deported, and cite a poll to say that 80 percent of Americans don’t support sanctuary cities. That seemed quite high, so we looked into this figure.
The Facts
What are sanctuary policies?
There’s no official definition of “sanctuary.” It generally refers to rules restricting state and local governments from alerting federal authorities about people who may be in the country illegally. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and state and local law enforcement can decide how much they want to cooperate with the federal government for immigration enforcement. (For more, check out our explainer and this graphic.)
Sanctuary jurisdictions release noncitizen inmates after their criminal case is complete (i.e., they served their time, their charges were dropped or they secured bail). The inmate may or may not be illegally present in the United States.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can issue an “immigration detainer,” which is a request to be notified when a noncitizen is being released at state or local levels. It’s voluntary for these agencies to comply with an ICE detainer. If they comply, they hold noncitizens for up to 48 hours beyond the time they otherwise would have been released. ICE can take custody and figure out whether the inmate should be deported. If ICE doesn’t take action during that 48-hour window, the local or state agency is required to release them.
Agencies in sanctuary jurisdictions decline ICE detainers, whether out of fear it might silence victims or potential witnesses, or because they don’t have enough resources to cooperate. The new weekly DHS report is a list of declined detainers.
Still, some sanctuary jurisdictions cooperate with the federal government if they believe the inmate is a public safety threat.
The ’80 percent’ figure
This widely cited figure comes from a February 2017 national poll of 2,148 registered voters by Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies and the Harris Poll.
The poll uses an opt-in Web panel sample, which we often warn readers against relying on unless the poll has shown reasonable accuracy in pre-election polls over the years. Harris did not produce final pre-election surveys in 2012 or 2016.
The poll’s question about sanctuary cities reads: “Should cities that arrest illegal immigrants for crimes be required to turn them over to immigration authorities?” Eighty percent of people responded “yes.”
The researchers said it was referring to whether cities should comply with immigration detainers, and did not suggest that undocumented immigrants arrested for crimes should automatically be deported, or that federal funding should be cut off. As we described above, cities have to release inmates if ICE doesn’t take custody after 48 hours.
Notably, this question asks about “crimes.” Criminality is a key factor in the public’s attitude toward immigration, and support for deporting people who commit crimes — especially violent crimes — is high. (For more, read our fact-check on sanctuary cities and crime.)
The use of the word “crime” and “arrests” could bring to mind violent crimes, our friends at PolitiFact noted. But not all these arrests are of noncitizens suspected of violent crimes, or even convicted of any crimes. And some cities still cooperate with federal authorities to prosecute or identify violent criminals.
What do other polls show?
There’s not a lot of research on public opinion of sanctuary cities. But two reliable polls have found mixed public opinion in response to more nuanced questions about sanctuary cities, or when specifically asked about pulling federal funding from sanctuary cities (which the administration wants to do).
A February McClatchy-Marist poll of U.S. adults asked two questions about sanctuary policies:
” ‘Sanctuary City’ is a term used to describe U.S. cities which do not enforce immigration laws and allow undocumented immigrants to live there and, in many cases, receive services. Which comes closer to your opinion? Undocumented immigrants should be deported so there is no reason to have sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities are needed to provide services to undocumented immigrants while they are in this country.” Response: 41 percent believed there was no reason to have them, and 50 percent believed they are needed.
“Do you support or oppose the federal government cutting funds to cities that provide sanctuary for undocumented immigrants?” Response: 42 percent supported, 53 percent opposed.
A Fox News poll this month of registered voters asked: “Some so-called ‘sanctuary’ cities refuse to assist federal authorities detain and deport illegal immigrants — do you favor or oppose penalizing those cities by taking away their federal funding?” Response: 41 percent supported and 53 percent opposed taking away federal funds from sanctuary cities.
(A huge thank you to Washington Post’s polling manager Scott Clement for vetting and interpreting the polls.)
The Bottom Line
There’s no perfect polling question, and we recognize sanctuary policies and immigration detainers are not easily distilled into one question. It’s clear that public opinion on sanctuary policies varies based on how you ask the question, and what exactly you ask about such policies. Criminality is a major factor, so questions that involve “crime” and “arrests” may elicit stronger responses against sanctuary policies.
Americans’ attitudes are far more varied and complex on this issue than Spicer’s definitive claim that “80 percent” of Americans “don’t support sanctuary cities, they don’t want their tax dollars used to finance people who are in this country illegally.” The administration should not necessarily think that such a large percentage of Americans support its restrictions on sanctuary cities.
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Share the Facts 2017-10-11 20:41:31 UTC Washington Post -1 -1 -1 Washington Post Rating: Not the whole story Washington Post Rating: “According to one recent poll, 80 percent of Americans believe that cities that arrest illegal immigrants for a crime should be required to turn them over to immigration authorities.” Jeff Sessions Attorney General in a news briefing Monday, March 27, 2017 2017-03-27 Read More infoBROYE-LES-PESMES,France - A French space-surveillance radar has detected 20-30 satellites in lowEarth orbit that do not figure in the U.S. Defense Department?s publishedcatalogue, a discovery that French officials say they will use to pressure U.S.authorities to stop publishing the whereabouts of French reconnaissance andmilitary communications satellites.
After 16months of operations of their Graves radar system, which can locate satellitesin orbits up to 1,000 kilometers in altitude and even higher in certain cases,the French Defense Ministry says it has gathered just about enough informationto negotiate an agreement with the United States.
The U.S.Defense Department?s Space Surveillance Network is the world?s gold standardfor cataloguing satellites and debris in both low Earth orbit and the highergeostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers in altitude, where telecommunicationssatellites operate.
Data fromthe U.S. network of ground-based sensors is regularly published and usedworldwide by those tracking satellite and space-debris trajectories. Thepublished U.S. information excludes sensitive U.S. defense satellites, butregularly publishes data on the orbits of other nations? military hardware.
In a seriesof presentations here at the site of the French Graves radar facility, Frenchdefense officials said they are gathering data on classified satellites in lowEarth orbit as part of a future European space-surveillance program thatEuropean Space Agency governments will be asked to approve in 2008. Thisprogram, with a cost of some 300 million euros ($405 million), would featurehigher-performance radars to track space debris in low orbit and ingeostationary orbit.
This newspace surveillance program may or may not be approved by European governments.But the Graves radar, and a complementary system operated by the Germangovernment, together already are enough to pinpoint the location, size, orbitand transmissions frequencies of satellites that the United States would prefernot be broadcast worldwide, French officials said.
?We havediscussed the Graves results with our American colleagues and highlighted thediscrepancies between what we have found and what is published by the U.S.Space Surveillance Network,? said one French defense official responsible forthe Graves operation.?They told us,?If we have not published it in ourcatalogue, then it does not exist.? So I guess we have been tracking objectsthat do not exist. I can tell you that some of these non-existent objects havesolar arrays.?
Col. Yves Blin,deputy head of the space division at the French joint defense staff, saidFrance would wait until it had acquired, with the help of the German radar,further information about the 20 to 30 secret satellites in question beforebeginning serious negotiations with the United States on a common approach forpublishing satellite orbit information.
?Right nowwe do not have enough cards in our hand to begin negotiatons,? Blin said hereat the Graves radar transmitter site June 7.?We need more time to be sure ofwhat we are seeing. At that point we can tell our American friends,?We haveseen some things that you might wish to keep out of the public domain. We willagree to do this if you agree to stop publishing the location of our sensitivesatellites.?This work is largely a retelling of Andrew Charniga Jr.’s excellent post ‘Why Weightlifting Shoes’ available on his website here. Any errors are of course my own and I do recommend you check out the original.
A regular problem for gym goers concerns the right type of shoes to wear and this is especially the case when it comes to weightlifting shoes. Whether you bodybuild, Olympic lift or crossfit, chances are you own, or have at least considered owning, a pair of weightlifting shoes. These days, weightlifting shoes are becoming something of a fashion accessory for the avid gym goer, a way of colourfully distinguishing oneself in the weightroom and adding a couple more pounds to their squats.
But where did these bizarre shoes with high heels come from? How have they evolved over the past century and what do we know about their history? In today’s blogpost, we’re going to discuss one of the relatively unexplored elements of the weightroom. Having previously examined the history of foam rollers and swiss balls on this site, it seems only fair to look at footwear.
Origins
So perhaps unsurprisingly given their name, WEIGHTLIFTING shoes were, and continue to be, influenced by the sport of weightlifting. Specifically how weightlifters move underneath the barbell and how they position their “kinematic links” (the trunk, thigh and shin) before lifting the barbell. Such factors have been important ever since the International Weightlifting Federation’s decision in 1929 to test strength in the press, the snatch and the clean & jerk.
The press, one of the most primal strength lifts around, is a relatively straightforward test of strength. A simple, albeit difficult, lift that can be contrasted with the snatch and the clean & jerk, both of which are explosive lifts. Thus while it didn’t really matter what shoes you wore in the press, those worn in the explosive lifts either helped or hindered you and when you’re training for gold, these things matter quite a bit!
Indeed, the early methods of snatching or cleaning the bar revealed some of the difficulties associated with these lifts. Whereas the press could be completed mainly with shoulder and arm strength, with minimal knee bend, the explosive lifts required a descent underneath the bar to raise it from the ground. The heavier the weight, the further the lifter dropped under the bar. The lower one dropped under the bar, the less height was needed to lift the weight, and hence the more one could lift weight. One early method of achieving advantageous descents was the ‘splot method’ pictured below. This involved shifting one foot forward in a straight line from its starting position and likewise the other foot rearward thereby lowering the lifter into a quarter squat position. While somewhat ungainly, the ‘splot’ method allowed the lifter to rack up heavier weights than those who slightly bended their knees and asymmetrically shifted their feet (one pointed forward & the other to the side).
The Splot. Originally from ‘Why Weightlifting Shoes‘.
At this point the footwear mattered little as evidenced by the shoes of many lifters from the 1920s to 1950s who tended to wear sneakers or boxing shoes.
The ‘Splitters’
The 1960s would see the emergence of ‘splitters’ such as Americans John Davis and Norbert Schemansky, Soviet Rudolf Plukfelder and Pole Ireneusz Palinski. Reinventing the weightlifting wheel, such men demonstrated that it was possible to descend even further beneath the barbell by adopting the deep split position shown below.
Rudolph Plukfelder attempting to snatch with the ‘deep split’ position. Note the position of the shins and heels in the picture.
As more and more lifters began adopting the split position, it became apparent that run-of-the-mill sneakers would no longer do. Soon weightlifters realized that shoes with raised heels were needed to permit the back foot to flex so that the heel could be raised while at the same time allowing the ankle joint of the front foot to bend. Boxing shoes or sneakers were no longer appropriate as they inhibited the movement of the ankle joint thereby restricting the ability of the lifter to tilt their shin forward.
Splitters or Squatters?
Importantly, the deep split position was not the only technique garnering attention during this period, as the squat technique helped to transform the weightlifting shoe forever. Popularized by American brothers, Pete and Jim George, the squat technique soon debuted on weightlifting platforms around the world. This had a significant impact regarding weightlifting shoes.
Jim George in Action
We’re all most likely familiar with the squat style clean or snatch whereby, the weightlifter literally squats underneath and receives the barbell at the chest for the clean or overhead for the snatch. Allowing lifters to move significant amounts of weight, the squat style presented just one problem in that it was imperative that heels remained on the floor in the deep squat position. If the heels rose when the lifter was underneath the bar, an embarrassing and potentially dangerous fall often occurred.
This meant that weightlifting shoes with a raised heel were more important for the squat style of lifting than the “deep split” method previously mentioned. This was because a shoe with a raised heel allowed lifters to retain a reasonably vertical trunk position while bending the knees and tilting the shins forward. Lifters cottoned on to this quite quickly and the following decades would see a series of shoes grace the lifting platform.
The Evolution of the Weightlifting Shoe
Owing to the demands of split and squat methods mentioned above, Olympic weightlifters from the middle of the twentieth-century began to experiment with boxing shoes and work boots on the platform. Both of which proved to be troublesome. The boxing shoe provided little in the way of a raised heel and the lacing of such shoes often-restricted ankle mobility. The work boot was equally problematic. Although providing a raised heel, which improved ankle mobility and facilitated the squat style of lifting, work boots also extended up the shin, thereby restricting ankle mobility. Furthermore they were heavy and stiff, two words you don’t normally associate with Olympic weightlifting. Interestingly it was the Soviet lifters who seemed to have paved the way for new types of weightlifting shoes when they decided to nail raised heels to the leather soles of their shoes with nails.
A Soviet Inspired boot courtesy of Risto Sports
Remarkably despite the fact that the Soviet model of leather soles and nailed heels of predisposed lifters to slip and/or otherwise slide on the wood surface of the weightlifting platform, such shoes proved popular in the weightlifting community. Although undoubtedly an important on work boots or boxing shoes, the Soviet shoes were not the Holy Grail the Olympic community had been waiting for. Nevertheless, perhaps owing to the fact that Soviet lifters oftentimes dominated weightlifting events during the 60s and 70s, the Soviet style shoe initially proved popular with lifters, albeit with some slight modifications. As decades progressed their was a tendency for lifters to leave their shoes unlaced around the shin, thereby allowing greater mobility for their ankles. This decision would have ramifications for lifters’ footwear.
Not just the Russians…
Importantly, Soviet shoes were not the boots in style at the time as the 1960s saw the emergence of York, Puma, Karhu and Tiger weightlifting boots, all inspired by the Soviet design. While such shoes did prove popular, from the late 1960s onwards Adidas weightlifting shoes were the Western answer to the footwear conundrum. Initially inspired by the Soviet model of high tops and rubber soles, Adidas gained a significant advantage in the 1970s when Tommy Kono, one of the era’s most successful Olympic lifters, began working with Adidas to design suitable weightlifting shoes. Remarkably Andrew Charniga Jr.’s website has a first hand account from Kono on this collaboration
Back in either 1970 or 1971… I was given a couple of kids” bikes (my daughter and son) and a pair of shoes. It was Adidas’ first try at copying the Finn’s Karhu lifting shoes. I noted that the strap was too high on the shoes and it restricted the ankle movement. I wrote to the Adidas firm with a drawing to go with it to correct it. They wrote back an appreciative letter and followed up by sending me another pair of their shoes with the straps lower but not low enough. Anyway, when I wrote another letter explaining it was much improved but still not correct, they phoned me and asked if I might drop over to their factory outside Nurnberg. One Saturday morning I was free so I drove to their factory with both pairs of shoes. The staff at the factory were extremely nice to me, showed me around, and I had lunch with Mr. Adi Dassler. I left the two pairs of shoes with them with a promise from them that they will correct it and send me a new pair that should be to my satisfaction. And, in parting they gave me a check for $200.00 (in Deutsch mark) for my time. This was totally unexpected but extremely professional of them. As the National Coach (of West Germany), I wanted to be certain that I could help the sport from every angle.
A Kono inspired Adidas shoe
Goodbye High Tops
The 1970s would see both Adidas and Soviet style weightlifting shoes abandon their high top designs in favour of lower cuts. This allowed much greater ankle mobility and reflected the concerns of both coaches and weightlifters about the high tops’ safety. Since then, numerous companies have designed weightlifting shoes for an ever expanding market. Despite the number of shoes available, the majority follow the designs created in the 70s. Namely, high heels and low cuts.
References
‘Why Weightlifting Shoes?, Sportivnypress: http://www.sportivnypress.com/documents/SUB_37.html
‘The Feet’, Iron Mind: http://www.ironmind.com/articles/jim-schmitz-on-the-lifts/The-Feet/
‘Custom Made Russian Style Weightlifting Boot’, Ristosports: http://www.ristosports.com/weightlifting-shoes/custom-made-russian-style-weightlifting-boot/
Magee, David J., et al. Athletic and Sport Issues in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation (Elsevier Health Sciences, 2010), Chapter 16.
AdvertisementsI love Huey Emmerich as a character. I don’t love the man himself. In fact, I’m open to the idea that Venom Snake should have executed him on the spot at his trial. But I love what Hideo Kojima did with Huey in Metal Gear Solid V.
Throughout MGS1, MGS2, and MGS4, Hal Emmerich (AKA Otacon) was a bright light amidst a whole lot of grim-dark characterization. Otacon wasn’t a perfect man, but he was a hell of a lot kinder and more benevolent than almost anyone else in the series at that point, including the ostensibly heroic Solid Snake. At the very least, Otacon was one of the few characters who lacked the physical and emotional capability to snap someone else’s neck at a moment’s notice, and thus naturally engendered some form of sympathy from the audience. Add on some healthy doses of intelligence, ingenuity, humility, and even humor, and Otacon ended up becoming something of an underrated fan favorite character in a series packed to the brim with colorful personalities.
However, in MGSV Kojima cleverly twisted the nature of Huey Emmerich. Kojima used the popular preconceptions of who an Emmerich is and how he’s supposed act to create a sort of narrative trap for players. In many ways, Kojima pulls the same trick with Huey Emmerich that he does with Big Boss, where the character’s legend both within and outside of the game is used to obfuscate the true nature of the man. In Emmerich’s case, the positive legacy of Otacon is used to initially trick players into sympathizing with Huey. The two men may look and sound nearly identical, but they are radically different individuals on an emotional and ethical level.
While Otacon strives to use his intellect and scientific passion to make the world a better place, Huey is… possibly a murderous, conniving, pathological liar. Or at least that is what Huey is accused of at his trial near the end of MGSV.
I must admit that I was pro-Huey for most of the game. I figured Kaz was being a raging nut-job as usual, and scapegoating a helpless, paralyzed sad sack like Huey was typical of a man so blinded by a desire for revenge. It wasn’t until the evidence was laid out at the trial that I thought Kaz might actually be on to something. Maybe it was just my affection for Otacon that lead me to trust a man who somehow had the unique capabilities to do lots of horrible things and seemed to chronically be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yet I still can’t say for certain that Huey is guilty. There is a lot of evidence lined up against him, but the vast majority of it is circumstantial, with arguably only a single “smoking gun” to be found on one of his (admittedly abundant) charges. Maybe Huey is an absolutely horrible person who uses his sympathetic and familiar demeanor to cloak his crimes. Or maybe Huey is just an odd-ball who doesn’t fit into the testosterone-fueled world of private warfare, and is being unfairly targeted by angry, disaffected soldiers desperate to find an outlet for their rage.
Huey does get a trial in MGSV, but it can hardly be called objective. So I want to give Huey another trial. I will list Huey’s charges and provide evidence-based arguments for and against each count.
The Charges against Huey Emmerich
Charge 1
Huey assisted Skull Face and XOF in ambushing Mother Base and destroying Militairses Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Charge 2
Huey voluntarily designed Metal Gear Sahelanthropus for Skull Face
Charge 3
Huey murdered Dr. Strangelove
Charge 4
Huey assisted Eli and his subordinates in reconstructing and stealing Metal Gear Sahelanthropus from Diamond Dogs
Charge 5
Huey altered the wolbachia present in Diamond Dogs personnel so as to trigger a second English vocal cord parasite outbreak on Mother Base
Charge 1 – Huey assisted Skull Face and XOF in ambushing Mother Base and destroying Militairses Sans Frontieres (MSF)
The Case for Guilty:
Skull Face launched his ambush to destroy MSF on the night of a planned United Nations nuclear weapons inspection of Mother Base. Since MSF actually did have weapons, Big Boss ordered Mother Base to hide its nuke and other illicit defensive capabilities, including Metal Gear Zeke, under water where they could neither be seen by the UN nor used for security purposes. Meanwhile, Big Boss was deployed to Camp Omega to rescue Chico and reacquire Paz. Thus, Mother Base’s guard was down and XOF had a perfect opportunity to assault the base.
Despite not technically being a member of MSF’s leadership, Huey took the initiative to invite the UN to inspect Mother Base for nuclear weapons against the explicit plans of Big Boss and Kaz. Why was Huey so enthusiastic about this plan? After all, he’s a weapon development specialist, not a commander or diplomat. This sort of matter shouldn’t concern him at all, let alone be under his discretion.
Conveniently, while Big Boss was deployed to Camp Omega and Kaz was on mission support-duty in a helicopter, Huey was left to make preparations for the UN inspection on Mother Base. Perhaps if a competent military commander were in Huey’s position, he could have noticed XOF’s incoming attack or mounted some sort of defense, but instead mighty MSF was swiftly destroyed.
Despite being on the base at the time of the attack, and Mother Base literally being sunk into the ocean, Huey somehow managed to survive. Huey is a wheel chair-bound paraplegic! How exactly did he wheel his ass off a sinking platform in the middle of the ocean while under fire from XOF commandos unless he was in on the operation?
Another mysterious convenience for Huey – Dr. Strangelove (who everyone knows Huey was in love with) left Mother Base on the eve of the attack. She would not only go on to work for Cipher on Zero’s AIs, but also for Skull Face with Huey on Sahelanthropus. Perhaps she was part of whatever deal Huey made with Skull Face. Or maybe she had no idea about the deal, but Huey somehow made her leave anyway.
Huey must have made a deal with Skull Face prior to Ground Zeroes. They concocted this plan to create an opening for XOF’s assault knowing full well that Big Boss would be sent to capture Paz, who would be rigged with a bomb to ensure Big Boss’s death, and that Huey would be left in charge of a defenseless Mother Base. After the ambush, Huey then proceeded to work for Skull Face for nine years. He’s given enormous funds and resources to work on Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, a dream project for tech-head like Huey.
The Case for Innocent:
Where’s the motive? Huey was rescued by Big Boss and co. during Peace Walker and was welcomed into MSF’s ranks. He served MSF loyally, building Metal Gear Zeke and running its weapons development department. The fact that Big Boss and Kaz let Huey get away with requesting the UN weapon inspection without their permission indicates that Huey was apparently valued within MSF, if not a de facto high ranking member within the organization by Ground Zeroes. And keep in mind that Huey lost Metal Gear Zeke, one of his greatest creations, in the destruction of MSF.
Huey pushed the UN inspection because he genuinely thought it would benefit MSF. The organization was under immense international scrutiny after Peace Walker, so what better way to demonstrate MSF’s innocence than by inviting the international community to perform an inspection? Huey didn’t even want MSF to get a nuke in the first place! He may be a scientist, but he still has ideals and aspirations.
If Huey truly doesn’t care about anything besides making cool weapons, then why not do so for MSF? After all, it was a fast-growing organization that valued his work. It may not have been a super power, but it was well-funded enough to build endless platforms in the ocean and its very own metal gear. Huey would have plenty of respect and resources working for MSF, and whatever problems he might have with the organization, Kaz, or Big Boss, it couldn’t have been bad enough for Huey to want to kill them all and work for a monster like Skull Face.
Although this will be discussed more in Charge 2, Huey didn’t appear to be a willing employee of Skull Face after Ground Zeroes. He was a prisoner, likely scooped up by Skull Face after MSF’s destruction due to his Metal Gear expertise. Therefore we can’t attribute his long-term employment as evidence of collusion.
Is Huey really so murderous and conniving as to participate in such a horrible operation? Sure, he might stretch the truth from time to time to protect himself, but could this meek scientist really embark on a plan to help murder hundreds of his comrades? That seems more than a little extreme, even by Metal Gear standards.
Charge 2 – Huey voluntarily designed Metal Gear Sahelanthropus for Skull Face
The Case for Guilty:
It is an undeniable fact that Huey designed and built Sahelanthropus for Skull Face. The real question is whether he did it willingly (for whatever reason) or if he was coerced.
It’s difficult to gage Huey’s motives, but one thing is for certain: he loves building machines. He practically drools when revealing Battle Gear to Venom and when Sahelanthropus gets brought to Mother Base. He’s a tech head who seems to perpetually risk his life every day to work with a bunch of blood thirsty mercenaries in the middle nowhere just so he can build another war machine. Working for MSF was probably nice, but there is no organization out there with better funding and greater ambitions than Cipher. Huey was even permitted to use Cipher’s resources to build his very own mechanical legs. While it’s possible that Huey was eventually frightened by Skull Face’s plans, that doesn’t mean he didn’t embrace the opportunity to work on a dream project with limitless funding for nine years.
For a specific example of Huey’s crazed obsession for robot building, look no further than the treatment of his own son. Huey willingly used his infant child to test Sahelanthropus’s piloting capacities. This is quite a dangerous thing to do even under ideal circumstances, but to willingly do so while being employed/enslaved by a monster like Skull Face with an untested prototype is madness.
And nine years is a really long time to be a prisoner. Could he really not escape at any point? So maybe Huey couldn’t build himself some sort of weaponized exoskeleton to escape like Iron Man, but still, it’s hard to believe that Huey was coerced into working for Skull Face for all that time. Was there really no way to escape? No one else in the world could rescue a disgruntled military technology genius? Friends? Family? Other military organizations? It didn’t seem that hard for Venom Snake to do it.
Besides Huey’s engineering ambitions, he had another obvious motivation for working with Skull Face: a reunion with his crush, Dr. Strangelove. Everyone knew Huey was helplessly in love with her. We don’t know exactly what sort of dealings might have gone down between Huey and Skull Face, but we can infer that Skull Face offered to bring Strangelove on board to incentivize Huey. After all, Dr. Strangelove worked for Cipher before Skull Face took over for Zero (she built the AIs to simulate Zero’s will), so it can be reasonably expected that Skull Face would transfer her to work on Sahelanthropus.
An even more devious hypothesis is that Huey helped Skull Face because he knew he could ask Skull Face to requisition (voluntarily or not) Strangelove for the sake of his AI research.
It’s true that Huey eventually asked Diamond Dogs to rescue him from Cipher, but maybe that’s just because Huey knew the Sahelanthropus project was close to completion, and given his insight into Skull Face’s nature, Huey thought he was in danger. But that doesn’t mean that the vast majority of Huey’s work with Cipher wasn’t voluntary.
The Case for Innocent:
Huey never voluntarily worked for Skull Face. He was kept as a slave for nine years and forced to work on Sahelanthropus under the threat of physical torture, his own death, and the death of loved ones.
The best piece of evidence for Huey’s case is that he himself asked to be rescued from Skull Face. It simply doesn’t make sense that Huey would want to leave Cipher if his work on Sahelanthropus had been voluntary. Even if Huey was close to finishing Sahelanthropus, it doesn’t make much sense for Skull Face to dispose of such a valuable asset who could be used to work on future projects. Besides, by the time Huey was rescued it was quite clear that he wasn’t being kept in the loop by Skull Face. Huey had no idea that Skull Face had figured out a way to pilot Sahelanthropus without either an AI or human pilot. By solving this part of Sahelnthropus’s design on his own, Skull Face had essentially eliminated any further use for Huey at Cipher, and would surely kill him soon, like any other prisoner who had out lived his usefulness.
When Venom Snake first sees Huey in Afghanistan he is being mistreated. Skull Face gleefully beats Huey and cripples him by breaking his mechanical legs. Then he leaves Huey locked in a warehouse under guard, clearly aware of Huey’s intentions to escape Cipher. Again, this is hardly the conduct of a voluntarily work relationship.
But what if all of this was just the result of short term developments in the relationship between Huey and Cipher?
Based on what we know about Skull Face, it is doubtlessly within the range of his cruelty to enslave a man like Huey indefinitely. Sure, Skull Face might allow Huey to develop his own pair of mechanical legs for the sake of mobility and work efficiency, but a nihilist like Skull Face would have no qualms about threatening and/or torturing subjects into submission.
More specifically, we know that Huey had a child while working under Skull Face, and that the baby was taken away at some point. It could potentially be argued that the baby was sent off to live somewhere safer, but it is far more likely that the child was kidnapped by Skull Face and held as a hostage, as Huey himself claims. Likewise, Huey’s affection for Dr. Strangelove also made her an explicit or implicit hostage for Huey.
Beyond any evidence of coercion, it’s just plain bizarre that Huey would voluntarily work for someone like Skull Face. Whatever problems one might have with Huey, he isn’t as evil as Skull Face. It seems unlikely that Huey would want to murder 5% of the earth’s population with parasites, or create a global nuclear crisis. Sure, Huey might like building robots, but surely even he would realize the dangers of putting such tools in the hands of Cipher.
Charge 3 – Huey murdered Dr. Strangelove
The Case for Guilty:
Of all of the charges brought against Huey, the murder of Dr. Strangelove is the clearest-cut case. The Boss AI’s recording of Dr. Strangelove’s final moments offer a piece of smoking gun evidence as to Huey’s guilt:
“Open this thing! Huey! Damn it Huey! Open it now! Please…Let me out…Kill me…If only I tried to get out sooner…Perhaps I’d have made it. Why didn’t I stop the hatch from closing? Even if it meant losing an arm? Well, I guess I’ll…stay a while
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Summer Montabone, a personal trainer and the owner of a local gym who runs Team VIP (Very Impressive Physique), a coaching group for bikini competitors. “You knew she was an athlete,” says Montabone, who is still Kaltwasser’s competition coach. These days Kaltwasser works out six days a week, doing an hour of weightlifting and a half-hour on a cardio machine when she’s preparing for a show. Sometimes she’ll do another session of cardio in the evenings. Kaltwasser doesn’t have a boyfriend. In high school, boys were intimidated by her. “You could just feel the atmosphere change when she was around,” her former running coach tells me. “She’s so hardworking and so dominant in whatever she does.” This is the part of Kaltwasser that made her a track star, and it’s what makes her a bikini competitor now. Even on the amateur level, a lot of competitors are like Kaltwasser. They have the mind-sets of CEOs; they push themselves to extremes in all aspects of their lives. Bikini competitions are seductive to these kinds of women: They seem to promise that perfection is possible if you put in the work. As Liz Ortiz, an Army soldier, bikini competitor, and mother of three told me, “I set my standards so high, and [competing] is just part of that.” Kaltwasser’s competitive drive has propelled her to the top in very little time. She was a rookie when she won last year’s Olympia, an event that has grown from a three-man competition at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1965 to become the fitness industry’s Super Bowl, a four-day event in Las Vegas that draws more than 55,000 fans. Since last year’s Olympia, Kaltwasser has entered six shows and won five. She estimates that she’s earned over $100,000 in prize money, along with endorsement deals, modeling gigs, and paid appearances. She has the forgivable egotism of a small-town girl who’s still a little starstruck by her own life. “Winning the Olympia changed everything for me,” she says. “Who goes to seven countries in a year?” She liked Sweden the most because there were no “trashy areas, no homeless people.” She’s still learning how to talk to the press. “When I don’t know what else to do, I smile,” she says.
This year she’s trying for something that no bikini competitor has done yet: win the Olympia twice. Her biggest threat is Yeshaira Robles, another relative newcomer. On paper, the two women couldn’t be more different. Kaltwasser curls her eyelashes and wears matching workout clothes. She loves cats and calls her father “Daddy.” She doesn’t curse and she only likes the kind of rap that plays on the radio. Robles is a 35-year-old Puerto Rican from the Bronx. She’s got a husband and a daughter and a smoldering gaze that makes her opponents look like they’re posing for elementary school portraits. If Kaltwasser is Hannah Montana, Robles is Miley with a sledgehammer in hand. Kaltwasser (@ashleykfit) is starting the weekend with 80,000 followers on Instagram, the majority of whom came after last year’s Olympia. She’s hoping to break 100,000 this time, which will likely only happen if she wins. Many bikini competitors use Instagram like a high school cafeteria, chatting, bragging, stirring up drama, gushing about their “swolemates,” all with plenty of emojis and exclamation points. But Kaltwasser and her fellow Olympia competitors are pros. They’re building brands, not making friends. Their images are more polished, the self-promotion more blatant. They have endorsement deals that require them to post about their sponsors. Kaltwasser, for example, has agreements with Gaspari supplements, Muscle Egg liquid egg whites, Liquid Sun Rayz spray tanning, FitnessRx for Women magazine, and Better Bodies fitness apparel.
Photograph by Ty Wright for BuzzFeed News Kaltwasser checks her Instagram while at the gym.
For Kaltwasser, social media outlets like Instagram have brought exposure, but they’ve brought critics too. Those followers can determine whether she gets a sponsorship or modeling gig; they can determine the future of her career. “I try not to go out in public without my makeup on because you never know when someone’s going to ask for a picture, and then it’ll be on Instagram,” she says. Her Instagram has plenty of beauty shots, most of which feature her prominent glutes. Recently she’s been hard-selling Fuel Meals, a food service that ships premade meals tailored to bodybuilders’ diets. Still she tries not to come across as an adbot in a bikini. Her account also features dogs in sweaters and a photo of herself in a pepperoni-pizza-print onesie. It makes sense that bikini competitors and wannabes would flock to Instagram, a female-dominated social media platform where image matters most. Their presence there is hard to ignore; it’s turned the site into a 24-7 forum for tips and tricks. Competitors’ accounts are littered with questions, some from girls as young as 14: “How many calories and carbs do you eat and stay this lean?” “How can you get veins on your abs?” “What does your typical diet consist of?” “What moves are you doing to get all that hammie definition?” “How do you dry ure stomache out like that????” “What sorts of things do you eat? And how many meals a day?” “What are your butt workouts??” In her hotel room that afternoon, Kaltwasser opens the mini-fridge and plucks a doggie bag of mush from a mound of other bags. She brought enough meals for the whole trip, divided and frozen. There’s little variation: chicken, sweet potato, asparagus, broccoli. Ground oats and egg whites cooked into patties. She often eats things cold right out of the bag. “I like the taste of simple food,” she says. “I never really want to eat crap.” “Abs are made in the kitchen” is another much-repeated Instagram line. Bikini competitors’ feeds showcase elaborate meal preps, and debates rage on about the etiquette of taking your food scale to a restaurant. Some competitors stick to strict quantities of protein, fats, and carbohydrates, which they tweak obsessively in the weeks leading up to a show. Kaltwasser doesn’t track her calories or grams. She follows a meal plan that she writes herself with Montabone’s help. She eats six or seven small meals a day and drinks two gallons of water. She cuts out sodium the week before her shows and drinks cups of dandelion root tea, a natural diuretic. She “eats clean” but doesn’t worry about things like pesticides or artificial sweeteners. She likes the blue packets more than the pink. The yellow ones are just OK. Real sugar is not a concept she knows. After every show, she allows herself to have a cheat meal. Right now she’s craving salad, one with the works: apples, cranberries, walnuts, and blue cheese dressing. “A real salad,” she says.
Photograph Ty Wright for BuzzFeed News
Kaltwasser doesn’t measure her body-fat percentage, but she estimates that it’s between 10 and 12% — well below the 21 to 32% that experts recommend for women her age, though not unheard of for a competitive athlete. She gains a few pounds in the off-season but emphasizes that the bikini body is supposed to be maintainable. “It’s a livable lifestyle,” she likes to say. Not everyone agrees. “People see photos of competitors and think that’s how they look year-round,” says Layne Norton, a bodybuilding coach in Florida. Norton has a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences and considers himself a renegade for his less restrictive approach to dieting. According to him, “stage-lean” is a fleeting state, one that women peak for just like any athlete peaks for a competition. The idea that anyone can maintain that kind of physique has created a black market of sorts in the coaching industry. It can seem like every bikini competitor on Instagram sells a “bikini body” diet and workout plan. Some of these women have certifications but most probably don’t. “It’s gotten really terrible,” says Norton. “A girl goes and wins a show and has abs and so now she’s a coach to make money.”
These coaches can wreak havoc on their clients’ lives. Ruthie Harrison is 5-foot-10, blonde-haired and blue-eyed with a disturbingly symmetrical face. She looks like a fitness model because she is. For nearly a year and a half, she was also a client of Momma Bombshell, aka Shannon Dey of Bombshell Fitness. Harrison, who is 25 now and works as a mechanical engineer, signed up with Team Bombshell in 2011. “I saw all these photos of women in bikinis on her website and thought, Wow, if I could be a part of that, that would be really cool.” The meal plan took some getting used to — she had never measured cups of rice or counted asparagus spears before, and she didn’t understand why salt and seasonings were forbidden (spices cause cravings, she was later told). “[Dey] would always tell everyone, ‘Follow the plan, stick to the plan,’ and if you asked why she’d say, ‘Why are you asking why; just do it. Your mind’s in the wrong place if you’re asking why.'” Harrison’s training plan had her doing an hour and a half of cardio six days a week on top of weight training five days a week. All told, each day she was spending three to five hours at the gym and eating an estimated 1,500 calories. Sometimes she’d fall asleep at the table in front of her last meal of the night — a tiny steak and salad greens. Harrison says Dey had her clients wear rubber corsets called Squeems, meant to narrow women’s waists. “We wore them all day,” she says. Dey says that if Harrison was spending that much time in the gym, it was “due to her own physical limitations, not our recommended plans.” (The Bombshell website refers to a workout program of one and a half to three hours a day of gym time, five to six days per week.) Dey doesn't recall Harrison’s meal plan, but says that a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet was not uncommon during prep. She recommends Squeems to clients, she says, because “they have proven very effective in creating the hourglass shape competitors desire.” Harrison went pro within a year of joining Dey’s team. She lived for the trophies and for Dey’s positive feedback week after week. But she also developed a secret habit of binging and purging, which only got worse the better she performed. After one show, she spent a week in total isolation, eating and throwing up seven times a day. When Harrison qualified for the Olympia in 2012, she realized she couldn’t survive another prep. She confessed everything to Dey, who told her she was having a reaction to “a self-imagined stress.” Harrison competed in the 2012 Olympia in the midst of a full-blown eating disorder and didn’t place.
Layne Norton, the coach from Florida, says he’s seen “an enormous amount of women who had normal relationships with food before fitness start to have eating disorders.”
Dey confirms that she and Harrison spoke “at length” about Harrison’s eating disorder, and that she may have told Harrison that she was putting too much pressure on herself. When asked about the prevalence of eating disorders among her other clients, Dey wrote: “Several studies have shown that eating disorders are not a result of calorie restriction, rather they are often triggered by trauma and stress... In a sport where much of the emphasis is on food manipulation, individuals who have such issues to begin with may find dealing with these issues while manipulating food to prove difficult.” But Layne Norton, the coach from Florida, says he’s seen “an enormous amount of women who had normal relationships with food before fitness start to have eating disorders.” He estimates that up to 70% of the women who come to him have had an eating disorder in the past. Harrison stopped competing after the 2012 Olympia, and things got worse for a while. “I had no idea how to eat on my own,” she says. Eventually she found a therapist who helped her see how much she’d let competing affect her self-image. Last year she wrote a blog post about her experience on Team Bombshell. “Competing brought out a savage underlying weakness,” she wrote, “to sacrifice all happiness and reason for the sake of succeeding.” According to Harrison, Dey asked her to take it down. Harrison refused, though she did remove some details about her time as a Bombshell.
Photograph by Ty Wright for BuzzFeed News
Many bodybuilders, whether they realize it or not, share this idea that their physiques reflect their morals, their work ethic, and ultimately their self-worth. It’s a notion that’s as old as the Greeks and that crops up everywhere from Bible verses to Renaissance philosophy to the weight room — and now social media. The semi-naked selfies on Instagram mean more than “Look at my body.” They mean, “Look at my dedication. Look at my discipline. I am a better person for this.” It’s common for these women to testify about booze, partying, and bad relationships forsaken for the morality of the gym. “The only bar I’m hitting,” says the caption under a photo of a squat rack. “Getting wheysted,” says the label on the protein shake. Kaltwasser’s physique is her product and her livelihood, and she’s under enormous pressure to maintain it. Despite this, she says she doesn’t have a history of eating disorders and that she’s indebted to her coach for all she’s done. She talks about starting her own training and nutrition business when her career on the stage is over. “Right now I feel like I’m building up credentials,” she says. “When the time comes and I can’t compete anymore, they’ll look at my resume and it will make me seem more credible.”
Photograph by Ty Wright for BuzzFeed News
Kaltwasser eats her second-to-last meal of the night before the final at a “Meet the Olympians” event — four ounces of chicken and half an avocado mashed together. There’s a steady flow of visitors to her table, but nothing like the crowds who line up to meet reigning Mr. Olympia Phil “The Gift” Heath and his rival Kai Greene. The hours wear on and Kaltwasser is clearly ready to go. Still, she smiles, signs photos, applies and reapplies lip gloss. It’s past 10 at night by the time she gets to the ninth-floor hotel room, where the illicit spray tanners have set up shop. Kaltwasser’s face is bare and freckled, and in her track suit she looks like the high-school runner she once was. Hotel management strictly forbids tanning in the rooms, so one woman keeps her eye on the peephole while another hoses a naked Kaltwasser with a spray gun attached to a turbine while she stands in a tent-like pod. In the room next door, a half-dozen women in bathrobes wait their turn. They eat out of Tupperwares and scroll on their phones. The Biggest Loser blares on TV, and it’s hard not to see a parallel world: the dieting, their exercise regimens, the obsession we seem to have with watching bodies transform.
Bodybuilding forums are full of complaints about “protein farts,” and, in the crush of the expo floor, the problem is clear.
To walk through the Olympia Expo, which sprawls across the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, is to do battle with an army of broad shoulders, tens of thousands strong. Women in tight-fitting fitness garb stand with trays of protein bites. Ice cream machines churn out protein soft-serve; Sylvester Stallone promotes protein candy chews. This is maybe the only place in the world where you will ever sidestep someone throwing up from too many protein samples. Bodybuilding forums are full of complaints about “protein farts,” and, in the crush of the expo floor, the problem is clear. Stallone is whisked around by bodyguards and hidden behind sunglasses and a frozen smirk, but miraculously Jen Selter (@jenselter), the “Butt Selfie (or #belfie) Queen" of Instagram, is standing alone, almost blending into the crowd with her velvet sweatpants and her Louis Vuitton bag. Selter, who has more Instagram followers than all the bikini pros at the Olympia combined — 5.1 million — says that she has a lot of respect for the bikini division and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of competing one day. “I love that clean, healthy lifestyle,” she explains. According to Kaltwasser, Selter would probably not do well in a bikini competition. “Symmetry is important,” she tells me, tactfully. Prejudging for the women’s divisions happens on Friday morning, on a makeshift stage near a booth selling Isobags, which are the most intense lunch boxes you’ve ever seen. Kaltwasser has been up since 5, doing the tanning, the makeup, the hair routine. She’s eaten mostly carbs today — rice cakes, oats. The glycogen from the sugar will fill out her muscles in these last crucial hours. She’s in a silk bathrobe with her name embroidered across the back above the words “IFBB Pro.” She opens the bathrobe to reveal a tanned, waxed body and the bikini: emerald, her trademark color, and studded with first-cut Swarovski crystals. Kaltwasser says it’s worth about $3,000 but the company gave it to her for free, along with some serious bling for her fingers and wrists. Kaltwasser is jittery as she puts the final touches on her makeup. For her and the other bikini competitors, prejudging is the most important part of the day. It’s when the judges make their decisions, and those decisions rarely change at the finals show. The women are judged on their bodies, of course, but also on their walks, their smiles, their skin tones, and how they interact with the judges. “Hooker makeup” will detract from the score, they tell me. Kaltwasser’s weakness is her presentation. Sometimes her legs shake or she forgets to smile. “I get nervous because I care so much,” she says. The competitors strut out one by one and pose to a frenetic mash-up of club songs. They’re allowed to pose however they want to show off their figures, and the results are sometimes bizarre to the untrained eye — hips popped out, waists dramatically torqued, backs arched and legs spread like a farm animal doing its business. Butt-wiggling and shoulder-shimmying are frowned upon, one judge tells me, but they happen a lot.
Photograph by Isaac Hinds
There are 27 women — more than any other division, men’s or women’s — at the Olympia. If you’ve only seen these women on Instagram, the most remarkable thing about seeing them onstage is how small they are in real life. Kaltwasser is one of the tallest at 5-foot-5. Onstage they all wear clear, sky-high heels. Yeshaira Robles comes out toward the end in a pink suit with gold-highlighted hair. She looks ripped and gorgeous, of course, but maybe a teensy bit bored. Her gaze doesn’t smolder so much as say, “Just give me the trophy and let’s get this over with.” Because she’s the defending champion, Kaltwasser goes last. She looks poised and confident. Her legs stay steady, even when she crosses them for the back pose. There’s something refreshing about her routine; she doesn’t wink or pout at the judges but keeps her smile wide. The judges bring six women to the center, including Kaltwasser and Robles. This is first callouts, and it means these are the six women in the running for a top spot. The judges move the women around to compare them. Robles gets moved to the far end — that means she’s out of the running for first. Kaltwasser gets moved to the middle. They move a first-time Olympia competitor named Janet Layug next to her. The thing everyone seems to know about Layug is that she won a Hooters pageant of some kind earlier this year. She’s stunning in a Victoria’s Secret runway model-type way, long and lean with a face that one webcast commentator described as “a pillar of beauty.” She poses with a winner’s cockiness, smiling just enough to show she’s having a good time. Here, next to Layug, Kaltwasser looks almost (almost) stocky, her smile like Miss Ohio’s at the state fair. “[Layug] had the stage presence that I didn’t have,” Kaltwasser tells me later. Based on prejudging, Kaltwasser thinks she has a spot in the top two, but second won’t make history. She spends the afternoon glued to her iPhone, reading comments and predictions on social media. All the events are live-streaming, and people are weighing in from around the world. A popular bodybuilding Twitter account @musclephone thinks Kaltwasser “won it from the back,” but will the judges agree? Kaltwasser’s manager is J.M. Manion, owner of the Fitness Management Group and a man whose influence in the bodybuilding world is both obvious and hard to quantify. His father, Jim Manion, is president of the IFBB Pro League in the U.S. The younger Manion manages not only Kaltwasser but also Robles, Layug, and every other top contender at the Bikini Olympia. Every Bikini Olympia winner since the division began was managed by Manion at some point in her career. It seems like an unspoken rule that no one has a shot at the top spot until they sign with FMG. Manion’s email address is also registered as the owner of two active porn sites devoted to IFBB competitors. One, called “Lacey D.” (tagline: “For All Of You To See”), features Lacey DeLuca, an FMG client who competed alongside Kaltwasser on the Bikini Olympia stage. According to DeLuca, 26, Manion photographed her for his porn site in 2012, soon after she became a bikini pro. “Everything that J.M. does with me like that is very classy,” she says. She adds that, as a manager, Manion “always steers us in the right direction,” telling them which shows to enter and which to avoid. DeLuca declined to comment on whether she's seen any profits from "Lacey D." Manion did not respond for comment about the relationship between his bikini competition endeavors and his pornographic ones. The bikini division is a blatant attempt to revive the sex appeal that women’s bodybuilding had in its early days, before a steroid-fueled arms race turned the division into a carnival show of the impossibly huge. Back then, most female bodybuilders looked like the women in the bikini division today. For evidence, look no further than 1985’s Pumping Iron II: The Women, hornball sequel to Pumping Iron, the film that helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger a star. For over an hour and a half, the camera ogles them up and down: in spandex at the gym, in bikinis by the pool, naked in a communal shower, all set to a synth-pop soundtrack. “Well I’ve always considered myself a powder puff, but I consider myself a really strong powder puff,” says one woman who looks like Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. “Got to get that fat off,” says a male trainer to another competitor. He pushes her through some T-bar rows, then they make out. Iris Kyle, the 10-time Ms. Olympia whose quads are thicker than most horses’, is not going to get a GQ spread anytime soon, but Ashley Kaltwasser very well could. (Standing behind her at the podium, the male emcee jokes about having “the best seat in the house.”) Kaltwasser got breast implants in 2011, not long after she started competing. Most women at the pro level do, because, as Kaltwasser put it, “when your body fat gets down, your boobs go.” Kaltwasser wanted to stay athletic-looking and she was aware that the judges don’t go for the “bimbo look,” so she went for a sensible D-cup. But she also says she’s not interested in being a sex symbol for guys. “What are boys? I’m all about the Olympia,” she jokes. The posing, the getup, the hour-long makeup routine: She treats it as seriously as the training and the diet. She treats it all like a job, because it is. When I ask if there's a hookup scene at the Olympia, she gives me a strange look. “Probably [among] the fans,” she says.
Photograph by Isaac Hinds / Via hardbodynews.com
A few hours after the morning’s prejudging, Kaltwasser heads to the arena for the bikini finals. Tonight’s show feels a bit like a warm-up to Saturday, when Phil Heath and rival Kai Greene will pack the arena with fans paying over $200 a seat. But the arena still sparkles with smartphone flashes, and the TV cameras swoop and soar. NBC’s sports channel is planning to air two 90-minute specials about this year’s Mr. Olympia, the competition’s first major television coverage in 30 years. As the bikini competitors parade out one by one under the bright lights, I can see why Kaltwasser calls these competitions “Miss America for the fit girl.” It is a pageant in its purest form, a beauty contest without any of that fuss over saving sea lions and tap dancing. And the women are lovely, but the whole thing is a little mind-numbing. Twenty-seven pairs of breasts, round and high, twenty-seven flat bellies, twenty-seven winning smiles. Say what you will about performance-enhancing drugs; the most arresting moment of the night was watching a strapping, square-jawed female bodybuilder lip-synch to Cat Power's cover of “Sea of Love.” Kaltwasser looks relaxed onstage, strutting and posing to the brassy beat of “Timber” and working her All-American, girl-next-door vibe. When it comes time to award the top six, Robles takes fourth, smiling gamely. Layug and Kaltwasser are the final two. When the emcee names Layug as the runner-up, Kaltwasser gasps and starts clapping just a second too soon.
Photograph by Isaac Hinds / Via hardbodynews.com
Commentators on Bodybuilding.com’s live wrap-up remark that the judges went for the athlete over the model, that Kaltwasser’s body is setting an attainable standard, and that this is a good thing for the sport. But they’re wrong. There will never be a truly mainstream physique on a professional bodybuilding stage, because there’s simply no place for “maintainable” in a world where bodies must be built, sculpted, and improved. It’s the bodybuilding mind-set, the body reflecting the inner self, that’s gone mainstream, not the other way around. From the smoking balcony of The Orleans Arena you can see the whole Strip, all that sparkle and sex laid out from head to toe. Inside, Kaltwasser will stand for the next two hours in her green bikini and heels, giving interviews to NBC and the muscle press. Tomorrow she’ll work all day at her sponsors’ expo booths; she’ll go to the Victory Gala and eat her real salad and some rolls with butter too. Sunday she’ll get back in her bikini and pose for a Norwegian magazine, then she’ll drive to a Gold’s Gym and do hamstring exercises for another photo shoot. This year she may not have an off-season at all. From Vegas she flies straight to South Korea for the Korea Pro. Then there’s a competition in Russia in November. (She will win them both.) The 2015 season starts three months later with the Arnold Classic. But, for now, all Kaltwasser has to do is raise her arms up and smile. Stars glitter on the screen behind her as another pop song plays. She’ll get $25,000 for her win, the most ever awarded to a bikini competitor. In a Bodybuilding.com wrap-up video, Kaltwasser will say that her goal is to prove that the bikini division is about more than “genetics and diet and cardio.” “I know firsthand we’re athletes,” she’ll say. “I’ve worked for this body my whole life.” By this time tomorrow, her Instagram followers will hit 100,000.
Photograph by Isaac Hinds / Via hardbodynews.comHey everyone – this morning it’s a DOUBLE review again! Wheeee!
*\(OUO)/*
I’m all coffee-d up and ready to go! Since these are really popular products and a lot of people in the AB community have talked about these or tried these already, what I’ll do is quickly showcase the products and give you my two cents, and then tomorrow I’ll follow up with a FOTD using both products. Here we go!
Both come in tubes with pumps (YESSSS). The BB cream is 50ml and the Boomer is 40ml. Now, I’ve used these for about a couple weeks, but then I stopped using them a month ago when I got other BB creams to try out. I have to start doing a rotation now, I have too many, haha! But I do love these two in combination, in particular. They’re a great, basic BB cream/primer duo that does the job and won’t break the bank.
I bought shade #21 in the BB cream. It’s a great match for someone around NC15-20, I’d say. The Boomer only has one shade, of course.
I love the packaging of the Boomer – it feels luxe in your hand. The tube is a matte finish and feels well-made, with little iridescent patterns that reflect its contents.
So this primer isn’t what some people are looking for in a primer. What it does is increase the longevity of your makeup, give your foundation/BB cream a glowy boost, and keeps moisture in your skin. It doesn’t claim to fill in your pores, so don’t expect it to!
INGREDIENTS:
Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Arbutin, Sodium Chloride, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Quaternium-18 Hectorite, Acrylates/Dimethicone Copolymer, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Adenosine, Talc, Aluminium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Chrysanthemum Morifolium Flower Extract, Coral Powder, Diamond Powder, Mannan, Squalane, Moringa Pterygosperma Seed Oil, Platinum Powder, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Amethyst Powder, Pearl Powder, Tourmaline, Alcohol Denat, Tocopherol, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Chlorphenesin, Propylparaben, Ethylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium EDTA, Benzyl Benzoate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Geraniol, Linalool, Coumarin, Citronellol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone.
On CosDNA, the following were flagged for irritation/acne: Butylene glycol, Talc, Stearic acid, Squalane, Tocopherol, Alcohol denatured.
One pump is usually enough to cover your entire face. Here I only pumped a little out since my hand is much smaller:
OHHH my gosh you guys – can you SEE the iridescence of it?! Isn’t this amazing?!!!
WOW. JUST WOW.
This doesn’t take too long to absorb and it’s very easy to spread. It feels like lotion and it smells kind of like baby powder, IMO. Hopefully you don’t mind baby powder. Missha loves to heavily scent their products, so if you don’t like fragrance, STAY AWAY. The Boomer’s fragrance diminishes a little bit once it’s absorbed, but not by much.
It makes my skin look smooth and hydrated!
Alright, and here’s the BB cream:
INGREDIENTS:
Water(Aqua), Cyclomethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Zinc Oxide, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Mineral Oil, Phenyl Trimethicone, Talc, Arbutin, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Dimethicone, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Squalane, Adenosine, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Polyethylene, Beeswax(Cera Alba), Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Caviar Extract, Algae Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Fagus Sylvatica Bud Extract, Ceramide 3, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance(Parfum), Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxycitronellal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Citronellol MAY CONTAIN[+/-; Titanium Dioxide(CI 77891), Iron Oxides(CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)]
From CosDNA, the following ingredients were flagged as a 1 for irritation/acne: Zinc oxide, Talc, Dimethicone, Squalane, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil.
This tube has a shiny finish that’s easy to spread fingerprints around on, but it’s nice and sturdy and feels like a good-quality tube.
So you guys, right off the bat – this is even more fragranced than the Boomer. It’s a heavy floral perfume scent that stays quite a long time on your face afterwards. It takes a while to dissipate, so if you don’t like that kind of thing, I wouldn’t recommend getting this BB cream!
These caps are easy to get dirty if you’re not careful.
Here’s about a half pump of the BB cream:
A little goes a long way:
It’s very easy to blend out. Extremely easy. It’s not too thick and not too runny. Feels moisturizing on my skin, but it can get cakey quick if you aren’t careful with your layering. This BB cream isn’t the best one for layering, IMO. It can be tricky. But it’s moisturizing on my skin and it makes my face feel BABY SOFT. No joke.
It has a good solid medium coverage. It covers my freckles (all but the darkest ones) and pigmentation, takes out the redness and evens my skin tone. On my hand it has covered my veins and evened it out very well.
I’d say it has a satin finish, leaning towards dewy. It’s not as dewy as other BB creams I have, but it’s definitely not matte. It looks fairly natural on the skin, and with the Boomer underneath it gives you a natural glow.
Staying power with the BB cream is pretty good, especially in combination with the Boomer. Using both, it lasts me an entire workday without touch-ups. I never used powder with this BB cream… it just didn’t seem to be the kind that would take powder on top very well, but I could be wrong. I just never tried to in the first place. The finish didn’t call for any powder in my book, it doesn’t make me look too shiny. Just a nice healthy glow!
This is a nice work-horse BB cream that I think is a GREAT starter BB cream for those just delving into it. Plus, this BB cream comes in a wide variety of shades for an asian BB cream, so usually most people can find a shade that matches them.
All in all, usually most people online seem to be satisfied with these products, but I do think the heavy fragrance is a deal breaker for some.
I will say that one of the reasons I stopped using this in favor of my other ones temporarily is because I had a period with lots of breakouts (not due to these guys, but due to some skincare products I was trying at the time), and this one didn’t do the best in terms of making my blemishes seem less apparent (I had other BB creams that helped more). Now that my skin is pretty much clear again, I’m excited to give you guys that FOTD tomorrow with both of these guys!
So check out my recent haul post if you haven’t yet, and let me know in a comment or message what you’d like me to review next. And let me know what you think! Have any of you tried these? What was your experience?
❤ Bine Queen ❤Introduction
The X protocol C-language Binding (XCB) is a replacement for Xlib featuring a small footprint, latency hiding, direct access to the protocol, improved threading support, and extensibility.
News
March 2018: xcb-proto 1.13 and libxcb 1.13 were released. In addition to fixing bugs, this enables new and completed versions of some protocols.
May 2016: xcb-proto 1.12 and libxcb 1.12 were released.
September 2015: libxcb 1.11.1 was released. This fixes some thread-related issues and adds 64-bit versions of some APIs.
August 2014: xcb-proto 1.11 and libxcb 1.11 were released. This is again mostly a bug-fix release.
December 2013: xcb-proto 1.10 and libxcb 1.10 were released, this time mainly fixing some API and ABI issues introduced with libxcb 1.9.2. See the linked announcements for more details.
May 2013: libxcb 1.9.1 was released, fixing the python code to work with Python 3, and fixing an integer overflow in the read_packet()
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000 registered voters.
O'REILLY: Why is it a big story? Why is it a big story?
WIEHL: Because if these -- if ACORN and these other groups have actually registered people that either A, don't exist, or re-register and then have them come in, voting 17 or 20 or 78 times, that if in a close election, that is the election, Bill.
O'REILLY: OK. Now do you believe that's happening, Kelly?
KELLY: Oh, it's absolutely -- voter registration fraud is happening, period, end of report. It's happening in Ohio and elsewhere. There is no dispute, no matter what ACORN says about that.
Moreover, in the past week or so, we've had actual evidences -- evidence of voter fraud -- the actual fraud in the balloting, in the actual voting, through absentee balloting and otherwise. And we talked about it on Thursday with this college group -- the Palestra.net -- that went and unearthed this group vote from home. This isn't ACORN; this is something else that's in this house. People came from outside of the state, Democratic operatives, trying to register people to vote -- so far so good.
But then they decided they got so in the spirit, they decided to vote themselves, which is all well and good if you're an Ohio resident, but these people weren't.
O'REILLY: OK.
KELLY: They were from Ohio, and now, they're [unintelligible] back at Harvard.
O'REILLY: Now, the New York Post reported that story, Wiehl, and pretty extensively, they named names.
WIEHL: Right.
O'REILLY: I mean, they had names of people who went from New York to Ohio, said they were moving into the state, when they weren't, then as soon as they voted, they high-tailed it out of there. But The New York Times says this is bull.
WIEHL: No, absolutely not. Look, what the Post reported, and it's accurate is that 13 people were living -- in just one example -- 13 people living in a three-bedroom home. They had moved there -- "moved" -- for the campaign, and -- but the residence was back still in New York, to vote in Ohio.
Now the problem is, in prosecuting something like that, Bill, is you've got to go inside the mind of somebody. You've got to show intent -- that they intended never to ever live there in Ohio, to always come back to New York.
O'REILLY: But they're not in Ohio anymore. Most of them are gone.
WIEHL: That's right. That's right. But they were there when they voted.
KELLY: They claimed they didn't know the law, Bill.
O'REILLY: But, Kelly --
KELLY: But these were people were there to perform election work, to get people registered to vote. You're going to tell me they didn't understand registration law.
O'REILLY: But ACORN didn't have anything to do with that.
KELLY: ACORN -- that's not ACORN, but let me tell you, just this morning on my show, we had somebody come on to talk about another county out in Ohio encompassing the Cincinnati area, where there was another instance of voter fraud -- registration fraud, where they were found to be registering at homes that allegedly existed in the middle of some river.
O'REILLY: OK, so but was this --
KELLY: They were no such homes and the special prosecutor --
O'REILLY: -- ACORN doing this?
KELLY: This was ACORN. And the special prosecutor has just been appointed to look into this. Unfortunately, that investigation is going to take six to nine months.
O'REILLY: Of course. OK, so --
KELLY: I'm sure the next president will look right into it.
O'REILLY: But what -- here's what I don't understand, ladies. Why does The New York Times say it doesn't exist?
WIEHL: Well, The New York Times had a big boost last Friday when the Supreme Court said, "Look, Ohio, you don't, you know, you just go right on doing what you're doing. We're not going to get involved in this. We're not going to interpret the law because the GOP does not have the standing or the status to even attack this." So they just --
KELLY: No, no, these are two separate issues.
WIEHL: -- bunted it, and -- but bunted it, and so, that's why I say, in two weeks, we're going to be coming back to this.
KELLY: No, no, but that's a voter fraud issue. Let's not get it confused. There's ACORN, which is -- there's no question -- perpetrating some voter registration fraud, and then there's just the broader issue of registration problems in Ohio.
O'REILLY: Well, we're going to document every ACORN situation and any other voter fraud. But what I was trying to get at is The New York Times doesn't care whether there's voter fraud or not, especially because it's on their team. If it was on the other team, they would care.Cape Town - Shaun Pollock has had a career that most cricketers could only dream of.
Not only is 'Polly' the gold medal-winning captain from the 1998 Commonwealth Games side, but he was also part of the only South African team to ever win an ICC trophy - the ICC Knock-Out (now known as the Champions Trophy) in 1998.
Nine years after his retirement, Pollock still holds the record as the highest South African wicket-taker in Test cricket at 421 scalps, which, however, could soon be surpassed by fellow fast bowler Dale Steyn.
Despite those accolades, one of Pollock's defining moments came in 2000 when South African cricket was tarnished after the late Hansie Cronje was found guilty of match-fixing.
When the nation and the sport needed a beacon of light to help repair South Africa's image after 'Hansiegate', Pollock shouldered much of the responsibility.
"I had a job to do and it was in unfortunate circumstances. In that time you should feel proud about being selected as captain for South Africa, but it was under the sombre environment," Pollock told Sport24 in an exclusive interview.
"We still had the same team, the same players and we still had the same work ethic. Maybe our reputation had been tarnished a bit but all we could do was keep performing and go back to what we did best.
"Often in times of trauma that's the best option, to go back to the basics and try and perform as best as you can. That's what we did and we achieved some good results. I enjoyed my time as captain after the initial period of having to deal with what went on."
Growing up, Pollock did not need to look too far for inspiration when starting off his cricketing career.
Son of former South African fast bowler Peter and nephew to former batting legend Graeme, Shaun became the latest member of the famous cricketing family to earn his national call-up when he made his debut against England in 1995. He was 22 at the time.
"It did inspire to have my uncle playing and watching him on TV. My dad had the blazers in his cupboard, which I obviously tried on and I knew what they achieved," said Pollock.
"I definitely got a lot more media attention as a young kid compared to others. There was obviously an expectation.
"I got past that (living in family's shadow) once I represented South Africa and carved my own career.
"It was nice trying to break my dad's record with the amount of wickets he got so that motivated me. As far as the judgement goes, once they see you perform and validate your spot, it sort of goes by the wayside."
Pollock soon established himself at the highest level and became known for his consistent line and length.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, South Africa's opening bowling attack of Pollock and Allan Donald became one of the best fast bowling partnerships of all time.
In one of his finest Tests back in 1998 - and with the absence of Donald - Pollock toiled in blazing Adelaide heat to take 7-87 in 41 overs against a strong Australian team - dismissing the likes of Steve and Mark Waugh.
"I was fortunate and I enjoyed my time playing in the 1990s, when you had the likes of (Curtly) Ambrose, (Courtney) Walsh, Wasim (Akram), Waqar (Younis), (Glenn) McGrath and (Shane) Warne," said Pollock.
"From a South African perspective when we were just back into international sport, the fever for the first 5-10 years was immense. It was a great period to be a part of."
When taking up the captaincy in 2000, Pollock initially thrived. However, three years down the line the all-rounder was dropped as skipper and 'blamed' for the Proteas' disastrous Cricket World Cup exit at home in 2003.
Graeme Smith succeeded Pollock and went on to become the youngest and among the most successful South African captains.
Meanwhile Pollock, who retained his place in the Proteas squad, developed an ankle injury that saw him slow down in pace.
"My injury never really allowed for me to stay at the same pace the whole way through. I had to develop my game better. I think the fast bowling singular approach probably wouldn't have been successful in the subcontinent but it made me become more consistent and as an all-rounder I made more of a contribution to the team," Pollock said.
After playing 108 Tests, 303 ODIs and 12 T20Is, Pollock decided to retire in 2008 against the West Indies after a sensational 12-year international career.
"I always wanted to go out on top, I didn't want to hang around like a bad smell and waiting on games," said Pollock.
"I could've probably played one-day cricket for two or more years if I was number one or two in the bowling department. But one-day cricket was about building towards the World Cup, which was probably three years away so would I have made it?
"I used to fill the role of opening the bowling, which is quite a specialised role in one-day cricket, so someone else needed the time to develop into that and I just felt that the timing was right."
Pollock now spends more time with his wife, Patricia, and their two kids, Jemma (14) and Georgia (11).
"My wife has been amazing and playing season after season, she was there supporting me and looking after the kids. They're growing up so fast and it seems scary that they are already that age but I love spending time with them."
Other sporting passions of Pollock's includes golf and hockey. Pollock plays for the Queensmead XI hockey team where he plays against all the high schools first teams and Natal first schools teams.
"We haven't got the legs or the speed but we teach them a lesson or two about controlling and moving the ball around. We're competitive, we win more than we lose," said Pollock.
Pollock has also become a brand ambassador for Laureus and Nissan.
However, he is perhaps better known for appearing as a regular SuperSport commentator - even travelling as a preferred analyst for the Proteas tour to England.
"Commentary is quite a full-time job. It's nice to be in the media and give back with your opinion and hopefully teach people about the game and give them an understanding for what's going on," said Pollock.
"I try and (commentate) like I'm having conversation with people; you are telling people what's unfolding on the field and also sometimes voice an opinion."
It's safe to say Pollock will always be remembered as one of the finest bowlers South Africa has ever produced, but when asked how he would like to be remembered, 'Polly' kept it simple.
"I always want to be remembered as consistent and reliable, what you see is what you get," he said.
"I enjoyed life and hopefully people got to enjoy meeting me and experiences they've had near and around me. I have a strong faith so I liked to be remembered for my core Christian faith."
Images: Gallo/GettyMEDIA ADVISORY June 22, 2011
Thursday: Members of Congress to Introduce Historic Legislation Ending Marijuana Prohibition
The Legislation, Modeled after the Repeal of Alcohol Prohibition, Comes on the 40th Anniversary of the Failed War on Drugs and on the Heels of a Global Commission Report Recommending Marijuana Legalization
Teleconference: Rep. Barney Frank and Leading Organizations Working to End the Failed War on Marijuana Explain the Significance of the Legislation
CONTACT: Morgan Fox, communications manager………………......(202) 905-2031 or [email protected]
WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) will introduce bi-partisan legislation tomorrow, June 23, ending the federal war on marijuana and letting states legalize, regulate, tax, and control marijuana without federal interference. Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal. The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.
Leading critics of the war on marijuana will explain its significance for state and national marijuana policy at a national tele-press conference on Thursday.
What: Tele-Press Conference on the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011
When:Thursday, June 23. 2:00pm EST / 11am PST
Call-in Info: 1-800-311-9404; Passcode: Marijuana
Who:
· Representative Barney Frank (D-4th/MA)
· Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)
· Aaron Houston, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)
· Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
· Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)
Last week marked the 40th Anniversary of President Nixon declaring a war on marijuana and other drugs. In an oped in the New York Times last week, timed for the 40th Anniversary, former President Jimmy Carter called for reforming marijuana laws.
The legislation also comes on the heels of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which released a report on June 2 calling for a major paradigm shift in how our society deals with drugs, including calling for legal regulation of marijuana. The report sent a jolt around the world, generating thousands of international media stories. The commission is comprised of international dignitaries including Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations; Richard Branson, entrepreneur, founder of the Virgin Group; and the former Presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Switzerland. Representing the U.S. on the commission are George P. Shultz, Paul Volcker, and John Whitehead.
46.5% of Californians voted last year to legalize marijuana in their state, and voters in Colorado, Washington and possibly other states are expected to vote on the issue next year. In the past year at least five state legislatures have considered legalizing marijuana, including California, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington. 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use, but the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continues to arrest people under federal law and U.S. Attorneys have in recent months sent threatening letters to state policymakers in an apparent attempt to meddle in state decision-making.
Rep. Frank’s legislation would end state/federal conflicts over marijuana policy, reprioritize federal resources, and provide more room for states to do what is best for their own citizens.
With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.
####Homeless ex-bank robber has a shot at redemption in S.F.
Oli Medin, who is among the people rallying to help Steve Goff, brings him hot chocolate. Oli Medin, who is among the people rallying to help Steve Goff, brings him hot chocolate. Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Homeless ex-bank robber has a shot at redemption in S.F. 1 / 18 Back to Gallery
Steve Goff is a bank robber. Ex-bank robber, he'll say, but still...
Prison? Oh sure. His estimate is 13 federal facilities. He rattles them off so fast you can't write them all down: "Lompoc, Atwater, Victorville," and on and on.
His most recent stint was at La Tuna, a facility in Texas. He served 18 months in a plea deal for failure to appear at required meetings with his probation officer. He got out Aug. 1, checked into a halfway house in Florida and then came here.
Now he says he's changed. He's going to turn his life around, he says. Even Goff admits it sounds like the same old story.
"It's not the first time I have tried this," he says. "But I believe it will be the last."
Here's the twist. A support group of everyday people with little else in common thinks he's going to pull it off.
I was tipped to Goff by a San Francisco police officer who didn't want to be identified.
"He's a great guy. We've been trying to get him into housing since before Christmas," he says. "I don't know what the problem is. Maybe he's not homeless enough."
That seems unlikely. Goff lives with a couple of friends in an alley just off Market Street. He makes a nest of empty garbage cans, bundles into blankets and waits for the sun to come up around 5:30.
It was about 6 in the morning when Goff heard a woman screaming in the alley - that's how he met the Tenderloin police officers who are now working to get him housed.
"A guy was beating up a lady and trying to rape her," he says. "I went out to talk to him, settle him down, and he started screaming at me. Then the dude hits Mikey (one of Goff's pals) in the face with a cane. I said, 'Rick, throw me that mop handle. And we went to work on him.' "
Skeptics won over
Cops confirm that when they arrived, the group of homeless men had the suspect subdued and waiting for them. He was arrested, although because the woman declined to press charges the case went nowhere. Still, if you want to impress the cops, rescuing a potential rape victim and capturing the suspect is a good start.
Goff has won over everyone else one morning at a time. He stands at the exit to the Powell Street BART Station from about 6 in the morning until the commute tails off at 9 or so. He rarely misses a morning, wearing down the skeptics with persistent good cheer.
"How are you ma'am?" he says. "You're looking good today. Good morning, sir. Have a great day."
"In my honest opinion, I thought he was just like the rest of the homeless people," says Jasmine Miller, who commutes to work from Richmond. "Then I noticed that everyone else was begging, borderline harassing people. He didn't have a cup. He didn't have a sign. I said to him, 'You're not asking for anything?' He said, 'I'd be a fool to think anyone owes me anything.' He'd update me on how he was doing. He built a relationship. One day he said, 'Can I have a hug?' "
Somewhere the people who have met Goff over the years are nodding. That sounds like Steve.
Ron Tyler was an assistant federal public defender for 22 years. He handled Goff's cases more than once, most recently in 2008. I called him at Stanford University, where he is director of the Criminal Defense Clinic, and asked if he thought Goff could change his life.
'A great guy'
"What you're asking is if this is a con," Tyler says. "And it is not. He's a great guy, really warm and engaging. It doesn't surprise me that he would have a group of people who would rally around him. He definitely wants involvement in society."
Let's not kid anyone. Goff didn't volunteer it, but records show he has struggled with a laundry list of drug problems, from prescription drugs to meth to heroin.
"It is very common for folks in a condition similar to Steve to rob banks to have the money for their fix," Tyler says. "What I would say is in no instance was I aware of any violence. Steve is a gentleman."
Aisha Bolds, who works at USF, walked by Goff for days before she spoke to him.
"I met him in October or November," she says. "He would always speak - 'Hello, young lady' - and I would just smile. I stopped one day and I said, 'What's going on with you?' We got a chance to talk and he told me about his past. I just kind of had a connection to that."
Bolds became one of Goff's new friends. On a Friday night before Christmas, she asked him what he was doing for dinner. Goff shrugged.
"So we went to dinner at the mall," she says. "He's had some difficult circumstances. I just try to encourage him."
There's a theme there. Another supporter brought Goff Thanksgiving dinner. Goff jokes that the week before Christmas, he had to tell his well-wishers to stop bringing him holiday cards.
"They were murdering me with the cards," Goff says. "I was in tears."
The holiday outpouring sparked an idea for Miller, who checks in with Goff almost every morning. She created a link called "Help Steve Get a Home" at a crowdfunding website: www.gofundme.com/6wp8k8.
The site just opened, and the goal is $5,000. The problem is - and even Steve's biggest backers express this fear - that he may be tempted not to spend the money on housing.
Home of his own
"No way," Goff insists. "And that's a promise. All I want is my own space. I will spend it for a roof over my head."
Fingers crossed. There are lots of stories we take to in San Francisco - about love, food and style - but it seems the ones we like best are the ones of redemption. Who among us hasn't seen a homeless person on the corner and thought: What if we could get him housed, get him a job, and help him stay clean and sober? What if all he needs is a little break to nudge him over to a better life?
Who are we to say Steve Goff isn't that person?Former prostitute pictured with George Osborne is raided by police on eve of 'tell-all' book about her dominatrix past
Mr Osborne was pictured in his twenties sitting alongside Natalie Rowe when she was working as a dominatrix known as 'Mistress Pain'
She plans to publish a book that would be 'embarrassing' for the Chancellor
Her home was raided by drugs police who allegedly asked her about book
The former vice-madam plans to publish a book describing her alleged connection with the politician
The former dominatrix has had her home raided by police weeks before the release of her autobiography in which she makes fresh claims about George Osborne.
Up to 12 drugs squad officers searched Natalie Rowe's flat for two hours but found nothing.
Miss Rowe, who once used the name 'Miss Whiplash' claimed it was an attempt to smear her ahead of the book's publication later this month.
Her memoirs are expected to be embarrassing for Mr Osborne, who was allegedly a regular guest at parties at her flat in the early 1990s.
Mr Osborne was embroiled in a scandal in 2005, when a picture surfaced showing him in his twenties sitting alongside Miss Rowe when she was working as a dominatrix known as 'Mistress Pain'.
Miss Rowe said her home, in Chelsea, west London, was raided just 48 hours after a paper revealed the book's release date.
She claims that while they raided her home one officer asked her about the book and another told her it would open 'a whole can of worms' if she complained.
She told the Sunday People : 'I'm not into conspiracy theories.
'I'd like to think the fact that I've been unfairly targeted by the police has nothing to do with the fact that my book is about to be published, which happens to be very embarrassing for the Chancellor.
'But it's certainly made me wonder.'
The former madam claims that her home was raided on October 2, and she was locked in her living room while police searched her home.
They told her they had been tipped off by a member of the public that there were drugs in her property - a claim that Miss Rowe strongly denies.
She claims that she was not allowed to call a lawyer and officer spent nearly two hours combing her home for drugs, but they did not find any.
Apparently the autobiographical book will contain 'embarrassing revelations' about George Osborne, who was pictured with Miss Rowe when he was in his twenties
She says that she warned them not to read the manuscript of her book, which she had left on her bed, and was asked if she was 'writing her memoirs'.
Miss Rowe also claims that when she called up to complain about how police stormed her home, she was told that she was about to 'open up a whole can of worms'.
The former dominatrix has made an official complaint to Scotland Yard and plans to contact the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
When Miss Rowe met Mr Osborne, she was dating William Sinclair, a member of one of the country’s biggest landowning families.
He and the future Chancellor were members of Oxford University’s Bullingdon Club, a male-only institution with a reputation for heavy drinking and riotous behaviour.
Miss Rowe has previously claimed that Mr Osborne knew that she had an escort agency and once discovered whips and sex toys in her apartment.
She said he had 'found it quite amusing.’
She said the party at which Mr Osborne was photographed was held to celebrate her becoming pregnant by Mr Sinclair.
She added: ‘It was definitely cocaine on the table.
‘I remember vividly on that particular night I said to George, jokingly, "When you are prime minister one day I will have all the dirty goods on you" and he laughed.
Although the picture was taken before Mr Osborne entered politics, it was published when he had taken centre stage in the Conservative party as shadow chancellor.
His response was to deny that there was cocaine on the table and insisted that any suggestion that he took drugs was 'defamatory and completely untrue.'
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Following information received, officers based in Kensington and Chelsea obtained a warrant to search an address under Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 on October 2.
'No drugs were found and no one was arrested.Ground observation
Ngari (Ali) prefecture in western Tibet, southwest of China, is one of the best astronomical observation sites in the world. It is considered to be competitive with high-altitude facilities at Mauna Kea, the Atacama Desert in Chile, and the Canary Islands28,29,30.
The ground observation station for quantum teleportation is located at the top of Shiquanhe Daban Mountain in Ngari prefecture. The ground laboratory is built with coloured steel plates and thermal insulation materials (see Extended Data Fig. 3). The transmitting antennas are protected using a translational sliding roof, which is able to withstand winds of up to 20 m s−1.
To improve experimental efficiency, we developed time division multiplexing technology, and an array of transmitting antennas is applied in the ground observation. In total three sets of antennas are used, two for daily use and the third as a backup. A corresponding photon source is linked to each antenna through a single-mode fibre.
Multi-photon sources
To increase the multi-photon count rate in our experiment we prepared three multi-photon teleportation modules (see Fig. 1b for one example), consecutively pumped by the same pulsed laser with 80-MHz repetition rate, and correspondingly three transmitting telescopes (Extended Data Fig. 4). The first and second modules were used in this work. In each module, the teleported single photons are coupled to a single-mode fibre and sent to a transmitting antenna. The two antennas used in this work are separated by 1.2 m, which is about six orders of magnitudes smaller than the separation between the antennas and the satellite (500–1400 km). This separation corresponds to a field angle of 0.8–2.4 μrad, much smaller than the system divergence (24–35 μrad); thus our system implements multiplexing naturally. The two multi-photon modules are delayed by an optical fibre for approximately 6 ns. Using time synchronization, the satellite can determine which module the received photons are from.
To improve the stability and portability of the modules we used an integrated structure design. A single four-photon source is integrated on a 4-cm-thick titanium base plate. Two CCDs with a pixel accuracy of 0.3 μm × 0.3 μm are used to monitor the pump-laser pointing. Two adjustable mirrors are used to correct the optical path.
Collinear and non-collinear BiBO crystals are positioned at the waist of the pump beam. The two crystals are closely mounted inside a specially designed bracket, with a spacing of less than 1 cm, well within the Rayleigh length (about 3 cm) of pump laser. The two crystals can be adjusted independently for optimal parametric down-conversion. This design reduces the size of the optical set-up such that it is easily accommodated in a base plate area of 460 mm × 510 mm (Extended Data Fig. 1). The pump laser is collimated and focused for the second module using two lenses.
We calibrate the fidelities of to-be-teleported photon, the entangled photon pairs and the teleported states on the ground. In the first module, the single-pair emission probability of the collinear SPDC is χ 1c ≈ 0.08 per laser pulse; the brightness of the six to-be-teleported states is 2.03 × 106 s−1, with a polarization-preparation fidelity of better than 99.8(0)%. For the entanglement source, the emission probability is χ 1n ≈ 0.08, the two-photon count rate is about 1 × 106 s−1 and its fidelity is 93.29(1)%. For the second module, the corresponding single-pair emission probabilities are χ 2c ≈ 0.09 and χ 2n ≈ 0.11. The brightness of six to-be-teleported states is 2.05 × 106 s−1, with a polarization preparation fidelity of better than 99.8(0)%. The two-photon count rate is about 1.15 × 106 s−1 and its fidelity is 90.19(2)%. The average overall system efficiency for each photon is about 32%, consisting of the optical and detection efficiencies, with the typical quantum efficiencies of single-photon detectors being about 70%. After the Bell-state measurement, the four-photon count rate is about 4,080 s−1 for the first module and 4,130 s−1 for the second module.
As shown in Fig. 1b, c, the teleported photon was guided through a 15-m single-mode fibre to the transmitting antenna, before being sent to the Micius satellite. Therefore, in principle, the outcome of the Bell-state measurement can arrive before the teleported photons. However, owing to the complexity of the overall design of the satellite’s payloads and the experimental implementation, and as the first attempt of teleportation into space, we did not incorporate the active feedforward in this work. Instead, as a proof of principle, our experimental configuration allows us to post-process and analyse the data. Specifically, the Bell-state measurement will yield two outcomes, and, corresponding to no operation and to a π phase shift, respectively. The two-detector configuration in the receiver satellite can simultaneously analyse these two cases. The fidelities of the six teleported states are listed in Extended Data Table 2.
Transmitting antennas and link losses
The transmitting antenna is composed mainly of three optical telescopes with 130-mm diameter (Extended Data Fig. 4). To improve the transmitting efficiency, a double off-axis parabolic structure is used in the telescopes. All of the optical components in the transmitting antenna are polarization-maintaining. The single-mode fibre changes the polarization state of transmitted photons. Here, we use a HWP and two QWPs to compensate the unitary polarization transformations caused in the single-mode fibres. An additional HWP is used to dynamically compensate the time-dependent polarization shift due to the relative motion of the satellite and the ground station. The polarization contrast of the whole system is maintained above 200:1. To keep the link fibre stationary while tracking the satellite, a periscope structure is used in the transmitting antenna, whereby the main body of the telescope remains stationary and the satellite is tracked via two rotatable mirrors.
The fast-steering mirror and the high-speed CCD constitute the fine-tracking system on the ground, which realizes pointing and tracking of the satellite with high accuracy. The tracking accuracy of the whole system is less than 3 μrad (1σ; Extended Data Fig. 2a, b). Two 671-nm beacon lasers (power of 2 W, divergence angle of 1.2 mrad) are installed on top of transmitting antennas 1 and 3 to track the satellite from the ground. Two 1,064-nm lasers (the second one is used as a backup) are installed on top of two of the transmitting antennas, and are used for time synchronization between the satellite and the ground station.
The locally tested beam divergence angle of the transmitting antenna when the beam does not pass through the atmosphere is 14 ± 1 μrad, as measured with a long-focal-length collimator (Extended Data Fig. 2c). If we consider the effect of the atmospheric seeing in Ngari, about 5 μrad, then the divergence angle is expected to be 15 μrad.
In the actual experimental configuration, the above-mentioned divergence angle was difficult to measure directly. The data presented in Extended Data Fig. 2d were measured indirectly by coupling the photons that were emitted from stars to the single-mode fibre and measuring the FOV of the intensity distribution as a function of fine-tracking scanning angle. Using such a method, many additional factors will affect the FOV as well as the expected ‘pure’ divergence angle (about 15 μrad), such as the mismatch between the diffraction spot size and the fibre core radius, the altitude angle of star, the precision of the tracking and changes in atmospheric environment, all of which can make the scanning result of the FOV larger. Here, the effective divergence angle was estimated from the measured FOV, which means that all of these additional effects were attributed to the equivalent divergence angle. The extracted equivalent divergence of 22 ± 3 μrad from Extended Data Fig. 2d is therefore larger than that expected purely from local testing and atmospheric seeing.
Finally, in relation to the fast-flying satellite, the beam divergence is tested by sending approximately 20 billion photons per second to the satellite from an attenuated laser, which are then collected by the satellite by varying the fine-tracking point. The intensity pattern that is obtained is elliptical, with a divergence of 24–35 μrad (Extended Data Fig. 2e).
The free-space link loss is composed of atmospheric transmittance and geometric loss. The optical transmittance is estimated to be 1.5 dB under usual weather conditions. The aperture of the receiving telescope in the satellite is 300 mm. The beam width when the beam arrives at the satellite will vary from about 10 m for the shortest uplink length (500 km) to 30 m for the longest (1,400 km), considering a divergence angle of 20 μrad (larger at a smaller altitude angle). The geometric loss is calculated to be 30.5–40 dB.
At the ground observatory, fibres and the optical elements in the transmitting antennas account for 1.5 dB of loss. At the satellite, the loss of coupling and the attenuation introduced by optical elements is 5.9 dB (including obscuration in the telescope). The loss from detection efficiency at the satellite is about 3 dB.
In total, the loss for the overall system therefore ranges from 42.4 dB to 51.9 dB under usual weather conditions. The best link loss is measured to be nearly 41 dB on good-weather days. The link loss is more than 50 dB when the length of the uplink is greater than 1,200 km.
Error analysis
There are many factors that influence the teleportation fidelity, such as double-pair emission of SPDC, partial photon distinguishability, uplink polarization distortion and background dark counts.
To be specific, for the collinear BiBO crystal in our system, the quantum state of SPDC photons (photon 1 and the trigger (T) photon) is
Here, the higher-order terms are neglected, χ is the single photon-pair emission probability, |vac〉 is the vacuum state and is the creation operator. From this equation, we find that the probability of the double-pair emission is about χ2. Similarly, this conclusion can also be derived from the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen source. Owing to the limited working time of the satellite, we give priority to improving the brightness and stability in the entanglement source modules. As shown in Extended Data Table 2, the fidelity of state |H〉 is higher than that of |+〉. This is because |H〉 is affected only by the noise from double-pair emission, whereas |+〉 is also affected by partial distinguishability of independent photons that overlap on the PBS.
The coincidence count can be generated between the dark counts from the satellite detectors and the threefold coincident counts from the ground station, which we refer to as ‘accidental coincidence counts’. To ensure a high signal-to-noise ratio, we avoided five nights close to full moon,
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threw Zhao Erfeng, who was both Amban of Tibet and Sichuan governor. After he was killed, no one person was able to replace him:
“By the end of December 1911 there were two governments in Szechuan [Sichuan], one in Chengtu and one in Chungking. The Chungking one adhered to Sun Yatsen, the Chengtu one was not even pretending to be revolutionary. But neither of them wanted the Manchus back. “For the next twenty-eight years, from 1911 to 1939, like the medieval barons of Europe, the warlords of Szechuan… were to fight each other, town by town.” [AM]
The Dalai Lama benefited from this general fragmentation of Western China (as indeed did the Communists twenty years later, during that portion of their Long March.) In the summer of 1912, the exiled Dalai Lama declared that Tibet was independent. His followers managed to drive out the Chinese army, which would no longer have had any strong reason to stay. But the Dalai Lama only secured control of Western Tibet: Eastern Tibet was ethnically mixed and mostly controlled by various non-Tibetan warlords. Tibet’s claim to independence was recognised only by another secessionist regime, in what was then Outer Mongolia.
“From 1691 to 1911, Outer Mongolia was ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Qing began implementing the so-called New Policies, aimed at an integration of Outer Mongolia into China. Upset by the prospect of Chinese colonization akin to the developments in Inner Mongolia during the 19th century, the Mongolian nobility turned to Tsarist Russia for support. In August 1911, a Mongol delegation went to Saint Petersburg and obtained a pledge of limited support. When they returned, the Xinhai Revolution had begun in China, and in December 1911 the Mongols deposed of the Manchu amban… and declared their independence under the leadership of the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutugtu, who was appointed Bogd Khan of Mongolia. Attempts to include Inner Mongolia into the new state failed, partly due to Russian intervention (Russia was bound in Inner Mongolian affairs by Secret treaties with Japan), partly due to lack of support from Inner Mongolian nobles and the higher clergy. In the Khiagt agreement of 1915, China, Russia and Mongolia agreed on Mongolia’s status as autonomous under Chinese soucerainty.[sic] “However, the Republic of China was able to use the Russian revolution and the ensuing civil war as pretext to deploy troops in Outer Mongolia, and in 1919 the Mongolian government was forced to sign a paper that abolished Mongolia’s autonomy. It was under Chinese occupation that the Mongolian People’s Party was founded and once again looked to the north, this time to the Soviet Union, for help. In the mean time, White Russian troops led by Roman Ungern von Sternberg had occupied Khuree in early March 1921, and a new theocratic government once more declared independence from China, on March 13th. But Ungern von Sternberg and the remaining Chinese troops were driven out of Mongolia in the following months, and on July 6th, 1921, the Mongolian People’s Party and Soviet troops took Khuree. The People’s Party founded a new government, but kept the Bogd Khan as nominal head of state. In the following years though some violent power struggles, Soviet influence got ever stronger, and after the Bogd Khan’s death, the Mongolian People’s Republic was proclaimed on November 26th, 1924.” [AN]
This Bogd Khan as eighth ‘Jebtsundamba Khutugtu’ was the spiritual leader of Mongolia’s Tibetan Buddhism, and the Dalai Lama was happy to work with him. The Bogd Khan abandoned his claim to independence in the Khiagt agreement of 1915: the Dalai Lama was ready to do the same with the Simla Agreement of 1914, but Simla was rejected by the Chinese Republic. With most of China fragmented between rival warlords and no single strong ruler in Western China, the Dalai Lama’s government was left alone, though never recognised as sovereign.
During the Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937, Chiang Kai-Shek was driven out of the coastal cities and moved to Sichuan. By then the 13th Dalai Lama was dead and there was no agreed successor. This gave him a reason to want to get some sort of control over Tibet, which was both a possible supply-route and a possible back-door for the Japanese. Japanese designs on Tibet had been suspected, and the death of the 13th Dalai Lama created a power vacuum. A US newspaper described it as follows in 1935:
“With the death of the Dalai Lama in sacred Lhasa… the present plans of the Panchen Lama to return to the Great Closed Land, a new element – religion – projects itself into the picture of Far Eastern political affairs… “The Manchu Emperors… welcomed Tibetan spiritual control in Manchuria and Mongolia. And it was this they were able to exercise political control not only over the Mongols and Turkestan tribes but also over the Tibetans themselves. “It was only after the Manchus had fallen into decadence, with their eventual complete collapse in the revolution of 1911, that the Tibetans as well as the Mongols withdrew their allegiance to the Celestial Empire. “But the Tibetans and Mongolians have never formally recognised this overthrow of the Manchus from the Dragon Throne. The Manchus they regard as a people with a kindred religion – in contrast with the present ‘irreligious’ republican government in China… “In 1912, after the Chinese revolution and the overthrow of the Manchus, the Dalai Lama backed by the British, returned to his priest-kingship in Lhasa. In return for this friendship and patronage Britain’s position in Tibetan affairs has been well-nigh unchallenged ever since.” [AL]
The article doesn’t mention the claim to independence that the Dalai Lama made at this time. As I mentioned earlier, his government and a traditionalist government in Mongolia recognised each other as sovereign nations, but no one else did. By 1935 it may have been supposed that the claim had lapsed. But the US paper takes an interest in the possible role of the Panchen Lama:
“Observing that the Panchen Lama (though spiritually entitled to rule Tibet and Buddhism jointly with the Dalai Lama) would not fall in line with certain progressive political idea, a plot was engineered, with the result that the Panchen Lama was forced to flee Tibet in 1924. “During the past decade he has lived in Manchuria and Mongolia. He is reputed to receive a subsidy of approximately $150,000 [equivalent to more than 2 million in 2007 dollars] from the Chinese, who believe the money well spent in consideration for the extreme spiritual influence he exercises… “Though he is somewhat obligated to the Chinese for their hospitality during his 10 years exile, the Japanese hold tantalisingly before him the promise of a great All-Asia Buddhist Empire – a Holy Roman Empire of the Orient – with himself as Supreme Pontiff, under the temporal protection of the Buddhist Emperor of Japan… “The Tibetans have been observing with increasing favor the growth of Japanese prestige in the Orient. Their defeat first of the Chinese in 1895 and then the Russians in 1905 elicited respect and admiration. In recent years too, because Japan is diametrically opposed to Russian Sovietism – abhorrent to the Tibetans – and not too friendly with the Chinese, Japan is drawing closer to Tibet. “Should Japan come to some ‘understanding’ with the Panchen Lama, not only does annexation of Mongolia become an immediate certainty, but also she may find her influence suddenly extending right on through Tibet down to the Indian border. Small wonder that world statesmen are watching uneasily.” [AL]
As it happened, the 9th Panchen Lama died before he could return to Tibet. Died in 1937, the year the Sino-Japanese War started. Died at a place called Gyegu (Jyekundo to Tibetans) which was part of Qinghai Province, controlled by Ma Bufang. Since this Panchen Lama was only in his 50s, I can’t help wondering if his death was arranged. There was certainly a lot of murder and conspiracy in Republican China. Chiang Kai-Shek in his early days had shot and killed a political rival who was in hospital at the time.[AP] You can imagine the noise that Western writers would make if Mao or one of the other leading Communists had done such a thing. Because Chiang Kai-Shek was their man – their lackey – the event is seldom mentioned.
Imperial Japan had asserted Shinto at the expense of Buddhism, but Buddhism was still part of the creed, respected and used where it was usable. The Chinese Communists are not mentioned in the article, but Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China tells how the Red Army were treated as enemies in the small portion of Eastern Tibet they had to cross, whereas elsewhere else they were able to make friends with the various minority peoples.
As I detailed earlier, successors for the two High Lamas were found from the Chinese province of Qinghai, ruled by the warlord Ma Bufang from 1931 and before that by Ma Bufang’s father Ma Qi, who had been in control from 1915. Chiang Kai-Shek must have been happy to accept nominal control for the time being: his authority was weak in huge sections of China, including Ma Bufang’s warlord realm. By 1940, he had abandoned the notion of seriously fighting the Japanese, planning just to hold what he had and let the US do the hard work. His main target remained the Chinese Communists, whom he was blockading even though they were officially allies against the Japanese. No doubt he hoped to be the real ruler of all China in the long run, which would have included Tibet. But Tibet was a very minor issue, poor and distant and with a tiny population. Tibet could be left alone with its new little God-King.
References
[A] Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year 1939, page 671.
[B] Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year 1940, entry for Tibet, page 664-5
[C] The Billings Gazette, February 18th 1940, found in an on-line newspaper archive.
[D] Seven Years In Tibet. – CHECK, what does he say about the area?
[E] [http://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/ljzg/3585/3592/3596/t17966.htm]
[F] [http://en.tibet.cn/newfeature/oldlhasa/text/t20050427_26503.htm]
[G] [http://www.buddhapia.com/tibet/14_dalai_lama.html], [http://www.tibet.com/pl/nov29c.html]
[H] Seven Years In Tibet, chapter 15.
[J] Seven Years In Tibet, chapter 16. He also refers to the warlord Ma Bufang as ‘Ma Pufang’, but it seems both forms were used to render the man’s name into English letters.
[K] Freedom in Exile: the autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Hodder & Stoughton 1990
[M] Conboy & Morrison, The CIA‘s Secret War in Tibet, University Press of Kansas 2002, pages 14-15.
[N] Ibid, page 12.
[P] Ibid, pages 13-14
[Q] [http://www.nobel-prize.org/EN/Peace/dalai-lama.html]
[R] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar]
[S] [http://cc.purdue.edu/~wtv/tibet/calend.html], [http://www.123newyear.com/newyear-calendars/tibetan-calendar.html]
[T] [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1989/lama-acceptance.html]
[V] Forgive Pinochet, says Dalai Lama. [http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/1999/04/11/pinochet990411.html]
[W] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_in_Buddhism]
[Y] [http://www.all-creatures.org/letters/20070615-np.html]
[Z] Based on the list given at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama]. I have subtracted year born from year died to get the lifespan: you can see the pattern without it needing to be exact. Note that Tibetans calculate ages from the supposed month of gestation – I think Tibetans reckon this as 10 months before birth.
[AA] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchen_Lama]
[AB] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulku]
[AC] Hilton, James. Lost Horizon, chapter 8.
[AD] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061903835.html]
[AE] From The Fort Wayne Evening Sentinel, November 26th 1904, from a newspaper archive.
[AF] From The Ogden Standard, November 12th 1904, from a newspaper archive. Most of it is take from the London Daily Mail.
[AG] From The Galveston Daily News, February 7th 1910, from a newspaper archive.
[AH] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Erfeng]
[AJ] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuchang_Uprising]
[AL] [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Tibet]
[AL] From The Ogden Standard Examiner, April 14th 1935.
[AM] The Crippled Tree, by Han Suyin. She used the old-style version of Zhao’s name, Chao Erfeng
[AN] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_People%27s_Republic]
[AO] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Qi]
[AP] Fenby, Jonathan. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and the China he lost. Page 34 of the paperback edition of 2003, The Free Press,
[AQ] The Dalai Lama: A God-King Defies Mao, by William O. Douglas. From The Stars and Stripes, April 16th 1959
[AR] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/08/tibet]
[AS] Lattimore, Owen and Eleanor. Silks, Spices and Empire: Asia seen through the eyes of its discoverers. page 142
[AT] [http://tibetjustice.org/materials/tibet/tibet3.html]
[AU] [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6392114.html]The 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team represented Sewanee: The University of the South in the 1899 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. Sewanee was one of the first college football powers of the South and the 1899 team in particular was very strong. The 1899 Tigers went 12–0, outscoring opponents 322 to 10, and won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) title.
With just 13 players, the team known as the "Iron Men" had a six-day road trip with five shutout wins over Texas A&M, Texas, Tulane, LSU, and Ole Miss. Sportswriter Grantland Rice called the group "the most durable football team I ever saw."[1] The road trip is recalled memorably with the Biblical allusion "...and on the seventh day they rested."[2][3][n 1]
The 11 extra points against Cumberland by Bart Sims is still a school record. The offense was led by Diddy Seibels; the defense by Ormond Simkins.[n 2] John Heisman's Auburn team was the only one even to score on Sewanee.
Before the season [ edit ]
Despite being from a small Episcopal university in the mountains of Tennessee, the team came to dominate football in the region during the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.[n 3] Like several other football powers of yore such as the University of Chicago, Sewanee today emphasizes scholarship over athletics.[n 4]
Sewanee had 7 starters return from the undefeated 1898 team.[5] Before play started, the Sewanee men trained hard for several weeks under coach Suter. With experience and weight, the team was hopeful for an undisputed southern championship.[6]
Schedule [ edit ]
Source:[7]
Season summary [ edit ]
Sewanee’s 1899 season was very successful. From October 21 through December 2, under the leadership of Coach Herman "Billy" Suter and future College Football Hall of Famer captain Henry "Diddy" Seibels, the Sewanee team, officially the Tigers but nicknamed the "Iron Men," played and won twelve games, were not scored upon except for one game, outscored their opponents 322 to 10, and were the champion of the South. Most of their twelve opponents, including Tennessee, Louisiana State, and Texas, are among the all-time powers in college football.
Ormond Simkins
Georgia [ edit ]
Sewanee at Georgia 1 2 Total • Sewanee 6 6 12 Georgia 0 0 0 Date: October 21
October 21 Location: Piedmont Park
Atlanta, GA
Piedmont Park Atlanta, GA Game start: 1:00 p. m. Sources:[8]
Ormond Simkins was the star of the 12–0 opening win over the Georgia Bulldogs, netting the first touchdown with a fine line buck of 12 yards through center "amidst thunderous applause".[9] Rex Kilpatrick scored a second touchdown on a 4-yard run.[8]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[6][8]
Georgia Tech [ edit ]
Sewanee at Georgia Tech 1 2 Total • Sewanee 27 5 32 Ga. Tech 0 0 0 Date: October 23
October 23 Location: Piedmont Park
Atlanta, GA
Piedmont Park Atlanta, GA Game start: 3:30 p. m.
3:30 p. m. Referee: Rowbotham Sources:[9]
Sewanee followed the defeat of Georgia with a 32–0 victory over Georgia Tech on the following Monday.[9] Sewanee won easily, the first score coming soon after the kickoff on a blocked kick recovered by Quintard Gray.[9] Gray scored the next touchdown on a 25-yard end run. Just fifteen minutes had passed when Diddy Seibels scored the third touchdown.[9] The next three touchdowns were also scored by Seibels, including pretty runs of 35 and 40 yards.[9] The team played its substitutes in the second half.[9]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Gray (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[10]
Tennessee [ edit ]
Tennessee vs. Sewanee 1 2 Total Tennessee 0 0 0 • Sewanee 29 17 46 Date: October 28
October 28 Location: McGee Field
Sewanee, TN Sources:[11]
In a driving rain at McGee Field, "where each 5-yard line was a miniature stream",[12] Sewanee beat the Tennessee Volunteers 46–0. Diddy Seibels led the scoring with three touchdowns.[11] "Touchdown followed touchdown, until Sewanee finally stopped scoring from sheer exhaustion" to quote The Sewanee Purple.[12]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), K. Smith (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[11]
Southwestern Presbyterian [ edit ]
SW Presbyterian vs. Sewanee 1 2 Total SW Presbyterian 0 0 0 • Sewanee 32 22 54 Date: November 3
November 3 Location: McGee Field
Sewanee, TN
McGee Field Sewanee, TN Referee: Elsom Sources:[13]
Sewanee next defeated Southwestern Presbyterian 54–0. The Sewanee Purple wrote: "Never before in the history of football at Sewanee have we piled up such a score against an opponent."[13]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Gray (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[13]
The Road trip: 5 shutouts in 6 days [ edit ]
The 1899 Iron Men team's most notable accomplishment was a six-day period from November 9 to 14 which is arguably the greatest road trip in college football history. After a disagreement with traditional rival Vanderbilt University over gate receipts resulting in the 1899 game being cancelled, manager Luke Lea sought a way to make up for the lost revenue. To accomplish this he put together an improbable schedule of playing five big name opponents in six days. Playing so many games in a short period minimized costs while maximizing revenue.[14][15] During this road trip, Sewanee outscored its opponents for a combined 91–0, including Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss. Sewanee obliterated each one, traveling by train for some 2,500 miles. This feat, barring fundamental changes in modern-day football, can never be equaled.[16] Contemporary sources called the road trip the most remarkable ever made by an American college team.[17]
Program from the Texas game.
Texas [ edit ]
Sewanee at Texas 1 2 Total • Sewanee 6 6 12 Texas 0 0 0 Date: November 9
November 9 Location: Athletic Field
Austin, Texas
Athletic Field Austin, Texas Game attendance: 2,500 Sources:[18]
The train carrying the players pulled into Austin on the night of the 8th to face the undefeated Texas Longhorns the following afternoon. Sewanee won 12–0. They scored five minutes into the first quarter, and a minute before the end of the game, "and the intervening time was devoted to the liveliest battle ever witnessed here".[18] Diddy Seibels played throughout the game, scoring both touchdowns, despite his head having split open just above his left eye, bleeding profusely. By the end of the game his head was coated with blood.[18]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[18]
Texas A&M [ edit ]
Sewanee at Texas A&M 1 2 Total • Sewanee 5 5 10 Texas A&M 0 0 0 Date: November 10
November 10 Location: Herald Park
Houston, Texas
Herald Park Houston, Texas Game attendance: 600
600 Referee: Killerin (Georgia) Sources:[19]
Not 20 hours had passed since the Texas game before the Tigers faced the Texas A&M Aggies. The Tigers won 10–0. Guard Wild Bill Claiborne was blind in one eye, and used his discolored eye for purposes of intimidation saying: "See this? I lost it yesterday in Austin. This afternoon I'm getting a new one!"[20] Ormond Simkins first ran in a touchdown from the 1-yard-line near the end of the first half. Quarterback Warbler Wilson got the second touchdown with five seconds left in the game.[3] Texas A&M's campus paper, the Battalion, reported :..."(the Sewanee Tigers) are unmistakably the champions of the South this year..."[3]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Gray (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[19]
Tulane [ edit ]
Sewanee at Tulane 1 2 Total • Sewanee 17 6 23 Tulane 0 0 0 Date: November 11
November 11 Location: New Orleans, LA
New Orleans, LA Game start: 4:00 p. m.
4:00 p. m. Game attendance: ~1,000
~1,000 Referee: E. L. Simonds Sources:[21]
After another 350-mile overnight train leg, the Tigers beat Tulane in New Orleans 23–0. Rex Kilpatrick scored first. Quintard Gray scored twice more. The lone score of the second half was another, 5-yard run by Kilpatrick. The game was called early due to darkness.[21]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[21]
LSU [ edit ]
Sewanee at LSU 1 2 Total • Sewanee 17 17 34 LSU 0 0 0 Date: November 13
November 13 Location: State Field
Baton Rouge, LA
State Field Baton Rouge, LA Game attendance: 2,000+ Sources:[22]
Before the trip to Baton Rouge, the team saw a play, and then toured a sugar plantation owned by John Dalton Shaffer, rather than enjoy the nightlife of New Orleans.[3] One source reported center William H. Poole "drank heavily" on the one day off.[23] Sewanee then defeated LSU 34–0.
Captain Seibels
Diddy Seibels scored first. Sewanee's next run from scrimmage was another Seibels touchdown. Rex Kilpatrick had one score, and Sewanee managed three further touchdowns. One account reads: "In spite of their long, tiresome trip, the Sewanee men were lively as school boys out for a day off."[22]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Gray (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[24]
Mississippi [ edit ]
Sewanee vs. Mississippi 1 2 Total • Sewanee 6 6 12 Miss 0 0 0 Date: November 14
November 14 Location: Billings Park
Memphis, TN Sources:[3]
The Tigers arrived in Memphis to play Mississippi on their third pre-game overnight train ride in five days. "Ole Miss" kept the game close. Diddy Seibels scored the first touchdown with fifteen seconds left in the first half, and Kilpatrick scored the second with thirteen to go before the final whistle.[3] The game was attended by "several hundred spectators".[25]
The local Commercial Appeal praised the Tigers: "Yesterday's score against (Mississippi) marked the two hundred and fortieth point for which the Tennesseans have scored to nothing for their opponents, during the present season. The trip of the Sewanee eleven, along with record, will probably remain unequaled for generations."[3]
Cumberland [ edit ]
Cumberland vs. Sewanee 1 2 Total Cumberland 0 0 0 • Sewanee 47 24 71 Date: November 20
November 20 Location: McGee Field
Sewanee, TN Sources:[26]
Seemingly unfazed by the travel, the following week the Tigers crushed the Cumberland Bulldogs 71–0.[26] One account reads: "For five minutes after the beginning of the game Cumberland made some good gains, but the Sewanee defense suddenly grew strong, the ball was secured on downs, and Seibels crossed the line for touchdown seven minutes after play began."[26] Bart Sims had a school record 11 extra points, and Ormond Simkins rested instead of playing.[26]
The starting lineup was: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Brooks (fullback)[27]
Auburn: The only points scored [ edit ]
Sewanee at Auburn 1 2 Total • Sewanee 11 0 11 Auburn 10 0 10 Date: November 30
November 30 Location: Riverside Park
Montgomery, AL
Riverside Park Montgomery, AL Game start: 2:50 p. m.
2:50 p. m. Game attendance: 3,000
3,000 Referee: Martin Sources:[28]
For the championship of the South,[29] Sewanee faced John Heisman's Auburn team winning the contest by a narrow margin of 11–10. Auburn was the only team to score on Sewanee all year, when they ran an early version of the hurry-up offense,[30] and played exceptionally well on defense,[28]
After being held on downs at the 10-yard line,[31] Auburn again drove down the field and scored first when Bivins ran in a touchdown.[28] Ed Huguley followed this up with another 50-yard touchdown run, but the referee disallowed it.[n 5]
Sewanee responded once as Rex Kilpatrick ran outside the tackle for a 10-yard touchdown.[28] Auburn back Arthur Feagin, with Huguley's interference, scored to make it 10 to 5 in favor of Auburn.[28]
Coach Suter
A controversial fumble recovery by Sewanee may have saved the game. Auburn quarterback Reynolds Tichenor said it was a gift; the referee awarded Sewanee the ball, but he insisted Auburn recovered it.[28] A double pass play to Warbler Wilson got the ensuing Sewanee touchdown. Bart Sims made the extra point to edge Auburn.[28] Neither team managed to score in the second half. The delay from the crowd gathering on the field ran the game into darkness.[28]
Sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff, a witness to the game, wrote:[32][33]
Under Heisman's tutelage, Auburn played with a marvelous speed and dash that couldn't be gainsaid and which fairly swept Sewanee off its feet. Only the remarkable punting of Simkins kept the game from being a debacle. I recall vividly one incident of the game, which demonstrates clearly just how surprising was Sewanee's victory. The Purple was taking time out...A Sewanee player was down, his head being bathed...Suter, the Sewanee coach, and Heisman, the Auburn mentory, were walking up and down the field together. They approached this boy...Suter, evidently as mad as fire, asked the down and out player 'Are you fellows going to be run over like this all afternoon?' 'Coach,' said the boy, lifting his tired head from the ground, 'we just can't stand this stuff. We've never seen anything like it.' Suter and Heisman turned away. 'Can you beat that?' Suter asked the Auburn coach. Heisman didn't say anything, I guess he thought a great deal. He told me afterwards that he had never felt so sorry for a man on a football field as he had for Suter at that moment.
The starting lineup was: Pierce (left end), Jones (left tackle), Claiborne (left guard), Poole (center), Keyes (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Sims (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).[28][33]
North Carolina [ edit ]
Sewanee vs. North Carolina 1 2 Total • Sewanee 5 0 5 North Carolina 0 0 0 Date: December 2
December 2 Location: Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA Game attendance: 2,000
2,000 Referee: Taylor (Yale) Sources:[34]
The season closed with a 5 to 0 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels and the championship of the south. Sewanee's defense was strong, including a goal line stand,[35] and Seibels' punting gained 10 yards on each exchange of punts.[34] A single free kick from placement by Simkins proved the difference.[34]
Simkins had signaled for a fair catch, but North Carolina's Frank M. Osborne collided with him.[34] Sewanee was awarded fifteen yards and the free kick.[34] The star for the Tar Heels that day was Herman Koehler.[34]
The starting lineup was: Simkins (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Black (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Hull (fullback).
Postseason [ edit ]
Commemorative plaque on the base of the flagpole at McGee Field.
Awards and honors [ edit ]
W. A. Lambeth of Virginia in the journal Outing and Coach Suter both posted All-Southern teams.[36][37][n 6] Included on Suter's All-Southern were: Richard Bolling, Wild Bill Claiborne, Deacon Jones, Rex Kilpatrick, William H. Poole, Diddy Seibels, Ormond Simkins, and Warbler Wilson.[39][40] Wilson was also selected All-Southern by Lambeth. Bart Sims made Lambeth's team and was a substitute for Suter.
Legacy [ edit ]
By the end of the season, eleven of Sewanee's victories were against SIAA conference rivals, setting the record for the most conference games won in a single season by any team before or since.[41] On College Gameday, November 13, 1999, ESPN featured the University of the South with a four-minute segment on the 1899 football team, and CSX Railroad provided a short train ride in Cowan, which was a re-enactment of an early leg of the Sewanee to Texas train ride.
Several writers and sports personalities consider this Sewanee team one of the greatest football teams ever to play. Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno once said: "While there are some who would swear to the contrary, I did not see the 1899 Sewanee football team play in person. Winning five road games in six days, all by shutout scores, has to be one of the most staggering achievements in the history of the sport. If the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) had been in effect in 1899, there seems little doubt Sewanee would have played in the title game. And they wouldn’t have been done in by any computer ratings."[42] Tony Barnhart in Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion and Glory of the Great Southern Game listed Sewanee as his number 1 Southern football team of all-time.[43] A 16-team playoff to determine the best team in college football history with winners decided by fan votes was run by the College Football Hall of Fame, called the March of the Gridiron Champions. Sewanee, starting at the lowest seed, won the tournament.[n 7]
Personnel [ edit ]
Varsity lettermen [ edit ]
Wild Bill Claiborne
William H. Poole
Line [ edit ]
Backfield [ edit ]
Substitutes [ edit ]
Another image of the Iron Men.
[45]
Coaching staff [ edit ]
Head coach: Billy Suter
Manager: Luke Lea
Trainer: Cal Burrows
Scoring leaders [ edit ]
The following is an incomplete list of statistics and scores, largely dependent on newspaper summaries.
Player Touchdowns Extra points Field goals Points Henry Seibels 18 0 0 90 Rex Kilpatrick 11 0 0 55 Warbler Wilson 8 0 0 40 Quintard Gray 6 0 0 30 Daniel Hull 4 0 0 20 Ormond Simkins 2 10 0 20 Bart Sims 0 18 0 18 Bunny Pearce 1 9 0 14 Deacon Jones 2 0 0 10 Richard Bolling 1 0 0 5 Unaccounted for v. LSU 3 0 0 15 Free kick v. UNC 0 0 1 5 Total 56 37 1 322
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
Endnotes [ edit ]Sometimes press communiques contain kernels of truths, sometimes unintentionally.
The Trump White House's curt official announcement of Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Europe seems like one of those statements.
"At the direction of President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to
|
Cats, on the other hand, will continue to hold onto a single ring after taking a tumble rather than losing everything, which can be a helpful life buffer, particularly in boss battles.
Avatar creation and customization are the heart and soul of Forces. The game offers a sizable palette of design options with which to create a new character, and each completed stage or new challenge fulfilled will unlock a few more of the hundreds of clothing and equipment options available to fine-tune the avatar's appearance. These range from total body conversions (e.g. giving a rabbit dragon scales or transforming a wolf into a gelatinous, green gummy) to outfits covering the gamut from formal wear to casual pajamas.
On top of that, you can play as other players' characters in certain special stages or simply by "renting" their avatar for a level. Again, it creates the impression that Sonic Team understands its most loyal fans' desire to become a part of the Sonic world and share their creations with their peers. As a result, the way the game's customization features come together feels somehow more meaningful than similar features in other games.
Avatars also play differently than Sonic himself: They can't run as fast as he can, obviously, so instead they use a grappling wire to zip around and swing, and they can carry weapons to wipe out groups of enemy robots. Eventually, Sonic makes a jailbreak, and the pot-bellied retro hedgehog from Sonic Generations shows up as well, so levels alternate between giving the user control of the avatar or over one of the two hedgehogs. Some stages also see various combinations of heroes teaming up, though these mostly serve to highlight how under-developed the different characters really are. You ultimately will fall back to using modern Sonic whenever you have the chance, since the team-up stages tend to be boost battle stages, and modern Sonic runs the fastest.
WRAP UP
Sonic Forces is perhaps the most literal interpretation you'll ever see of a game "for fans only"
Sonic Forces creators' good intentions and interesting ideas don't amount to much in a game so clumsy and limited in design. It certainly doesn't help that Forces follows right on the heels of Sonic Mania, a game that not only demonstrated a more focused design sensibility but also did a far better job of realizing its creators' ambitions. Forces may have had a larger budget than Mania, but it feels like the poorer creation all around. Unless your dearest dream has always been to play a Sonic game as your own original fan art character, Sonic Forces doesn't have much to offer.
Sonic Forces was reviewed using a retail copy for Nintendo Switch purchased by Polygon. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy hereWASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump on Wednesday quickly responded to the abrupt firing of longtime “Today” show host Matt Lauer after a sexual misconduct allegation, attacking NBC with his favorite anti-media smear.
Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
Trump has been quick to seize on sexual misconduct allegations against others when it doesn’t hurt him politically. He went after Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) less than a day after news anchor Leeann Tweeden said Franken groped and inappropriately kissed her.
But when allegations touch an ally ― or himself ― Trump turns away. The president repeatedly dodged questions about Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women of preying on teenage girls when he was district attorney and in his 30s.
When Trump finally weighed in on Moore ― nearly two weeks after the first accounts of the candidate’s past ― the president wouldn’t say whether he believed the women. Moore “totally denies it,” Trump said.
It was a page from his own playbook. Trump continues to deny accusations of his own sexual misconduct. More than a dozen women who have come forward against Trump are lying, the White House says.
And now, Trump is trying to cast doubt on recorded evidence of misconduct: the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” video that caught him bragging about sexually assaulting women to the show’s host, Billy Bush.
The New York Times reported this week that in the year since his election, the president has privately claimed that the tape was fabricated. During the campaign, after the tape surfaced, Trump acknowledged his lewd remarks and issued a rare apology — though he tried to downplay the boasts as “locker room talk.”
NBC fired Bush after the release of the tape.
Weeks later, Trump was elected president.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders this week pointed to Trump’s victory, dodging reporters’ questions about whether he believes the tape is fake.German Chancellor Angela Merkel only has two realistic courses of action to choose following her party's defeat on Sunday, and both of these would lead to 'emergency scenarios', according to Nico Fried, a commentator with the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.
The election in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern saw an agonizing defeat for her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel has been left with only two realistic courses of action to pursue, and both of them can be called 'emergency scenarios', Suddeutsche Zeitung commentator Nico Fried said.
On Sunday, the CDU came in third in the former East German state's elections with 19 percent of the vote; it was beaten by both the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which won 20.8 percent, and the ruling Social Democrats (SPD), which obtained 30.6 percent.
Commenting on this, Fried, on the one hand, recognized that the AfD party won less votes than experts predicted, while the CDU lost votes, but not the chance to participate in the formation of the government of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state.
The CDU and the SPD, traditionally Germany's largest parties, already have a so-called "Grand Coalition" with Bavaria's Christian Social Union party (CSU), the CDU's traditional ally in the federal legislature.
DailyTelegraph quotes Merkel as"personally" taking responsibility4local election defeat.So why has she not resigned? pic.twitter.com/LWjpWohdqh — Richard Werner (@ProfessorWerner) 6 сентября 2016 г.
Her party's principal rival, AfD, appeared on the German political scene only three short years ago with a Eurosceptic platform in the EU's strongest economy. However, it was the influx of over a million refugees at Merkel's invitation in 2015 that thrust AfD into the spotlight as called the future of Germany's political establishment into question.
With Germany's 2017 federal elections swiftly approaching, now everything depends only on Merkel, according to Fried.
"This is an emergency situation, and as far as the year of 2017 is concerned, the Chancellor should only consider two emergency options," he said.
The first option would be for Merkel to stick to her policy at any cost, because any change will be perceived by Merkel's opponents as a tactical maneuver, according to him.
Looks like AfD did well in #Germany regional elections. But no better than expected. Doesn’t change our view that Merkel will win in 2017 — Robin Bew (@RobinBew) 5 сентября 2016 г.
Fried claimed that if Merkel continues to adhere to her policy, it could lead to a national referendum on the migration issue, which he said would not necessarily mean a deadlock for Merkel.
The second option is for Merkel to simply resign, which would certainly be viewed by Merkel's opponents as her political surrender.
"At the same time, it could become a nightmare for many of Merkel's critics will, because by possibly deciding to step down Merkel may 'turn off the light' for all those who see her as an arch foe," Fried said.
Speaking to reporters at the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou late last week, Merkel said that she would continue to pursue her policy on migration, in spite of growing nationalism and demands for a cap on the number of refugees Germany will accept.
Meanwhile, half of those polled for newspaper Welt am Sonntag said Merkel should not stand for a fourth consecutive term in next year's election. Her approval rating has sunk to a five-year-low, at 45 percent.
However, Jon Worth, political consultant and EU policy specialist, told Sputnik that Merkel is "not as strong as she was, but she still is immensely strong and broadly trusted within Germany."
According to him, Merkel will probably stand for a fourth term in next year's federal election.
"There are no other viable successors to her within the Christian Democratic Party. Her party is still ahead in the polls despite the lessening of support for Merkel as an individual. She knows her coalition partners, the SPD, are not doing particularly well either. So, overall, she is still in a very strong position," he said.Floyd Mayweather says he wants to increase MMA fighters’ paychecks. | Photo: Mike Sloan/Sherdog.com
Most of the time, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. puts his mind to something, he does it. For now, it seems like his mind is on entering the business world of mixed martial arts in the very near future.In a recent interview, the undefeated boxer-turned-promoter addressed fighter pay in MMA and how he plans on turning the tide.“If you want to be treated fair, come over to Mayweather Promotions. We believe in the talent winning. That’s what we believe in,” Mayweather told Fighthype.com. “We believe in treating our boxers and our MMA fighters fair. I want a lot of MMA fighters to get in touch with Mayweather Promotions.”Mayweather recently received his boxing promoter’s license in the state of Nevada, meaning he can now hold his own events. In addition to boxing, “Money” made it clear that he plans on promoting MMA cards too.“I look forward to putting on my first MMA show also and having me some MMA champions. Like I said before, Floyd Mayweather loves to think outside the box. We’re not just one-dimensional. We are very versatile and we have an open mind,” Mayweather said. “When I get into the MMA game, I want them to make more money than they’re making, because from what I hear, they’re not being treated fair. Once again, I don’t have nothing to say about nobody. I’m only talking about what I’m here to do. I’m here to treat fighters fair. I’m here to treat MMA fighters fair, and I feel that the talent should win.”Another day, another small, symbolic victory for the masses in the class war. It is from symbolic victories like these that real victories are often launched.
Five years after the measure was passed by Congress, the SEC, in a party-line vote, has finally approved a rule requiring public companies to disclose the ratio between their CEO pay and the median pay of their workers. The pay of public company CEOs is already public; this measure will put that pay into perspective.
One Republican SEC commissioner complained that this rule will be used for “naming and shaming.” The Wall Street Journal editorial page, a reliable organ of the economic ruling class, derides this rule as “a political weapon.” Clearly, they are both right. Even more clearly, the beleaguered 99% of American workers, who have been soundly losing the class war for more than three decades now, can use all the political weapons they can get. This rule is more of a slingshot than an atomic bomb, but anything helps.
Public companies must now stand up and publicly explain why it is fair that the average US CEO is paid 373 times what his average worker is paid (and some CEOS are paid much more).
Since any honest person can see that such a system is not fair, public companies must either suffer the shame and outrage of the public actually thinking about this stuff, or make their CEO pay more fair.
And that’s the point.
[Photo: Flickr]Soldier testifies that officer ordered him to delete video shot during Fort Hood rampage
A soldier who recorded the terror of last year’s deadly shooting rampage in Fort Hood using his cell phone was ordered by an officer to delete both videos, a military court heard Friday.
Under cross examination, Pfc. Lance Aviles told an Article 32 hearing that his noncommissioned officer ordered him to destroy the two videos on Nov. 5, the same day that a gunman unleashed a volley of bullets inside a processing center at the Texas Army post.
The footage could have been vital evidence at the military hearing to decide if Maj. Nidal Hasan should stand trial in the shootings. The 40-year-old American-born Muslim has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Prosecutors have not said whether they’ll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.
Aviles described how he was waiting for medical tests at the center with his battle buddy, Pfc. Kham Xiong, when he heard someone shout. Then the gunshots began.
He said he saw a tanned, balding man wearing an Army combat uniform and carrying a black pistol.
“I saw smoke coming from the pistol,” Aviles told the court.
He and Xiong threw themselves to the floor. Aviles turned to his left to check his friend and discovered he had been shot.
“His head was facing the left and a shard of his skull was sticking up,” Aviles said.
Xiong, a 23-year-old father of three from St. Paul, Minn., was among the 13 who died in the attack. Aviles, 20th person to provide testimony at the hearing, was not hurt.
Addressing the court via video link from Afghanistan, Spc. Megan Martin said she had been waiting to take medical tests when saw a man to her left stand up and shout “Allahu Akbar!” — “God is great!” in Arabic — then start firing a weapon.
He “started shooting to the left of me in a fan motion, left to right,” Martin said.
She described the weapon as “a small handgun (with) … a green light and a red laser.”
Capt. Melissa Kell, who also testified via video from Afghanistan, said the gun was black and had “a red laser and a green laser.”
Witnesses have provided conflicting testimony on the number of guns the shooter was carrying. Some say they saw two weapons, but the majority say they saw only one.
Martin described how she saw Capt. John Gaffaney attempting to charge at the gunman to prevent further bloodshed. Gaffaney, a 56-year-old psychiatric nurse preparing to deploy to Iraq, was shot at close range and died.
“I could not look away. I laid as still as I could. I couldn’t stop watching. It was a nightmare that reoccurs.” said Martin, who belongs to the 267th Medical Detachment — the unit that Hasan was supposed to deploy with.
Hasan had been trying to get out of his pending deployment because he opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had been saying goodbye to friends and neighbors, and had given away his Quran and other belongings.
Lt. Col. James L. Pohl, a military judge, is the investigating officer presiding over the Article 32 hearing — a proceeding unique to military law.Vince Taylor (14 July 1939 – 28 August 1991),[1] born Brian Maurice Holden, was a British rock and roll singer. As the lead singer of Vince Taylor and His Playboys, sometimes Vince Taylor and The Playboys, he was successful primarily in France and other parts of Continental Europe during the late 1950s and early 1960s, afterwards falling into obscurity amidst personal problems and drug abuse.
Early life [ edit ]
Taylor spent his early life in Isleworth, Middlesex. When he was seven, the Holdens emigrated to America and settled in New Jersey where his father found employment. Around 1955, his sister, Sheila, married Joe Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera. As a result of the marriage, the family moved to California, where Taylor attended Hollywood High School.[1] As a teenager, Taylor took flying lessons and obtained a pilot's licence.[1]
Music career [ edit ]
At age 18, impressed by the music of Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley, Taylor began to sing, mostly at amateur gigs. Joe Barbera, his brother-in-law, became his manager. When Barbera went to London on business he asked Taylor to join him. In London, Taylor went to The 2i's Coffee Bar on Old Compton Street in Soho, where Tommy Steele was playing. There he met drummer Tony Meehan (later of The Shadows) and bass player Tex Makins (born Anthony Paul Makins, 3 July 1940, Wembley, Middlesex). They formed a band called The Playboys. Whilst looking at a packet of Pall Mall cigarettes he noticed the Latin phrase, In hoc signo vinces. He decided on the new stage name of Vince Taylor.[1]
His first singles for Parlophone, "I Like Love" and "Right Behind You Baby", were released in 1958, followed several months later by "Pledgin' My Love" backed with "Brand New Cadillac", (the latter track featuring guitarist Joe Moretti, who later featured on "Shakin' All Over" with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates). Parlophone was not satisfied with the immediate results and severed the recording contract. Taylor moved to Palette Records and recorded "I'll Be Your Hero", backed with "Jet Black Machine", which was released on 19 August 1960.[1]
On 23 April 1960 ABC-TV screened the first edition of their new weekly rock and roll TV show, Wham! The first show featured Taylor with Dickie Pride, Billy Fury, Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Little Tony, and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.[2]
While Taylor was dynamic on stage, his unpredictable personality led to many arguments within the band, who parted company with him in 1961 and changed their name to The Bobbie Clarke Noise. Under that name they were contracted to play at the Olympia in Paris in July 1961. The top of the bill was Wee Willie Harris.[3]
Taylor remained in contact with the band and he asked if he could come to Paris too. He dressed up for the sound check in his trademark black leather stage gear, and added a chain around his neck with a Joan of Arc medallion, which he had bought on arrival at Calais. One version of the story says he gave such an extraordinary performance at the sound check, that the organizers decided to put Taylor at the top of the bill for both shows.[3] As a result of his performance at those two shows, Eddie Barclay signed him to a six-year record deal on the Barclay label.[1]
Vince Taylor (1963)
During 1961 and 1962, Taylor toured Europe with Clarke's band, once again called Vince Taylor and His Playboys. Between gigs they recorded several EPs and an album of 20 songs at Barclay Studios in Paris.[1] These songs included the covers:
By the end of 1962, Vince Taylor and The Playboys were the top of the bill at the Olympia in Paris. Sylvie Vartan was the opening act.[5]
Despite his on-stage rapport with The Playboys, the off-stage relationship faltered. As a result, the band once more broke up. Taylor played several engagements backed by the English band The Echoes (who also backed Gene Vincent whenever he played the UK), but he still presented the band as The Playboys.
In February 1964, a new single "Memphis Tennessee", backed with "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues", was released on the Barclay label.[1] The Playboys were Joey Greco and Claude Djaoui on guitars, Ralph Di Pietro on bass, and Bobbie Clarke on drums. The group was under contract to the Johnny Hallyday orchestra.
After Hallyday was required to do national service in the French Army, Clarke again joined Taylor, as The Bobbie Clarke Noise' along with Ralph Danks (guitar), Alain Bugby of The Strangers (bass), Johnny Taylor, ex-lead singer for The Strangers (rhythm guitar), and "Stash" Prince Stanislas Klossowski de Rola (percussion). Managed by Jean Claude Camus, the band embarked on a triumphant tour of Spain and then co-topped the bill with The Rolling Stones during the Easter week-end of 1965 at the Olympia in Paris.
Decline [ edit ]
The band then disbanded and Taylor, undergoing problems with alcohol and other drugs, joined a religious movement.[1] Danks left to play guitar with Three Dog Night, and later Tom Jones, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. Stash, a close friend of The Rolling Stones, would later produce the Dirty Strangers album featuring Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. Clarke replaced drummer Don Conka for several studio sessions with the original line up of the band Love. He also played with Vince Flaherty and his band The Invincebles, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, and the first incarnation of Deep Purple before forming a group, Bodast, with Steve Howe and Dave Curtis. In 1968, Bodast recorded an album for MGM Records, opened for The Who, and were the backing band for Chuck Berry at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Meanwhile, Clarke was involved in a comeback for his friend Taylor, a one-month tour across France, billed as 'Vince Taylor and Bobbie Clarke backed by Les Rockers'. Eddie Barclay gave a new chance to Taylor who recorded again and performed intermittently throughout the 1970s and 1980s, until his death.[1]
During his career, Taylor wrote and recorded many songs, among them his hit in Europe, "Brand New Cadillac" which has been covered by many other artists including The Clash on their 1979 album London Calling.[6] Taylor lived in Switzerland late in his life, where he worked as an aircraft mechanic. He said it was the happiest time of his life.[1]
Taylor died from lung cancer in August 1991, at age 52. He was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland.[7] He had lived in Switzerland since 1983 with his wife, Nathalie (nee Minster), and his step-daughter, Magaly.
Legacy [ edit ]
According to David Bowie, Taylor was the main inspiration for Bowie's character Ziggy Stardust.[8]
The band Golden Earring referred to Taylor in their 1973 album Moontan, with the song "Just Like Vince Taylor", which was the US B-side for their hit "Radar Love".
Northern Irish singer Van Morrison in his 1999 song "Goin' Down Geneva", mentioned Taylor, singing: "Vince Taylor used to live here/No one's even heard of him/Just who he was/Just where he fits in".
Taylor had a son, Ty Holden who stated on BBC Radio 4, that Vince Taylor was an absent father. Ty was in the indie band, Crown of Thorns, managed by Miles Copeland III. Ty Holden is now a DJ on the London underground dance scene.
On 18 August 2010 BBC Radio 4 broadcast the documentary Ziggy Stardust Came from Isleworth which, in the words of the producer, is a programme that "uncovers the truth about a singer whose wild lifestyle ultimately destroyed him, but in so doing he gave rise to a myth that transcended glam-rock and science fiction".[9] This programme also claimed that his wife Nathalie was the sister of Joseph Barbera, the American animator.
Adam Ant wrote and recorded the track "Vince Taylor" (co-written with Boz Boorer) for his 2013 album Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter.[10] The song is partly a tribute to Taylor, and partly concerning a gold-plated chain given by Taylor to French girlfriend Valerie who later passed it to Adam Ant (Ant has further claimed to having used the chain as a weapon, wrapped around his fist, in a confrontation with Sid Vicious.)[11] The song was setlisted on Ant's November/December 2011 UK Tour with the debut performance being in Frome on 10 November[12] and remained a regular song at live concerts until the end of 2013. The album version of the song was used as the opening theme for the 2013 film The Blueblack Hussar, a documentary about Ant's 2010–2011 comeback, directed by Jack Bond. Ant also used Taylor's "Rock 'N Roll Station" as his entry music on all his 2011–2012 tours,[13] and this track was also featured in the film soundtrack in scenes depicting the lead-up to Ant's showcase May 2011 concert at London's IndigO2.
The Playboys [ edit ]
Taylor & The Playboys (1963)
After several changes, the final line-up of The Playboys became:
Bobbie Clarke (drums) (born Robert William Woodman, 13 June 1941, Coventry, Warwickshire),
Johnny Vance (bass) (born David John Cobb, 1941, died 16 April 2007, Portsmouth, Hampshire),
Alain Le Claire (piano) (born Alan Cocks, 26 August 1938, Dulwich, London) and
Tony Harvey (guitar) (born Anthony Harvey, 1940, died 23 March 1993), who alternated with Bob Steel.
See also [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Vince Taylor Illustrated Discography, by Phil "Heron" Guidal, Black Leather, 1988
, by Phil "Heron" Guidal, Black Leather, 1988 Bodast: Spectral Nether Street, Cherry Red Records, CD-Inlay essay by Jon Newey, London, January 2000
, Cherry Red Records, CD-Inlay essay by Jon Newey, London, January 2000 Besse, Josette and Jean-Loup Jouve. Vince Taylor, Johnny Kidd. Paris: Éditions Horus, 1979 ISBN 2-86387-026-2, 75p.FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky taxpayers can expect a shortfall of more than $155 million after a panel of state economists have revised the state’s official revenue forecast.
In August, the Consensus Forecasting Group issued a preliminary estimate predicting a shortfall of $206.2 million. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin responded by asking for budget cuts of 17.4 percent from most state agencies. The cuts would cover the deficit and replenish the state’s savings account.
The governor can’t order budget cuts unless the official revenue estimate is changed. State economists were expected to do that in December. But the Bevin administration asked the panel to revise the estimate now so they could get an early start on cuts.
The panel predicted a smaller deficit because Kentucky collected more tax money than it had expected in the past three months.Guidelines for free indexing applicants
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In sum, we either prefer to work with your DOIs, DOAJ/PubMed/PMC ID-s or with JATS Archive 1.0 article XMLs. The infographics below summarize and help you to find the best solution for indexing your articles.Proposed solar radiation management using a tethered balloon to inject sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere. Solar radiation management (SRM) projects are a type of climate engineering which seek to reflect sunlight and thus reduce global warming. Proposed methods include increasing the planetary albedo, for example using stratospheric sulfate aerosols. Restorative methods have been proposed regarding the protection of natural heat reflectors like sea ice, snow and glaciers with engineering projects.[1][2][3] Their principal advantages as an approach to climate engineering is the speed with which they can be deployed and become fully active, their potential low financial cost, and the reversibility of their direct climatic effects. Solar radiation management projects could serve as a temporary response while levels of greenhouse gases can be brought under control by mitigation and greenhouse gas removal techniques. They would not reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and thus do not address problems such as ocean acidification caused by excess carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Contents
Purpose Edit
Advantages Edit
Solar radiation management has certain advantages relative to emissions cuts, adaptation, and carbon dioxide removal. Its effect of counteracting climate change would be experienced very rapidly, on the order of months after implementation,[7] whereas the effects of emissions cuts and carbon dioxide removal are delayed because the climate change that they prevent is itself delayed. Some proposed solar radiation management techniques are expected to have very low direct financial costs of implementation,[14] relative to the expected costs of both unabated climate change and aggressive mitigation. This creates a different problem structure.[15][16] Whereas the provision of emissions reduction and carbon dioxide removal present collective action problems (because ensuring a lower atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is a public good), a single countries or a handful of countries could implement solar radiation management. Finally, the direct climatic effects of solar radiation management are reversible on short timescales.[7]
Limitations and risks Edit
Proposed forms Edit
Governance Edit
Climate engineering poses several challenges in the context of governance because of issues of power and jurisdiction.[30] Climate engineering as a climate change solution differs from other mitigation and adaptation strategies. Unlike a carbon trading system that would be focused on participation from multiple parties along with transparency, monitoring measures and compliance procedures; this is not necessarily required by climate engineering. Bengtsson[75] (2006) argues that "the artificial release of sulphate aerosols is a commitment of at least several hundred years". Yet this is true only if a long-term deployment strategy is adopted. Under a short-term, temporary strategy, implementation would instead be limited to decades.[76] Both cases, however, highlight the importance for a political framework that is sustainable enough to contain a multilateral commitment over such a long period and yet is flexible as the techniques innovate through time. There are many controversies surrounding this topic and hence, climate engineering has been made into a very political issue. Most discussions and debates are not about which climate engineering technique is better than the other, or which one is more economically and socially feasible. Discussions are broadly on who will have control over the deployment of climate engineering and under what governance regime the deployment can be monitored and supervised. This is especially important due to the regional variability of the effects of many climate engineering techniques, benefiting some countries while damaging others. The challenge posed by climate engineering is not how to get countries to do it. It is to address the fundamental question of who should decide whether and how climate engineering should be attempted – a problem of governance.[77] Solar radiation management raises a number of governance challenges. David Keith argues that the cost is within the realm of small countries, large corporations, or even very wealthy individuals.[78] David Victor suggests that climate engineering is within the reach of a lone "Greenfinger," a wealthy individual who takes it upon him or herself to be the "self-appointed protector of the planet".[79][80] However, it has been argued that a rogue state threatening solar radiation management may strengthen action on mitigation.[81] Legal and regulatory systems may face a significant challenge in effectively regulating solar radiation management in a manner that allows for an acceptable result for society. There are, however, significant incentives for states to cooperate in choosing a specific climate engineering policy, which make unilateral deployment a rather unlikely event.[82] Some researchers have suggested that building a global agreement on climate engineering deployment will be very difficult, and instead power blocs are likely to emerge.[83]
Public attitudes Edit
There have been a handful of studies into attitudes to and opinions of solar radiation management. These generally find low levels of awareness, uneasiness with the implementation of solar radiation management, cautious support of research, and a preference for greenhouse gas emissions reduction.[84][85] As is often the case with public opinions regarding emerging issues, the responses are highly sensitive to the questions' particular wording and context. One cited objection to implementing a short-term temperature fix is that there might then be less incentive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions until it caused some other environmental catastrophe, such as a chemical change in ocean water that could be disastrous to ocean life.[86] Global warming portal
Ecology portal
Environment portal
References Edit
Further reading EditI’m excited to bring a guest post from my friend Jack Grauer, a Philadelphia-based political writer. Over the last couple decades, as academia has gotten increasingly competitive, forcing more and more alienated labor out of students, many have turned to Adderall and other drugs to artificially keep focus through coma-inducing schooling. Now schools are attempting to crack down on drug use, especially against those students not deemed worthy, such as working class students and students of color. Jack’s article sheds light on this hypocritical clampdown.
What is the function of academia for the capitalist system? Certainly the free/cheap research for corporate and military institutions is important. The classification and indoctrination of students, preparing youth for lifetimes of service in the capitalist apparatus, is absolutely necessary as well. But what is less mentioned is the more pervasive enclosure and specialization of knowledge – the creation of a dichotomy between the few “experts” who have done years of research on increasingly specialized and miniature fields of study, and the general public, which is put into a position of ignorance and helplessness simply by failing to possess a degree. Academia does not pursue or create the kind of knowledge that is useful to ordinary people; it creates knowledge which serves the system.
This is not to say that no radical or revolutionary ideas can be found in the university, because of course the academy is one of the few careers that radicals can enter without totally surrendering their integrity. However, if one is to attempt to remain true to a revolutionary transformation of society from within academia, one must constantly subvert the kind of knowledge-production inside its walls and attempt to translate any useful ideas into practical language for social movements and regular folks on the outside. [alex]
Adderall and Higher Education’s Delusion of Meritocracy
by Jack Grauer
Universities have good reasons to call for stiffer regulation of stimulant study drugs; they are addictive and potentially dangerous. But defending the wheezing fantasy that postsecondary education was ever fair in the first place is not one of them.
Imagine you’re a college teacher. Some of your medically insured students have diagnoses for ADHD, i.e. the inability to stare at paper for a long time. They take prescription drugs like Adderall to treat it. Other students of yours buy and use these drugs illicitly; they do so not only to enhance their academic performance, but also to get high. Still other students of yours feel uncomfortable taking Adderall, which the DEA groups with oxycodone and morphine in terms of addictiveness and abuse potential, to do well in school. What you don’t know is which of your students get and take what drugs, how, or why.
You must now assign final semester grades.
Researchers have devised creative methods for tracking collegiate Adderall consumption. An epidemiological study of dormitory sewage at one campus found a three-fold increase of metabolized Adderall in student waste “output” between finals week and the one previous. Another study conducted at Brigham Young University logged 6 months worth of Adderall-related Tweets and found out what everyone already knows: the drug is indeed traded, sold, smoked and sniffed. An anonymous Adderall dealer told The Campus Companion he’s seen students grind it up and stuff it in fruit snacks like a “human would put
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data; and my phone, with all of its power, can't find a way of making sure I pay the bills, buy some milk, and finish my presentation?
Allen laughs at my question. He knows a few things about to-do lists. He wrote Getting Things Done, which spawned an entire industry of go-getting thing-doers. He's been trying to make us all more productive since the days of the Franklin Planner. He's got some crazy ideas about the day when AI-powered holographic reminders will tell you to do your taxes. Until then, we're stuck with lists. So I ask another question:
How do we make better lists?
You're Everywhere to Me
The first thing a to-do list needs is to-dos. If your list is incomplete or, worse, outdated, you simply aren't going to do check it. This makes it imperative that developers make it really, really easy to create lists and add things to it. But technology isn't especially good at this. "If you have to turn on your phone," Allen says, "click here, click that little icon, go to there... Come on!" He sounds exasperated just thinking about it. "Input and output is too hard." That's one reason pen and paper remain so popular. Jotting things down is faster, easier, and better for cognition. A to-do list must be fast and flexible enough to keep up with your thoughts.
Remember the Milk cracked this in part about a decade ago. The app featured a concept called "Smart Add" that let you, say, type "Pay rent on last day of month" and have it land on the right list, the right date, whatever. Equally important, you could add tasks from anywhere: tweet them, email them, Skype them, even IM them. The app integrated into Gmail before doing so was cool and with Siri before Apple deigned to let it. It was everywhere you needed it, when you needed it, and faster than writing things down because you could pretty much use whatever box you happened to be typing into.
Such ubiquity is common now. And Siri and Cortana and Android Widgets are closing the gap even further. Until someone creates a telepathic smartphone interface, the problem of immediacy is pretty much solved. Great job, everybody! There's just one problem. It's still not enough to ditch the pen and pad once and for all.
Having made it easy to jot down a thought almost as soon as it enters your head, developers are moving on to making you check things off. Michael Ciarlo, creator of a new app called Doo, thinks the best way to do this is to make you establish eye contact with the task in front of you. In Doo, each task gets its own card. The easiest way to move on to the next card is to complete it or "snoozing" it, which is another way of saying, "Yeah, I'm not doing that now. Next..." There's just enough guilt involved in hitting snooze that I often just complete the task. That's the point. "Having an awareness of what you need to get done helps motivate people," Ciarlo says.
Other apps use push notifications as the default hey-remember-me gesture for keeping you on task. These reminders will grow more powerful as your devices learn more about you. An app can use the time and your location to remind you of tasks not just at the right time, but in the right place. Wearables have access to vital signs and other data that could optimize your productivity. All of these things mean the to-do list is giving way to the task cloud that follows you everywhere, jolting you with a lightning bolt when you need to do something.
Google's already well down this road with its productivity tools, which by design do not include a dedicated to-do list app. Instead, Google brings tasks to you. "Rather than building a standalone task-management place, we should give you light interactions in the places you already visit," says Jacob Bank, who joined Google after the company bought his task-management app Timeful. In Google's world, your tasks live in and interact with your email, your calendar, your phone.
Google is still honing that. But Bank's real goal is to make that list for you. That, by the way, might explain why he went to Google: Millions of people email in Gmail, work in Drive, chat in Hangouts, take notes in Keep. Bank thinks Google can get smarter about mining that data to figure out what you actually need to do with it. It's already doing this to some extent with Inbox, sorting your email by priority rather than time. "The 10-year vision," Bank says, "is GPS for your life." You give it the basics: I want to exercise more. I have a big project. I'm renovating the kitchen. "And it tells you the turn by turn." Timeful's big innovation was to automatically program your calendar, filling empty time with productive suggestions. With Google's data in hand, he could go even further.
Robot Taskmasters
Amir Salihefendic, the founder and CEO of Todoist, has a similar vision to Google's. As part of a recent redesign, his team looked into building a machine learning algorithm that could determine how you live and seamlessly integrate your to-do list. It would even recommend the best day to accomplish a given task. "If you look at our data," he says, "almost all days look very similar" for most users. "We can predict stuff."
Building a predictive to-do list is easy, he says, if you have perfect data. But getting access to that kind of data—everything from the date to your precise location to what you had for lunch—is hard to gather, and hard to parse. So most of the work in creating and following a to-do list remains on you. For now, the ability to quickly add items and receive a helpful push notification is as good as it gets.
But remember David Allen and his wild idea about AI holograms? He's serious about it. "At some point," he says, "you’ll walk into the room with a chip in your arm, and it knows that you've showed up. You’ll have a hologram show up in front of you, because it’s Friday afternoon at 3:00." The AI will know all about you, and help you figure out what needs to be done and how best to do it. And he says all the tech needed to build such a system is available now. "It just costs you about $6 billion to make it for yourself."
Allen built a voice-based productivity tool in 1995 called Actioneer, which was incredibly powerful and incredibly ahead of its time. More recently, he's been working with Intentional Software, founded by Charles Simonyi, the mastermind behind Word and Excel, to build the one tool everyone needs to get everything done. They're still at it. "We spent two years looking at whether there really was a next generation of productivity software that was ready to be developed," he says. "And it’s not yet. It’s not yet."Seeso has given a series order to Shrink, a half-hour scripted comedy pilot from Tim Baltz (Bajillion Dollar PropertieS, Veep) and Ted Tremper (The Daily Show).
Co-created by Baltz and Tremper, Shrink stars Baltz as a recent medical school graduate who loses his residency and finds himself unemployed with a half million dollars of student loan debt. With his dream of becoming a “real doctor” dashed, he discovers a loophole to becoming a therapist by recording 1,920 supervised clinical hours, which he begins by soliciting unorthodox patients from Craigslist and conducts the free sessions in his parent’s garage.
Shrink won The Best Comedy Pilot award at the New York TV Festival in 2012. It got the attention of Patrick Daly (Jean Doumanian Productions) who then packaged Baltz and Tremper with Emmy-winning writer/EP Chuck Martin (Arrested Development), who will serve as showrunner, and also direct along with Tremper. The project was then acquired by Seeso who ordered the project to series.
Baltz, Tremper, Doumanian, Daly, Martin, Jon Stern and Abominable Pictures executive produce and Emily R. Wilson is a writer and consulting producer. Shrink will shoot in Chicago in the fall.
Baltz is repped by ICM, Jordan Tilzer at El Centro and Lichter Grossman. Tremper is repped by ICM, Writ Large and Morris Yorn.Credit: DC Comics
As DC's Convergence finale ushered in the potential for canon stories from previously destroyed continuities, the reaction from internet comic fans was immediately positive. At the same time, Marvel was acknowledging the marriage between Spider-Man and his beloved Mary Jane — a marriage that was retconned out of Marvel's current continuity, to the disdain of many fans.
So what gives with comic book fans? With both DC and Marvel embarking on major relaunches that'll feature varying degrees of changes to iconic characters, are previous/classic verions of characters really that difficult for them to give up?
Yes, actually, they are, according Travis Langley, a psychology professor at Henderson State University who studies and writes about popular culture. As Langley describes it, the process of becoming familiar with a certain character is like making a "mental map."
"In our heads, we have our own versions of these characters and stories, our mental maps of them," Langley said. "When writers and companies make changes that don't fit our mental maps, it can be jarring to us. We either have to alter our maps or reject the new information so we can keep our maps the same."
Credit: DC Comics
As Langley explained it, when DC and Marvel changed Superman and Spider-Man's circumstances, the publishers may have been trying to attract new fans, but the changes required long-time fans to rewrite their mental map of that character, which some of them rejected.
And when those publishers acknowledge or even bring back the circumstances of the pre-existing "mental map," fans react positively. As one DC fan put it on Newsarama when DC brought back the potentially infinite Multiverse in the finale of Convergence, "I'm back because somewhere out there, there's a Superman who still wears red trunks."
The mental map in comic book fans may be even more related to continuity than it is in other fandoms. Louise Krasniewicz, a University of Pennsylvania anthropologist who studies fan culture, said the detailed knowledge of a character's history something that differentiates comic fandom.
"It seems to me that comic book fans are often very focused on one series, storyline, or character," Krasniewicz said. "They are fascinating when they know the history of a character going back decades and through different iterations, but that, in some ways, is what turns a lot of people off to comic book fandom."
Credit: Marvel Comics
Yet Krasniewicz said the sense of ownership that comic fans feel toward their favorite characters is not unique to them. In fact, it's part of being human.
"This ownership or commitment to the universe that the fandom is built around is what humans do," Krasniewicz explained. "We create these kinds of ties to real or fictional world's because that is how we make sense of the world. These commitments help us categorize and judge everything around us. It is amazing how much fictional universes can influence the everyday world."
The anger that fans voice online when changes are made is also common in other fandoms, but both Krasniewicz and Langley said it isn't something they'd blame on fandom itself.
Krasniewicz said quick, short Twitter outrage often feels more like "mob mentality" than real, overall fan reaction. "I am sure that a lot of it is done by interested individuals, but I fear that it is stoked or even invented by those interested in the publicity that any controversy brings," she said.
Langley said the Internet's combination of instant feedback and anonymity also plays a role.
"With the Internet, you can give and receive such quick feedback that you might not have any cooling down time," said Langley. "Writing a long letter by hand takes time and lets you think at greater length. The Internet lets you throw it all out there before you've had time to reflect, and then you've publicly committed to impulses you might otherwise never have shared.
"That anonymity is a two-edged sword," he said. "It can give people the freedom to share good things they might otherwise not have, but the good stuff isn't what we tend to conceal. The negative things, those can be unleashed. One person's negative impulse gets out there, affects someone else, and they affect someone, and we can see a quick escalation of things that might have died out. Sometimes it's a good thing, though. Some things need a serious push for dialogue to happen and changes to occur."
Credit: Marvel Comics
Credit: DC Comics
Yet both emphasized the Internet is positive for fan communities and the continuing discourse in popular culture.
"The sheer delight in finding someone who shares your particular or even peculiar interest in a comic book is the reward," Krasniewicz said. "Gone are the days of trying to find someone at your local shop or in school who understand the world you are immersed in."
"For all its problems, it gives people the chance to share ideas and discuss their passions even if nobody around them at home wants to get into those things," Langley said.
That "passion" may be frustrating for comic book publishers — particularly when it's fan "outrage" over changes made to a favorite character — but Krasniewicz said those types of passionate exchanges do serve a purpose.
"One of the basic concepts of anthropology is that you define your self and your group by defining who is not you: who is different, who disagrees, who insults you or embarrasses you," she said. "Conflict is one of the best ways to draw boundaries — and if this is the goal of these outrages, then I bet they are being successful at that."The Columbus Blue Jackets are currently experiencing the best season in franchise history, without a doubt. Much of this success can be attributed to the discipline, organization, and fitness the coaching staff has brought with them. But another major reason why the Blue Jackets are doing so well is the depth in the current squad. With some contracts being a bit longer than most would like, and very little cap space to work with, the Jackets are going to have themselves a conundrum come this off-season. If they want to continue to be a deep squad, they are going to have to make some tough decisions along the way.
Columbus Blue Jackets Contract Conundrum
There’s lots of major talking points when it comes to the contracts currently in the squad, and those that are set to run out after this season. It’s safe to say that players like Alexander Wennberg and Sam Gagner are going to expect more then $925,000 and $650,000 per year respectively. But with their current cap space of $11.454 million, they’re going to have to be smart to continue to improve.
Looking at $11.454 million in cap space, you may think, “what’s the problem?” But take into account that the contracts of Gagner, Wennberg, Josh Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo, Markus Hannikainen, Scott Harrington, and Lukas Sedlak are all up after the season. However, the latter six names are all restricted free agents.
Hannikainen and Harrington are obviously the least of the worries in this group. Hannikainen shouldn’t get much of a bump in salary and Harrington will either stick right around where he is now, or possibly won’t even be re-signed. However, both of the two have looked promising in their short times in the NHL with Columbus, so you never know how highly the coaching staff thinks of them and whether or not they feel they’re worth the risk.
As for Wennberg, Anderson, and Sedlak, they’ll all be looking for a solid increase in their annual salaries. Wennberg has been touted by the coaching staff, and now much of the league, as a top-level playmaker and should therefore be priority number one in the off-season. As for Anderson and Sedlak, their respective contributions will surely see them improving on their salaries of roughly $680,000/year and $600,000/year respectively.
Wennberg should see a healthy increase in the off-season as well, especially since he is currently on pace in assists with the likes of Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeni Malkin. It is, however, highly unlikely that Columbus will have the cap space to give him a comparable contract to the latter (Malkin makes a base salary of $9.5 million/year, Backstrom makes $6.7 million/year). Instead, Wennberg should see a contract similar to the former, or maybe even someone like Johnny Gaudreau, who makes $6.75 million/year, and a similar term to Gaudreau as well, who is on a six-year contract. A six-year, $35-40 million contract would be less than surprising for the Swedish centreman. This contract would put Wennberg anywhere between second to fourth in annual salary Columbus’ roster.
With Wennberg likely getting a major boost in yearly salary, this is going to leave the Blue Jackets with somewhere between $5.5-6 million left to work with to fill the roster. This means they have that small number there to re-sign Gagner, Anderson, Sedlak, Hannikainen, and Harrington, as well as obviously having to fill a spot left open by the impending expansion draft. This is quite the conundrum.
Columbus could attempt to find another steal, much like they did with Gagner, but this has hardly ever proven to work. They are far more likely to sign a player who won’t contribute than to continue to sign players producing at the level of Gagner with $650,000. Anderson and Sedlak are two players that should be in the “for sure” category to re-sign. If both bump up to around $1 million/year, this means that roughly another million will be taken off the number above as well, making the situation all the more worrisome.
What Can Be Done?
There are a few options the Jackets can take to make up for this issue, especially including the added issue of losing a player to the expansion draft. The most likely four candidates to be left unprotected that could be taken would have to be Boone Jenner, William Karlsson, Korpisalo, or possibly even Anderson, although unlikely. All four of these players play a pivotal role in the system currently in place in Columbus, but the best/most likely to go would be the former two, Jenner or Karlsson.
Cost-Effective Solution
If the Blue Jackets lose Jenner or Karlsson, they could continue to draw on the youth from the Cleveland Monsters, much like they have with Sedlak, Anderson, and Markus Nutivaara throughout the 2016-17 season. This would be the most cost-effective way of avoiding this issue.
The likely candidates to replace them would be Sonny Milano or Oliver Bjorkstrand for Jenner, but neither of them have been able to prove they can consistently play at the NHL level. Milano produced one assist over five career games and Bjorkstrand produced a respectable, yet inconsistent, nine points in 17 games. This is a worrying statement. If Karlsson is the one taken, then you would likely see last year’s first round pick Pierre-Luc Dubois filling in that roster spot. There is no guarantee he would either be ready, or whether he would be able to produce at the NHL level either.
Those options above are far less worrying, than if Las Vegas decides they want to take a young goalie who projects to be a starter in the near future. Korpisalo fits that definition to a tee. If Vegas takes Korpisalo, this would leave Columbus with the choice of promoting Anton Forsberg to full-time backup, or to venture into free agency. And with Forsberg continually being unable to make the jump from the NHL to the AHL, this should be a major cause for concern moving towards the off-season. This is where that smaller cap space is starting to come into play.
Trade Someone – The Tough Decision
The only other viable option for the Jackets would be to find a way to deal either Scott Hartnell or someone like Brandon Dubinsky. Despite this being a rather unlikely circumstance, it is still an option that needs to be entertained to ensure the depth of the squad doesn’t take a major hit going into 2017-18.
Dubinsky and Hartnell currently carry the third- and sixth-biggest cap hits on the Columbus roster, with cap hits of $5.85 million and $4.75 million respectively. The problem here is that both of them have a no movement clause on their contracts, meaning they would have to agree to waive this to be traded.
This option, though it may be the most unpopular and unlikely, would be the most business-savvy option for the Jackets moving into the off-season. Not only would it ensure a massive opening in cap space, but it would also guarantee the ability to sign a younger player at either position that might be able to produce at a similar level.
With the first option of drawing on their AHL affiliate being the most likely, Jarmo Kekalainen and the Columbus Blue Jackets organization have a busy year ahead of them. One thing is for sure, there is nothing short of a contract conundrum in the near future of the Blue Jackets.
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Millions of Americans poured into the streets of Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and other cities on January 21, 2017, raising a mighty outcry against the newly inaugurated Donald Trump and the policies of the Republican Party. But this national show of resistance—which has only grown louder as the president has confirmed the worst fears about his agenda—isn’t merely an urban or blue-state phenomenon.1 Ad Policy
“Resist Now!” was the defiant message on one of the handmade signs carried by dozens of activists in rural Walworth County, Wisconsin, on January 19, as they marched through the streets of Elkhorn, the county seat, to oppose President Trump. “Health care for all! Education for all! Equal pay for all! Workers’ rights for all!” chanted Ellen Holly, a veteran educator who helped organize the march. “An America that is for all of us!”2
The multiracial, multi-ethnic crowd cheered speeches in English and Spanish. They pledged to defend immigrants and the LGBTQ community and a woman’s right to choose. They promised to block Trump’s agenda as well as that of their own congressman, House Speaker Paul Ryan. They did it all in Elkhorn on the night before Trump’s inauguration because, Holly said, “We couldn’t wait to start resisting. We thought about going to Washington, but we knew we needed to be here, to say: ‘We are ready to do this!’”3
Holly is not alone. There are millions like her, and they are the base of progressive politics in rural America. They want a bold opposition to Trump and to politics as usual. They’re not looking for bland centrism, empty talking points, or a condescending “listening tour” by elite politicians who never really listen. And if they are called to action, they will rally others like them, they will build a progressive base, and they will turn out at election time.4 Related Article Democrats Can Win Rural Voters by Taking on Big Agriculture David Dayen
This is something that Democrats need to recognize as they prepare for 2018. It is folly to allow vast swaths of rural America to become no-go zones for the party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Tom Harkin, and Paul Wellstone. And it would be political malpractice of the worst sort to think that Democrats can retake the Senate and the House, much less prevail in statehouses across the country, without a bold plan for renewing their party’s fortunes in small cities, towns, and farm country. Appealing to “swing voters” isn’t the only way to revitalize the Democratic Party in rural America; developing smart, progressive policies that engage rural activists, and investing in the mobilization of base voters, actually matters more.5
Unfortunately, Democratic leaders are having a hard time wrapping their heads around this critical mission. Matt Barron, a veteran activist from western Massachusetts, quit the party this year, arguing that “Democrats at the DNC, DCCC, DSCC, and in the congressional steering and policy committees are brain-dead when it comes to supporting and endowing rural electoral infrastructure.”6
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean embarked on a 50-state strategy when he headed up the Democratic National Committee a decade ago. But that strategy pretty much disappeared after Dean left the DNC chair in 2009. Since then, Democratic strategists have become addicted to one-size-fits-all campaigns that have focused on narrowly defined themes intended to turn out just enough urban and suburban voters to win. “They talk about the messages that worked in very urban areas, where you have a million people or more. But they don’t know how to talk about ordinary people,” said Nancy Larson, a veteran Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party official, activist, and former candidate, regarding the 2016 election. Top Democrats have heard plenty of complaints like that, but for the most part they’re still searching for a quick fix that will repair all the damage from the long years of what Barron refers to as “not showing up.”7 Current Issue View our current issue
What Democratic leaders fail to understand is that the problem isn’t based in rural America; it’s based in their own negligence and ignorance. Otherwise intelligent politicians and pundits keep arguing about whether the party needs to remake itself to win back older white working-class voters who have been backing Republicans since the days of Ronald Reagan. But they’re way off base: Democrats don’t need some grand plan to sweep the rural precincts where the GOP has historically done well. Trump wasn’t the first Republican to win rural America—John McCain won the vast majority of rural counties in 2008, though he was wiped out by Obama nationally. The Republican advantage in the Senate has for years been based on the party’s strength in rural states. What Democrats need is something much simpler: an agenda for winning back regions that once elected senators like Tom Harkin and Russ Feingold, and to do well enough in the rest of rural America so that the combination of urban, suburban, and rural votes tips in their party’s favor.8 The problem isn’t based in rural America, but in the negligence and ignorance of Democratic Party leaders.
This doesn’t require a lurch to the center, which would suck the energy out of a party that in many parts of the country is already running on fumes. The devastating defeats in 2014 and 2016 have left too many top Democrats imagining that rural America is so socially conservative that the party must trim its ideological sails in order to compete. But they’re forgetting that voters in South Dakota have rejected bans on abortion in the past decade; that Wisconsin was the first state to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in both public- and private-sector employment, housing, and all public accommodations; and that in 2012, Minnesota was the first state to reject a ban on same-sex marriage.9
Democratic leaders get lost in reveries about reconnecting with the rural “white working class,” forgetting that 25 percent of African Americans live in small cities, towns, and rural counties; that the Asian-American population of rural communities grew by 37 percent between 2000 and 2010; that the Hispanic population of rural communities grew by 46 percent during the same period; and that 54 percent of Native Americans live in rural counties. Few DC Democrats bother to acknowledge that rural millennials embraced Bernie Sanders with the same fervor as their college-town counterparts.10
Democrats who should know better frequently fail to recognize that progressive groups like the National Farmers Union and the National Family Farm Coalition have educated their members for decades about the need to expand access to health care and to defend rural schools—and that pressure from rural voters has played an essential role this year in getting GOP senators like Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins to break ranks with the Republican leadership on these issues.11
“The Democratic Party ceded rural America to the Republicans quite some time ago,” said Vickie Rock, chair of the Democratic central committee of Humboldt County (population 16,528), speaking to Roll Call last year. “They invested nothing, they built no bench. They don’t even send out signs anymore, which is a staple of rural politics.”12
I saw the crisis firsthand in 2016—not just in the party’s draft platform, which initially devoted just 80 words to farm policy and rural development (as compared with almost 1,100 in the document that peanut farmer Jimmy Carter ran and won on in 1976), but on my visits to dozens of rural counties. Everywhere I went, I heard complaints about Hillary Clinton signs that never showed up—or, worse yet, distant party bureaucrats who wanted local activists to charge farmers for the privilege of having a Clinton sign in their fields. This might sound petty to folks who have never measured political trends by driving down country roads, but the fact is that yard and barn signs are a huge deal in much of America. When I saw Obama signs on barns in rural Iowa in the summer of 2007, I realized there was more to his campaign than just the “audacity of hope.” When I saw Sanders signs popping up along New Hampshire roadsides in the spring of 2015, I was pretty sure a political revolution was brewing.13
Democrats haven’t just lost touch with the priorities of working-class Americans in small cities and towns—although that in itself is a very big deal in an age of globalization, digitalization, and automation that has left so many people behind. They have also forgotten how to campaign in regions that election experts refer to as “swingier” than metropolitan regions. Speaking of rural voters in Upper Midwest states like Wisconsin, where Democrats surged in 2006 and ’08 and collapsed in 2014 and ’16, pollster Paul Maslin notes that these voters “have been continually disappointed for economic and other reasons. They have tended to react increasingly strongly against whoever seems to be in power. It is almost like a pendulum gaining force.”14 “The Democratic Party ceded rural America to the Republicans quite some time ago.”
But swinging that pendulum back to the Democratic side will take more than just a quick trip to the bucolic Shenandoah Valley village where, this past July, the party unveiled its vaguely populist “Better Deal” agenda. That foray inspired an all-too-familiar headline on Bloomberg BNA: Farmers Groups Await More Details From Democrats on Rural Agenda. Years of neglect and disengagement by Democrats at the national level have inspired a lot of skepticism even among voters inclined to back the party. Some may have strayed to Trump in 2016, but a lot of them simply didn’t bother to turn out.15
When I was in Walworth County on the night before Trump delivered his bombastic inaugural address, I ran into plenty of folks who were on board with the new president. A few Trump fans jeered the hearty resisters who marched through the rain that night. No surprise there: Trump carried the county with 57 percent of the vote versus Clinton’s 37 percent, in a general election in which exit polls found that small-town and rural Americans split 62 to 34 percent for the Republican.16
Democrats were not merely beaten in the countryside last fall. They were crushed, with support for Clinton falling to just 30 percent in the most rural areas. Clinton lost counties that had voted for George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis as well as Obama. In Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, where Trump’s narrow victories gave him the numbers he needed for an Electoral College win, a massive rural swing to the GOP line sealed Clinton’s fate. Walworth County gave Trump a 10,153-vote advantage out of 51,391 votes cast. That accounted for almost half of the Republicans’ statewide margin of 22,748 votes.17
Walworth County offers a prime example of the rapidly diminishing Democratic fortunes in rural America. In 2008, Obama received 48 percent of the county’s vote. In 2012, he still attracted 43 percent—while Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic Senate candidate, took 42 percent. Those were not wins, but the rural vote, combined with a strong urban majority, was more than sufficient to deliver statewide victories for the nation’s first African-American president and first openly gay senator. What happened? The overall turnout in Walworth County was down a bit from 2012, but the decline was unevenly shared: Trump received 99 fewer votes than Mitt Romney had in 2012, while Clinton had 3,802 fewer votes than Obama.18
Obama’s numbers were not the best ever for Democrats in rural areas, but they provide a good benchmark. In his days as an Illinois state legislator and later as a US senator, Obama took his cues from National Farmers Union leaders and paid a good deal of attention to rural issues—and, as a result, he ran well in Wisconsin and other places. Exit polls in 2008 gave him 45 percent of the vote from small cities, towns, and rural areas; in 2012, Obama still took roughly two-fifths of that vote.19
In 2016, everything changed. While Trump lavished attention on rural areas, the Clinton campaign disengaged from them. It was a terrible miscalculation. Had Clinton maintained the same level of non-metropolitan support that Obama enjoyed in 2012, she could have won several more states and closed the gap in the Electoral College.20
There are plenty of explanations for Clinton’s underperformance. She was a victim of sexism and of relentless character assassination in the right-wing media, which is omnipresent in farm country (tractors have radios, and a lot of them are tuned to Rush Limbaugh). But the Clinton campaign didn’t effectively challenge these attacks, and that cost her dearly. Clinton needed to be on the stump in battleground states, not just to make a physical connection with swing voters but to energize the Democratic base. As Bernie Sanders—who visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in rural South Dakota, joined a union picket line outside a cornstarch plant in eastern Iowa, and highlighted his embrace of the Immokalee workers on Florida’s tomato farms during his 2016 primary campaign—put it: “People want you to get out to where they live, where they are struggling to get by. They’re not satisfied just to see candidates on television, and they shouldn’t be.”21 “It’s pretty clear that a lot of the districts we need to win are in rural America.”
That’s one concept Trump understood. He maintained a frenetic campaign schedule through the fall and frequently traveled long distances for rallies in small-city arenas and on county fairgrounds. Among his last campaign stops in 2016 were Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin—not exactly small towns, but the media centers for vast farming regions. Trump got just as much national TV time as he would have for big-city rallies, but he also got credit for reaching out to voters who do not live in metro America.22
Clinton never campaigned in Wisconsin after the April primary, and she focused on Michigan only in the final days of the campaign. I started hearing Democratic activists on the ground in both states express their concerns around Labor Day. When I asked about the response they received from Clinton’s national campaign staff in Brooklyn, these activists told me they were assured that the people in charge had data proving that everything would be fine. As Donnie Fowler, who has managed winning campaigns in some of the toughest states for Democrats, explained to Politico, Clinton’s managers “believed they were smarter, which they weren’t. They believed they had better information, which they didn’t.”23
But Clinton still won 34 percent of the vote outside metropolitan areas, and even in places where she stumbled, other Democrats ran well. For instance, while Clinton lost Kentucky’s historically Democratic Elliott County by a staggering 45 points, openly gay Senate candidate Jim Gray carried it with ease. This should tell Democrats that rural America is far more diverse and dynamic than most pundits and pols recognize.24
Instead of poring over reams of “big data” in DC, or looking for a book that explains why rural voters feel neglected, Democrats need to get out more. They can begin by taking several steps:25
§ Democrats must recognize that rural voters are a necessary part of any serious strategy for improving the party’s fortunes. Congressional Progressive Caucus first vice chair Mark Pocan is a Wisconsin Democrat whose district includes two counties that backed both him and Trump. As Pocan explains, because of the gerrymandering of House districts and the Senate’s bias toward small states, “it’s pretty clear that a lot of the districts we need to win are in rural America.” And that goes double for the state legislative districts that Democrats must carry in order to have a voice in the redistricting process after 2020.26
§ Trump’s failures with regard to rural America must be incorporated into the broader Democratic critique of his administration and the GOP-controlled Congress. Trump, who didn’t even bother to name a secretary of agriculture until the day before his inauguration, has shown shockingly little interest in the concerns of the people who elected him. His policies are making small-town voters anxious about the future of rural schools, rural hospitals, and the rural economy. When Trump’s budget plan was released in May, Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, declared: “Clearly, this budget fails agriculture and rural America.”27
§ Democrats must address rural concerns in their broader party initiatives. The antitrust agenda that they’ve
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. Her fees do not include expenses for printing and mailing, which are paid separately by the committee.
In 2004, Mrs. Waters - who is fighting charges by the House ethics committee that she improperly sought federal help for a bank in which her husband owned stock - obtained an opinion from the FEC allowing her to run the mailer operation through her federal political committee, Citizens for Waters.
The ruling permitted her to collect payments from state and local politicians for their share of the costs without having them capped by federal contribution limits. Her mailer is not part of the ethics complaint.
“The Waters slate mailer is but one of at least 81 currently registered slate mailers in California,” said a source authorized to speak for the Waters campaign. “The slate committee’s accountant and lawyer have consistently complied with the fair-share allocations as determined by the FEC.
“The fair-share allocations pay for graphics, postage, production, data collection and consulting fees,” the source said. “In fact, it has been widely researched and reported, even by this reporter, that the slate has always complied with the proper protocol and regulations. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible, and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose, function and execution of the slate mailers.”
Mrs. Waters, who has represented South Central Los Angeles in Congress for nearly 20 years, and before that as a state legislator for 14 years, has enormous influence with black voters in Los Angeles County and her endorsement “means something,” California political consultants said.
She is the most senior elected black official in California and her clout goes beyond her district, they said.
“People take it into the voter’s booth,” one political consultant said of the Waters mailer whose candidate paid to be in it. The sample ballot, with a photo of the congresswoman at the top, has check marks next to the candidates she supports and contains quotes from her endorsements.
Another consultant pointed out that Mrs. Waters “goes all out for you when you have her endorsement.” He said there was “no better person” to have a candidate take to the black churches before the election.
“It is a good endorsement to have in parts of Los Angeles County,” said Parke Skelton, a consultant to Dave Jones, who successfully won the Democratic primary for state insurance commissioner. Mr. Jones was endorsed by Mrs. Waters, and his campaign paid $25,000 to be included in the mailer.
Some consultants and watchdogs are troubled that Mrs. Waters‘ campaign is charging candidates she endorses to be included in her mailer and said it borders on “pay-to-play” schemes, which have recently come under scrutiny by federal authorities.
“It is astonishing that politicians can cash in on their positions by selling their endorsements,” said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who now heads the political watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
“This further demonstrates that Rep. Waters abuses her position for the financial benefit of family members,” Ms. Sloan said. “She intervened with the Treasury Department on behalf of a bank in which her husband holds stock and she requires candidates seeking her endorsement to pay her daughter to be including on a mailing.”
Ms. Sloan said Americans have “long believed politicians’ votes are for sale.”
“Now we learn it’s not just their votes, but their endorsements as well,” she said. “This just confirms that at least some politicians really are bought and paid for.”
One political consultant who was troubled by Mrs. Waters‘ mailer practice said, “Like it or not, it’s a reality when you’re running for office in L.A. or campaigning statewide. ” He asked not be identified because he works with candidates who want to be in the mailer.
Mr. Skelton, the consultant whose candidate paid to be included in the mailer, said he didn’t think the Waters endorsement and contribution were linked: “She makes a decision independently. Then you have the opportunity of participating in the slate mailer.”
If you decline to pay, he said, you are not listed in the mailer but you still have her endorsement.
Here is how the process works, according to numerous interviews by The Washington Times with consultants familiar with the mailer.
First, Mrs. Waters interviews candidates and makes her endorsements. Then her daughter calls the endorsed candidates and tells them how much they need to pay for their share of the costs of being in the mailer.
It was in 2004 when Mrs. Waters got a unanimous advisory opinion from the FEC saying she could run her mailer but would need to do so through her federal campaign committee. The FEC said the payments from the other politicians were not considered donations but rather reimbursements and not subject to federal contribution limits.
The ruling allowed her to take unlimited amounts from campaign committees of other candidates for their share of the costs of printing and sending the mailers. Without the ruling, the payments from the other campaigns would be limited.
Mrs. Waters had begun the mailer in 1992 as a separate, nonfederal local political committee known as L.A. Vote, collecting more than $2.2 million until 2004. State elections records show that L.A. Vote paid about $450,000 to Karen Waters‘ Progressive Connections and $115,000 to Edward Waters, the congresswoman’s son.
She sought the FEC ruling in 2004 after passage of the McCain-Feingold bill, which barred federal officials from operating local nonfederal committees not subject to federal campaign limits.
According to federal and state election records, the Waters campaign collected $231,550 from more than two dozen candidates or ballot issue initiatives during the campaign for the Democratic primary in June. The payments ranged from $45,000 for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s successful bid for lieutenant governor to $250 for candidates for the Democratic County Central Committee.
In addition to Mr. Newsom and Mr. Jones, the state insurance commission candidate, 17 candidates or campaigns paid $5,000 or more to be on the sample ballot, the records show. They include $25,000 payments from San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who won the attorney general nomination, and State Sen. Gloria Romero, who ran unsuccessfully for superintendent for public instruction.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, who leads her Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive at Hewlett-Packard, by 4 percentage points in the latest polls, paid $5,000 to be included in the mailer.
Federal election campaign reports show that Karen Waters‘ firm was paid $33,000 by the Waters political committee through June but was still owed $82,000 for her work in the primary. The records show the firm was paid $40,500 in 2005, $80,000 in 2006, $73,500 in 2007, $73,500 in 2008 and $54,000 in 2009.
The House ethics committee and the FEC say federal office holders can pay relatives from campaign funds for “bona fide” services but must pay reasonable or fair market rates.
Karen Waters did not return phone messages left at her office.
Mrs. Waters‘ sample ballot is one of 81 mailers registered in California - run by politicians, consultants and interest groups - that charge fees to list selected candidates and initiatives. But, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a government watchdog organization, Mrs. Waters is the only member of Congress who reported raising money by using slate mailers.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.The concept of a fat European Super League consisting of the richest football clubs from across Europe has been discussed from 1990s and has occasionally been officially proposed, but the idea has not yet got off the ground.
History [ edit ]
In 1998, Italian company Media Partners seriously investigated the idea. The plan died after UEFA moved to expand the Champions League competition and abolish the Cup Winners' Cup in order to better accommodate clubs that were considering defecting in order to join the proposed Super League.[1]
In July 2009, Real Madrid's Florentino Pérez championed the idea. In August 2009, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger predicted a super league would become reality within 10 years time due to revenue pressure on the continent's elite teams.[2]
In February 2012, Clarence Seedorf also predicted the inception of the competition, and gave it his backing.[3] In April 2013 Scotland manager Gordon Strachan said that he believes the Old Firm clubs of Celtic and Rangers would join a future new 38-club two-division European Super League.[4]
Florentino Pérez's 2009 proposal [ edit ]
On July 4, 2009, Florentino Pérez criticized the current Champions League, saying "we have to agree a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best - something that does not happen in the Champions League."[5] Perez stated that he would push for a break-away competition featuring Europe's traditional powerhouses if UEFA didn't do more to ensure these teams played each other annually.[6]
Under Perez's plan, the continent's best teams would remain part of their respective national systems, but would be guaranteed the opportunity to play each other at the conclusion of the regular league season.[6]
Stephen M. Ross's proposal [ edit ]
In 2016, representatives from Premier League clubs; Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal were seen leaving a meeting with Stephen M. Ross' representatives that discussed the proposition of a European Super League.[7]
2016 UEFA changes [ edit ]
In 2016, UEFA again discussed the possibility of creating a closed league containing the 16 best teams in European football from the highest ranked national leagues. These 16 teams would have been divided into 2 groups, with 8 teams in each group. After 56 games in each group under the round-robin system, the teams that finished in places 1-4 would qualify for the quarter-finals. That plan was finally rejected and UEFA, in order to avoid the creation of a super league, made changes to the structure of the UEFA Champions League. UEFA announced that, for the trade cycle 2018–21, England, Italy, Spain and Germany would have 4 teams in the UEFA Champions League group stage without having to compete in play-offs. This means that the number of direct places will be increased from 22 to 26. The 6 remaining places will come from the champions' path (down from 5 teams to 4 teams) and the non-champions' path (down from 5 teams to 2 teams). If the title holder of this competition qualifies for the Champions League from its domestic league, the champion of the country with the 11th placed UEFA Coefficient will go through into the UEFA Champions League group stage; if not, the title holder has the right to defend the trophy. UEL defending champions also acquire the right to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage, without the opportunity of directly securing a play-off berth as in the 2015–18 trade cycle agreements. If the UEL champion automatically qualifies for the UEFA Champions League group stage via its domestic league, the third ranked team of the country with the 5th placed UEFA coefficient will replace the UEL winner.[8]
2018 Leaks [ edit ]
In November 2018, Football Leaks claimed that there had been undercover talks about the creation of a new continental club competition, the European Super League, from 2021.[9] In the same month, the website claimed that both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have been violating UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules.[10]Ever since Jack White opened his Third Man Records store on Canfield in November 2015, we’ve known a vinyl pressing facility has been in the works. We now know that production is starting soon, the Grand Opening is February 25, and it’s super environmentally friendly.
The facility is in the same location as the store and will create up to 50 new living wage jobs. In terms of production and environmental impact, the announcement boasts of features including:
“Operating eight of the first newly built presses built in 35 years, plus four extruders, and four hydraulic generators — all brand new
Presses can accommodate 12” LP’s or 7” singles according to demand
Only fully climate-controlled pressing plant work environment in the world
All new, state-of-the-art pressing machinery and purpose-built manufacturing infrastructure
Closed-loop, chilled-water system that maximizes water sustainability
Four high-efficiency hydraulic systems isolated in a dedicated, contained room
Digital touch screen controls for temperature, hydraulic compression, and extrusion speed
Engineered sound containment for minimal external noise pollution
Built by audio and studio fabrication experts responsible for some of the most-lauded recording studios in the world
Capacity estimated at 5000 records per 8 hour shift, with a current cycle time of approximately 45 seconds per record”
The public is invited to the Grand Opening, scheduled for February 25. The store will have a viewing platform so visitors can check out the operations any time. More info can be found here.Barcelona vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu has told Manchester United that they will not sell midfielder Cesc Fabregas at any price.
United manager David Moyes revealed on Thursday that the deal was "ongoing" but the Spanish club insist no offer will be accepted for the 26-year-old.
Bartomeu said: "United's interest for Cesc Fabregas is obvious, he's a great player but it does not bother us.
Fabregas facts He became Arsenal's youngest player aged 16 years and 177 days against Rotherham United in League Cup in October 2003.
Barcelona paid Arsenal £30m to sign him in August 2011.
He has winner's medals from the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 and 2012.
He won his first league title when Barcelona took La Liga's top spot last season.
"It does not matter what they offer us, we are not selling him."
The Premier League champions have failed with two bids for the former Arsenal player, the latest of which is understood to be £30m plus add-ons.
Bartomeu was speaking at new manager Gerardo Martino's first news conference following his appointment as Tito Vilanova's replacement.
"I'm not going to involve myself in the club's accounts, but considering the club has already rejected two offers, I would guess it will reject a third," Martino said.
"In other words, Fabregas will remain here."
United made their first move for Fabregas on 15 July by tabling a £25m bid and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward then flew home from the club's Asia tour to try to secure his capture.
However, the Reds have now been told no matter how much they bid, the Spanish champions will not listen to offers.
"If there was a higher offer would we accept it? No. We're proud that a club like that wants one of our players," added Bartomeu.
Fabregas has played 96 times for Barcelona since joining from Arsenal in 2011, including 60 league games, but has rarely featured in his preferred midfield role, with Xavi, 33, and Andres Iniesta, 29, ahead of him in the pecking order.Christopher Boswell ( Shutterstock
Lee Lane
The economic base of U.S. world power has been in steep decline. A country’s global power is always relative to that of others, and World Bank figures show that between 2000 and 2014, China’s share of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP) nearly quadrupled; Russia’s share tripled; India’s share almost doubled, while the U.S. share decreased by 28 percent. America is still the world’s single most powerful state, but global leadership requires both hard and soft power — and the wealth on which power is largely based. If America’s current relative economic decline continues, its ability to influence the world will also continue to fall.
Against this dark backdrop of economic weakening, energy — specifically oil and natural gas — has been a bright spot in recent years. Improvements in horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and advanced seismology have led to a surge in the U.S. output of natural gas and oil. This growth is a dramatic turn from what had been roughly thirty years of seemingly inexorable decline in oil production. Starting in about 2007, many U.S. firms began using the new techniques to extract, first, natural gas, and later, oil from formations that had been too impermeable to exploit profitably. The oil produced from these formations is often referred to as tight oil.
Tight oil output in the United States rose from 1.5 million barrels per day (MBD) in 2010 to 4.7 MBD in 2014. (These figures include condensate output — a type of very light oil that turns from a gas into a liquid when extracted.) For the year 2014, the latest edition of BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy shows that the United States produced 12.3 percent of global crude oil, putting it closely behind Saudi Arabia’s 12.9 percent and Russia’s 12.7 percent. By the end of 2014, the daily rate of U.S. oil output actually exceeded those of Saudi Arabia and Russia. The United States also led the world in natural gas production.
The resurgence of U.S. oil and gas output has been a much needed tonic for the nation’s GDP growth rate, which has been anemic over much of the last fifteen years. Nevertheless, the economic impact should not be overstated. A recent International Monetary Fund working paper estimates that although the long-term impact of this increase in oil and gas production on the nation’s and the world’s GDP is “nontrivial, it is likely to be modest” — between 1 and 1.5 percent increase in U.S. real GDP and less than a quarter percent globally. The authors noted that their findings for the U.S. economy were similar to those of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, which has estimated that real GDP “will be about two-thirds of one percent higher in 2020 and about 1 percent higher in 2040 than it would have been without the development of shale resources.” The authors of the IMF paper also explain that even though the net effect on the global economy will be positive, the surge in U.S. tight oil output, by lowering world oil prices, is having a strongly negative impact on the economies of some global oil exporters. By early 2015, world oil prices were about half the levels that had prevailed in mid-2014, and in the view of many, barring a shock that slashes global oil output, they are likely to remain low for several years.
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Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration and FRED Economic Data.
The production of tight oil in the United States lessens the risk of economic harm to America from oil price shocks. Prices can rise steeply for any number of reasons — if conflict in the Middle East spooks markets; if demand shoots up in major importing nations like China; or if oil exporters experience domestic turmoil, as during the oil strike in Venezuela in the early 2000s. Tight oil producers — often able to complete wells in mere months — can help limit the rise in prices and curtail the transfer of wealth from U.S. consumers to foreign oil exporters. This potential surge capacity is especially important in light of some current trends. Today’s low oil prices could raise the risk of a market disruption through political unrest in major oil-exporting countries where economies are suffering from the decrease in oil profits. Compounding the risk, OPEC (mostly Saudi) spare capacity, a major buffer against a supply shortfall, is below the levels of recent years — although the Iran nuclear deal might change that, if the lifting of sanctions means that country will increase its oil output.
Tight oil production may be an important factor in protecting the U.S. economy from the effects of oil-supply disruptions. To see how, consider the numbers. From December 2013 to December 2014, U.S. tight oil output grew by 1.2 MBD. And as a 2010 article in the journal Security Studies explains, between 1978 and 2003 there were six cases of oil-supply disruption with supply losses that ranged from 2.3 to 5.3 MBD. Had the current tight oil sector existed during those years, its surge capacity could not by itself have closed the gap but it would have had a significant impact on the supply shortfalls and the resulting wealth transfers. It is notable, though, that in only one case, that of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, did the supply shortfall persist for a year or more. This means that, for all of the concern about oil supply, the world crude oil market, even without tight oil, quickly offset all but the worst disruptions. So tight oil output is probably most helpful in the least likely, but potentially most costly, disruptions.
Over and above these economic and security benefits of tight oil, some observers purport to see yet another kind of gain from it. They note that many of the biggest oil and gas exporters, such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, are all autocracies. Presumably, low oil prices constrain and weaken these governments. Indeed, some commentators have suggested that, if prices stay low enough for long enough, some or all of these regimes might be overthrown. Such an outcome, according to this line of thinking, would be in the U.S. national interest and would advance the cause of freedom. But is this claim valid, and will it happen?
Limits of the U.S. Oil Renaissance
To understand the geostrategic importance of the new reserves, we must closely examine the features that distinguish tight oil and gas from conventional reserves. For starters, tight oil and gas are more complex and costly to produce than are many conventional resources. Tight oil and gas wells are often deeper, and they require extensive and costly horizontal drilling after reaching the target depth. The sites selected for tight oil and gas drilling tend to be more heterogeneous than conventional formations and tend to cover wider areas, so a considerable investment must be made up front just to find profitable spots. A conventional onshore well might cost $1 or $2 million, but as an article in the Journal of World Energy Law & Business sums up, “Due to the geological challenges, extensive testing, appraisal and drilling required, high density of wells and costs of water acquisition and treatment, the cost per shale well can range from $3 to $9 million in the USA and three to four times more elsewhere.”
Even more importantly, each tight oil well produces much less oil than does a well in the Persian Gulf. As a result, energy analyst Colin Chilcoat has calculated, “To maintain production of 1 million barrels per day,” a tight oil basin “will require between 1,500 and 2,500 wells. For comparison, conventional production in Iraq can reach similar levels with fewer than 100 wells.” The need to drill 1,400 to 2,400 more wells per each MBD of output makes U.S. tight oil much more expensive to produce than crude oil from the Persian Gulf.
Also, output from tight oil wells declines much more steeply than that from conventional wells. Therefore, were oil prices suddenly to spike, a fair number of new tight oil wells would still be needed just to offset the legacy wells’ production declines. Of much greater concern, if oil prices remain low enough for long enough the asset base of tight oil producers may eventually shrink to a level at which, in the short run, their capacity to surge production would be minor.
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The number of active rotary rigs — used in drilling oil and gas wells — in the United States has recently
declined sharply, and tight oil production has leveled off and even started to decline. If such trends
continue, U.S. tight oil suppliers may not be able to maintain a substantial surge capacity.
Sources: Baker Hughes and U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Some more ebullient observers hope that further technical advances will make tight oil production much cheaper. They interpret the fact that tight oil production has not fallen nearly as much as world oil prices as confirming their hopes. The idea is that as long as innovation continues to drive down the cost of tight oil production, U.S. producers will be able to maintain a higher share of the world crude oil market and a larger base of assets despite low oil prices. In defense of this view, the U.S. oil and gas industry’s innovative prowess is beyond question. Even now, as producers are gaining more detailed knowledge of the geology of the main tight oil and gas basins, they, and the oilfield services firms, are devising new well-stimulation systems and tailoring them to specific basins and regions. They are spacing wells closer together, drilling multiple wells from a single surface pad, and improving drilling bits and rigs. In consequence, drilling costs have fallen and initial production rates have improved.
But this progress, real and significant as it is, is not sufficient to explain why U.S. tight oil production has fallen so much less than have world oil prices. Rather, a number of transitory forces, some of which merely reflect leftover momentum from the recent drilling boom, have buoyed tight oil output. In 2015, for instance, many exploration and production (E&P) firms benefited from prior contracts that hedged the prices they received for their oil. A post at the Oilpro website observes that “some companies were being paid in the $90s a barrel for their output” in 2015, “but most of those high-priced hedges are running out.” Barring a rebound in world oil price, as the cushion of hedged prices shrinks, so will the extent of new drilling.
With lower oil prices, E&P firms have reduced exploratory drilling, and they are meeting most of the remaining demand for tight oil by drilling in known sweet spots. They are, therefore, drilling fewer costly dry holes, but if this pattern persists over the longer term, the productivity of these sweet spots will wane as will total oil output. At the same time, producers are also winnowing out less productive rigs and workers — the right response, but one that can continue for only so long.
America’s capital-intensive tight oil boom has also depended almost as much on the cost of capital being low as it did on the price of crude oil being high (prior to the recent drop). The last several years of Federal Reserve monetary policy have supplied cheap capital that financed the drilling boom. Today, many E&P firms are still able to raise capital through the sale of junk bonds, which offer very high yields, but interest rates are rising, and banks are growing wary about these companies’ financial viability. As the Fed gradually returns to a more normal monetary policy, the supply of cheap capital will contract, further threatening the financial viability of some, perhaps many, tight oil E&P firms.
Finally, for U.S. tight oil, public policy is a major concern. Ever since the oil and gas surge got underway, new federal, state, and local mandates have been pelting down on the industry. The storm shows no signs of abating. Some of these measures will increase exploration and production costs just as producers are desperately trying to reduce them. Others will block access to large swaths of resources, and yet others will raise the costs of moving oil and gas to the refineries and markets where they can fetch the highest prices. At the local level, “Not-In-My-Back-Yard” sentiments are widespread, especially on the coasts. Nationally, the environmental movement, which generally opposes fossil fuel production, heavily influences both the Democratic Party and the mainstream news media. Tight oil and gas producers have no reason to expect that the policy process will grow any friendlier to their interests.
No doubt the most efficient parts of the U.S. tight oil sector can survive today’s harsh test. But the value of tight oil as a buffer against oil price shocks depends importantly on whether the sector can profitably retain a large enough asset base to support future production surges. The answer to that question depends at least as much on future public policy as it does on new technology.
The Tight Oil Boom and Middle East Policy
Although it is too early to tell how the rise of U.S. tight oil will affect U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, we can begin to speculate. At one end of the policy spectrum some Americans hope that the rise of tight oil will allow the United States simply to withdraw from the region, except perhaps for continuing aid to Israel. And in fact, tight oil has helped to lower the amount the United States needs to import to meet its demand from around 60 percent of its total oil consumption in 2005 to a bit less than 30 percent now. But imports still make up a higher share of the U.S. oil supply than they did just before the Arab oil embargo of 1973, and as long as low oil prices persist, tight oil is more likely to lose market share than to gain it.
The still more basic problem with exiting the region is that it holds 52 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and 47 percent of its proven natural gas reserves. These reserves constitute one of the greatest stocks of wealth on the planet. Being fixed in place, they are also susceptible to capture and control by armed occupation or the threat of it. Hence, the MENA reserves, and especially those of the Persian Gulf, are so valuable that the United States remains strongly committed to denying control of them to any single power. Specifically, were Iran to gain direct or indirect control of a much larger amount of these reserves than it already has, it could challenge U.S. power in the region, and by allying with Russia, China, or both, it could increase the long-term threat to U.S. global preeminence.
In sharp contrast to those who would reduce U.S. involvement in the MENA region are those who hope to liberalize the MENA petrostates. This strategy jibes with many Americans’ penchant for global meliorism and democracy promotion. Although left-wing and right-wing versions of the theory differ in detail, their basic goals are consonant. Many proponents of this approach hope that low oil prices will succeed where armed force has failed to motivate MENA regime change.
One problem with this view is that overthrowing MENA regimes often leads to highly unpleasant surprises. The invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s replaced that country’s Baathist regime with a government that now hovers somewhere between a failed state and a puppet of anti-American Tehran. Libya has yet to emerge from the violent anarchy precipitated by NATO’s aerial bombardment. The Arab Spring has brought civil war in Syria, the rise of the jihadist group ISIL, and yet another state failure in Yemen. The current regime in Egypt remains insecure. With many fragile states clustered in the MENA region, internal unrest in any one state is also likely to spark international conflict. Such conflicts are now waged principally through power struggles within the borders of failed or fragile states. While most of the Gulf Cooperation Council states appear currently to be stable, in the longer term they are all seeking to cope with restive Shia populations.
It is, then, more fortunate than not that notions of low oil prices toppling MENA regimes are probably exaggerated. The world crude oil market is likely to absorb the current glut before revolts break out in Tehran or anyplace else. Low oil prices will stimulate demand, and U.S. tight oil output is already declining, albeit slowly. Meanwhile, oil producers elsewhere in the world are in full retreat. Between July 2014 and October 2015, the number of rigs drilling for oil outside North America fell by over 270, or about 20 percent. In Europe and Africa alone that number is even higher, at about 30 percent. Major cutbacks have occurred in many other countries worldwide.
Furthermore, petrostates are adept at withstanding oil price downturns. The most striking of such downturns, the oil price crash of the mid-1980s, led to a terrible civil war in Algeria, and perhaps encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait in 1990. Nonetheless, in the end, every petrostate in the MENA region survived the ordeal. That price crash is not an isolated case. A recent Brookings Institution policy paper notes that in the course of history “very few oil states actually experienced regime change during oil price declines” and that in fact “regional wars are as likely to happen when oil prices are high as when they are low.” And political scientist Benjamin Smith has found that for the period of 1960–1999, oil exporters were less susceptible to regime change and civil war than were other developing countries. Other analyses yield similar results. Within the region, Iran may be among the regimes most likely to survive the current low prices. Sanctions have kept Iranian crude oil production roughly 0.8 MBD below its 2011 rate of about 4 MBD; the withdrawal of those sanctions, combined with reform of the Iranian contracting terms with international oil companies, may well allow Iran to regain its 2011 output level, thereby boosting its oil revenues at the same time that it gains greater access to financial markets.
Between the policy extremes of withdrawal and trying to engineer MENA regime changes, the United States has a more sensible option: to use the somewhat greater margin of safety conferred by tight oil capacity to revert to the role of offshore balancer. A strategy of offshore balancing stresses the need to deploy force only to protect the vital security interests of the United States. It relies as much as possible on local allies backed by U.S. standoff forces, and as little as possible on deploying U.S. ground forces. Some scenarios would still require large U.S. ground forces, but often, they would be stationed outside of the MENA region, thereby diminishing political backlash within the region. Offshore balancing, in effect, would be a return to a revised version of the Nixon Doctrine — the doctrine that shaped U.S. policy toward the MENA region from the 1970s until around 2003. The ability of tight oil producers to quickly ramp up production gives the United States greater latitude to adopt this strategy, since it would cushion the harmful effects of an oil shock caused by a crisis in the MENA region, thereby easing the pressure on American political leaders to launch a hasty response.
To be sure, the offshore balancer concept is ambiguous. As we see in British history from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, offshore balancing does not preclude the dispatch of armies to assist allies. In fact, offshore balancing should stress flexibility — tailoring resource commitments to specific cases rather than rigidly adhering to a single kind of response. But finding the right balance between onshore and offshore forces is often difficult. One thing that balancing should preclude, however, is armed nation-building within MENA societies — a task that exceeds both America’s resources as well as its understanding of the local societies’ power structures and institutions.
Oil and Great Power Rivalry
Beyond the MENA region, the main geopolitical impact of low oil prices has been to diminish Russia’s relative power vis-à-vis that of its two rival world powers, America and China. While America remains a status quo power — seeking to keep the international system more or less as it is — both China and Russia are pursuing revisionist agendas — seeking to change it. Of the two challengers to U.S. preeminence, China is by far the greater threat. It already has the world’s second largest economy (in terms of nominal GDP), while Russia is only the tenth largest. China also enjoys much greater capacity for economic growth, in part because its economic base is more diversified; in contrast, Russia remains for the most part a very heavily armed petrostate. China’s de facto federalism provides at least a modicum of security for investors; in Russia, property rights remain notoriously insecure — hardly a growth-fostering environment for investment. American strategists should pay much closer attention to the wealthy and fast-growing Western Pacific littoral and its vital sea lanes — where China’s burgeoning hegemonic pretensions are all too apparent — than to Russia’s incursions into Ukraine.
Washington has long sought to enfold China into U.S.-designed global institutions and by doing so to liberalize the Beijing government. In reality, President Xi Jinping’s efforts to consolidate power are starkly at odds with any notion that China’s Communist Party is headed toward liberalization. As often happens when a rising rival challenges a dominant state, tensions have increased; and indeed, Sino-American conflict is visibly on the rise. Conflicts are simmering in the Western Pacific, in the Indian Ocean, and elsewhere — as well as in cyberspace.
Recently, questions have emerged about the durability of China’s high economic growth rate. The bursting of a stock market bubble has lent these questions new urgency, but the questions themselves are not new. Open political and economic systems confer on advanced democracies a unique capacity to adapt to change (a point well illustrated by Douglass C. North, John Joseph Wallis, and Barry R. Weingast in their 2009 book Violence and Social Orders). China, with more authoritarian politics and many more barriers to economic entry, largely lacks this level of adaptive efficiency. Some economists have recently speculated that, for this and other reasons, China’s growth rate is likely (although not certain) to decline.
Yet, in the context of Sino-American conflict, slower Chinese growth might not diminish the security threat to the United States as much as one might think. An economic slowdown would strike at the Communist Party’s main source of popular legitimacy. In the past, as Susan L. Shirk writes in China: Fragile Superpower (2007), the Party has countered similar problems with propaganda and educational campaigns to arouse and exploit anti-American and anti-Japanese xenophobia. Slower economic growth, therefore, might imply more, rather than less, Sino-American conflict.
Whatever the future of China’s economy will be, for now, the power balance between America and China is the main axis of global politics. Contrary to claims about the great strategic importance of U.S. tight oil, it is having very little effect on this power balance. China has now replaced America as the world’s biggest importer of crude oil, and lower oil prices add to both its current accounts surplus and its GDP growth rate — although the size of the effect on GDP remains somewhat uncertain. American tight oil, then, has economically benefited both powers. If there is any net strategic effect, it is small enough to be lost in the noise.
Claims about the strategic impact on Russia of U.S. natural gas exports are also inflated. While Europe’s bargaining position toward Moscow is strengthening, U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will be a minor factor in that trend. Current events are already diminishing Russian market power. The Russian share of EU imports is little changed, but the EU economy has remained sluggish, and since 2010, its total gas consumption has been falling. Therefore, at least for now, the Europeans hold spare capacity in gas transport and storage with which to respond to supply shortfalls. Also, Poland and the Baltic states have built LNG terminals, and the EU is increasing pipeline capacity to flow gas back toward the eastern states that are more dependent on Russian gas. The price trend tells part of the story about the Russian natural gas company Gazprom’s falling
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"The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" sold 62,000 copies in its first week of release. It followed up 2009's "Black Gives Way To Blue".
The first two singles from "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", "Hollow" and "Stone", both hit No. 1 on the rock radio airplay charts, while the album itself debuted on the Billboard album chart at No. 2.The United States is divided over the legalization of marijuana. Arguments in favor include protection of individual rights, elimination of criminal sentencing for minor offenses, collection of tax revenue, and elimination of the black market. Counterarguments include the possible escalation of use, adverse mental and physical health effects, and potential medical and social costs.
Some steps have already been taken to reduce harsh and racially biased sentencing. There is growing support in Congress to eliminate federal mandatory minimums for drug offenses, and 19 states have either decriminalized or eliminated jail time for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Furthermore, 21 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of marijuana.
Washington State and Colorado went further, authorizing the retail sale of marijuana and opening the door to a legal marijuana industry. Given the lessons learned from the 20th-century rise of another legal addictive substance, tobacco, we believe that such an industry could transform marijuana and its effects on public health. Like tobacco, marijuana harms health and is addictive; unlike alcohol, both tobacco and marijuana came of age after the Industrial Revolution. And although the United States has, since tobacco's rise, adopted regulatory structures designed to protect consumers, they do not apply to marijuana, in part because marijuana use and sales remain illegal under federal law. Colorado and Washington are developing regulatory infrastructures to fill this gap, but the goals and potential effectiveness of their proposed regulations are unclear. No evidence exists regarding which regulations might minimize population harm from marijuana. The marijuana industry's trajectory could therefore repeat tobacco's.
In its current form, smoked marijuana is less deadly than tobacco. Although case–control studies have found increased mortality associated with heavy marijuana use — attributable to vehicle crashes from driving while high, suicide, respiratory cancers, and brain cancers1 — the nonfatal adverse effects of marijuana use are much more prevalent. These include respiratory damage, cardiovascular disease, impaired cognitive development, and mental illness. These harms are very real, though they pale in comparison with those of tobacco, which causes almost 500,000 U.S. deaths annually. Marijuana is also less addictive than tobacco. About 9% of cannabis users meet the criteria for dependence (according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) at some time in their lives, as compared with 32% of tobacco users.2
But tobacco was not always as lethal or addictive as it is today. In the 1880s, few people used tobacco products, only 1% of tobacco was consumed in the form of manufactured cigarettes,3 and few deaths were attributed to tobacco use. By the 1950s, nearly half the population used tobacco, and 80% of tobacco use entailed cigarette smoking; several decades later, lung cancer became the top cause of cancer-related deaths.3 This transformation was achieved through tobacco-industry innovations in product development, marketing, and lobbying.
The deadliness of modern-day tobacco stems from product developments of the early 1900s. Milder tobacco blends and new curing processes enabled smokers to inhale more deeply, facilitated absorption by lung epithelia, and boosted delivery of nicotine to the brain. Synergistically, these changes enhanced tobacco's addictive potential and increased intake of toxins. In addition, the industry added other ingredients, including toxic substances that enhanced taste and sped absorption — without regard for safety. When tobacco was a cottage industry, cigarettes were either “roll-your-own” or expensive hand-rolled products with limited market reach; after industrialization, machines rolled as many as 120,000 low-cost, perfectly packaged cylinders daily.
The burgeoning marijuana industry is already following the same successful business strategy by increasing potency and creating new delivery devices. The concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana's principal psychoactive constituent, has more than doubled over the past 40 years.4 Producers are manufacturing strains that they claim are less addictive or less harmful to mental health, but no supporting scientific evidence has been published. New vaporizer delivery systems developed by some manufacturers may reduce lung irritation from smoking but may also allow users to consume more THC (the component most closely associated with euphoria, addictive potential, and mental health side effects) by enabling them to inhale more often and more deeply. The business community recognizes these innovations' economic potential: a recent joint venture between a medical-marijuana provider and an electronic-cigarette maker sent stock prices soaring.
Marketing strategies go hand in hand with product innovation. The market for marijuana is currently small, amounting to 7% of Americans 12 years of age or older, just as the tobacco market was small in the early 20th century. Once machines began mass-producing cigarettes, marketing campaigns targeted women, children, and vulnerable groups by associating smoking with images of freedom, sex appeal, cartoon characters, and — in the early days — health benefits.
There is reasonable evidence that marijuana reduces nausea and vomiting during cancer treatment, reverses AIDS-related wasting, and holds promise as an antispasmodic and analgesic agent.5 However, marijuana manufacturers and advocates are attributing numerous other health benefits to marijuana use — for example, effectiveness against anxiety — with no supporting evidence.
Furthermore, the marijuana industry will have unprecedented opportunities for marketing on the Internet, where regulation is minimal and third-party tracking and direct-to-consumer marketing have become extremely lucrative. When applied to a harmful, addictive commodity, these marketing innovations could be disastrous. This strategy poses a particular threat to young people. Adolescents are more likely than adults to seek novelty and try new products. The developing adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable to the development of addiction. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), children who use marijuana are up to four times as likely as adults to become chronic, heavy users — the type that would generate consistent sales for the marijuana industry.
Today, nearly one in five U.S. adults still smokes, despite extensive public health campaigns focused on reducing uptake and increasing cessation. The tobacco industry has provided a detailed road map for marijuana: deny addiction potential, downplay known adverse health effects, create as large a market as possible as quickly as possible, and protect that market through lobbying, campaign contributions, and other advocacy efforts.
The tobacco industry, bolstered by enormous profits, successfully lobbied to be exempted from every major piece of consumer-protection legislation even after the deadly consequences of tobacco were established. With nothing to sell or profit from, health advocates had difficulty fighting a battle that was clearly in the best interest of the public. The marijuana industry has already formed its own advocacy organization — the National Cannabis Industry Association — to protect and advance its corporate interests.
It took the medical and public health communities 50 years, millions of lives, and billions of dollars to identify the wake of illness and death left by legal, industrialized cigarettes. The free-market approach to tobacco clearly failed to protect the public's welfare and the common good: in spite of recent federal regulation, tobacco use remains the leading cause of death in the United States.
Addictive substances with known harms may merit completely new policy approaches. For example, the government of Uruguay's marijuana program will restrict sales to government-produced strains, limit prices in order to undercut illicit markets, and closely monitor individual consumption. The effects and side effects of this approach, however, remain to be seen. At present, we should accelerate collaboration among the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, SAMHSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and other agencies to fully understand current harms and forecast the effects of industrialization.
In theory, any revenues from sales of marijuana products should pay for all regulation and harms so that society will not have to pick up the tab for damage done by the product. However, we know from the history of tobacco that this is hard to implement in practice.
History and current evidence suggest that simply legalizing marijuana, and giving free rein to the resulting industry, is not the answer. To do so would be to once again entrust private industry with safeguarding the health of the public — a role that it is not designed to handle.January 29, 2015 at 6:21 AM
The Spokesman-Review
A Comcast official apologized Wednesday after a service representative apparently changed the name of a customer in Spokane to “Asshole” on her printed bill.
The matter was first reported by consumer advocacy blogger Christopher Elliott, who said the customer, Lisa Brown, contacted him after first trying to deal with Comcast directly. Elliott identified Brown as a “volunteer for a missions organization.”
Brown told the blog that she’d tried to cancel the cable portion of her account and was sent to a Comcast “retention specialist.” Brown told Elliott that she wasn’t rude, and doesn’t understand why the customer service rep changed the name on her bill to “Asshole Brown.” Brown couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
Comcast spokesman Steve Kipp said in a statement, “We have spoken with our customer and apologized for this completely unacceptable and inappropriate name change. We have zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior and are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what happened. We are working with our customer to make this right and will take appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again.”
According to Elliott, Comcast offered the apology as well as a full refund for the last two years of service and two more years for free.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Two popular children's shows have been taken off the air by the BBC to address a gender imbalance.
Generations of youngsters have grown up watching Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder - with Bob even topping the pop charts twice in 2000 and 2001.
But now both have been removed from CBeebies' schedules to make way for the introduction of a raft of new female-led shows, controller Kay Benbow has told The Times.
Across the BBC there has been a drive to address inequality between the sexes with women landing a number of prominent roles.
But as animations take a certain amount of time to be made, the children's channel has taken longer to catch up.
In her interview, Ms Benbow, who steps down this month after seven years at the helm of CBeebies, said both Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder were no longer being shown.
Shows expected to replace them in the listings include Bitz and Bob, about a girl engineer and her brother, and Treasure Champs, featuring the voice of Shobna Gulati.
And female stars such as Maggie Aderin-Pocock, the host of Stargazing, and Rachel Yankey, the England footballer who presents Footy Pups, have also been promoted.
The responsibility for running CBeebies will pass to Cheryl Taylor, the CBBC controller, as part of a shake-up of the corporation’s Salford-based children’s division.It’s almost 18 months since West London Sport revealed that Warren Farm was QPR’s preferred choice for a new training ground.
Next week the club are expected to get the green light to begin redeveloping the site. Here’s a guide to how things stand at the moment.
What is Warren Farm?
The Warren Farm sports centre is on Windmill Lane, Southall, fairly near Osterley Park, and is the biggest sports ground in the borough of Ealing but has been in a state of disrepair for some time.
Ealing Council selected Rangers as its partner to redevelop the facility in the spring of last year and the club submitted a planning application in December.
Why the delay?
There hasn’t actually been a substantial delay. A process like this can take considerable time. QPR’s stance has also been that they would prefer to address any issues at the start of the project rather than further down the line.
However, a number of objections were raised by residents and community groups during the council’s required period of public consultation.
What kind of objections?
It has been claimed that the council is effectively ‘gifting’ the site to QPR rather than selling it for a profit.
There have also been doubts over Rangers’ assurances that the new facility will be more than just a training ground and will be available for substantial community use.
And there were significant concerns expressed about the structure of the proposed new site and the layout of the surrounding area, not to mention the potential noise.
What has been QPR’s response to this?
From the start, Rangers have been adamant that the award-winning QPR In The Community Trust will take a leading role in ensuring that Warren Farm provides significant benefit to the local community.
Furthermore, last month the club submitted revised plans to the council in response to local concerns.
What changes were made?
The proposed height of the indoor centre has been reduced by 1.2 metres and the planned location of floodlights has been moved to try to reduce their impact.
The number of proposed car parking spaces for the new site was reduced from 712 to 555. Plans also now include a new pedestrian crossing on Windmill Lane and improved cycle routes.
In response to objections about potential noise, plans now include operating hours.
Who will pay for Warren Farm?
QPR will be responsible for building, maintaining and operating the new facility at no extra cost to the council or taxpayers.
Why does the council want QPR to take over the site? Why don’t they just sell it off?
In response to criticism over this issue, both parties point out that, at a time of budgetary cuts, other councils are closing similar facilities.
In 2011, Ealing Council identified the need for external investment in order to revamp Warren Farm, so set about finding an appropriate partner.
QPR, who want a training facility to meet Premier League and academy standards, and currently have a vibrant community trust, are therefore seen as an obvious choice.
What facilities will be at Warren Farm?
QPR’s proposals include some distinction between club facilities and those for community use.
The club will have a state-of-the-art training centre, including three pitches for senior players and six for academy players. There will be an indoor and outdoor artificial pitch, one show pitch and floodlighting.
There will also be an area accommodating players and staff that will be far superior to the building at Rangers’ current training ground in Harlington.
For community use, there will be up to 11 football pitches, three cricket wickets, changing rooms, brand new meeting and social areas and multi-function rooms. There will also be access to both the indoor and outdoor artificial pitches and car parking. All of these would be available at a charge set by the council.
Most importantly, the club, led by the QPR In The Community Trust, say they are dedicated to ensuring that Warren Farm becomes a hub for community sport and participation rather than simply a training ground.
What happens now?
The council are due to consider the revised submission at a planning committee meeting next Wednesday, 24 April, and are expected to approve the plans.
QPR intend to begin building on the site this autumn and open the new facility towards the end of 2015.
See also: QPR want Warren Farm training ground
Making it happen
Beard: QPR's plan would benefit community
QPR get the go-ahead for Warren Farm
QPR owners stay committed because their eyes are on the prize
QPR get the go-ahead for Warren Farm
Victory for QPR as Warren Farm group fail
QPR ready to scrap Warren Farm project
QPR's seven-year battle over Warren Farm: a timeline
QPR submit revised training-ground plan
Legal victory for QPR in Warren Farm battle
QPR move closer to building Warren Farm training ground
QPR's Warren Farm battle could be resolved within weeks - or late next year
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Find us on FacebookLeftist presidential hopeful Khaled Ali said on Wednesday that he would dismiss Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council, and bring the whole council to account for the crimes it has committed.
“There is no democracy under military rule,” he said.
“The military council has tarnished the image of the revolution and returned Egypt to a regime more repressive than that of Mubarak,” he said, adding that changing the law of the judiciary and dismissing the attorney general would bring out enough evidence to retry Mubarak and his regime before the courts.
He criticized Article 28, which does not allow challenging the decisions of the Presidential Elections Commission, and which allows campaigning only for three weeks. “This is ridiculous,” he said.
He also criticized Parliament for focusing on marginal issues and for being unable to improve the lives of the people.
He added that he is against all attempts of reconciliation with the businessmen who are in prison, and who have destroyed the economy and created extreme poverty, as he put it.
He said that he would appoint three vice presidents, including a woman and a Coptic Christian, and that 75 percent of his advisers would be from the younger generation.
He pledged to cancel the gas exports to Israel. “We must build a state of institutions that are based on social justice and a strong economy,” he said.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-YoumEgerton MS 1894, better known as the Egerton Genesis Picture Book, has been described as one of the most fascinating – and puzzling – of all the manuscripts in the British Library collections. The Egerton Genesis Picture Book (one of our most recent uploads to our Digitised Manuscripts site) was produced in England in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century. It contains a cycle of 149 illustrations of the Book of Genesis, running from the Creation through the story of Joseph. The images are described in short captions in Anglo-Norman French, based upon text from Peter Comestor’s Historia Scholastica.
The artist responsible for the paintings in this volume has been named the Master of the Egerton Genesis, in honour of his work in this manuscript. His hand appears in a number of other contemporary manuscripts, and he was clearly highly skilled, but also displays a unique and sometimes rather irreverent perspective on familiar subjects. For example, in the final image of the Creation the Master depicts the Lord God fast asleep among the flowers he has just made, his bare feet exposed. If it weren’t for the halo and the elegant pose, he could be a shepherd who has dozed off after his lunch.
Detail of God the Father resting, from the Egerton Genesis Picture Book, England (Norwich or Durham?), 3rd quarter of the 14th century, Egerton MS 1894, f. 1v
In many ways, the Egerton Genesis Picture Book can be seen as an early comic book, with four pictures on most pages, each illustrating an episode in a well-known tale.
Here, for example, is how the Tower of Babel story is treated:
Nimrod and the Tower of Babel
Nimrod, grandson of Ham and great grandson of Noah, the proud hunter and tyrant who defied God, is mentioned in the book of Genesis, and in Hebrew and Christian tradition he is usually seen as the leader responsible for the building of the Tower of Babel. On ff. 4v-6r his story is told in pictures.
First Nimrod is shown holding a spiked club and towering over his ancestors, looking back at them in a rather haughty manner:
Detail of a miniature of the ancestry of Nimrod, Egerton MS 1894, f. 4v
The story continues on the facing page, with four scenes from the life of Nimrod. He is shown using a rod to force his people to worship fire, and as a young man, being instructed by Jonitus, the fourth son of Noah, in astronomy. These episodes are taken from the Historia Scholastica rather than the Bible. The descendants of Ham and Japheth are shown in the other two images on this page.
Detail of a miniature of Nimrod and the descendants of Ham and Japheth, Egerton MS 1894, f. 5r
In the full-page image of the building of the Tower of Babel on the following page, an older Nimrod, still standing head and shoulders above everyone else, consults with his kinsmen, who may be telling him not to anger the Almighty. The image is full of activity as workmen construct a rather Italian-style tower. In the upper left part, a mason holds up his trowel, while another lays blocks above him.
Detail of a miniature of the building of the Tower of Babel, Egerton MS 1894, f. 5v
The final image, showing the destruction of the Tower of Babel, occupies the whole left hand side of the page. God is directing the four winds, which huff and puff and blow the tower down (eat your heart out, big bad wolf – this one is made of bricks!)
Detail of a miniature of the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Egerton MS 1894, f. 6r
Of course, violence is a key ingredient of most comic strips, and the Egerton Genesis Picture Book is no exception. How is this for a healthy display of weapons and carnage?
- Chantry Westwell
The Medieval Manuscripts Blog is delighted to be shortlisted for the National UK Blog Awards (Arts & Culture category). For more information about the nomination, see the Awards website.Sindhutai Sapkal’s life started as being an unwanted child, followed by an abusive husband who abandoned her when she was nine months pregnant. The circumstances she has faced could force anyone to lose courage and succumb to the adverse situations. But Sindhutai emerged stronger with every difficulty she faced and became a ‘mother’ to over 1400 homeless children when she herself was in a hand-to-mouth situation! Read more to know about this unique persona.
Sindhutai Sapkal is much more than just a name. The 68-year-old lady hides many stories behind her strong personality. Full of energy and passion, Sindhutai is commonly referred to as “Mother of Orphans” and as she talks about her life and her children you can see the pain, the troubles and the miseries she has faced and overcome with her hard work during her life time. But, from all the emotions you see on her face, an unusual sense of confidence, which she has derived over the years through her experience, is something you get inspired from.
“I am there for all those who have no one,” she says with a lot of affection. You can see flashes of her life as she talks about her journey and how she became the “mother”. Being an unwanted child, she was nicknamed “Chindhi” which means a torn piece of cloth.
Though her father supported her and was keen on educating her, she could not continue her studies after fourth grade due to family responsibilities and early marriage.
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Born on born on 14 November, 1948 at Pimpri Meghe village in Wardha district of Maharashtra, she was keen on completing her education and used Bharadi tree leaves to write as the family could not afford a slate. Her early marriage put an end to her desire to study.
“I was told there are only two processions in a woman’s life; once when she gets married and the other when she dies. Imagine my state of mind when they took me in a procession to my husband’s home in Navargaon forest in Wardha,” she says.
She got married at a tender age of 10 to a 30-year old man. Her abusive husband beat her up and threw her out of the house when she was 20 and nine-months pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl in a cow shelter outside their house the same day and walked a few kilometres in that condition to her mother’s place, who refused to give shelter to her.
“I cut the umbilical cord with a sharp-edged stone lying nearby,” she recalls. The incident deeply affected her and she thought of committing suicide, but gave up that thought and started begging at railway platforms for food to look after her daughter.
As she spent more time begging, she realized that there are many orphans and children abandoned by their parents. Having faced the difficulties herself, she could feel their pain and she decided to adopt them. She started begging more earnestly in order to feed the many children that she had adopted. Gradually she decided to adopt every child who came across as an orphan and, over a period of time, she emerged as the “mother of orphans”.
Till date she has adopted and nurtured over 1,400 orphans, helped them get an education, got them married and supported them to settle down in life. She is fondly referred to as “mai” (mother). The children are not given up for adoption. She treats them as her own and some of them are now lawyers, doctors and engineers.
“When I was out myself on the streets begging for food and fighting for survival each day, I realized that there are so many orphans who have nobody to go to. I decided to take care of them and raise them as my own,” Sindhutai says.
To eliminate the feeling of partiality among children she gave away her biological daughter to Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai, Pune. Her daughter herself runs an orphanage today.
Sindhutai with her love and compassion has gathered a huge family of 207 sons-in-law, 36 daughters-in-law and over 1000 grandchildren. Till date she continues to fight for the next meal. She does not take support from anyone but still gives speeches to earn her daily bread and butter.
“By God’s grace I had good communication skills. I could go and talk to people and influence them. Hunger made me speak and this became my source of income. I give many speeches at various places and this gets me some money which I use to take care of my children,” she says.
Many years after being abandoned by her husband, he came back to her and apologized for his harsh deeds. Having devoted all her life to the orphans, she forgave him and accepted him as her child, as she could only harbour motherly love for all. She affectionately introduces her 80-year old husband as the eldest child.
For her immense courage and compassion she has received over 500 awards. Whatever amount she received as awards, she used it to construct homes for her children. The construction is still going on and she is constantly looking for more help across the globe to give shape to her dreams.
Picture Source
She has six organizations operating under her name which work for various needs of orphans. “I had no one with me, everyone abandoned me. I knew the pain of being alone and unwanted. I didn’t want anyone to go through the same. And I feel immense pride and pleasure to see some of my children doing so well in their lives. One of my children made a documentary on my life,” she says.
Her life’s story inspired many and a Marathi film called “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal” was made on her which won a national award. “I approached the Maharashtra government several times for help but I never received it. I used to beg earlier to fulfill the needs of my children and I will continue to do so,” she says.
The unusual life of Sindhutai is an inspiration for all of us. Even after facing so many hardships, she stood tall and made her way into everyone’s heart. She proved that if you are dedicated, nothing can stop you from changing the lives of thousands of people around you. We salute this brave lady and hope that the country gives birth to many such strong daughters and mothers.
Know more about Sindhutai and her work through her website.
Watch her story in her own words-
[embedvideo id=”GGY4zQhkdKM” website=”youtube”]
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Editing Assistance: Shruti MehrotraSo Republicans may have decided to raise the debt ceiling without conditions attached — the details still aren’t clear. Maybe that’s the end of that particular extortion tactic, but maybe not, because, at best, we’re only looking at a very short-term extension. The threat of hitting the ceiling remains, especially if the politics of the shutdown continue to go against the G.O.P.
So what are the choices if we do hit the ceiling? As you might guess, they’re all bad, so the question is which bad choice would do the least harm.
Now, the administration insists that there are no choices, that if we hit the debt limit the U.S. government will go into general default. Many people, even those sympathetic to the administration, suspect that this is simply what officials have to say at this point, that they can’t give Republicans any excuse to downplay the seriousness of what they’re doing. But suppose that it’s true. What would a general default look like?
A report last year from the Treasury Department suggested that hitting the debt ceiling would lead to a “delayed payment regime”: bills, including bills for interest due on federal debt, would be paid in the order received, as cash became available. Since the bills coming in each day would exceed cash receipts, this would mean falling further and further behind. And this could create an immediate financial crisis, because U.S. debt — heretofore considered the ultimate safe asset — would be reclassified as an asset in default, possibly forcing financial institutions to sell off their U.S. bonds and seek other forms of collateral.Ah, those undead zombie denial claims. Shutterstock/Anton Brand
Last week I wrote about a senior Republican congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, who not only denies climate change is real but made the bizarre statement that the Earth is actually cooling.
I know, right? But not to be outdone by his colleague in the other chamber, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, decided to let loose with a stream of nonsense on the same issue in an apparent attempt of what I can only think of as one-downmanship.
On the Glenn Klein radio show on Wisconsin’s WRJN on Tuesday, Johnson decided to let the world know his grasp of science is at best tenuous, and he’s more than willing to grease his fingers. As an example, he said this:
First of all the climate hasn’t warmed in quite a few years, that is proven scientifically.
Oh, senator. If you want to talk scientifically, then the global warming “pause” you’re referring to doesn’t exist. We’ve had nine record-breaking high temperatures globally in a row. The year 2015 was the hottest one on record, beating the previous record-breaking high temperature year of 2014. Every single year of the past 13 years has been among the hottest ever recorded.
“Proven scientifically,” the senator says. Right.
But he’s not done letting loose the zombies of denial. He continues:
So, that’s why they changed the terminology from “global warming” to “climate change.” That covers everything. Climate has always changed, it always will.
This is one of the most egregious of the denier lies, and one of the most aggravating: Changing the framing from “global warming” to “climate change” was a Republican strategy. It wasn’t progressives who did that, it was Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist, who did it to make it sound less “frightening,” the easier to downplay it.
Sheesh.
Then he makes a more subtle but still grossly incorrect statement:
… [Measured from ice cores, over hundreds of thousands of years] we’ve had temperature variations of 22.7 degrees. There were men and women 20,000 years ago, but not enough building campfire to produce CO 2 to cause those glaciers to recede or to cause those temperature variations… There are greater forces at play.
I’ll admit he does say one correct thing there; surface temperatures measured in Antarctica from the Vostok ice core show a variation of roughly 22° F over time. But note that phrase: “over time.” Natural variations in climate do occur, and no scientist will deny that. As I wrote in the post about Blackburn, the problem is that as humans dump carbon dioxide into the air at huge rates, the speed at which the temperature is now changing is unprecedented. Slow variations are bad enough, stressing the environment and forcing species to adapt; but if it happens too quickly it’s not possible to adapt quickly enough. Rapid climate change can force huge numbers of species to go extinct, and the effect it will have on humanity is profound and terrible.
There’s one other thing Johnson says worth pointing out (though there’s plenty more wrongness to be had in that interview):
… the question is, how much does man cause changes in our environment, changes in our climate, and what we could possibly even do about it?
Actually, that question had been asked and answered. Essentially all the global warming we’re currently seeing now is caused by human activity (without it, the Earth actually would be cooling slightly). Scientists who study climate overwhelmingly agree about that.
And there is something we can do about it:
Vote science deniers out of office.
And hey, isn’t Sen. Johnson up for re-election this November?FLORHAM PARK -- The Jets made two more roster moves on Monday when they released cornerback LeQuan Lewis and signed wide receiver Chris Owusu.
Owusu is the second wide receiver the Jets added on Monday. They also signed former Bills wideout T.J. Graham and cut rookie receive Jalen Saunders. They need receivers, especially after wideout David Nelson suffered what head coach Rex Ryan described on Monday as a sprained ankle sustained during Sunday's loss to the Lions. It is not known how long Nelson's injury will keep him sidelined.
Owusu (6 feet, 196 pounds) went undrafted in 2012 and spent time with the 49ers and Chargers before catching on with the Bucs, for whom he played 17 games over three seasons before being released last Tuesday. He caught a touchdown pass in the Bucs' season opener against the Panthers and had a 45-yard kickoff return in Week 2 against the Rams before playing zero snaps in Tampa Bay's 56-14 loss to the Falcons in Week 3, though the Tampa Bay Times reported that an ankle injury had something to do with that.
Osuwu clocked a 4.36 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in 2012.
Lewis, who had just been promoted from the practice squad last week, replaced the recently cut Ellis Lankster as the Jets' special teams gunner in Sunday's loss to the Lions. But Lewis was twice flagged for penalties: once for a false start, and once for an illegal block.
Dom Cosentino may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @domcosentino. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.To improve your relationship, spend less time together.
Ariel Skelley via Getty Images
Jumping from one social event to another without any time to come up for air could sacrifice the quality of your relationships. Spending time alone allows you to process your thoughts rather than act impulsively and, as a result, you get to know yourself better, says Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., author of Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love. "Alone time enables you to be more in touch with yourself and can better give and receive," Lombardo says. "In addition, it reduces stress and anxiety, which could also contribute to relationship strains." Meditate, go for a walk, sit in a café and people watch, or even clean out your closet, she suggests.Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to volunteers at a campaign office in Seattle, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign (all times EDT):
10:30 p.m.
Hillary Clinton has at least twice as many six-figure donors as Donald
|
shaped my view about myself and other people."
One victim told the BBC he held the council responsible for the abuse he suffered.
"I was the victim of a really horrible man," he said.
"The council are so responsible. I even think at times the council are more responsible than he was. They allowed it to happen. Everyone knew. Everyone in the council knew but they chose to do nothing about it."
Image copyright Julia Quenzler Image caption The court heard Roger Dodds had shown no remorse
Another victim, Richard Rowe, who waived his legal right to anonymity, said he was subjected to "terrifying" assaults over an 18-month period.
However, he said when he told council colleagues what was happening, he was told to stay quiet.
Another man said he believed more victims might still come forward.
"We are just the tip of the iceberg," he said.
Dodds was initially arrested and interviewed in May 2008 following complaints. However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to take no further action against him.
'Never defend indefensible'
Those earlier complaints were reviewed by the CPS following a new allegation in 2014 and a decision was made to charge him with all the complaints in 2016.
Sheffield City Council said it welcomed the fact Dodds had been brought to justice.
Jayne Ludlam, executive director for Children, Young People and Families, said the authority's thoughts were with the victims.
She added: "We are deeply sorry that Dodds committed these offences while working at Sheffield City Council decades ago.
"We are glad to see that, finally, such cases of historic abuse are coming before the courts, justice is being done, and victims are having their voices heard.
"Despite the fact that this happened more than a quarter of a century ago, we have accepted responsibility and would never defend the indefensible."
South Yorkshire Police said Dodds' sentencing marked the culmination of a lengthy police investigation into his behaviour over several decades.JERUSALEM—In most zoos, a peccary would warrant scant attention. The grunting, short-legged New World critter doesn't spout water like crowd-pleasing elephants or pick visitors' pockets like mischievous lemurs. What it does boast, though, is a passing resemblance to a pig. In super-religious Jerusalem, this is enough to reel in crowds of curious conservative Haredi Jews and Palestinian Muslims.
Officials at the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens (known locally as the Biblical Zoo) have gone to great lengths to reconcile the hoglike animal with local religious sensibilities, which prohibit the consumption of pork and deem pigs unclean. They cleared its arrival with a rabbi, and mounted a sign saying, "This is not a pig!" in four languages next to the baffled-looking peccary.
"It must be the only enclosure in the world that says what animal is not inside," zoo director Shai Doron said, with an amused grin.
But if all of this comes across as unnecessarily accommodating, it's also illustrative of the delicate juggling acts that civic institutions must perform in this bitterly divided holy city.
Several decades of stop-start violence have inflamed local tensions and shrunk the number of arenas where sizable groups of Israelis and Palestinians feel free to congregate and unself-consciously mingle. Amid this increasing segregation (Jews in the city's west, Arabs on its east side), the zoo has long stood out as a welcoming green space and untroubled communal melting pot.
"There's something about animals. It's about everyone. It doesn't matter if you're Shinto, Buddhist, Muslim; an elephant is an elephant, a rhino is a rhino," said Doron, who describes himself as a left-leaning Israeli Jew. "Even though this zoo is technically for the wildlife, it's really for people."
But there's more to the zoo's success in sidestepping local divisions than a shared appreciation for its impressive cast of animals—many of which, like the monkeys and wolves, have been selected because of their appearances in the Bible and the Koran.
View Images A giraffe in the Biblical Zoo gazes out at the hillside view. Photograph by Omer Messinger, NurPhoto/Sipa USA/AP
Unlikely Friendships
Almost half of the zoo employees are Palestinian, and the facility actively solicits groups of religious Arab and Haredi Jewish schoolchildren, many of whom receive little science education and rarely interact with animals in the city. By offering discounted entry fees on the condition that the visiting school groups take free guides to animal conservation for later study, the zoo attracted 40,000 Palestinian and Haredi Jewish children last year.
Relations between the zoo's Palestinian and Jewish staff reinforce its reputation as an island of sanity in a complicated reality.
Unlikely friendships have been struck—like that of Mahmoud, a Palestinian who started off as a zoo maintenance employee, and Haim, an Orthodox Jew whose family lives in West Bank settlements—and many Palestinians have come to occupy senior leadership positions.
"We're not just friends; we're all like family," said Mahmoud, who, in a rather telling reflection of the uncertain situation beyond the zoo's walls, asked that his surname not be printed.
"In the zoo, things are very different," echoed Amar Abbadit, who is from East Jerusalem and, along with his daily duties as an elephant keeper, has been charged with supervising an upgrade of the struggling Qalqilyah Zoo in the West Bank. Its ongoing renovation has been funded largely by Israeli donations and spearheaded by the Biblical Zoo as an alternative for Palestinians unable to cross through checkpoints to visit Jerusalem.
As befits the Biblical Zoo's tricky status as an Israeli institution in an often hostile Middle East, Palestinian and Jewish staff alike must grapple with a unique series of concerns.
A griffon vulture raised at the zoo swiftly flew east after its release, and on landing was caught by Saudi Arabian villagers wary of its tag's Hebrew markings. An intervention by a third party secured the bird's release after three days. Closer to home, a zoo sand cat set free in the desert south of Jerusalem strayed over the border into nearby Jordan and died, but its handlers were unable to recover it because they have not been able to develop ties with their regional wildlife counterparts.
Conflict Hits Home
The zoo's awareness of Muslim and Jewish religious considerations extends well beyond peccaries.
Its secular administrators, who were forced some time ago to excise mentions of Darwinism in the zoo's exhibits, reworked a sign at its Australian exhibit after visitors kept defacing its description of the continent's separation from Asia many millions of years ago.
Doron is sanguine about such concessions.
"Why present something that is thought offensive? It's much more important to address the illegal animal trade, bushmeat crisis, destruction of habitats, and conservation. These are much more important issues than going into conflict in Jerusalem," he said.
But after more than 20 years of nearly hassle-free coexistence since the zoo was reopened in 1993, the wider conflict in the Middle East is beginning to hit home at the zoo.
The murders of three Israeli teenagers just south of Jerusalem in early June, followed by the revenge killing of a Palestinian boy a few weeks later; the war in Gaza; and the presence of large groups of traumatized kids from southern Israel who come to the zoo daily as respite from Hamas rockets have deterred most Arab visitors.
Staff members have suffered by extension.
Abbadit is sometimes berated when Israeli visitors see his name. "They say, 'You shut your mouth and don't talk again,'" he said. Among the Palestinians of the West Bank, who are divided by the Israeli security fence from their peers in East Jerusalem, there appears to be an even clearer consensus that Arabs and Jews ought not to work together. "If they're together at supermarkets, cinemas, the zoo, it just helps the [Israeli] occupation [of the West Bank]," said a taxi driver outside the checkpoint crossing near Bethlehem.
Attitudes among both communities are hardening to an extent not seen during the first and second intifadas, when Palestinians in the late 1980s and then in the early 2000s engaged the Israeli military in a brutal series of uprisings. Even so, Doron is keen to champion the zoo's successes as a model for intercommunal cooperation.: the informal and voluntary recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another
: the informal and voluntary recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another
d : the informal and voluntary recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another
Our country soweth also in the field of our breasts many precious seeds, as … honest behavior, affability, comity, wrote English clergyman Thomas Becon in 1543. Becon's use is the earliest documented appearance of comity - a word derived from Latin comitas, meaning "courteousness" (and probably related to the Sanskrit word for "he smiles"). Comity is largely used in political and judicial contexts. Since 1862 comity of nations has referred to countries bound by a courteous relationship based on mutual recognition of executive, legislative, and judicial acts. And, in legal contexts, comity refers to the recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'comity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But there are also political attitudes in rural Georgia, and ways of expressing them, that stand in stark contrast to a capital city that has long offered itself to the world as a beacon of racial comity.
All of that had real advantages: Congress was, for much of the past century, a place of remarkable comity, where politicians routinely struck compromises on public spending or judicial appointments.
The court’s 2017-18 term began tentatively and with comity, as the justices continued to find their place on a new-look court that included Justice Neil Gorsuch, whom Mr. Trump nominated last year.
The newfound comity, however, springs as much from economic exhaustion as from each leaders’ respective reckonings with longevity.
In the spirit of comity, Nevada’s Supreme Court tossed several claims and punitive damages but affirmed a $1 million judgment for others.
States say hefty legal judgments could impair public services, but courts often dismiss lawsuits or reduce penalties against other states to preserve comity.
the comity that has always existed among the town's houses of worship
the comity that has always existed among the town's houses of worship
History and Etymology for comity
borrowed from Latin cōmitāt-, cōmitās "friendliness, courtesy, graciousness," from cōmis "kind, obliging, gracious" (probably going back to Old Latin cosmis, of uncertain origin) + -itāt- -itās -ity
Note: The Latin word cōmis (Old Latin cosmis, assuming that this word in the Duenos Inscription has been correctly identified) has traditionally been analyzed as *co-smei̯- "draw one's face into a smile," with the Indo-European base *smei̯- "laugh, smile" (see smile entry 1)—though a derivational mechanism for turning such a verbal compound into an unsuffixed adjective is left unspecified. An alternative explanation as a denominal adjective "having/accompanied by a smile" is possible (of the compound type represented by Greek éntheos "full of/possessed by a deity"), though there is no Indo-European evidence for a corresponding noun *smi- "smile."A Roomba in the Austrian village of Hinterstoder has, according to its owner, woken up from being powered down and hurled itself upon a working stovetop, incinerating the device and leaving naught but a pile of ashes behind.
Helmut Kniewasser, one of the firefighters attending the blaze, has the story (courtesy of the Daily Mail).
The home-owner had put the small robot on the work surface to clean up some spilled cereal. Once the robot had done its job it was switched off but left on the kitchen sideboard. The 44-year-old house owner, together with his wife and son, then left the house and were not home when the robot set off. Somehow it seems to have reactivated itself and made its way along the work surface where it pushed a cooking pot out of the way and basically that was the end of it. It pretty quickly started to melt underneath and then stuck to the kitchen hotplate. It then caught fire. By the time we arrived, it was just a pile of ash.
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It's kind of funny, but then, also kind of horrifying when you look at the treadmarks on the stovetop. It must have been spinning around for a while on fire, which is making me think of the poor little guy doing frantic circles, screaming in shrill robotic agony before dying, and that's really bumming me out.
Way to end a funny robot story on a downer, guy.
Paranoid android: Cleaning gadget'switches itself on' and moves onto kitchen hotplate in'suicide bid' [Daily Mail, via Geekologie]John Kasich on Senate Republicans' health care bill: 'Are you kidding me?'
CLOSE The Congressional Budget Office estimates twenty-two million fewer people would be insured by 2026 under the GOP's proposed health care plan. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Ohio Gov. John Kasich ripped Senate Republicans on Tuesday for crafting a health care bill that would cause an estimated 22 million Americans to lose their health insurance.
“They think that’s great? That’s good public policy?” an incredulous Kasich said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. “What, are you kidding me?”
Kasich was referring to an analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which estimated that the Senate GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare would increase the ranks of the uninsured by 22 million by 2026, compared to current law.
Hours after Kasich's remarks, Senate Republican leaders decided to delay a vote on their bill, essentially conceding they did not have enough GOP support to pass it. Five Republicans were already on the record opposing the bill, while several others were uncommitted.
That left Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., well short of the 51 “yes” votes he needed to get the bill through the Senate this week as he had initially hoped. McConnell said Tuesday that he now hopes to hold a Senate vote on a revamped bill after lawmakers return from their July Fourth recess.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, was publicly undecided on the bill until Tuesday, when he announced his opposition after McConnell agreed to yank it from consideration. Portman said he was "committed to continue talking with my colleagues about how we can fix the serious problems in our health care system while protecting Ohio’s most vulnerable citizens.”
Portman has expressed concerns that the GOP plan, as currently written, would hurt Ohio’s low-income residents and undermine the state’s efforts to expand addiction treatment amid the current opioid epidemic. He has pressed McConnell to add $45 billion for opioid treatment over 10 years, as a way to cushion the bill's changes to Medicaid, which has become a lifeline for addicts seeking treatment.
Kasich urged Portman not to support the bill even if McConnell agrees to beef up funding for opioid treatment, because that would not be enough to make up for the GOP bill's proposed cuts to federal Medicaid funding.
"I told him if they hand you a few billion dollars on opioids... that’s like spitting in the ocean," Kasich said. "I've talked to Rob a million times. He knows exactly what my concerns are."
Kasich has made his opposition to the GOP bill clear before, but Tuesday he ratcheted up his criticism at a joint news conference with Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Kasich said congressional Republicans should try getting their own health care through Medicaid or purchasing insurance with the miserly subsidies the GOP plan offers.
“Why don’t we have those folks go and live under … Medicaid for a while?” Kasich said. “Why don’t we have them go live on their exchange where they can get two, three, four thousand dollars a year to cover their health care exchange costs.”
Kasich didn’t reserve all his ire for his own party. He also blasted lawmakers of all stripes for acting like a bunch of fifth-graders.
“We have a health care civil war going on,” he said. “It’s all about recrimination.”
He said Republicans should jettison their current bill and “start over,” while Democrats should “stand and challenge the Republicans to negotiate with them.”
Democrats have said they would work with Republicans to fix Obamacare if they stop their efforts to repeal or gut the law.
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Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2tSWBaeThis short text originally published by Guerra Sociale is a short argument against politics and participation in the realm of politics. It highlights the way in which politics is an activity of separation, representation, impersonality, and control. It is especially strong in its arguments that political activity and the realm of politics is “spectacle”. This is a helpful text in articulating arguments against participation in the political process, and as such, may be particularly helpful during elections.
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Excerpt from Ten Blows Against Politics
Politics is the art of accommodation. Always waiting for conditions to ripen, one ends up sooner or later forming an alliance with the masters of waiting. At bottom, reason, which is the organ of deferment, always provides some good reason for coming to an agreement, for limiting damages, for salvaging some detail from a whole that one despises.
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This is not an endorsement of these companies -- use at your own risk! That said, sharing links helps to increase the visibility of this site.With a heavy heart it saddens us to share that our beloved son, Quinton Buehrens, passed away on the 28th day of April 2015. He was 16 years old. The thought had honestly never crossed our minds to carry life insurance on our child...your child should out live you.Anyone can tell you that Quinn was a kind soul and had a big smile. He liked action movies, diving, paintball, pizza and talking about politics. His father always told him he could be president of the United States of America one day. Quinn was, by all definitions, a "gamer" with a photographic memory and if tacos were on the menu you had better double the batch.We are all shocked by this tragic unexpected death and sadly not financially prepared for it so in lieu of flowers we are asking for donations to help with the funeral services.Not to be confused with Neff Maiava
Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia (born Fanene Pita Anderson; April 6, 1937 – June 12, 1982) was a Samoan-American professional wrestler better known as Peter Maivia. He is the maternal grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, part of the famous Anoa'i family and was a promoter for the National Wrestling Alliance in Hawaii.[2]
Wrestling career [ edit ]
New Zealand and Australia (1964-68) [ edit ]
After spending his first twenty years in American Samoa, Mavia moved to New Zealand.
He began his wrestling career, wrestling not as The High Chief, but as Prince Peter Maivia. Athletic, naturally talented and a quick study, Maivia received his original ring training in New Zealand, under the watchful eye of local wrestler/promoter Steve Rickard.
Both in and out of the ring, Rickard taught the young Samoan a great deal about his new profession, and under his guidance, Maivia developed at an amazing rate. On August 3, 1964, after less than a year in the business, the popular rookie sensation stunned New Zealand's wrestling fanbase by toppling the rugged, experienced Rickard to win the prestigious New Zealand Heavyweight title in Auckland. The title victory was impressive, indeed, however Maivia's reign turned out to be extremely short, and he held the coveted New Zealand title for just three days, dropping the championship back to Steve Rickard in Wellington on August 6, 1964. The point had been made though, and from that period forward, Maivia enjoyed main-event status in the NWA's New Zealand territory.
Later in 1964, Maivia followed up his previous success by winning another very prestigious championship, the NWA Australasian Heavyweight title. Maivia became the new Australasian champion by defeating Kangaroo Kennedy in Auckland, and he would go on to carry the belt for four consecutive years before finally losing his title to Steve Rickard in 1968.
After developing his repertoire and ring skills in New Zealand, Maivia slowly began to branch out and take bookings in other (and often times larger) promotions, with success invariably following the popular islander.
World Wide Wrestling Federation [ edit ]
During his stay in the then called World Wide Wrestling Federation, he was one of its most prominent stars, making numerous appearances on Championship Wrestling. He worked matches with many well known wrestler who would go on to be WWE Hall of Famers, such as Superstar Billy Graham, Ivan Putski and Bob Backlund.
Personal life [ edit ]
Maivia, also known as the Flying Hawaiian, was of the Ali'i lineage of Malietoa.[3] Maivia's traditional Samoan tattoos, which covered his abdomen and legs, were a symbol of his High Chief status.[2][4] According to Superstar Billy Graham, they were completed in three days. Maivia's grandson Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson revealed that they were done with traditional Samoan instrumentation: a small hammer, a needle, and ink.[citation needed]
Maivia disapproved of his daughter's relationship with Rocky Johnson because he was a professional wrestler.[5] The duo married despite Maivia's objections.[2] His son, Peter Jr, also wrestled in Hawaii and the west coast after the passing of Peter Sr. sometimes under the name "Prince Peter Maivia".
Maivia was considered a "blood brother" by Amituanai Anoa'i, the father of the Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika), thus the Anoa'i family regard the Maivia line from him on forward as an extension of their own clan.
Maivia was also in the fifth James Bond film, You Only Live Twice, where he plays a driver who transports a disguised Bond to Osato headquarters. His character also fights Bond, is hit with a sofa, wields a katana, and is put down with a statue. He was the (uncredited) stunt fight co-ordinator for the film.
Death [ edit ]
In 1981, Maivia was diagnosed with cancer.[2] He died on June 12, 1982.[2] Maivia was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, along with his son-in-law Rocky Johnson, in 2008 by his grandson Dwayne Johnson. The award was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Ata Maivia-Johnson. During his tribute video, WWE chairman Vince McMahon refers to him as a 'tough S.O.B.' and somebody 'you didn't want to mess with' outside the ring, but added he was 'a real wonderful, likable guy'. On October 19, 2008, Maivia's wife, Lia Maivia, died.[6]
Legacy [ edit ]
In the 2016 Disney animated film, Moana, the character design of Maui was derived from photographs of Peter Maivia, according to interviews with his grandson, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who voices Maui in the film.[7]
Filmography [ edit ]
You Only Live Twice (1967) - Car driver
Championships and accomplishments [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Moving Sidewalk cocktail bar to open downtown this weekend
"Intermission" notice at Goro & Gun. (Photo: Francisca Ortega) "Intermission" notice at Goro & Gun. (Photo: Francisca Ortega) Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Moving Sidewalk cocktail bar to open downtown this weekend 1 / 14 Back to Gallery
Get ready to step lively along the cluster of bars on Main Street downtown. Moving Sidewalk, the reboot of the former Goro & Gun at 306 Main, is opening to the public on Saturday.
The bar's owners (Brad Moore, Ryan Rouse and Alex Gregg) have given the space a makeover to fulfill their vision of turning the former ramen shop into a cocktail bar that doesn't serve food. Gone are the taxidermy, tchotchkes, art elements. The space now features antique crystal chandeliers over the bar, a new color scheme, and Hollywood banquettes replacing the dining tables in front.
Beverage director Gregg has created a cocktail program deep in bourbon, whiskey, rum, agave, as well as amaro selections and fortified spirits. An example of Gregg's new cocktail creations: All That Falls (vodka, fig and marigold shrub, chamomile, lemon lime and soda), and El Tipo Duro (reposado tequila, blended malt scotch, mango, mace and green peppercorn).
The name, according to Gregg, is inspired by Houston's Billy Gibbons who was in a band called Moving Sidewalks before ZZ Top. Given that Moving Sidewalk's bar neighbors include Little Dipper and Captain Foxheart's Bad News Bar & Spirit Lodge, the area is like a "moving sidewalk of bar traffic," he stated.
When Goro & Gun closed last its owners cited a lack of customers needed to sustain the restaurant/bar. They decided to drop the food and focus on the bar business. With Moving Sidewalk they hope to capitalize on the foot traffic in the busy, bar-heavy area downtown.The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more complaints of workplace discrimination from workers in Texas than from any other state last year, with 10 percent of all complaints filed there, according to a report made public by the agency on Monday.
During the 2011 fiscal year, nearly 10,000 of the record 99,947 federal charges of workplace discrimination received by the EEOC were filed in Texas, according to the report. The most common complaints within the state were "retaliatory charges," or those alleging that the employer fired, demoted or otherwise retaliated against an employee because he or she fought against discrimination in some way, such as going to the EEOC.
The second and third most common complaints were claims of race and gender bias, respectively, followed by national origin bias claims and religious discrimination claims.
Attorneys told Law 360 that one reason Texas had more complaints than any other state is that the population is so large -- more than 25 million people.
But they also said that the Texas state agency responsible for protecting workers "provides very little [protection]." That likely explains why the state ranked higher than more populous California, which has a "robust state-level agency."
The state also has a large number of workers considered to be "vulnerable," such as immigrants, those who don't speak English, and those in minimum-wage jobs, according to one attorney who spoke with the site.
The report comes after the EEOC announced earlier this month that it was updating policies regarding criminal backgrounds checks as part of an effort to limit discrimination against prospective employees from certain minority groups -- particularly African-American and Hispanic men -- that have higher rates of arrest and conviction than others.
"The ability of African-Americans and Hispanics to gain employment after prison is one of the paramount civil justice issues of our time," EEOC member Stuart Ishimaru told the Associated Press in April.
According to the AP, the update was a response to the growth of online search engines and companies that specialize in offering low-cost background checks, which has led nearly 75 percent of companies to perform backgrounds checks on applicants.
The prevalence of background checks, which are often incomplete or inaccurate, is particularly significant for black and Hispanic men, who face significantly higher rates of incarceration than whites, according to Justice Department statistics.
Earlier this year in April, the EEOC expanded its enforcement policies regarding Title VII, which protects employees from sexual discrimination, by including language to protect transgender people.COLLINGWOOD players were reduced to tears at three-quarter time on Saturday after tagger Brent Macaffer suffered another serious knee injury.
The club suspects Macaffer ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after twisting his knee during an innocuous moment in the third term of the eight-point win over GWS. He left the field immediately aided by trainers.
Macaffer missed the 2012 season after rupturing an ACL in his left knee.
"I really felt for Macaffer in particular,” Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said after the club's gutsy eight-point win over the Giants in Sydney.
"When you go to the three-quarter time huddle and you can see some of his teammates in tears because they know what's happened and they know what he's been through... that tells you something about the make-up of our playing group.
"The supporters of the club should rest assured that you have got a young senior group and a young up-and-coming talented group that are absolutely committed to this footy club and doing whatever they can to make a success of it."
Collingwood’s injury crisis deepened further with Dane Swan and Clinton Young both suffering hamstring injuries against the Giants.
The pair is unlikely to face Hawthorn next Friday night at the MCG in a game the Magpies must win to play finals.
The Pies are already reeling from injuries to Dayne Beams (knee), Travis Cloke (ankle), Heritier Lumumba (leg), Ben Reid (hamstring) and Alan Toovey (groin).
Collingwood sits inside the eight with an 11-10 win-loss record.
Despite the long list of players unavailable, Buckley rebuffed suggestions the team that would face Hawthorn might one of be the weakest to take the field in black-and-white in recent memory.
"If the majority of these blokes that played tonight are playing I wouldn't call it the weakest because they just displayed some real grit and endeavour," Buckley said.
"Regardless of what our injury profile looks like we will take the 22 fittest player onto the field and if we show the heart that we showed tonight we will give ourselves a chance.
"If we win next week we play finals."
Asked whether the interchange needed to be expanded Buckley said: "I think four interchange would be handy. I don't know if you'd need any more than that."Village City
Every citizen of the village believes it is a village. They’re right. In every respect except size, the village is a village. Nothing is expensive, nothing is well made. No one is cultured and local culture is strange and backward.
However, the village is one of the larger cities in the area, if measured by population. If measured by geographical size, it is the largest city in the country, if not the world. This is because buildings aren’t often near each other and because it’s rare to see a structure much taller than one man standing on another man’s shoulders. Farms are more common than buildings.
Rot Monsters
Village energy emanates from them, keeping everyone who remains nearby more than a week under the impression that they live in a village despite knowing how big it is. (This includes player characters.) This is to prevent them from building a plumbing system in its underground home, where its family lives.
The monsters are symbiotic.
They care for plants from below, making the farms and gardens above flourish. This keeps the villagers fed and able to export the best produce in great quantity. They build tunnels to outhouse pits so they can gather fertilizer. They dig underground irrigation. Deep rooted plants (including grapes, the main crop) need no water.
The monsters eat only waste and rotten things. They’re very intelligent but not educated or scholarly. They like the simple life.
They look like radish humanoids. The radish is the head and leaves and roots are the body.
Church of Rot
The only local church is the church of rot. Members collect compostable material and toss it down well-like structures at the front of each church, where other churches might have an altar.
Members believe they are making offerings to an evil rot god underground that will blight everything, including people, if angered.
Some church elders know that the compost donation is for a practical purpose, but they don’t know about the Village-ness magic.It’s that time of year when everyone writes either a year-in-review article or a predictions-for-next-year article. The Wikimedia Foundation offered one of their own that showed the remarkable capacity of Wikipedia to support collaborate around current events.
As many of you know, my dissertation examined how Wikipedia covers breaking news events. I’ve remained interested in this topic and I was very excited to see the Wikimedia Foundation prominently acknowledge this use case.
In this post I want to go deeper and look at what happened on Wikipedia around current events this year. These data are so rich and multifaceted, they can speak to all kinds of different research questions that are beyond the scope of a dissertation, much less a blog post, to fully explore. Such questions can look at several different kinds of data at several different levels of analysis: changes in an article’s text over time, differences contribution patterns between articles, differences between different languages’ articles about the same events. The precipitating events and consequences following any given news story are complex, but there are nevertheless patterns in our attention to these events and Wikipedia’s responses to them. A central question I wanted to explore was how different news events translated into different levels of editorial and popular attention on Wikipedia: As judged by the “wisdom of crowds” of Wikipedia editors across 19 languages, what were the top stories in 2014?
The data
As remarkable as Wikipedia is as a collaborative endeavor, it’s likewise peerless as a data source. Every single change to every single article going back to 2002 is not only public, but also easily accessible through a powerful API with very generous permissions and rate limits compared to the ever-shrinking scope of what other platforms like Twitter and Facebook provide. Couple this with the fact that Wikipedia has records going back to 2002 and you have a social media data source that was not only internationally popular a half-decade before Twitter was a household name, but has continued to remain relevant (though facing strong headwinds on many fronts). Nevertheless, a Wikipedia researcher analyzing a breaking event is likely to be much less stressed than a Twitter researcher owing to the fact that the data quickly becomes difficult to access post hoc for the latter.
Take for example, how perceptions of presumptive U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton have changed over time. On Wikipedia, you can look at every change made to her article since it was created in 2001. In addition to this longitudinal textual data, there’s also metadata about who has edited what and when as well as “paradata” about the larger context of discussions and regulations of editing behavior. Also throw in the fact that there are different language editions of Wikipedia, each of which having a different take on her. On Twitter you can try to track tweets that match keywords but getting historical data will be technically and/or financially expensive.
For this analysis I used a pure-Python workflow to scrape, structure, clean, and visualize the data. On top of Anaconda, I used the python-wikitools library as a Pythonic wrapper around the Wikipedia API, pandas to handle data formatting and manipulation, seaborn to prettify the default Matplotlib visualizations and do LOWESS fitting, and Gephi for the social network visualizations. All the code is available as an IPython Notebook (view it here) with some additional diagnostics and documentation included and the data I’ve scraped for this analysis is available on my GitHub repo for this project. Personally, my big win from this project was getting pretty dangerous at manipulating and customizing Matplotlib figures that are spit out of plotting functions in pandas and seaborn. Sure it’s mundane, but I think data viz is an important skill and hopefully you find the figures here interesting 🙂
Cross-language comparisons
I began by scraping all the “zeitgeist” report content for January through October 2014 across 19 language editions of Wikipedia. This zeitgeist ranking sorts articles based on the number of unique editors they had in each month. I then took the zeitgeist rankings for 18 Wikipedia languages with the most pageviews after English (Russian, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Chinese, Italian, Polish, Portugese, Dutch, Turkish, Arabic, Swedish, Indonesian, Korean, Czech, Farsi, and Ukranian). The articles listed in the table below are sorted by the total number of editors across months in the top 25 multiplied by the number of months in the zeitgeist list for January through October.
1 2 3 Arabic كريستيانو رونالدو ريال مدريد السعودية Chinese 世間情 太陽花學運 马来西亚航空370号班机空难 Czech Válka na východní Ukrajině Euromajdan Minecraft Dutch Lijst van personen overleden in 2014 Malaysia Airlines-vlucht 17 Eurovisiesongfestival 2014 English Deaths in 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Farsi دولت اسلامی عراق و شام ایل ملکشاهی مهران مدیری French État islamique (organisation) Manuel Valls Dieudonné German Krise in der Ukraine 2014 Alternative für Deutschland Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 2014 Indonesian JKT48 NET. Joko Widodo Italian Juventus Football Club Campionato mondiale di calcio 2014 Serie A 2013-2014 Japanese 仮面ライダー鎧武/ガイム 烈車戦隊トッキュウジャー ハピネスチャージプリキュア! Korean 대한민국 일베저장소 세월호 침몰 사고 Polish Robert Lewandowski 2014 Euromajdan Portugese Em Família (telenovela) Copa do Mundo FIFA de 2014 Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol de 2014 – Sér… Russian Список умерших в 2014 году Вооружённый конфликт на востоке Украины (2014) Донецкая Народная Республика Spanish Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 2014 Podemos (partido político) Copa Sudamericana 2014 Swedish Sverigedemokraterna Avlidna 2014 Feministiskt initiativ Turkish Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Ukranian Війна на сході України Небесна сотня Ленінопад
Top Zeitgeist Articles in 2014 across 19 languages
I don’t read or speak most the vast majority of these other languages, so trying to rank the top articles across languages would seem to require passing all of these titles
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Minzy, making the track all the more heartbreaking.
7. "Come Back Home"
Always ones to head straight forward into new trends, "Come Back Home" embraced zippy trap production with a nod to their reggae days. Trap and reggae elements are all over the songs at the top of the charts today and 2NE1 was all over that in 2014.
6. "Missing You"
As touching as "Goodbye" is, the best 2NE1 ballad would have to be "Missing You." While slow and tender at its core, the experimental track incorporates unexpected electronic flourishes and alien-like harmonies before its soaring guitar line brilliantly evolves into a pounding piano chords for the ladies to belt over. In 2013, CL first spoke to Billboard about the track, saying it doubled as a message for fans she missed seeing and we think fans might take more comfort listening to this gorgeous track than the bittersweet "Goodbye."
5. "Gotta Be You"
The underrated second single from Crush indicated the exciting new directions 2NE1 could have taken if they stayed together longer. The trappy, synth-pop cut was bordering on uber-trendy house music and saw Minzy effortlessly belting alongside the group's main vocalist Bom. If this track was hinting at where they could have gone with a third LP, who knows how much further their dominance would have extended.
4. "Lonely"
A cut that showcased the group's softer side and that underneath their glamorous getups, there were four women who could portray vulnerability just as well as ferocity with this single acting as the living proof.
3. "Hate You"
Everyone knew 2NE1 could slay bombastic club cuts, but this underrated, melancholy cut showed 2NE1 mastering the art of subtlety with this biting kiss-off track. The swelling electronica and controlled delivery only makes the song that much more icy.
2. "I Love You"
At the time, the 2012 single tackled a topic the quartet had never sung about -- love, of all things -- and 2NE1 proved they boasted hearts screaming for affection with this lush, moody synth gem. Yet, brilliantly, in the last 30 seconds, the cut flips on itself for an all-out, punky-party jam that only the most formidable of pop acts could successfully pull off.
1. "I Am the Best"
The group's signature song, K-pop has much of its overseas travel to thank for this absolute monster of a pop smash. From its the simple-yet-incredibly-empowering chants to the Middle Eastern-inspired bridge, "I Am the Best" was an ambitious track that still anyone in the world to sink their teeth into. Even in 2017, the beat still sounds fresh and explains why huge brands and U.S. radio embraced it years after its release. One of the most recognizable K-pop songs around the world, the track speaks to 2NE1's legacy as a bonafide, complete act with each woman turning into a superstar on her section and proving why she's a necessary part of this perfect-pop product. Among all the K-pop bangers, ballads, synth jams and experimental musical moments, "I Am the Best" can still start a rush within you the moment those booming synthesizers begin. How could it not be No. 1?ADELAIDE United is waiting for an answer from a potential star marquee signing.
United’s general manager of football Ante Kovacevic, says the club will in the next 48 hours find out if it has secured the international striker who played for his country in the qualification stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The striker has played for years in Germany’s Bundesliga, is in his thirties and will become Adelaide’s most significant signing in the history of the club — if the Reds can pull it off.
Kovacevic would not name the striker who is now considering the marquee offer but revealed he is not Spanish.
“We have submitted an offer and now we’re waiting to see which way it will go in the next couple of days,’’ Kovacevic said.
“This striker has been at the top of his game for years and I feel it will be the club’s most significant signing. He is a proven goalscorer.”
FFA is also keen to see the forward become part of the A-League.
Kovacevic also revealed the club was close to signing an experienced Australian winger to bolster its squad this week.
But he claimed a centre back — given Nikolai Topor-Stanley had been presented to the club as an option from Western Sydney — wasn’t a top priority for the new season.
With Adelaide officially announcing it had signed youth team players Jordan O’Doherty, 18, and Riley McGree, 17, to one-year contracts on Monday, the Reds’ main objective was to secure a striker and winger while attacking midfielders — one to replace Stefan Mauk (NEC) in particular — are further down the list of must-haves.
Adelaide will face Melbourne City in a friendly behind closed doors in Melbourne Wednesday as it continues to ramp up its pre-season, which took an embarrassing turn when the Reds were eliminated by Redlands United 2-1 in extra time in the FFA Cup a fortnight ago.
Tim Cahill — City’s high-profile guest player — who trained for the first time with his new club on Monday, is unlikely to play against United.
Bruce Kamau, who scored for the Reds in the grand final, is set to face his former teammates for the first time since leaving the club in May.Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch have been tapped by Legendary to write the upcoming live-action Pokémon movie, based on the Great Detective Pikachu game. Negotiations are ongoing. Perlman is best known for writing Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor, and will co-write the upcoming Captain Marvel movie. Hirsch is the creator of Disney’s cult favorite animated series Gravity Falls.
Legendary snapped up the film rights to Pokemon as they were being shopped around just weeks after the launch of Pokemon Go, which has brought the franchise to a whole new level of global, pop-culture awareness.
Universal will distribute the film outside of Japan, per their usual arrangement with Legendary. Toho and The Pokemon Company, longtime partners, will handle the film's distribution in Japan. The video game that serves as the film's source material, Great Detective Pikachu, is an adventure game developed by Creatures, published by The Pokemon Company, and distributed by Nintendo. It is an adventure game spinoff for the Nintendo 3DS that puts a talking Pikachu in the role of a Sherlock Holmes type detective, investigating and solving mysteries. The game was released in Japan in February 2016.
Production on the live-action Pokemon movie is expected to begin in 2017. In addition to writing for Marvel Studios, Perlman will also write a Marvel Comics series starring Gamora, the femme fatale of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The series, featuring art by Marco Checchetto, is expected to debut this fall as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative.
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Have you seen Suicide Squad yet? Want to win a Hot Toys Joker figure from the movie? All you have to do head on over to ComicBook.com's Movie Database or click the image above and rate the movie to enter! A winner will be chosen August 19th, 2016!As officers from dozens of law enforcement agencies descended on Watertown, Massachusetts during the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the early hours of April 19, 2013, at least three people near the scene of the shootout were truly in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were each spotted by officers and, for different reasons, ended up spending the night behind bars.
The events that occurred that day, and indeed throughout the hunt for the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings, remain a black box; we know the carnage at the Marathon that started the hunt for the perpetrators, and we know that the pursuit culminated in a shootout, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's death, a house-by-house search for Dzhokhar, and his eventual capture. But what transpired between the time of the attack on Tuesday and the arrest of the younger of the two brothers Friday evening is still a mystery.
There are at least two publicly known accounts of individuals who, largely because of their ethnic background, became suspected of being involved in the bombing. Abdulrahman Alharbi, a Saudi national who happened to be near the finish line when the bombs went off, suffered lacerations to his legs when the second bomb ripped through his jeans. Alharbi was quickly ushered to an ambulance where three police officers accompanied him because they suspected him of participation in the attacks.
Another story, which I covered for DigBoston in February, details the experience of a friend of mine – an American citizen of Pakistani descent – who was picked up by police and questioned for hours on the morning of April 19.
Heading to bed early on April 18 to catch enough shuteye for an early morning bus ride from South Station to New York City, Taylor (a pseudonym) missed the chaos that unfolded that night in Watertown. He woke up, showered, got dressed and headed out the door of his Allston apartment to catch the T to his friends' place, who would be joining him on the trip. However, the T wasn't running and he ended up flagging down a taxi.
The driver filled him in on the events that happened the night before as they drove down Comm Ave, picking up another passenger on their way downtown. As they approached Kenmore Square, a police cruiser pulled up beside the taxi and an officer asked the cabbie if anyone was wearing a red sweatshirt. My friend was wearing a gray sweatshirt, but his backpack was red, and that was close enough for the officer.
Taylor cooperated with officers, who searched his backpack, questioned everyone in the vehicle, detonated an item found in the trunk of the taxi, put Taylor in handcuffs, and took him downtown. At the station, he was interviewed by a police detective and an FBI agent before being let go. In total, he estimates that he was detained and questioned for two or three hours that would have forced him to miss his trip to New York had the buses not been canceled anyway.
Curious if anyone else had a similar experience, I filed several public records requests with different law enforcement agencies for records of arrests or detentions related to the bombings. Boston police and Cambridge police claimed to have no responsive documents. The FBI has rejected two requests – one of which was not submitted until the end of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial – claiming that the records “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings” if released to the public.
On the other hand, the Watertown Police Department responded with the arrest reports for three people.
Daniel Gaudes, who was 23 years old and lived in Newton at the time of his arrest, was charged with witness intimidation after he was approached by officers within the perimeter set up during the search for Dzhokhar. According to the narrative attached to the arrest report, after being questioned about his reason for being in the area, “Mr. Gaudes initially claimed that he was there to pick up a friend at #23 Spruce Street. However, upon making contact with the residents of #23 Spruce Street, we learned that no one there knew of Mr. Gaudes or was expecting anyone at the residence.”
He was placed under arrest for felony “misleading a police investigation” for allegedly lying to a police officer.I always try and keep in mind how it might sound to fans of other teams when you start complaining about the Hawks’ problems. Like, for instance, this current mini-drama where the Hawks have a four-time 30-goal scorer currently on their third line and what it might mean. Most teams would probably love to have that problem.
But the Hawks’ expectations and their goals, (or their, y’know, ONE GOAL that they keep waving in my face like a frat boy’s wang) are higher than most, so these kinds of things bother us.
Patrick Sharp moved to accommodate the return of Kris Versteeg. What was odd about it was just how quickly that came about. It was about the 2nd period of Versteeg’s first game back against Vancouver. This after missing a month and clearly rusty. But Q was in such a hurry to reunited The Conjuring (Versteeg-Richards-Kane) that he barely waited 20 minutes. And it’s not like Sharp was pulling that line down.
Sharp’s production has been a topic all season, so let’s dive into it. Clearly, the first thing that jumps out is his 6.3% shooting percentage, almost half of his career 11.5% mark. There doesn’t seem to be a problem with the amount of chances he’s getting, as he’s averaging 3.6 shots per game this year after 3.8 last year. There’s a little difference in the amount of shots at even-strength he’s getting, 2.4 per game this year vs. 2.75 per game last year, but I’m not sure that’s a huge red flag.
The big gap here is in even-strength shooting percentage. This year he’s shooting 1.9% at evens. He’s never been below 6.7% at evens, and actually he’s only been below 9% at evens once, which was two years ago when he was similarly snake-bitten during the lockout season. He then went on to score 10 goals in the playoffs in 23 games, so a playoff revival is certainly not out of the question.
The question you’re probably asking yourself would be is he not getting the same quality chances. Here is his shot chart from last season and then this one:
Keep in mind he’s played about half the games this season that he did last year, when he played all 82. It looks like he’s not getting to the slot as much as he did last year, when he mostly skated with Hossa and Toews.
And this can be the problem for Sharp at times. When he gets extended time with Kane, he does tend to float around and wait for Kane to find him. It hasn’t been as bad this year as it has been in the past, and that’s Sharp’s game. But it does happen. But why putting him with Kruger and Smith is going to fix this, I can’t tell you. Because Sharp doesn’t really create his own shot, and hasn’t in years. He needs assistance, and giving him two checkers on his line is not the remedy.
Possession-wise, everyone falls off a cliff when taken away from Sharp. He’s got one of the best Corsi-per-60 among forwards in the league. Andrew Shaw, whom Sharp has skated with the most this season unfortunately, goes from a 60% with Sharp to a 51.9 without him. Keith and Seabrook drop 5% and 7%, respectively with and without Sharp. Toews drops 6%.
But I suppose three even-strength goals is three even-strength goals.
It just appears Sharp is having a luckless season, combined with a leg injury. He’s also been the main victim of Andrew Shaw’s ADD-riddled defensive coverage, which is why his PDO is in the fucking tank.
All of it has led people to wonder if Sharp could actually be dealt at the deadline. I’m starting to wonder too, though I would still be utterly shocked. From what we can piece together, Sharp has a limited no-trade, which would mean he has a list of teams he can’t be moved to but if the Hawks were to strike a deal with one of the others he can’t block it. Or it could mean he has to submit a list of teams he would be dealt to if that hasn’t happened already. If it hasn’t, imagine the firestorm that would be if it got out he was asked to.
Dealing Sharp would have far too many risks. One, this is a proven playoff performer (and that’s the reason I would also be surprised if Bickell goes anywhere). Sharp’s case for the Conn Smythe in 2010 was just as strong as Toews’s, and he actually scored in the last two rounds. He was a force in 2013 as well, with only last season being something of a blight when it looked for all the world he was hurt (though he never admitted to being so).
Second, moving Sharp means the Hawks are fully buying into Kris Versteeg as a top six forward, and that would be a silly thing to do. One, Versteeg is only a year removed from being a complete albatross to this team. Two, he’s coming off a hand injury which could really hinder his touch and feel which his game obviously requires. Three, this is still KRIS FUCKING VERSTEEG. You don’t know when he’s going to dry a blind drop pass in his own zone and leave Crawford facing a 4-on-0 or something.
Third, and this is a longer shot, but no one should be sure that Brad Richards isn’t going to fade in the spring like he did last year with the Rangers (and may have started already hello two points in 12 games). If that happens, and you’re left with Toews-Shaw-Faded Richards-Kruger down the middle, you’re basically where you were last year which wasn’t good enough. As they may have already given up on the idea of Teuvo contributing at center this season (shouldn’t), Sharp is at least another option and one they used for a little bit this season already.
What we can all agree on that playing him on a checking line isn’t going to help. And now that I’ve said that, here comes a hat trick tomorrow.Image copyright EPA Image caption Some residents have been allowed to return to their homes to try to clean up after the hurricane
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said the bill for reconstruction after Hurricane Harvey could be as high as $180bn (£138bn).
He said the damage was worse than that caused by Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Meanwhile, the head of the government's disaster management agency has warned that flood-hit states should not rely on Washington to pick up the bill.
Brock Long said Harvey should be a wake-up call for local officials.
Recovery operations are under way across Texas, and in neighbouring Louisiana, although many areas are still battling floodwater.
The devastating hurricane made landfall in the state a week ago and has been blamed for at least 47 deaths. About 43,000 people are being housed in shelters.
The US government has already asked Congress for $7.85bn as an initial contribution towards recovery efforts, which Mr Abbott called a "down payment".
He had previously said the state might need more than $125bn in aid, but revised that figure up on Sunday.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many areas of Houston are still affected by floodwaters
"Katrina caused, if I recall, more than $120bn [of damage] but when you look at the number of homes and business affected by this I think this will cost well over $120bn, probably $150bn to $180bn," he told Fox News.
The White House has warned that the US debt ceiling - the cap on government spending - will need to be raised to meet the bill for recovery. Only Congress can raise that limit.
Brock Long, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), told CBS that Harvey should be a lesson to state officials that they needed to set aside reserve funds for their own emergency management departments.
"It is a wake-up call for this country for local and state elected officials to give their governors and their emergency management directors the full budgets that they need to be fully staffed, to design rainy-day funds, to have your own stand-alone individual assistance and public assistance programmes," he said.According to Szijjarto, Hungary cannot support Ukraine's integration aspirations, so it vetoed the convening of the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting in December.
The minister added that Hungary is ready for consultations, but cannot agree with the situation when the law selects the previously obtained rights of national minorities.
Read alsoHungary to block integration of Ukraine into EU over education law– ambassadorSzijjarto said that Hungary is also concerned about the intention of the Verkhovna Rada deputies to consider draft laws on language and citizenship that can "threaten the Zakarpattia Hungarian community."
He noted there is no way to bypass the Hungarian veto since a unanimous vote is necessary for the convening of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has not yet officially reacted to the statement by the head of the Hungarian foreign ministry.By JalapenoJeff
Check out all the champs and skins on sale this January! Like previous sales schedules, we’re not posting the exact dates for each champ and skin, but they’ll all be on sale sometime next month.
Just a heads up – since we’re publishing these in advance, we won’t offer partial refunds on champs and skins purchased before they go on sale.
Regularly Scheduled Sales:
Champion Sale Price Skin Sale Price Aatrox 487 Arctic Warfare Caitlyn 375 Ahri 440 Bandit Sivir 375 Akali 395 Battlecast Urgot 675 Bard 487 Bladecraft Orianna 487 Cho'Gath 292 Blood Moon Thresh 487 Ekko 487 Buccaneer Tristana 260 Elise 487 Definitely Not Udyr 487 Fiora 440 Dragonblade Talon 487 Jarvan IV 440 Dragonslayer Vayne 487 Jayce 440 Freljord Rammus 260 Jinx 487 General Wukong 375 Kalista 487 Gentleman Gnar 487 Karthus 395 Glacial Malphite 675 Kassadin 395 Heartseeker Ashe 487 Katarina 395 Hired Gun Graves 260 Lissandra 487 Hyena Warwick 487 Mordekaiser 395 Imperial Xin Zhao 260 Morgana 292 Leprechaun Veigar 260 Nami 487 Loch Ness Cho'Gath 260 Nocturne 440 Lumberjack Sion 260 Orianna 440 Mercenary Katarina 260 Quinn 487 Muay Thai Lee Sin 487 Riven 440 Neon Strike Vi 487 Sejuani 440 Order of the Banana Soraka 375 Shyvana 395 Pool Party Rek'Sai 675 Sion 292 Reaper Hecarim 487 Swain 440 Redeemed Riven 487 Thresh 487 Sad Robot Amumu 675 Twisted Fate 292 Sandscourge Skarner 487 Udyr 292 Scarlet Hammer Poppy 487 Vi 487 Special Forces Gangplank 487 Viktor 440 Spellthief Lux 375 Wukong 440 Surfer Singed 487 Xerath 440 Void Bringer Illaoi 675 Zac 487 Waterloo Miss Fortune 260 Zilean 292 Wicked LeBlanc 375
Early SalesMars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll will doing a Q&A live on Twitter today morning, from 9:15a-9:45a (PST). Have a question for him? Tweet to @PastorMark and use the hashtag #AskPM. (Need ideas? You can find a few here.)
Remember, don’t be rude. We’re better than that. But tough questions are perfectly acceptable.
UPDATE: As expected, Driscoll mostly ignored questions from his critics. But Paul Constant at The Stranger put together a compilation of tweets highlighting a few of the interactions as well as a Slog reader’s tally of Driscoll’s answers by gender and topic:
Other highlights:
Here’s a tiny sample of the avalanche of tweets from Megan Seling of The Stranger. Find more here or on her twitter feed.
You can find the full re-cap according to Mars Hill here and a few choice tweets below:Proofs Approved
The printing process has gone well. I've received and approved the F&G proofs. "Folded and Gathered" proofs are the last step before seeing a finished project. The page quality and color is exactly as it will appear in the book, and the pages are cut to the dimensions of the final product. All that remains is to sew the signatures (the packets of pages) into the binding of the hardbacks and paperbacks. You can see what the F&Gs look like below.
There's my baby with her guts spilled out all over the table...
Just waiting on binding
I've already confirmed shipping addresses and timetables with both Kixto and IPR. They are both ready to receive pallets. The dice have already been shipped to site, and international dice already have their VAT paid. We're just waiting on Asia Pacific to finish the binding, load up the pallets, and send the books on their way.
Sept. 2nd Deadline
We are on pace for the September 2nd deadline. Here are some things to note.
If you do not complete your survey and pay shipping through BackerKit by September 2nd, you will not receive physical rewards. The need to pay shipping fees through BackerKit was communicated during the Kickstarter campaign and subsequent updates. Hebanon Games has neither the money, time, inclination, nor responsibility to debate, renegotiate, or acquiesce on the issue of shipping fees. The majority of backers have already filled out surveys and prepared for the charges (thank you!). Those that do not pay their shipping fees by the September 2nd deadline will not receive a book; their books will be resold to the general public once Red Markets goes live on IPR. This information is being mirrored on our BackerKit account, the Red Markets websites, and the author's personal accounts; "I didn't hear about it" will not be accepted as an excuse.
If you cannot be charged through BackerKit on September 2nd, you will not receive physical rewards. Hebanon Games is not responsible for the individual finances of backers; the funds for shipping fees, add-ons, and pre-orders need to be made available September 2nd. Errors in charging cards by BackerKit and/or Stripe will be dealt with by the publisher and through those services. Errors in charging cards that result from a failure to enter the correct card number are the responsibility of the backer. Efforts will be made to help in instances where mistakes were made in good faith, but the book's shipment will not be delayed by individual billing issues. Hebanon Games will not be paying to ship rewards in instances where cards could no be charged.
Add-ons and preorders will no longer be available September 2nd. All physical add-ons and pre-orders (i.e. books) will be shipped along with original backer rewards (i.e. books and occasionally dice). Additional copies of Red Markets and preorder copies for those who missed the Kickstarter will not be available through BackerKit after Sept. 2nd. From that point forward, physical copies must be purchased through Indie Press Revolution and other licensed distributors. If you have friends that still wish to preorder the book before Sept. 2nd, please direct them to the following link: https://red-markets.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Please ensure your address, credit card information, phone number, and email address are all updated in BackerKit (NOT Kickstarter) before September 2nd. This information is of vital importance to the delivery of your goods. The need for an address is obvious, as is the means of paying shipping fees. The contact information is necessary in case fulfillment services need to contact you to resolve problems.
Again, CHECK THE FOLLOWING ON BACKERKIT
Address
Credit Card Info
Phone Number
Email Address
Finally, Digital awards will be distributed electronically through BackerKit as they become available. I will resume my typical progress updates once the shipping of physical rewards is completed and out of the way.
Timeline
That's everything people need to know about the upcoming deadline. For those interested in more details, here's what I can tell you.
September 2nd: Backerkit surveys are locked, credit/debit cards are charged, and preorders/addons shut down
Backerkit surveys are locked, credit/debit cards are charged, and preorders/addons shut down September 5th : Hebanon Games pays shipping fees to the printer, and the pallets exit China headed towards their respective warehouses.
: Hebanon Games pays shipping fees to the printer, and the pallets exit China headed towards their respective warehouses. Approx. 1-2 weeks : Pallets of books arrive in the USA and UK.
: Pallets of books arrive in the USA and UK. Soon After : I transfer the shipping/handling/packaging fees collected from BackerKit to the fulfillment services. Red Markets goes on sale through IPR.
: I transfer the shipping/handling/packaging fees collected from BackerKit to the fulfillment services. goes on sale through IPR. Upon Payment : Fulfillment services begin shipping backer rewards, add-ons, preorders, and first sales to customers.
: Fulfillment services begin shipping backer rewards, add-ons, preorders, and first sales to customers. TBD : Books and/or dice arrive at the whim of your national postal services.
: Books and/or dice arrive at the whim of your national postal services. In Future: Funds collected from the Backerkit tipjar, preorders, add-ons, and sales will go towards a new round of contracts for the layout, art, and writing of stretch goal digital supplements.
If there are additional questions or comments, please let me know in the comments or via direct message. I can be found on twitter @HebanonGCal. Don't forget to listen to my podcast The Mixed Six, and the many Red Markets actual plays over at RPPR (with another campaign in progress).
Again, thank you for all your attention and support. Here's hoping we'll all have books very soon!No Published Caption (Steven Senne)
By Andy Metzger
State House News Service
LYNN -- Gov. Charlie Baker said Massachusetts will not do anything to halt its participation in refugee resettlement programs as he seeks to learn more about the screening of individuals fleeing war in the Middle East.
"The state's role in this is as a collaborator, and I have no intention of having Massachusetts walk away from its commitment and its participation in refugee resettlement programs," Baker told reporters after an economic-development announcement in Lynn on Monday. "But I am very interested in knowing a lot more about how the feds deal with situations that involve governments in countries that for the past 10 years have basically been broken."
The Swampscott Republican explained why he did not sign onto a letter from other Republican governors to President Barack Obama.
"I'm interested in ensuring that Massachusetts maintains its standing as a welcoming community, and I've tried very hard to be a nonpartisan participant in political dialogue," Baker said. He said, "I don't see how elevating this and making it even more partisan than it is already really helps solve the problem. I just want to solve the problem."
In their Friday letter the 27 governors raised the concern that the Islamic State "may have exploited" Europe's refugee procedures to carry out coordinated attacks in Paris and said that the director of the F.B.I. has disclosed "inadequacies" in the U.
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S. vetting process. The governors asked Obama to "suspend all plans to resettle additional Syrian refugees" until completion of an "exhaustive review" of security measures.
Baker has taken flack since stating last week that he is "not interested in accepting refugees from Syria" before he learns more about the federal government's screening process.
Among those knocking the governor was U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Salem Democrat, who joined Baker on the steps of Lynn City Hall on Monday to announce a collaboration between the state and federal government with Lynn to help revitalize the city.
Some have questioned why Moulton focused on Baker rather than the two Massachusetts Democrats in Congress who voted for new procedures for screening refugees from Syria and Iraq -- two countries where the terrorist group Islamic State has gained a foothold.
"I disagree with everybody who voted for the Republican bill," Moulton told the News Service. Asked about the current screening process, the former Marine who serves on the House Armed Services Committee said, "It's the strongest screening process for any traveler who comes to the United States, and the Republican bill does nothing to strengthen that process. It adds some layers of bureaucracy but doesn't actually strengthen the security."
Moulton also disavowed any political objectives in his public criticism of Baker.
"I spoke out on a policy that I believe is essential to our national security," Moulton said. He said, "I'm not running for governor."
Baker said he had a private conversation with Moulton after the two publicly criticized one another.
Declining to lay out what would satisfy his concerns about the screening process, Baker also said his discussions with the federal government are private and said the timetable of those is determined by the busy schedules on either side.
"I want these conversations to be honest, and I want them to be forthright, and the best way to ensure that they are both of those things is to have private conversations," Baker said.Ticket Information
July 18, 2016 – The Charlotte Hornets announced today that the team will host the Boston Celtics in a preseason home game on Thursday, October 6, at the Greensboro Coliseum. The game, which will tip off at 7:30 p.m., will mark the ninth time that Charlotte’s NBA franchise has played a preseason game in Greensboro, the most of any neutral site.
Tickets for the contest will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 22, and can be purchased online at hornets.com or ticketmaster.com, on the Hornets Mobile App, at the Greensboro Coliseum box office, at Ticketmaster outlets and by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Prices start at $10 plus applicable fees.
“As we have done in previous seasons, we are proud to be able to bring Hornets basketball to areas around the region,” said Hornets President & COO Fred Whitfield. “With our new NBA D-League team beginning play in Greensboro this season, we are excited to help tip off the inaugural Swarm campaign with a Hornets preseason contest right next door to the new fieldhouse."
In addition to the Hornets preseason game, Greensboro will welcome the team’s new NBA D-League affiliate in 2016-17. The Greensboro Swarm will play 24 home games at the renovated fieldhouse at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Swarm season tickets are on sale now for as little as $7 per ticket per game. For more information or to purchase season tickets, visit gsoswarm.com or call 336-907-3600.DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Call it McWashington.
A Nebraska woman has sold a three-year-old McDonald’s Chicken McNugget that resembles President George Washington for $8,100 on eBay.
The Sioux City Journal in Iowa says bidding ended just after 11:30 a.m. Monday.
Rebekah Speight of Dakota City sold the McNugget to raise money for a drive to raise $15,000 and send 50 children to summer church camp in Sioux City.
Speight says her children didn’t eat the chicken during a McDonald’s visit three years ago. She was about to toss it, then spotted Washington’s resemblance. Speight stashed the McNugget in her freezer.
eBay had temporarily taken down the auction last month because it violated rules regulating expired food.
She later received an email saying the site was “willing to make exceptions to help your cause.”
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)Michigan wide receiver Grant Perry was sentenced Friday to 12 months' probation and 60 hours of community service work as punishment for an assault that occurred outside of a bar in East Lansing last fall.
Perry, 20, pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of resisting a police officer and a misdemeanor count of assault and battery. According to a police report from the incident last October, Perry grabbed a woman's backside and groin during an altercation outside of the bar. He then failed to provide police with identification and ran from officers when they arrived.
Michigan's football program suspended Perry for two games immediately following the incident. He returned to play the final four weeks of the regular season. After he was formally charged with a crime in December, Perry was not allowed to participate in the team's bowl game or spring practice.
He rejoined the team this summer and has been at the Wolverines' first week of preseason practices, but coach Jim Harbaugh said Perry wouldn't be able to play in any games until his legal issues were resolved. Michigan did not respond to questions Friday afternoon about Perry's status with the team.
The woman Perry assaulted read an emotional statement directed at Perry in court Friday, according to a report from MLive.com.
"The defendant's eyes were one thing I'll never forget," she said, according to MLive. "His wide eyes while he was saying foul words, licking his lips, hunching his shoulders over me and then grabbing the most personal part of my body with intent to make me feel as if I had no control over my body."
Perry, according to the story, apologized to the woman, her family and police. He is prohibited from drinking alcohol or consuming drugs as a condition of his 12-month probation.
Perry has 27 catches and two touchdowns during his college career, making him one of the most experienced receivers on the Wolverines roster.A 28-day-old Eurasian Eagle Owl made her public debut at the National Aviary Tuesday, joining the three already there.
“This Eurasian Eagle Owl is the first baby owl that has been born in any AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) accredited zoo in the last five years, so she is a very special Eurasian Eagle Owl,” said aviary veterinarian Pilar Fish.
The yet-to-be-named baby owl will be part of a unique program at the aviary in which the owls have multiple roles: education, breeding and being exhibited.
“Most institutions will not put their education program animals into a breeding situation,” said Manager of Animal Training Cathy Schlott. “We’re trying to be a leader and show people that you can have education animals that can go off, breed for a little bit, then go back to doing their educational duties.”
The concern is that in going from one role to another, an education program bird could be lost to breeding or exhibits.
“You spend hours upon hours training these animals,” Schlott said, “but we’re showing you can do it just for a little while. They won’t lose their training. You might have to retrain them a little bit, but it’s totally possible.”
At this point, it’s not clear what role the new owl will play or whether she’ll be used for breeding in the future. Schlott said a plan is currently being worked out for her future.
The
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before they went about to change others,” William Penn wrote.
M embership in the Religious Society or any religious or spiritual community is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. I was helped to see this by Evangelical Friends, who say they are Christian first and Quaker second. I initially found this disturbing: are we not an alternative to mainstream Christianity? Until I understood that, for them, being Christian means pledging loyalty to something greater than a human institution, however cherished, and connecting to others who express that loyalty in different ways.
I hope we can give thanks for all those Friends who have chosen to be in formal membership, for all those who are members in all but name, and perhaps should be recognized as such. We can rear and nurture them lovingly from an early age in our meetings, sowing seeds that will bear fruit that we cannot imagine. We can honor all who choose to participate in the life of our communities but whose sense of integrity holds them back from full membership for whatever reasons. May we sit lightly to the letter of any mechanism we choose to adopt, tending first to the Spirit always.ES Football Newsletter Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
Tottenham supporters deserved more from their team on Wednesday’s Wembley debut than a 2-1 defeat to Monaco, according to club captain Hugo Lloris.
Spurs’ Champions League debut at Wembley saw the club break three attendance records, the 85,011 capacity being the club’s record crowd, the highest for an English club in the Champions League and indeed for any English club in a home match.
However the fare on the pitch could not live up to the illustrious surroundings, with early goals from Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar setting the French side on course for an away win despite a Toby Alderweireld header giving Spurs hope just before the interval.
After a brief flurry at the start of the second half Spurs struggled to break down Monaco and ultimately could have few complaints about their defeat, with Lloris admitting that fans were entitled to expect more.
In Pictures: Tottenham vs AS Monaco 28 show all In Pictures: Tottenham vs AS Monaco 1/28 AFP/Getty Images 2/28 Getty Images 3/28 AFP/Getty Images 4/28 AFP/Getty Images 5/28 Getty Images 6/28 Getty Images 7/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 8/28 AFP/Getty Images 9/28 AFP/Getty Images 10/28 AFP/Getty Images 11/28 AFP/Getty Images 12/28 AFP/Getty Images 13/28 AFP/Getty Images 14/28 AFP/Getty Images 15/28 AFP/Getty Images 16/28 Getty Images 17/28 Getty Images 18/28 Getty Images 19/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 20/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 21/28 Getty Images 22/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 23/28 Getty Images 24/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 25/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 26/28 Getty Images 27/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 28/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 1/28 AFP/Getty Images 2/28 Getty Images 3/28 AFP/Getty Images 4/28 AFP/Getty Images 5/28 Getty Images 6/28 Getty Images 7/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 8/28 AFP/Getty Images 9/28 AFP/Getty Images 10/28 AFP/Getty Images 11/28 AFP/Getty Images 12/28 AFP/Getty Images 13/28 AFP/Getty Images 14/28 AFP/Getty Images 15/28 AFP/Getty Images 16/28 Getty Images 17/28 Getty Images 18/28 Getty Images 19/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 20/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 21/28 Getty Images 22/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 23/28 Getty Images 24/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 25/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images 26/28 Getty Images 27/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I 28/28 Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I
“It’s a privilege to play at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans,” he said. “The atmosphere was unbelievable but they deserved more from us.
“We need to learn as quick as possible from this game. We still have a chance to go through, there’s five games, but we need to come back quickly.
“It's our first loss and it's a big disappointment because there was big expectation. We need to perform well. Today was not enough.”In case there was any doubt about it, this is how Rupert Murdoch really feels about climate change: skeptical.
Speaking with Sky News in an interview aired this weekend, the media mogul, who counts Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post among his assets, voiced his horribly inaccurate "opinions" about man-made climate change, explaining that in the "most alarmist" scenario, we might lose the Maldives or something. But while the island nation might already be a lost cause, he continued, a little bit of sea level rise is no reason to start reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
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“Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here," Murdoch explained, following a line of reasoning popular among climate deniers. "And there will always be a little bit of it. At the moment the North Pole is melting but the South Pole is getting bigger. Things are happening. How much of it are we doing, with emissions and so on? As far as Australia goes? Nothing in the overall picture.”
Most of the climate change experienced throughout the planet's history, of course, is of a profoundly different nature from that seen since the industrial era, while periods of abrupt climate change, like we're seeing now, came with profound consequences for life on Earth. What Murdoch's comments about the poles leaves out is that Arctic ice sheet is melting at a much faster rate than that of the Antarctic's current gain -- which itself is, counterintuitively, consistent with global warming. Meanwhile, part of the Antarctic ice sheet recently entered a period of unstoppable collapse. And the only way to believe that Australia, which relies heavily on coal, isn't contributing to such things is to believe that greenhouse gas emissions have nothing to do with climate change.
Murdoch, however, expressed his great admiration for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott ("an admirable, honest, principled man"), who's been cutting away at Australia's climate mitigation policies, and is about to cut the country's carbon tax. Australia, he advised, "shouldn’t be building windmills and all that rubbish.”
In Murdoch's conception of a worst-case scenario, the coming century will see a rise in temperature of 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit), and only one of those degrees would be attributable to human activity. “What it means is if the sea level rises six inches it’s a big deal in the world, the Maldives might disappear or something, but we can’t mitigate that, we can’t stop it, we've just got to stop building vast houses on seashores and go back a little bit," he said. “The world has been changing for thousands and thousands of years, it’s just a lot more complicated today because we are more advanced.”
In reality, the Guardian notes, a single degree of human-caused warming is the best-case scenario; the IPCC's predictions range up to 4 degrees, an amount that will cause serious devastation -- and not just to the Maldives. While the part about not building on coastlines is true, he's underselling the issue. The IPCC, again, predicts anywhere from 9.8 to 48 inches of sea-level rise, and that, of course, is only one predicted effect of climate change. It's indeed a lot more complicated -- just not in a way that Murdoch is willing to admit.
Check out the segment below:
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UPDATE 7/14/2014 3:45 PM: This post has been updated to clarify the difference between current and past climate change events.Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Recognition of the Righteous Among the Nations is one of the missions of Yad Vashem whereby it recognizes non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Unfortunately, if they only risked their careers and personal fortunes, but not their lives, it doesn’t count. This may explain why it has taken so long for Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, to give any recognition to the wartime president of the Philippines Manuel L. Quezon or to the Philippines as a nation.
All that is changing. The wheels are grinding very slowly, but the remarkable story of the far-flung country that was one of the few that opened its doors to Jews fleeing from the Nazis is gaining attention both in the US and Israel, Philippines Ambassador Nathaniel G. Imperial said at a commemorative event at Yad Vashem on Tuesday.Perhaps because of the enormity of the brutality of the Japanese conquest of the Philippines, the noble story of the rescue of German and Austrian Jewish refugees was lost in the dust of history and vividly revived by two granddaughters of men in the extraordinary team that devised the rescue operation, which might never have come about were it not for the fact that all the key people involved were avid poker players.In addition to Quezon, they included the five Frieder brothers – Morris, Herbert, Philip, Henry and Alex – who owned a cigar business in Cincinnati, but who had initially gone to Manila to get tobacco from the Philippines, then purchased cigars and later set up their own cigar manufacturing concern.The other poker players were Paul McNutt, US high commissioner and former governor of Indiana, and an American colonel named Dwight Eisenhower, who was chief of staff to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and who in January, 1953, became the 34th president of the US.Appalled by the Nuremberg Laws, which were introduced in 1935 and which stripped Jews of their German citizenship, making them refugees and outcasts in their own country, and aware that most countries were closing their doors to immigration and reducing their immigration quotas, the Frieder brothers devised a plan to rescue thousands of Jews. Because Quezon, McNutt and Eisenhower were all highly principled in matters of life and death, enlisting their cooperation was relatively easy. In fact, Quezon was prepared to not only take in many thousands of refugees, but to invite them to stay and help in the development of the Philippines.He was even willing to give them some of his own property. But in the final analysis, the visas provided by McNutt, because the Philippines was still to some extent an American protectorate, served only 1,200 refugees.The Filipinos, in general, were strictly opposed to the way the Nazis were treating the Jews and in response to Kristallnacht, held a huge rally in Manila to express their outrage.Yad Vashem senior historian and editor of Yad Vashem Studies David Silberklang admitted that prior to preparing a lecture for Tuesday’s event, he had known very little about the Philippines rescue operation, and although he had learned a lot in the interim, he knew that there was still much more to learn. Although the Philippines story is a small story in the overall saga of the Holocaust, Silberklang conceded, it becomes a big story in the context of the closed door attitudes by most other countries.Yossi Gvir, a member of the Yad Vashem directorate commented that most of the many events that take place at Yad Vashem are related to grief, anguish and murder, which are at the core of the Holocaust narrative, whereas Tuesday’s event was unique in that “the story we are recounting is an event of hope.” Like millions of other people, Quezon could have ignored what was happening and turned a blind eye, said Gvir, but he was a man of integrity and principle, and when called to make a choice, he made one that saved lives.Although some of the refugees have written books about the Philippines noble rescue of Jews, they have not reached a sufficiently wide audience. A gripping documentary film ‘Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust’ was produced by two of the Frieder granddaughters, Barbara W. Sasser and Peggy J. Ellis, who interviewed some of the beneficiaries of Quezon’s compassion and interspersed the interviews with archive footage of Manila in the late 1930s and early 1940s. One of the interviewees, Margot Pins Kestenbaum, who now lives in Israel,was present during the screening at Yad Vashem.Sasser said the rescue team, despite their religious and professional differences worked together to save Jews and “were up-standers as opposed to by-standers and took action to help.” The message is as relevant today as it was then, she said.She also noted that in 1947, the Philippines was the only Asian nation that voted in favor of the UN Partition Plan of Palestine.Her hope was that Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Museum in Washington would a way of including the Philippines among rescuing nations.Yad Vashem had not expected a particularly large attendance and had set out chairs for approximately one hundred people. However double that number showed up including ambassadors from Asia and the Pacific, Filipino nuns and priests, lay members of Israel’s Filipino community, relatives of the former refugees and representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Tourism.The film has already been shown in the Presidential Palace in Manila and in various American states and has received extremely positive reviews.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>It's always nice to see a journalist who gets it, and Mike Lupica understands what's really going on with the anti-healthcare reform protesters:
The woman went to an airplane hangar in Belgrade, Mont., the other day, prepared to actually listen to President Obama talk about health care reform in America.
She has watched, the way the rest of us have watched, as the debate about health care has turned into a sideshow and in some cases even more of a freak show than Glenn Beck's. Now she wanted to see for herself, along with more than 1,000 others, if it would happen this way in Montana.
This is what she said about the event when it was over:
"Yes, there were a few protesters en route. But the Montanans who were excited to hear the President far outnumbered the fringe groups."
Then she said this about Obama: "He was smart, fair, funny."
So this wasn't an occasion when people with legitimate concerns and legitimate points to make were overwhelmed by the wing nuts and screamers who take their marching orders from right-wing radio and television and the Internet.
Those idiots come to these town hall meetings more to be seen than heard, and think creating chaos makes them great Americans.
Those people have been convinced by the current culture that we are dying to hear from them, and the louder the better. People who think that all they need to star in their own reality series is a couple of TV crews. But then this is Twitter America now, where no thought is supposed to go unspoken.
We hear that all of this is democracy in action. It's not. It's boom-box democracy, people thinking that if they somehow make enough noise on this subject, they can make Obama into a one-term President.
The most violent opposition isn't directed at his ideas about health care reform. It is directed at him. It is about him. They couldn't make enough of a majority to beat the Harvard-educated black guy out of the White House, so they will beat him on an issue where they see him as being most vulnerable.
In the process, they'll come after him on health care the way Kenneth Starr went after Bill Clinton on oral sex in the Oval Office.
With that kind of zealotry, screaming about government programs as if Medicare isn't one. It is why so many of them, all these wild-eyed red faces in the crowd, look completely certifiable, screaming about how Obama wants to kill Grandma, as if he's suddenly turned into Jack Kevorkian.It is often said that the true test of a business is how well it copes with crisis and adversity. If that is so, then Malaysia Airlines has spectacularly failed the test.
The airline’s share price has fallen by 8% since the disappearance of MH370, and we can expect it to keep sliding until the company gets its act together. But Malaysia Airlines seems baffled by the negative comments it is receiving. CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya feels the criticism of the company from bereaved relatives is “unfair” and says his company has “done all we can within our means to help them”.
The relatives protesting outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing would not agree.
When crises erupt, people need three things: information, reassurance and hope. Up-to-date, accurate information as to what is going on and what is being done is absolutely vital. It helps people to realise that they are not alone, that they have not been forgotten, that those in authority understand their plight.
Then, people need reassurance that everything that can be done is being done, and that they will be looked after and not simply left to fend for themselves.
And finally they need hope. Clearly in situations such as this, there is no hope for the passengers themselves and has not been for some time. But bereaved people often speak of the hope that no one in future will have to endure what they are going through, that lessons will be learned and such terrible events will never happen again. There is hope for others, even if there is none for oneself, and that can be comforting.
Contrast the actions of Malaysia Airlines with those of Air France following the Concorde crash at Charles de Gaulle airport in 2000. Senior executives of the company reacted immediately, withdrawing Concorde from service and reassuring relatives and the public in general that action was being taken. They were open, honest and transparent. They did not yet know what had happened, but they promised an immediate and full inquiry; and they delivered on that promise. Nothing could bring people’s loved ones back, but at least there was the comfort of knowing what had happened – and the reassurance that this would not happen again.
Similarly, after the disappearance of Air France flight AF447 in 2009, the company reacted rapidly. Relatives of passengers spoke afterwards of the caring and compassionate way in which the airline broke the news to them, and supported them in their grief. Air France’s share price did decline after both incidents, but not by much and not for long. By taking charge of the situation after the disaster, the airline both honoured its commitments and preserved its own reputation.
Or, let us take the case of Maple Leaf Foods (MLF), the Canadian food producer, some of whose products became contaminated with listeriosis in the summer of 2008. Twenty-one people died and hundreds were ill. MLF’s response has become a textbook case of how to handle a crisis.
CEO Michael McCain took personal charge of the situation, accepted full responsibility for the problem and announced that he and his company would do everything in their power to put it right. McCain went on to hold daily press conferences, and the company set up a website to show what actions it was taking, updating this on a round-the-clock basis. As a result, the public trusted MLF and accepted that the company was acting in their best interests. By 2010 MLF’s market position had been restored.
At Malaysia Airlines, senior officials have mostly been conspicuous by their absence. There is little evidence of a concerted crisis management plan. Instead, the company seems to have abrogated responsibility to the Malaysian government, its main shareholder. The Malaysian ministry of transport hasn’t been much use either, but that does not excuse the airline.
The passengers on MH370 had paid for their tickets. They had a contract with the company. And that means that the company has responsibilities to them and their families, responsibilities it cannot shirk or pass on to another agency. Malaysia Airlines senior executives should have been on the ground at once in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, explaining, reassuring, condoling – caring.
And because they were not, it is an open question as to when – or whether – people might begin to trust Malaysia Airlines again.What would a basic income mean for artists? Jim and Alexis Frasz delve into this topic in this insightful interview. Alexis Frasz has worked as a researcher, creative strategist and consultant in the arts and cultural sector for over a decade. Since 2007 she has been a lead researcher and strategist with Helicon Collaborative, an organization seeking to elevate the role of culture in making communities better places for all people – more vital, sustainable and just. She currently leads strategic initiatives on the role of culture in environmental sustainability, cultural equity, and reclaiming the role of beauty in individual and societal health. Alexis serves on the board of Food Shift, a Bay Area nonprofit organization working to end food waste and hunger, and is on the advisory committee for the Headlands Center for the Arts. She has a degree in cultural anthropology from Princeton University and has pursued Masters level studies in Chinese Medicine.Amendments
1996—Subsecs. (b) to (d). Pub. L. 104–208 added subsec. (b) and redesignated former subsecs. (b) and (c) as (c) and (d), respectively.
1991—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–232 substituted “fined under title 18” for “fined not more than $2,000 (or, if greater, the amount provided under title 18)”.
1990—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–649, § 543(b)(2), inserted “or attempts to enter” after “(1) enters” and “attempts to enter or” after “or (3)”, and substituted “shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined not more than $2,000 (or, if greater, the amount provided under title 18) or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years” for “shall, for the first commission of any such offenses, be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than $500, or by both, and for a subsequent commission of any such offenses shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years, or by a fine of not more than $1,000”.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–649, § 121(b)(3), added subsec. (c).
1986—Pub. L. 99–639 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).Last season Chris Smith — the brother of Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith — spent time with the Knicks D-League affiliate.
The Knicks may want to add a more athletic, explosive point guard this summer (even if they keep both Pablo Prigioni and Jason Kidd) and the Knicks certainly want to re-sign free agent J.R. Smith. So signing Chris Smith could help with both those things, at least in theory, right.
Not going to happen, reports Jared Zwerling at ESPNNewYork.com.
One source said Chris Smith, J.R.’s younger brother, will not be considered. “Chris is not an NBA player — not even close,” the source said. “He will never play for them.”
Outside re-signing J.R. Smith, the Knicks will be limited in what they can do this summer with free agents, essentially able only to sign guys with the mini taxpayers midlevel exception (around $3.2 million, the league has not set the official figures yet) and bring in minimum guys.
(The Knicks have J.R. Smith’s early Bird rights, meaning they can offer a contract just above the league average salary, likely around $5.5 million, for at least two and as many as four years. If another team came over the top with a larger offer, the Knicks could not match. However, Smith has said he wants to stay a Knick and New York wants him back).
Chris Smith recently switched agents over to CAA, his brother’s firm. J.R. might like to have his brother on the team, and CAA might push it, but it sounds like that is not going to happen.
Chris, of course, doesn’t see it that way.California College Lecturer: ‘Trump Must Hang, the Sooner and the Higher, the Better’
A Fresno State lecturer makes disgusting comments about President Trump.
Lars Maischak is a lecturer from Fresno State who has let out a public stream of tweets, which illustrate his hatred of capitalism, the GOP, and Christian values. He also called for there to be a hanging of President Donald Trump in order to allegedly ‘save American democracy’. What a terrible era in which dangerous people like this teach the students.
His tweets speak for themselves. We have them screenshotted [sic] as well as embedded his posts so that when he inevitably deletes the them we’ll always have a record of them:
To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better. #TheResistance #DeathToFascism https://t.co/DSsV53sbO2 — Lars Maischak (@LarsMaischak) February 18, 2017
Don’t tell me to “obey the Law.” “The Law” in this country is one part Racism, one part Class Oppression, all Capitalism. #TheResistance — Lars Maischak (@LarsMaischak) March 8, 2017
Judging from the largely absent facial markings this year, Christianity is paying the price for its pact with Fascism. Students abandon it. — Lars Maischak (@LarsMaischak) March 4, 2017
Breitbart commented on the topic:
This is today’s academia. These are types of voices hired to teach recent high school graduates American History. How do you think George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson fare when taught by one who sees the world in this way?
Maischak is an instructor for American History at the college.There’s an area of forensic (having to do with legal or criminal cases) psychology that is known as “Dark Psychology.” And it just might help us better understand Internet trolls — people who feel the need to use the Internet to victimize and bully others.
Dark Psychology has to do with the study of people who prey on other people. These can be bullies, spouse beaters, thieves or any type of lawbreaker who seeks out victims. These are not people who park illegally, are sex workers, or cheat on their taxes. These people seek out victims for the thrill it gives them to act against them.
Many people who prey on others manifest the Dark Tetrad. The Dark Tetrad is defined as psychopathy, sadism, Machiavellanism and narcissism. And those components are made up of others.
What they break down to is a person who enjoys inflicting pain on others, who shows no remorse, who is callous, who is antisocial, enjoys manipulating others to his own ends, who feels quite self-important, has an over-inflated ego, and someone who derives pleasure from hurting someone else either directly or vicariously. He also shows disinhibited, bold behavior, often wanting to call attention to himself and his acts.
This is a rough description of someone who identifies and uses people that he chooses to be his victims. I’m sure that most of us can visualize who these people are. There are some who come to my mind immediately: mass murderers, politicians, businessmen, etc. And several movies also come to mind, where one of the lead characters was almost exactly like this, such as “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.” Though Baby Jane may have had additional psychological issues beyond just the Dark Tetrad.
What does this have to do with Internet trolls?
A recent paper argues that Internet trolls seem to fulfill at least three (some fulfill all) of the Dark Tetrad. And sadism seems to be the overriding component.
The researchers, Buckels, Trapnell and Paulhus, writing in the journal, Personality and Individual Differences, looked at Internet trolls and how they are formed psychologically. Their research, and that of others, shows that sadism is at the forefront. Trolls enjoy hurting people, they get a thrill and positive reinforcement from causing pain to others. Though some sadists tend to prefer causing pain in person and directly observing the results, much like Baby Jane, others seem to enjoy causing pain to others at random. This latter group seems to be the one that the typical Internet troll enjoys.
Let’s take a look at what the typical Internet troll does.
This is based on the above paper, plus some previous work by Buckels, et al., and other researchers. The troll decides to post. He selects a site and a topic. These are often chosen based on his belief system. For example, someone who is strongly religious may troll on atheist sites. Or, sometimes, the troll may strike in a more random manner while reading an blog, for example — some topic or comment may catch his eye and he’ll post.
His objects are to hurt people and attract attention to himself. He may post something wildly inflammatory to the other comments on the site or in direct opposition to the theme of the article. It may be a logically structured and well-written post or just a string of obscenities. Whatever he chooses, he gets some gratification just from posting, knowing that people will be hurt and upset by his post. But he gets more gratification when he gets a reply. Now he knows that someone is upset. This is a victory. Some trolls will then just sit back and watch other comments get posted by readers or authors whom he has enraged. Other trolls, will continue to post, sometimes hundreds of posts on the same thread, to further incite the readers into more replies. The more replies, the more criticisms and denunciations, the more gratification he gets.
Some trolls feel safer carrying out these attacks online, rather than in person. They feel that they are anonymous and relatively safe from being discovered. Had they done bullying like this in person, their identities would be known and they could face physical, psychological, financial and/or legal consequences. Even though they may be tracked and identified through the Internet, that usually isn’t done, so the troll feels invulnerable and continues to post.
The recommendation to decrease trolling is to decrease the gratification that the troll gets. That is, he enjoys stirring up the hornets’ nest. The more sound and fury he generates, the more he enjoys it. Therefore, the best way to limit trolling is to totally ignore the troll. Let him know that he’s not worth replying to, that the readers know him to be trolling and trying to provoke a response.
The less feedback the troll gets, the less likely he is to post to that particular site. After all, why post to Site X, where the troll gets no replies even to the most outrageous comments, when he can post to Site Y and enjoy everyone fighting back?
The lesson here? Please don’t feed the trolls.
Follow @aravosis
(I’m told that in order to better see my Facebook posts in your feed, you need to “follow” me.)**** Update: the 2nd part of this post is up as well, please check it out here ****
I don’t spend much time on Facebook. It uses my precious time, I get tired of blocking more applications and updating my notification settings.
Most of all, I don’t like the privacy issues but for photographers there is something even worse.
This article will detail the terms you signed for, what could happen with your images and why you could be breaking the law by uploading your wedding pictures to Facebook or even by sharing pictures you are selling through stock Agencies like Getty.
I am not a lawyer and some of the following might be incorrect in a legal sense. But most of it is clear to anybody. Read and shiver:
Ps: all images are mine and link to larger versions on ExposedPlanet.com photoblog. They are available as print, free eCard or commercial/editorial licensing. Or just enjoy them and read the thoughts behind it as well as technical info for photographers!
Signing your rights and income away without knowing
While changing yet another notification setting (No more emails for anything!), I noticed this FB message:
A Note About Your Photos
There is a false rumor circulating that Facebook is changing who owns your private photos. You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook. Learn More
That’s reassuring, right? Wrong. “Learn more” linked to the FB terms page, which states something much different:
Sharing Your Content and Information You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.
That sounds good, right? Of course, you own all the content, they could not state otherwise, as in the case of intellectual property rights, a photo is yours the moment you take it. This includes the copyright.
And yes, you can tell FB NOT to use your photos for advertising purposes through their apps.
But wait, can you really? Here is what is next in the terms, a tiny ‘addition’:
In addition: For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (“IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
So what does this mean?
In short: Facebook can do everything it wants and can legally do with your photos, videos, stories and everything else you might be able to add. Everything? Yes, everything.
For example, the above covers:
– Facebook can sell your pictures and stories to anybody (‘transferable’)
– They do not need to pay you for this, while they can charge what ever they want (‘royalty free’)
– They can license your images to anybody else, who also can sell your images. (‘sub-licensable’)
. (‘sub-licensable’) – They can do this all over the world (‘Worldwide license’)
– Even if you have deleted your photos, if you have ever shared any of it (which I think you do by default), they can still do the above. Forever.
Oops.
So that cute photo of your baby? Yes, it could be sold by FB to a news agency doing a story about children. That nice sunset photo? It could be sold to Getty who can sub-license it and FB will get paid for every use of it (commercial use included). And guess what? They do not have to pay you anything, FB gets all income for it, you zero.
It mentions ‘in connection with’. What does that mean? I do not know. It could mean that this is true as well for any site where you signed in using your FB credentials, so even off FB you are not safe.
Model releases
FB likely knows a small catch: of course they state that you own your images, as a photographer by law has the copyrights to all his images, even if he signs the commercial rights away by adding them to Facebook.
But the people in the pictures also have rights! That is why in order to sell an image to Getty or Corbis or Alamy or any other stock agency, you need a so-called ‘Model-Release’ (and actually for a lot of places like houses you need a ‘property release’ as well).
This model release needs to be signed by the model(s) in the picture, even when they are not clearly recognizable, so also when shot from behind or even when just a hand is in the photo. Without the release the photographer can still make posters, write books, have expositions etc (to promote the artist) and even sell the image for editorial use (current news, background stories), but he cannot license it for commercial usage.
This is to protect the model for being ‘used’ to promote something (s)he might not agree with and in places (s)he might not want to be associated with. Otherwise that bedroom shot of your girlfriend could be used in banners advocating porn sites, your vegetarian baby could be used to promote beef-flavoured processed babyfood etc.
Facebook is not a stock agency. Yet.
If FB would be really the devil, they could have put the requirement for model releases in the terms as well. This is what stock agencies do: they want a legal stick to hit you with in case a model later claims that (s)he never gave permission to use the photo while you said so.
The model sues the company using the photo (the one that bought a license to use it on a jar of erotic jelly), the company sues the stock agency (the one selling the photo to the company with a license to use it for whatever they want) and the stock agency sues the photographer for supplying a photo without the required model release.
Hey, you did not read that FB terms page anyway, right? So why didn’t they require model releases? For starters, they would know that nobody would upload anything anymore and users would quickly move on to the next hype.
Secondly, they know that any decent judge would never let them get away with this (meaning selling images to stock agencies and blaming the photographer when something happens), even though they would have the legal rights to do so.
But guess what? The model release is not needed for your cute cat pictures, the sunsets, the landscapes, your bicycle shots and much more. All these images can be licensed without a model release and as you have given your rights away, FB can do this and does not have to pay you anything for it. Same for that inspirational prose, that funny quote of your grandma, your intimate thoughts. FB can make a book of it and sell it, no problem.
Actually you ‘shared’ your rights with them, as you can still license your images and stories yourself as well, just as you also need a model
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@heartland.org and 312/377-4000.
Yesterday afternoon, two advocacy groups posted online several documents they claimed were The Heartland Institute’s 2012 budget, fundraising, and strategy plans. Some of these documents were stolen from Heartland, at least one is a fake, and some may have been altered.
The stolen documents appear to have been written by Heartland’s president for a board meeting that took place on January 17. He was traveling at the time this story broke yesterday afternoon and still has not had the opportunity to read them all to see if they were altered. Therefore, the authenticity of those documents has not been confirmed.
Since then, the documents have been widely reposted on the Internet, again with no effort to confirm their authenticity.
One document, titled “Confidential Memo: 2012 Heartland Climate Strategy,” is a total fake apparently intended to defame and discredit The Heartland Institute. It was not written by anyone associated with The Heartland Institute. It does not express Heartland’s goals, plans, or tactics. It contains several obvious and gross misstatements of fact.
We respectfully ask all activists, bloggers, and other journalists to immediately remove all of these documents and any quotations taken from them, especially the fake “climate strategy” memo and any quotations from the same, from their blogs, Web sites, and publications, and to publish retractions.
The individuals who have commented so far on these documents did not wait for Heartland to confirm or deny the authenticity of the documents. We believe their actions constitute civil and possibly criminal offenses for which we plan to pursue charges and collect payment for damages, including damages to our reputation. We ask them in particular to immediately remove these documents and all statements about them from the blogs, Web sites, and publications, and to publish retractions.
How did this happen? The stolen documents were obtained by an unknown person who fraudulently assumed the identity of a Heartland board member and persuaded a staff member here to “re-send” board materials to a new email address. Identity theft and computer fraud are criminal offenses subject to imprisonment. We intend to find this person and see him or her put in prison for these crimes.
Apologies: The Heartland Institute apologizes to the donors whose identities were revealed by this theft. We promise anonymity to many of our donors, and we realize that the major reason these documents were stolen and faked was to make it more difficult for donors to support our work. We also apologize to Heartland staff, directors, and our allies in the fight to bring sound science to the global warming debate, who have had their privacy violated and their integrity impugned.
Lessons: Disagreement over the causes, consequences, and best policy responses to climate change runs deep. We understand that.
But honest disagreement should never be used to justify the criminal acts and fraud that occurred in the past 24 hours. As a matter of common decency and journalistic ethics, we ask everyone in the climate change debate to sit back and think about what just happened.
Those persons who posted these documents and wrote about them before we had a chance to comment on their authenticity should be ashamed of their deeds, and their bad behavior should be taken into account when judging their credibility now and in the future.
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RedditOne of the nation’s largest tea party groups says it lost donations because the IRS refused to certify its status as a tax-exempt organization.
Donors “have generally said to us, when we get [IRS approval], come back and talk to us,” Jenny Beth Martin, the national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, told the organization’s supporters during a fundraising call Monday night. The call was intended to raise $20,000.
The group is now considering a lawsuit against the IRS, and may ask for damages, she said.
The IRS still hasn’t approved a formal tax-exemption for the Tea Party Patriots group, she said. Since 2010, “the IRS has been stringing us along,” she said, which has limited donations to the group and its small-scale political action committee.
“We’re dealing with years of not hearing anything back from the IRS or final approval or final rejection,” she said.
So far, the IRS has demanded the group provide it with emails, Facebook posts, all letters to members of Congress sent by supporters, and a list of donors, she said.
In response, the group hired lawyers and “gave them what we could without violating donor confidentiality,” she said.
Martin said the group has received donations from 400,000 people.
Other tea party groups gave up in the face of IRS demands for information that would be publicly released. “People in the IRS were.. abusing that position of power to intimated groups,” Martin said. “It scared some people [but] some continue to push forward,” she told the supporters listening to the conference calls.
During the fundraising call, the groups’ leaders repeatedly linked the IRS’ actions to the Democrats’ expansion of government into health sector via Obamacare and to the labor market via the immigration bill.
The proposed immigration bill is similar to Obamacare because it gives government far more power over people and companies, said Martin.
Under Obamacare, “we’re supposed to hand over our health information to government officials,” said Keli Carender, the group’s representative in Washington D.C.
Even though the IRS scandal is getting most news, “we can’t take our eyes off the amnesty bill,” Martin said.
The group is rallying its supporters against the immigration bill, which President Barack Obama recently lauded as “historic.”
The IRS intrusion “is what we expect out of banana republic,” said Carender, who also urged listeners to oppose the immigration bill. “We have repeatedly stood up against the consolidation of power by the elites,” she said.
“The IRS cannot be used as political weapon,” said Martin.
Follow Neil on TwitterBitcoin ATMs are coming to the city.
Josh Harvey, co-founder of Lamassu, showed off the first bitcoin dispenser at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show and has found quite a bit of interest for the $5,000 machines.
The machine, designed and manufactured in Portugal, looks like a typical deli ATM — but functions more like a vending machine. You put in US dollars and receive bitcoins back on your phone.
Users first download a bitcoin wallet mobile app — such as BlockChain or Mycelium — and set a password. A black-and-white QR code appears. They press the phone against the ATM’s glass window so it can scan the code, then feed in cash.
Presto, the machine sends bitcoins to the phone.
Brooklyn native Willard Ling, 30, is set to introduce the first bitcoin ATM to New York City.
After scouting locations, he has chosen the East Village bubble tea shop Just Sweet, on 3rd Avenue and 12th Street. He is now in talks with the owners on a rent deal.
State regulators with the Department of Financial Services are expected to hold hearings later this month to discuss bitcoin and how it should be regulated.
Until rules are drawn up, Ling’s bitcoin ATM will sit in his apartment.
He thinks New York should get on with it if it wants to still be considered a center of finance.
Ling got into bitcoin around two-and-a half years ago, when the price was around $10. It closed last week at $834.50.
“I knew it would go up tenfold, just not as quickly as it did,” Ling said.After stopping at a couple of breweries this morning, including Elysian and Pyramid, and then stopping at Two Beers and Georgetown brewing, My cousin and I decided to go to dinner at Elliot Bay Brewing Company in West Seattle. This brewery had come as a recommendation from a couple of people from Twitter and my Google+ page, but he had been there before and said it would be a nice place to have dinner.
Location: On tap and served in an imperial pint glass at Elliott Bay Brewing in West Seattle, WA.
Appearance & Aroma: It’s light-copper colored and slightly hazy, and it had almost no head on it, only a ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. There was a definite citrusy and slightly floral hop aroma.
Taste & Feel: The body was medium and the mouthfeel was pretty smooth with a bit of crispness I couldn’t tell if it was from the carbonation or the hops. The front was lightly bready and malty with a bit of caramel, but it was only noticeable for a brief second before the hop bitterness came in. The bitterness was mostly citrusy, but as it opened up in the finish, a bit more floral and piney flavors came through. The hop bitterness lasted for a couple minutes in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: This is the kind of IPA I love to pair with a thick, flavorful, juicy hamburger. Both the food and beer have strong flavors, leaving you with the last thing you had (either the food or drink). After each drink, the hops are about all you can taste, but after a bite of the burger, the hop flavor fades away to make room for the meaty burger flavors.
Overall Impression: I was really looking forward to some good IPAs here in the heart of hop country. This beer fit the bill nicely. It seemed to have a decent malt backbone – enough that it was detectable right up front – but was overtaken by the northwest style hops. There was a nice mix of citrusy, floral, and pine flavors, and I enjoyed tasting it well into the aftertaste. It was a solid IPA that any craft beer lover would certainly enjoy.
My Rating:
Reader Ratings[five-star-rating]Thanks to the millions of Disney fans who took part in this year’s #ShareYourEars campaign over the holidays, Disney Parks will once again double its original donation to Make-A-Wish® from $1 million to $2 million, which will help grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses and their families around the world.
We saw so many fun, silly, wacky, creative, festive Mickey Mouse Ear photos pour in from the far corners of the globe these past few weeks, and it’s been truly inspiring to watch. Every year, nearly 9,000 Disney-related wishes are granted worldwide with Make-A-Wish, and with your support we can make even more happiness come true in the years to come.
Thank you all for believing in the life-changing power of a wish come true! Happy holidays from all of us to you.In this July 27, 2017 file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. At the urging Pelosi, President Donald Trump is trying to reassure the immigrants in a program that his administration announced it is ending. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged President Donald Trump Thursday to tweet reassurances to the immigrants who benefit from a program his administration is ending. And the president obliged, in the latest instance of Trump doing the bidding of leaders of the opposition.
The president tweeted, “For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action!”
He was referring to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which President Barack Obama created through administrative action in 2012. Trump on Tuesday ordered an end to the program but gave Congress six months to act on it.
Notwithstanding his tweet, the nearly 800,000 immigrants who obtained temporary work permits and deportation protections via DACA cannot necessarily rest easy. Any of them whose protections expire within the next six months have until early October to reapply, and others face an uncertain future.
It’s not clear whether Congress will actually be able to solve the problem in six months, or what Trump will do if lawmakers don’t act.
Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference that Trump has indicated his support and willingness to sign into law the Dream Act, legislation that would give a path to legalization to the immigrants brought to the country as children.
“We made it very clear in the course of the conversation that the priority was to pass the Dream Act, that we wanted to do it, obviously it has to be bipartisan, the president said he supports that, he would sign it, but we have to get it passed, and that’s a high priority,” Pelosi said.
In response, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said only that Trump “is focused on responsible immigration reform and wants to work with both sides to achieve it.”
Shortly after Trump’s tweet appeared Thursday morning, Pelosi told fellow Democrats at a closed-door meeting that she had spoken with the president and asked him to send it, in order to make clear to the so-called “Dreamers” that they wouldn’t be subject to deportation during the six-month window.
At her news conference, Pelosi told reporters, “I was reporting to my colleagues, I said, ‘This is what I asked the president to do and boom, boom, the tweet appeared.’”
The development came just a day after Trump ignored the recommendations of GOP House and Senate leaders and sided with Democrats Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York in favor of a three-month extension of the government’s borrowing limit. Republicans had wanted a much longer extension to protect conservative lawmakers from having to cast the politically toxic vote again before next year’s midterm elections.
On immigration, Trump is navigating politically tricky waters. Some of his Republican voters want a hard line on illegal immigration. Yet others in his administration and a majority of Americans support protected status for children brought to the country illegally by their parents.
___
Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has been in South Block for just 18 months, but the 61-year-old has taken several strong measures. In a recent order with a far-reaching impact, Parrikar has not only given protection to a whistleblower, but has also ordered action against officials harassing him.
Prakash Singh, a 53-year-old Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official, was sacked on the grounds that he was a “perpetual troublemaker”. In reality, Singh had blown the lid off alleged financial irregularities and malpractices in recruitment procedures in the country’s premier defence research agency.
As his series of complaints led to unease, he was sent on compulsory retirement in 2012.
Despite complaining to then defence minister A K Antony, nothing was done. Last year, Singh apprised Parrikar of the root cause of his harassment and held 22 DRDO officials responsible for his persecution. Parrikar then ordered quashing of charges against Singh and action against the officials.
“The case has been examined in the light of advice of CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) and after detailed deliberations, the competent authority has ordered quashing of the charges framed against Prakash Singh,” says a Ministry of Defence order. “Those who trumped up false charges and committed a number of procedural irregularities with the single-minded objective of harassing Prakash Singh need to be identified and taken to task for their malafide action.”
Singh’s complaints of corruption in the agency and 10 DRDO scientists recruiting their family members in the organisation by flouting all norms is being investigated by the CBI.
Prakash Singh’s complaints to CBI, CVC
Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) failed to utilise the pressure recovery system (PRS), a hi-tech equipment imported from Russia for Rs 16.58 crore. Singh alleged that the equipment was burnt in a “mysterious” fire, but DRDO said that the project was successful.
Highlighted nepotism in DRDO recruitment by senior scientists who “recruited their family members by flouting rules”. During a CBI probe, two scientists were asked to leave on the same groundsIn a speech today, foreign secretary Philip Hammond attacks those who apologise for Islamic State (Isis) recruiting. “A huge burden of responsibility rests with those who act as their apologists,” he says; they are to terrorism what Lenin called “useful idiots”.Hammond’s anger is understandable, given the ease with which the media has publicised remarks by friends and family of emigres such as Mohammed Emwazi and the three east London schoolgirls. Those who see loved ones turn from decent members of the community to potential killers are bound to be distressed and seek explanation. Schemes such as Prevent, to infiltrate and “de-radicalise” Muslim youths, seem cringingly ham-fisted and little more than police job creation.
UK anti-radicalisation Prevent strategy a ‘toxic brand’ Read more
Yet Hammond’s remarks echo John Major’s attitude to crime in the 1990s, that “society should condemn a little more, understand a little less”. What drives 15-year-olds to make checklists for a wild foreign adventure must merit study. Why do some immigrant communities gladly embrace Britain’s lifestyle and customs while others do not? What curbs on personal freedom are justified in countering deviant behaviour in the young, and what curbs merely encourage it?
It must be clear to Hammond and his colleagues that Isis’s ability to recruit a reported 500 fighters in Britain was helped by British military interventions in the Muslim world in recent years. Do these interventions also carry “a burden of responsibility”? Are the RAF’s drone operators jihadism’s useful idiots?
I prefer to back off from this. The whole terrorism story is out of hand. You have to be crazy to think that three runaway girls constitute a “national threat”. Even if some of those who have gone to Syria return with evil intent, what can they do? They might set off a bomb or fire a gun. That is no threat to the security of the nation or menace to its values. What kind of values are so vulnerable? This is pathetic talk.
The greatest threat to British values just now is from hysteria. It drives language to extremes. It encourages reckless responses and feeds the greed of the security industry. All sense of proportion vanishes as the politics of the scare grips every politician, every lobbyist, every media outlet.
Half of these stories should never have made it into the news. The way to stamp out terror is to deny it the oxygen of publicity and glamour. Sometimes neglect, which means self-censorship, is the best cure. But what hope of that?House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) mocked President Barack Obama in a floor speech Monday, hours before a potential government shutdown -- marking a rare move and a public sign of the two leaders' increasingly soured relationship.
"I didn't come here to shut down the government," Boehner said, moments before the House voted on the GOP's latest continuing resolution, which includes a one-year delay of Obamacare's individual mandate. "The American people don't want a shutdown, and neither do I."
The Ohio Republican defended his party against the charge that it is willing to shut down the government over the president's signature health care law, before referencing a recent phone call with Obama.
"I talked to the president earlier tonight: 'I'm not gonna negotiate, I'm not gonna negotiate, I'm not gonna do this,'" Boehner said, mimicking Obama.
His speech was met with applause from Republicans in the chamber.
The president called Boehner earlier in the evening, as the clock continued to tick toward a government shutdown. The two spoke for nearly 10 minutes, Boehner's office confirmed, albeit without any breakthrough on funding the government.
"The president made clear that Congress has two jobs to do: pay the bills on time and pass a budget on time," the White House said in a statement. "Failure to fulfill those responsibilities is harmful to our economy, small businesses and middle class families across the country."
Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said, "The speaker told the president that Obamacare is costing jobs and that American families are being denied basic fairness when big businesses are getting exemptions that they are not."
Buck also tweeted a photo of his boss on the phone with Obama:
PHOTO: Speaker Boehner on the phone with President Obama earlier tonight. http://t.co/anK8AqgX7V pic.twitter.com/fLzceY26oQ — Brendan Buck (@Brendan_Buck) October 1, 2013
Obama delivered a statement from the White House Monday afternoon, in which he called on House Republicans to drop their demands for concessions related to Obamacare in exchange for keeping the government open.
"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway... just because there's a law there that you don't like," he said.If USC Dorms Were People
By Judy Lee ‘17
I’m going to preface this post by saying that I don’t mean to generalize in a derogatory way! Just some fun and games regarding our building stereotypes on campus. FRESHMAN: take this as you may…
Birnkrant
* Loves to talk about SAT scores
* Gets caught up on memes really easily
* Gets anxious about midterms and exam curves
Pardee Tower
* Chilled out (maybe a little too much)
* Has their Ground Zero order down pat
* Naps at all times
New/North
* Talks 25 decibels louder than necessary
* Was the kid you tried to impress while you were in high school
* Pretty much Greek row
Marks Hall/Tower
* Studies quietly and alone (can’t do groups, really)
* Building government-oriented
* Mumbles when you ask where they’re living
Trojan Hall
* Never actually in Trojan Hall except to sleep
* Never talks about their residence hall (not even to complain)
* Enjoys laying on the grass outside
Parkside
* Probably plays League of Legends
* Air conditioning was an absolute priority
* Enjoys routine
Webb
* Basically lives at Cafe 84
* Doesn’t actually go to the gym
* Doesn’t want to hang out after class
Fluor
* Never not at the gym
* Always last to go home
* Just wants damn peace and quiet
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Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.The Trump administration is moving to back Montenegro’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to senior U.S. officials, a decision that could both bolster the Western alliance and antagonize Russia.
The likely move would take place in a rapidly evolving political and diplomatic climate, in which President Donald Trump is steadfastly backing improved ties with Moscow but maintaining for now U.S. strictures imposed in recent years against the Kremlin.
The Russian government has vehemently opposed Montenegro joining NATO, keeping with its longstanding opposition to the alliance’s expansion. Montenegrin officials have publicly accused the Kremlin of trying to deter its membership by instigating an attempted coup against the government in October. Moscow has denied the charge.
Formal U.S. backing for the Balkan nation’s admission could emerge as the first flashpoint between Washington and Moscow since Trump took office, current and former U.S. officials said. At the same time, they said, the Kremlin may believe that Trump can go only so far in moderating U.S. policies concerning Russia and wouldn’t expect him to make a sudden, sharp reversal on a decision made by the Obama administration in 2015.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
Slide show: Montenegro’s luxe coastal properties
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Want news about Europe delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Europe Daily newsletter. Sign up here.Agonists of the α 7 -nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α 7 -nAChR) have entered clinical trials as procognitive agents for treating schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. The most advanced compounds are orthosteric agonists, which occupy the ligand binding site. At the molecular level, agonist activation of α 7 -nAChR is reasonably well understood. However, the consequences of activating α 7 -nAChRs on neural circuits underlying cognition remain elusive. Here we report that an α 7 -nAChR agonist (FRM-17848) enhances long-term potentiation (LTP) in rat septo-hippocampal slices far below the cellular EC 50 but at a concentration that coincides with multiple functional outcome measures as we reported in Stoiljkovic M, Leventhal L, Chen A, Chen T, Driscoll R, Flood D, Hodgdon H, Hurst R, Nagy D, Piser T, Tang C, Townsend M, Tu Z, Bertrand D, Koenig G, Hajós M. Biochem Pharmacol 97: 576–589, 2015. In this same concentration range, we observed a significant increase in spontaneous γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibitory postsynaptic currents and a moderate suppression of excitability in whole cell recordings from rat CA1 pyramidal neurons. This modulation of GABAergic activity is necessary for the LTP-enhancing effects of FRM-17848, since inhibiting GABA A α 5 -subunit-containing receptors fully reversed the effects of the α 7 -nAChR agonist. These data suggest that α 7 -nAChR agonists may increase synaptic plasticity in hippocampal slices, at least in part, through a circuit-level enhancement of a specific subtype of GABAergic receptor.
NEW & NOTEWORTHY
This article describes a potential circuit-level mechanism of action by which α 7 -nAChR agonists increase synaptic plasticity and therefore may improve cognition. α 7 -nAChR agonists have shown promise in treating cognitive impairment in Alzheimer disease and schizophrenia, and these data support continued research on these compounds.
agonists of the α 7 -nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α 7 -nAChR) are procognitive in many preclinical animal models (Medeiros et al. 2014; Stoiljkovic et al. 2015). Several agonists and positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) have advanced into clinical trials for treatment of cognitive impairment in disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Wallace and Porter 2011). Levels of α 7 -nAChR mRNA and protein are reduced in the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and thalamus of schizophrenia patients (Deutsch et al. 2005; Guillozet-Bongaarts et al. 2014), which may contribute to cognitive impairment that is not adequately treated by current therapies that treat positive and negative symptoms (Wallace and Porter 2011). A genetic linkage to the α 7 -nAChR gene locus, which includes CHRNA7 and CHRFAM7A, has been identified in families with a history of schizophrenia, suggesting that defects in α 7 -nAChR function may contribute to the etiology of the disease (Gault et al. 2003; Sinkus et al. 2015).
In AD, the loss of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain is an early hallmark of the disease and results in a deficit in acetylcholine (ACh) signaling throughout the cerebral cortex and hippocampus (Bartus et al. 1982; Whitehouse 1998). Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), which slow the clearance of ACh during neurotransmission, remain the standard of care for patients with mild to moderate AD (Anand et al. 2014). While a direct link between α 7 -nAChR dysfunction or dysregulation and AD is less well established (Neri et al. 2012), selectively restoring α 7 -nAChR function with agonists may offer a novel, highly targeted, and well-tolerated approach to improving cognition in multiple central nervous system (CNS) indications including AD and schizophrenia (Toyohara and Hashimoto 2010; Wallace and Porter 2011).
The α 7 -nAChR is a homopentameric ligand-gated ion channel (Drisdel and Green 2000). Upon binding its endogenous ligand ACh, the α 7 -nAChR becomes selectively permeable to calcium and rapidly desensitizes (Albuquerque et al. 2009; Dani and Bertrand 2007). The relationships between α 7 -nAChR activation and desired therapeutic effects on cognitive function are not fully understood. Using Xenopus laevis oocytes, agonists activate α 7 -nAChR with cellular EC 50 values of >100 nM (Prickaerts et al. 2012), although these typically obtained EC 50 values may be artificially elevated 10-fold by the recording conditions employed (Papke and Thinschmidt 1998). Yet, lower concentrations of an α 7 -nAChR agonist (at or below detectable α 7 -nAChR activation and the binding K i ) can increase the response to the natural ligand ACh (Papke et al. 2011; Prickaerts et al. 2012; Quik et al. 1997; Stoiljkovic et al. 2015). This phenomenon, referred to as “priming,” was observed and modeled at neuromuscular nAChRs (Mukhtasimova et al. 2009). Cognition is improved in rodents with free-drug concentrations of α 7 -nAChR agonist below the cellular EC 50 values (but similar to the priming concentrations) (Bitner et al. 2010; Prickaerts et al. 2012; Stoiljkovic et al. 2015; Werkheiser et al. 2011).
In the hippocampus, α 7 -nAChRs are predominantly expressed on γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic) interneurons and to some extent on glutamatergic neurons and astrocytes (Fabian-Fine et al. 2001; Frazier et al. 1998; Halff et al. 2014; Sharma and Vijayaraghavan 2001). A selective α 7 -nAChR agonist (PNU-282987) increased synaptic GABAergic activity in hippocampal slices (Hajos et al. 2005) by enhancing the excitability of interneurons (Hurst et al. 2005). Similar results were seen with another α 7 -nAChR agonist S24795 (Lagostena et al. 2008), and nicotine (Alkondon et al. 1997). While it is clear that α 7 -nAChRs are expressed on GABAergic interneurons and α 7 -nAChR agonists have a pronounced effect on GABAergic synaptic transmission in the hippocampus, the functional consequences on cognition remain to be established.
To assess how α 7 -nAChR agonists promote cognitive function at a cellular and circuit level, we have examined the pharmacology of FRM-17848, [(R)-7-cyano-N-quinuclidin-3-yl]benzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxamide, using electrophysiological recording techniques in rat brain septo-hippocampal slice preparations. In this preparation, measures of synaptic strength and plasticity such as long-term potentiation (LTP) are widely considered a model for the cellular basis of learning and memory (Izquierdo 1994). Previous studies have demonstrated that α 7 -nAChR agonists or PAMs can enhance LTP in the hippocampus of rodents (Kroker et al. 2011; Ondrejcak et al. 2012). This enhancement is absent in CHRNA7 knockout mice (Biton et al. 2007; Lagostena et al. 2008) and α 7 -nAChR antagonists such as methylcaconitine (MLA) fail to enhance LTP, indicating that agonists are activating rather than desensitizing α 7 -nAChRs (Griguoli et al. 2013).
We recently reported that the procognitive effects of an α 7 -nAChR agonist could be accounted for in terms of the concentration-response function of α 7 -nAChR receptor pharmacology (Stoiljkovic et al. 2015). The bell-shaped efficacy dose response was shown to align with the free drug levels across assays (oocytes, brain slice LTP, in vivo theta-power, and rodent cognition). In this study, we extend those findings by examining how an α 7 -nAChR agonist enhances LTP in the hippocampal brain circuit at select concentrations. We demonstrate that the α 7 -nAChR-mediated enhancement of synaptic plasticity (LTP) depends on increased GABAergic neurotransmission that is mediated by GABA A α 5 -receptors (GABA A α 5 R). These data indicate that priming and procognitive concentrations of α 7 -nAChR agonists promote synaptic plasticity, at least in part, through a circuit-level enhancement of the activity of a specific subtype of GABAergic receptor.
METHODS
Reagents.
FRM-17848 (FRM-2 in Tang et al. 2014) was synthesized by SAI Life Sciences (Hyderabad, India) and was prepared as 31.6-μM stock solutions in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The GABA A α 5 R inhibitor (hydroxypropylthio-derivative of MRK-536 and named FRM-35440 herein) (Atack 2011) and the GABA A α 5 R PAM, SH-053-2′F-R-CH3 (Drexler et al. 2013), were synthesized by WuXi Apptech (MaShan, China). Bicuculline, 2,3-dioxo-6-nitro-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[f]quinoxaline-7-sulfonamide (NBQX), dl-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid sodium salt (d-AP5), and CGP-55845 were purchased from Abcam (Bristol, UK). MLA and donepezil were purchased from Tocris Biosciences (Bristol, UK) and dissolved in DMSO. All compounds were stored at −20°C and diluted to the required concentrations in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF; composition in mM: 127.0 NaCl, 1.6 KCl, 1.24 KH 2 PO 4, 1.3 MgSO 4, 2.4 CaCl 2, 26.0 NaHCO 3, and 10 d-glucose) immediately before use. All other reagents were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich.
Animals.
Male Sprague-Dawley rats (5–8 wk of age) were obtained from Charles River UK (Kent, UK) and were maintained on a 12:12-h light-dark cycle with free access to food and water. All experiments were approved by the Cerebrasol Insitutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and were carried out in compliance with the UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986, including the recent revision incorporating the European Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.
Female Xenopus laevis frogs were obtained from Xenopus Express (Haute-Loire, France) and used for in vitro oocyte electrophysiology. All experiments were approved by the local IACUC and were carried out in compliance with the European Union regulations (Directive 2010/63/EU).
Characterization of FRM-17848 at α 7 -nAChRs.
Binding assays at rat α 7 -nAChR receptors were performed at Perkin-Elmer Discovery Services (formerly Caliper Life Sciences/Novascreen, Hanover, MD) according to their standard protocols, which follow published methods (Marks et al. 1986; Meyer et al. 1998). Briefly, rat brains were rapidly removed, homogenized in buffer, and prepared for incubation with the radioactive ligand [125I]-α-bungarotoxin. The reaction was terminated by diluting with buffer, followed immediately by filtration through glass fiber filters soaked in buffer containing polyethylenimine. Binding of the radioactive ligand was measured using a scintillation counter. Nonspecific binding was determined with unlabeled ligand. Each condition was measured in duplicate. The reference compound was MLA. K i values were calculated by the equation of Cheng and Prusoff (1973).
Electrophysiological experiments were carried out with human α 7 -nAChR receptors expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Oocytes were prepared, injected with cDNA encoding for the α 7 -nAChR, and recorded using standard procedures (Hogg et al. 2008; Stoiljkovic et al. 2015). Oocytes were grown in the presence of penicillin, and all recordings were made in antibiotic-free OR2 medium containing the following (in mmol/l): 88.5 NaCl, 2.5 KCl, 5 HEPES, 1.8 CaCl 2 ·2H 2 O, and 1 MgCl 2 ·6H 2 O, pH 7.4 at 18°C. Four oocytes were used in generating each set of data from at least two preparations.
Field potential recordings for LTP.
Detailed methods of the septo-hippocampal slice preparation and field potential recording are described in Stoiljkovic et al. (2015). For all electrophysiology experiments, the experimenters were blinded to the identity of the compounds.
Whole cell voltage/current clamp.
Whole cell patch-clamp recordings were performed from pyramidal neurons of the CA1 region of the hippocampus at room temperature (17–21°C) using the “blind” version of the patch-clamp technique and Axopatch 1D or Multiclamp 700B amplifiers (Molecular Devices). Patch pipettes were pulled from thin-walled borosilicate glass (GF150TF-10; Harvard Apparatus) with resistances of 3–8 MΩ when filled with intracellular solution of the following composition (in mM): 140 potassium gluconate, 10 KCl, 1 EGTA-Na, 10 HEPES,
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occur to me to unhorn, the conventional way. In hindsight perhaps it comes across as a bit creepy……..or maybe not. Romantic? :P
Until December 2014 (yes, it’s getting to that time of the year again).
date: Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 1:44 AM
subject: Police Well, that was fun, just spent 6 hours in police custody :((((
You can learn why that happened in part 6. When I write it.TORONTO — Looking at the season the Calgary Stampeders had in 2016, you’d think the man standing behind the bench for 20 weeks was a seasoned vet.
Instead, it was a rookie, Dave Dickenson, who led the Stamps to a 15-2-1 record in the regular season and was named the AGF Coach of the Year at the Shaw CFL Awards.
And those 15 wins as a first year coach were a new league record.
The 43-year-old led the Stamps to a 16-game unbeaten streak in 2016, which was a single-season league record. The former quarterback also took his club to a 9-0 record at home at McMahon Stadium.
After accepting his award at the Art Gallery of Ontario in downtown Toronto, Dickenson was humble and tried to downplay his successful season, naming other head coaches around the league that he believed were worthy of winning the award.
“I know there’s some other great coaches I thought obviously Rick (Campbell) has done a great job,” Dickenson gushed about the Ottawa REDBLACKS’ head coach, who was the East’s nominee for Coach of the Year. “Wally Buono, Mike O’Shea, I really believe were right there (to win the award).
“To be honoured is great but I’m a reflection of my players and you’ll see a lot of them tonight, as you already have. Coaches are very dependent on our talent and luckily I’ve got a lot of good players.”
Four of those players, Jerome Messam, Bo Levi Mitchell, Derek Dennis and DaVaris Daniels, were also recipients of awards on Thursday night, taking home Most Outstanding Canadian, Most Outstanding Player, Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman and Most Outstanding Rookie respectively.
Now, Dickenson will tuck his trophy away and switch his focus to making his first appearance in a Grey Cup as a head coach as he hopes to cap the Stampeders’ record-breaking season with a win at BMO Field.
“It’s a good start, it’s only down from here,” he said of the nod with a laugh. “But hopefully we’ll keep ‘er going this weekend.”Cristiano Ronaldo has explained to Italian footballing legend Alessandro Del Piero why he joined Manchester United back in 2003 rather than Serie A outfit Juventus - claiming that a big factor in the deal was his agent Jorge Mendes.
Ronaldo's six year stint at Old Trafford catapulted him into stardom, from a Portuguese teenager kicking a ball about in the Primeira Liga to the world's most expensive player and latest Galactico in 2009.
But it all could've been so different. Many clubs showed an interest in Ronaldo during the summer in which he move to the Premier League, and now - after being quizzed on the matter by Del Piero - Ronaldo has revealed why he chose Manchester:
"Many clubs were interested in me," Ronaldo began (via the Mirror). "But the key man as always was Jorge Mendes.
OSCAR DEL POZO/GettyImages
"He has always guided me in the right direction. Of course, I remember that he talked also about Juventus, and I was happy because they are an extraordinary club.
"He also talked about Real Madrid, Manchester United and many others. But the club that offered me the best conditions were United. It was a dream because as a kid I always wanted to play in the Premier League.
"United gave me this opportunity and for that I have to thank Sir Alex Ferguson and obviously Jorge helped me to arrive there."
It appears to have worked out for him, and Ronaldo will have no regrets. Since his move to United (and then to Madrid), Ronaldo has won all sorts of league titles and trophies - not to mention four Champions League triumphs. Let's not forget those five Ballons d'Or either.- Advertisement -
Lawsuit Filed To Protect Themselves from Unfair Patent Enforcement on Genetically Modified Seed
Action Would Prohibit Biotechnology Giant from Suing Organic Farmers and Seed Growers If Innocently Contaminated by Roundup Ready Genes
NEW York: On behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed suit today against Monsanto Company challenging the chemical giant's patents on genetically modified seed. The organic plaintiffs were forced to sue preemptively to protect themselves from being accused of patent infringement should their crops ever become contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed.
Monsanto has sued farmers in the United States and Canada, in the past, when there are patented genetic material has inadvertently contaminated their crops.
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A copy of the lawsuit can be found at:
(http://www.pubpat.org/assets/files/seed/OSGATA-v-Monsanto-Complaint.pdf)
The case, Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, was filed in federal district court in Manhattan and assigned to Judge Naomi Buchwald. Plaintiffs in the suit represent a broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community who are increasingly threatened by genetically modified seed contamination despite using their best efforts to avoid it. The plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including thousands of certified organic family farmers.
"This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto's transgenic seed or pollen should land on their property," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director. "It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients."
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Once released into the environment, genetically modified seed can contaminate and destroy organic seed for the same crop. For example, soon after Monsanto introduced genetically modified seed for canola, organic canola became virtually impossible to grow as a result of contamination.
Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa also face the same fate, as Monsanto has released genetically modified seed for each of those crops as well.
Monsanto is currently developing genetically modified seed for many other crops, thus putting the future of all food, and indeed all agriculture, at stake.
"Monsanto's threats and abuse of family farmers stops here. Monsanto's genetic contamination of organic seed and organic crops ends now," stated Jim Gerritsen, a family farmer in Maine who raises organic seed and is President of lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. "Americans have the right to choice in the marketplace -- to decide what kind of food they will feed their families."
"Family-scale farmers desperately need the judiciary branch of our government to balance the power Monsanto is able to wield in the marketplace and in the courts," said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for The Cornucopia Institute, one of the plaintiffs. "Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington."
In the case, PUBPAT is asking Judge Buchwald to declare that if organic farmers are ever contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed, they need not fear also being accused of patent infringement. One reason justifying this result is that Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seed are invalid because they don't meet the "usefulness" requirement of patent law, according to PUBPAT's Ravicher, the plaintiffs' lead attorney in the case.
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"Evidence cited by PUBPAT in its opening filing today proves that genetically modified seed has negative economic and health effects, while the promised benefits of genetically modified seed -- increased production and decreased herbicide use -- are false," added Ravicher who is also a Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
Ravicher continued, "Some say transgenic seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that's not possible, and it's actually in Monsanto's financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply," said Ravicher. "Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB's and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not. Now Monsanto says transgenic seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not."
The plaintiffs in the suit represented by PUBPAT are: Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association; Organic Crop Improvement Association International, Inc.; OCIA Research and Education Inc.; The Cornucopia Institute; Demeter Association, Inc.; Navdanya International; Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter, Inc.; Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont; Rural Vermont; Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association; Southeast Iowa Organic Association; Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society; Mendocino Organic Network; Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance; Canadian Organic Growers; Family Farmer Seed Cooperative; Sustainable Living Systems; Global Organic Alliance; Food Democracy Now!; Family Farm Defenders Inc.; Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund; FEDCO Seeds Inc.; Adaptive Seeds, LLC; Sow True Seed; Southern Exposure Seed Exchange; Mumm's Sprouting Seeds; Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., LLC; Comstock, Ferre & Co., LLC; Seedkeepers, LLC; Siskiyou Seeds; Countryside Organics; Cuatro Puertas; Interlake Forage Seeds Ltd.; Alba Ranch; Wild Plum Farm; Gratitude Gardens; Richard Everett Farm, LLC; Philadelphia Community Farm, Inc; Genesis Farm; Chispas Farms LLC; Kirschenmann Family Farms Inc.; Midheaven Farms; Koskan Farms; California Cloverleaf Farms; North Outback Farm; Taylor Farms, Inc.; Jardin del Alma; Ron Gargasz Organic Farms; Abundant Acres; T & D Willey Farms; Quinella Ranch; Nature's Way Farm Ltd.; Levke and Peter Eggers Farm; Frey Vineyards, Ltd.; Bryce Stephens; Chuck Noble; LaRhea Pepper; Paul Romero; and, Donald Wright Patterson, Jr.
Next Page 1 | 2Scientists have been spending the summer studying the impact of micro-plastic pollution in the Great Lakes.
Sherri Mason, professor of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at SUNY Fredonia, led the team of researchers that first called attention to pollution from plastic microbeads found in personal care products - everything from facial scrubs to shampoo.
Mason says these plastic beads are too small to be filtered by sewage plants, and they're making their way into all five of the Great Lakes and the fish and birds that swim in those waters.
"Over the course of the summer, we've been looking at various fish and bird species-water fowl-to see if the plastics are making their way into the food chain and up the food chain, and we're finding them there," said, Mason. "We've looked at perch, lake trout, musky, water fowl, just a variety, for every trophic level up the food chain. We're seeing the plastics and we're seeing them increase as we head up the food chain.”
The plastic particles are not toxic themselves, but Mason said they come into contact with toxic chemicals in the lakes. "We know for a fact that as the particles are in the water, they absorb toxic chemicals from the water. Things like PCBs and PAHs. The Great Lakes have a legacy; they are infamous, I guess, for having these toxic substances."
Several states, including New York, have legislation pending to ban the sale and distribution of products containing microbreads. But Mason says people don't have to wait for lawmakers to act. There are already natural alternatives to the plastic particles and some cosmetic companies are voluntarily responding by using biodegradable substitutes.It’s been a while since we’ve spoken about this game but a brand new trailer for Hideo Kojima’s sci-fi/horror title Death Stranding was shown at this year’s Game Awards and MAN is it weird, unsettling, and downright scary! In the trailer, we are introduced a bit more to Norman Reedus’ character, whose name is “Porter”. We see him, this time wearing clothes, in the aftermath of a car accident in the middle of a gray, drab wasteland. Two teammates are alive, although one is injured. As they try to collect themselves, strange and invisible beings fall upon them, clearly terrifying each of the characters. As these beings do their deeds, the world becomes more and more surreal.
Starring the aforementioned Reedus as well as Guillermo del Toro and Mads Mikkelsen, Death Stranding still has no official release date. That being said, Kojima’s games are, by and large, pretty much consistently amazing, so I’m perfectly content waiting for this one to come out on its own time. Plus, I have a feeling that some of the work that went into Silent Hills is going to make an appearance here and my body is ready.A 77-year-old Manipur minister has married a 24-year-old nursing graduate, barely three months after a Bangladesh minister tied the knot with a woman 38 years his junior.
Manipur health and family welfare minister Phungzathang Tonsing married Thangngaihsang on Friday in a ceremony attended by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and other dignitaries, at the Evangelical Baptist Church in state capital Imphal. It was the minister’s second marriage.
The bride, 53 years younger than her husband, is the daughter of T Khamzadou, a resident of New Lamka in Churachandpur district.
A Churachandpur local said Khamzadou’s family consented to the marriage as the “minister needed someone to look after him as most of his children stayed outside the state”.
In November last year, Bangladesh railway minister Mujibul Haque, 67, married 29-year-old Honufa Akhter Rikta in Comilla town. It was Haque’s first marriage.
First Published: Jan 17, 2015 15:39 ISTGet the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Brendan Rodgers has praised the intelligence and versatility of Liverpool FC teenager Raheem Sterling ahead of Saturday's trip to Cardiff City.
The Reds boss has utilised the talents of the 19-year-old winger in a central role in recent weeks.
Sterling scored after coming off the bench against Southampton and he then shone in last weekend's 3-0 rout of Manchester United.
On both occasions he played at the tip of a midfield diamond and his contribution to the club's title challenge has delighted Rodgers.
“Raheem is a clever footballer,” Rodgers told the ECHO.
“For a young boy, tactically he's very good.
"That’s what we are trying to do, develop footballers, and it gives me more options. I think he could even play on the side of a diamond.
“When he starts in the centre he offers us penetration with his speed. For our first goal against United he played a really important part as he took the ball out of pressure, around Marouane Fellaini and then switched play to Jordan Henderson.
“For the second goal, he made a great penetrating run in behind from Glen Johnson’s pass.
“Raheem is intricate in tight spaces. We encourage players to play under pressure with players tight on them, and he can play with bodies around him.
“He’s maturing very well. We've seen we have options with him because of his tactical intelligence.”
Rodgers has repeatedly made tactical tweaks and altered formations this season in a bid to maximise the Reds' threat. He believes such changes have helped catch opponents by surprise.
“We have a really small squad so we have to find ways and solutions to win games,” he added. “One of the ways is to be really flexible with your tactics.
“The beauty of this team and how we are developing is we do have different ways to win.
“If teams sit deep, we can play through. We have the brightness and imagination around the box to score goals. If teams push on, we have the pace and penetration to get in behind them.
“What we are now doing is we are developing the team tactically.
“A diamond is a difficult formation to play - it’s very complex with the movement patterns and the pressure. But we've worked on it and how they have implemented it has been superb.
“We know we can go to 3-5-2. We've had some great games like West Brom at home when we played in that structure and looked good.
“Whatever the game demands, we have the flexibility to operate in the way required.”
No matter what formation is employed, Rodgers insists the team's principles remain unchanged from when he first took over.
“The system can change but the style will always be the same,” he said.
“Yes, we've had less possession this season compared to last season but the difference this year is we're leading games much quicker.
“The statistics show you that when you are winning in a game you have between 4% and 8% less of the ball.
“We are more clinical in our possession now. But if you look at the intensity of our game, nothing has changed.
“We construct the game from behind, we play quickly through the thirds and we want to attack and create goal scoring chances. We want that with tactical discipline.
“We had a move in the 88 minute against United which involved 56 passes. That’s why players like Wayne Rooney came off and it had been a real hard day for them because we kept the ball.”Oroville >> Former Paradise police officer Patrick Feaster was arraigned Wednesday in Butte County Superior Court on a charge of manslaughter, more than two months after he shot an unarmed man suspected of drunken driving.
Feaster, 31, appeared in Judge James Reilley’s court at 8:30 a.m., after District Attorney Mike Ramsey decided to bring manslaughter charges against the former officer. Feaster was charged with a single felony count of involuntary manslaughter while armed.
Feaster, dressed in a dark-colored suit, did not enter a plea.
The charges come two days after Paradise Police Chief Gabriela Tazzari-Dineen announced Feaster was no longer on the payroll. The chief said she couldn’t say whether Feaster was fired because of state law outlined by the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights.
When asked by a reporter whether Feaster quit or was fired, Ramsey said only that Feaster did not resign.
Feaster shot Andrew Thomas, 26, just before midnight on Thanksgiving eve. Thomas was shot as he exited a vehicle after a rollover accident on Pearson Road that killed his estranged wife, Darien Ehorn, 23, of Paradise.
Feaster was booked and released Wednesday from Butte County Jail. He remains out of custody, released on his own recognizance. He is next scheduled to appear in court Feb. 24, when he could enter a plea.
Feaster’s attorney, Brett Sherman, did not comment.
The charge of involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of four years in county jail, a change from state prison as a result of the prison reform bill Assembly Bill 109. The additional allegation of being armed with a firearm carries the potential of an additional year in custody.
Ramsey announced at a Dec. 10 press conference that he would not seek criminal charges against Feaster because investigators determined that the shooting, while possibly negligent, was “not criminally so.” Feaster told a supervisor at the scene of the wreck that his.45-caliber semiautomatic pistol accidentally fired.
At that same press conference, Ramsey said that had Thomas been killed, the claim Feaster didn’t mean to shoot him would not necessarily be a defense.
Then on Dec. 19, Thomas died at Enloe Medical Center in Chico. Ramsey had said in light of Thomas’ death, he would re-examine potential manslaughter charges against Feaster.
That investigation, Ramsey said, hinged partly on Thomas’ autopsy report.
Outside of court Wednesday, Ramsey said an autopsy showed Thomas died from complications stemming from the gunshot wound to his spine.
Ramsey added no other significant injuries from the rollover crash led to Thomas’ death.
Dashboard and body camera video of the shooting showed Feaster did not notify his supervisor that he had fired his weapon until 11 minutes after the fact.
Medical personnel and first responders said Feaster’s 11-minute lapse did not result in additional injury to Thomas or contribute to a delay of medical help, according to a press release issued Wednesday by the District Attorney’s Office. It did, however, factor into the Paradise Police Department’s internal investigation.
Since the shooting, protests have been held outside the Paradise Police Department and District Attorney’s Office. Protesters had called for Feaster’s firing, as well as Ramsey’s job.
Ramsey said protesters, before Thomas had died, were well-meaning but confused about the law.
“We showed them what the law was,” Ramsey said. “From an emotional standpoint, prior to Mr. Thomas dying, they still wanted something done.”
Ramsey said public pressure that followed Thomas’ death played no role in his charging decision. He said the decision to charge Feaster was reached about a week ago, after prosecutors received forensic and legal reports, in addition to Thomas’ autopsy report.
“Most likely, he would be alive if he was not shot by officer Feaster,” Ramsey said.
Joshua Turner, who has organized protests and was a friend of Thomas’, said he believes demonstrators helped bring action against Feaster.
“I’m very happy,” Turner said. “Everybody involved with the protest is happy.”
Demonstrators intend to organize a celebratory event soon and plan to attend future court proceedings in Feaster’s case, he said.
Community members, however, remain unsatisfied with Ramsey, Turner said. The next step, he said, is to continue efforts to recall the district attorney. If that fails, it’s hoped someone will challenge Ramsey should he decide to run for re-election.
Ramsey has been Butte County’s district attorney since 1987.
“We just hope that this starts the domino effect across the nation,” Turner said, “of having cops being held accountable for their crimes.”
Contact reporter Andre Byik at 896-7760.ADVERTISEMENT:
Yep. We’re going with a food-themed title every week until it’s literally impossible for me to correlate Magic: The Gathering finance to food. Deal with it.
Last week, I went in a different direction than in my first two articles. Instead of force feeding you a list of various cards that I believed would be trending in either direction, I went about explaining one of the processes that I use to find cards that I think will start moving, as well as why it’s a good idea to do so.
If you’ve been a long-time follower of my writing, then you might know speculating is not my favorite method of making money from Magic (accidental alliteration is awesome! [Editor’s note: this seems like a comment I should have put in]). I prefer a steady grind through buying collections and singles at buylist prices, looting through bulk commons and uncommons, then using a combination of buylisting and selling locally through my display case and word of mouth.
Instead of giving you lists of my personal picks from the most recent sets, I want to take a similar approach to last week. Today I’ll be teaching you about a couple of the better methods for picking (and there’s our title) your own collections of common and uncommon bulk.
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As I’ve mentioned before on Brainstorm Brewery, these aren’t going to be the cards that earn you massive profits. These are the dregs of draft tables, the stuff from unpicked 5K boxes in basements, and the cards that you get asked about six months after Khans of Tarkir comes out when Johnny really wants to make a tribal warrior deck after coming back into Magic. If none of the players at Johnny’s first FNM had the playset of Chief of the Edge that he desperately needed, so you get to be Johnny’s goddamn hero for just one crisp American dollar.
…Or Cast Mystical Teachings
That’s how the old saying goes, right?
Anyway, moving on. When people used to ask me this question of, “DJ, how do I learn exactly what to pull out of these common and uncommon lots?” I used to just tell them one word: “Experience.” After all, it’s not exactly intuitive to think that five copies of the M11 version of War Priest of Thune would be worth $0.15 each to Troll and Toad on a buylist. The card sees one-of sideboard play in Modern at most, and isn’t exactly exciting or casually appealing to Johnny.
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Now I’ve realized I can add an additional two words to “experience” to make it much more fun: “and research.” Even if you’ve only been playing competitive Magic for a year or so, the tools on the internet still exist to provide you with the information that you need to have a pretty comprehensive list of commons and uncommons that you want to be picking.
Different Types of Berries
The first thing you want to do is base your picks on a set of rules. You should probably make up your own determination of what you consider to be “significant,” so that picking through bulk commons and uncommons is actually worth your time. My personal cutoff is a dime, and I make exceptions for cards that I have experience with being requested often even if they’re not on a buylist. While not every card will buylist for a significant number, copies can still be kept on hand for situations like my Chief of the Blade example above.
You can also adjust that personal number based on the amount of bulk that you deal with. If you’re just pulling out picks to make your binder look a bit more buff, you probably don’t need to waste your time dragging out every single guildgate and Selesnya Charm. You’d be better off focusing on the $.50 to $1.00 cards that are actually worth putting into a trade binder—ones that competitive players will be needing for Standard and Modern decks. On the other hand, those who follow the path of Ryan Bushard and deal with 100,000 cards on a weekly basis should probably try to squeeze every ounce of value that they can, due to the fact that you’re shipping en masse to multiple buylists at once all the time.
If you can notice a theme of what cards have been picks in the past, then you can use that information to determine what types of cards you’re picking from the latest sets. I’ve made a lot of money pulling Crumbling Necropolis and its cycle of friends from Shards of Alara bulk, as well all of their respective reprints in the Commander and other supplemental products. Tri-colored decks are popular in both EDH and casual circles when given a common theme, like a mechanic to build around (I’ve helped players build something as simple as an “unearth” deck before). From this, we can make an educated guess that the Nomad Outpost cycle of KTK will continue to be worth separating from your bulk, even if the increase in print run means that the cards will be somewhat negligible to buylists in the short term.
Multicolored charms are another favorite of mine (even the bad ones like Gruul Charm). They represent versatility, and lean towards a specific clan or guild to provide casual players with a solid word or mechanic to lean on when building their synergistic decks. Even though some of the KTK charms will probably never see competitive play, I still enjoy setting them aside for later casual demand. Sometimes you’ll even get lucky and be able to buylist these for significant value. I just happened to be able to ship off a couple dozen Azorius Charms for a dime a piece to a buylist a few weeks ago, even though the card is long gone from competitive play.
Mill and discard have held strong casual ties over the past several years, and most players know that the prices of casual rares reflect that. There’s a reason that some mill cards are worth ridiculous amounts, and the powerful commons and uncommons that fit into these strategies have proven to be worth picking, even when faced with reprints. While I don’t recommend pulling out 50 copies of Tome Scour, pulling strong uncommon classics like Jace’s Phantasm won’t let you down.
If you can put yourself into the shoes of a casual player who just wants to put together a 78-card unsleeved mill deck, then go through your next set review with those eyes. If you can spot an uncommon gem that would go in those decks, that’s your signal to pick it out and wait for that person to show up on your local MTG Facebook group asking for those cards.
ProTrader Privileges
If you’re subscribed as an MTGprice Pro Trader, you can make life a lot easier, especially if you’re a budding financier looking to get into processing collections and picking bulk. You can head over to the Full List drop down under the Pro Trader section, and customize a search to pretty much whatever you want by hitting “Create a Filter.” For the purposes of this article, we’re going to want to exclude all of the rares and mythics, use a price filter that goes from $.10 to $1 billion dollars (for those foil, Phyrexian-language Tops that are just lurking in those bulk lots), and then add sets based on whatever collection you’re sorting through. That last part obviously gets much easier if you already know what you’re looking at, but asking the previous owner of the collection a few simple questions can help narrow that down for you: “What years did you play? What kind of cards and decks did you have? Do you remember what the names of the sets were when you played?”
I searched for commons and uncommons from Innistrad block that were valued from $0 to $4, then filtered them by price. As expected, Blood Artist is a pretty obvious casual all-star, and it helps that it’s so ridiculously strong in EDH. However, we can also see all of the uncommon lords on this list, and some of the heroes of past Innistrad Standard. These are all cards that I still pick regularly when searching Innistrad block bulk, and it’s something you might want to consider if you plan on cranking up your volume. Getting $0.11 per Unburial Rites adds up over time, and it doesn’t take a whole lot of common and uncommon picks to make a month of Pro Trader worthwhile.
I actually just recently learned about that Full List feature while I was in the process of doing research for this article, and I have to say I like it a lot more than the Trader Tools version on Quiet Speculation (I have been a paying member of both websites for multiple years now, and have always used Trader Tools for my buylisting processes). Even if I wasn’t writing for this website, now that I’ve found it, I prefer the greater versatility of the MTGprice tool. The only downside is that it doesn’t show the highest buylist price for every card on the list, but I’ve requested for that feature to be added. Here’s hoping!
End Step
Before I sign off for the week, I’m going to take a bit more time on this “End Step” than I normally do. If you’ve been keeping an eye on MTGstocks foil Interests page, you’ll see that this…
…happened. The few remaining foil copies of Nyxathid on eBay and TCGplayer were bought, and somebody decided to start relisting at $15. While the price almost immediately plummeted from that down to $10, I did manage to sell off a few copies at around that price.
I’d like to personally announce that it was not me who decided to buy out the few copies that were most readily visible on the internet in an attempt to cause an artificial spike in price on foil Nyxathids. Nor did I maliciously intend to encourage any readers of my article to buy all of those dozen or so copies. As shown by our weekly breakdown of what we’ve been doing in the market, I picked up multiple playsets through the PucaTrade website, but didn’t spend any cash “buying out” TCGplayer of the few that remained.
Now that the foil version of the card spiked, I do not advocate buying any additional copies at the “new price” of $8 to $9. I am curious to see what happens to the non-foils, though. The non-foil copies showed up on the MTGstocks weekly Interest page at a 14 percent increase instead of two percent, so I think you should pick up non-foils if you need them for the near future—I don’t think the card is going to be getting any cheaper. Whether the non-foil follows suit to its foil counterpart is debatable, but I wouldn’t wait if you plan on playing with copies for Modern/EDH/casual/Tiny Leaders.
On another note, the Urzatron lands have been showing up repeatedly on the Interests page almost every week, and are now at least $2 across the board. While I didn’t mention these in my Hot Potatoes article, they’re a screaming candidate for Modern Masters 2015. If you’re not using extra copies, I recommend buylisting them or selling them locally. Unless you plan on keeping the deck together until the set releases—and getting large amounts of value from playing the deck in the meantime—the time to jump ship was yesterday.
If any of you have thoughts or opinions on this week’s article, I’d love to hear them. I’m easily reachable on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and in the comments section below. I also usually take requests for article topics if the subject is broad enough and I’m knowledgeable enough on the subject. Thanks for reading!
ADVERTISEMENT:From Dark Horse Comics, Guillermo del Toro, and Universal Brand Development, comes a graphic novel with further adventures for DreamWorks Animation Television’s Trollhunters’ teenage hero, Jim Lake, Jr., in Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind. Trollhunters executive producer and writer Marc Guggenheim and How to Train Your Dragon graphic novel writer Richard Hamilton work alongside Trollhunters creator and executive producer Guillermo del Toro to co-write this companion tale to the Emmy-winning Netflix series! Timothy Green II (Avenger’s Academy, Justice League: 3001) provides his artistic skills to Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind with Wes Dzioba (Hack/Slash: The Series, Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse) bringing the art to life with his gorgeous colors. The amazing cover is by Bill Sienkiewicz (New Mutants, Elektra: Assassin).
Connecting directly to the Netflix original series from DreamWorks Animation Television, Trollhunters, the original graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics, Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind explores Jim’s journey as the first human Trollhunter—defender of good trolls. The secrets of the great troll warriors of the past are crucial tools for the new Trollhunter, and the time has come for Jim to appreciate the battles of Kanjigar the Courageous, who through his own struggles, triumphs, and failures lead the trolls after the Battle of Killahead Bridge through unknown territory, across oceans and continents, and past fearsome foes! With his friends by his side, Jim continues the fight against the Gumm-Gumms and their allies!
Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind goes on sale February 14, 2017, and is available for preorder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, TFAW, and at your local comic shop. Visit DarkHorse.com for more information.
From Dark Horse Comics, Guillermo del Toro, and Universal Brand Development, comes a graphic novel with further adventures for DreamWorks Animation Television’s Trollhunters’ teenage hero, Jim Lake, Jr., in Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind. Trollhunters executive producer and writer Marc Guggenheim and How to Train Your Dragon graphic novel writer Richard Hamilton work alongside Trollhunters creator and executive producer Guillermo del Toro to co-write this companion tale to the Emmy-winning Netflix series! Timothy Green II (Avenger’s Academy, Justice League: 3001) provides his artistic skills to Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind with Wes Dzioba (Hack/Slash: The Series, Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse) bringing the art to life with his gorgeous colors. The amazing cover is by Bill Sienkiewicz (New Mutants, Elektra: Assassin).(Select quotes gathered from various GOP sites and comments on news articles)
nobody will insure if pre-existing conditions must be paid for. this guy is an ass.
Yeah I too will vote for him knowing full well that under Romney government will continue to grow and we will still be headed to hell on earth. What a choice.
Yup...he thinks he got the conservative vote locked up. Now he’s going to the mushy middle and slightly left of middle....which is where he’ll govern from.
Face palm...
So much for being able to hold his feet to the fire.
No one who has paid any attention at all will be surprised by this. Government forcing individuals, doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies to do whatever government wants. That’s Romneycare in a nutshell—including taxpayer funded abortions and sex change operations requested by jailed criminals—like it or not.
You know Romney ** *** The insurance companies have already said they would keep
that provision if Obamacare is repealed. Republicans don’t know how to play the game. They are not smart in politics. They don’t know how to communicate. The whole point is why does the federal government CONTROL
the health insurance companies in what they can offer?
THEY MUST OFFER IT, or probably get a hefty lawsuit/fine from the
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. ROmney you SUCK
Romney makes decision based on the given tide. He wants to be liked by everyone and thus becomes submissive. That is not the definition of a leader. May God help us.
Romney said many times during the primary process, I want to tax the 1% more.
Romney said many times during the primary process, I like much of obamacare.
He’s the candidate, it’s just irritating so many people fell for the GOPe line “he’s the only guy who can beat obama”.to so
I’m not voting for Romney and this is just another reason not to. The other week his speech about energy independence spoke of “North American energy independence” which means he sees the US, Canada and Mexico as one economy like the European Union. The old Bush RINO North American Union plan, in other words.
Keep running your mouth Romney. Victory should be a cakewalk and this guy going to blow it.
I'm still voting for
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reprisals could take, but France flies warplanes over Syria and Iraq, striking ISIS targets as part of an international coalition.
Macron portrayed the meeting as just a first step in resetting the country's relations with Russia.
"Big things are built over time," he said. "It was an exchange that was extremely frank, direct, with a lot of things that were said."
"We have disagreements, but at least we talked about them," he added.
The leaders' first handshakes - relatively brief and cordial - after Putin climbed out of his limousine at Versailles were far less macho than Macron's now famous who-will-blink-first handshake showdown with President Trump when the two leaders met for the first time last week.
Trump and Macron share long handshake
In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, the French president said the long handshake had meaning.
"My handshake with [President Trump] was not innocent -- not the alpha and the omega of a policy -- but a moment of truth," Macron said. "We must show that we will not make small concessions, even symbolic ones."
Putin said he and Macron agreed to discuss pursuing closer cooperation on anti-terror efforts, with a proposed exchange of experts to work toward that goal.
On Syria, Putin underlined the importance of securing the Syrian state, adding that it's essential for combatting terrorism. Macron took the same stance, saying: "I want us to organize a democratic transition but also preserve a Syrian state."
"Failed states in that region are a threat for our democracies," and fuel terrorism, he said.
Later Monday, Putin was visiting a newly built Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center near the Seine River that includes the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The site was sold to Russia under former President Nicolas Sarkozy amid criticism from human rights groups.
Ostensibly, the reason for Putin's visit was for him to tour an exhibition in Versailles about the 300th anniversary of Russian Czar Peter the Great's trip to Paris. But it became an opportunity for him and Macron to go over all the thorny issues that divide them, and see where they have common ground.
Human rights activists protested Monday in Paris over the situation for gays in the Russian republic of Chechnya, holding a banner "Stop homophobia in Chechnya" near the Eiffel Tower.As cities across Canada engage in urban redevelopment and moving disruptive railways, a dormant piece of powerful legislation is returning to the spotlight – legislation which gives Hamilton City Council the power to finally move the Stuart Street marshalling yard along Hamilton’s West Harbour waterfront.
The federal Railway Relocation and Crossing Act (CanLii version) enables municipalities to apply to the Canadian Transportation Agency for an order to move railways and yards – provided the municipality pays and relocation does not harm the viability and finances of the railway.
RRCA and West Harbour
Relocating the Stuart Street CN marshalling yard was identified as a priority economic development project by the first Council of the new City of Hamilton in 2002.
Each successive Council have renewed this priority. Most recently as a key priority in the West Harbour Barton-Tiffany Urban Design Study.
Yet, after over a decade, what little talks have occurred have made no change to the situation.
With US Steel lands for sale as a location to relocate the marshalling yard, City Council is provided an opportunity to act this term to ends ongoing conflicts caused by West Harbour residential and recreation uses abutting the CN yard.
Using the RRCA is not a sledgehammer to a fly situation. It does not preclude reaching a mutual agreement – it sets a clear timeline for the outcome the City is expecting.
The RRCA guarantees Hamilton City Council can fulfill its vision for the West Harbour.
(Credit to Dan Lett of the Winnipeg Free Press whose column introduced me to the RRCA. I strongly encourage you to read the column as it inspired this post.)
RRCA Requirements, Urban Planning, and Funding
The RRCA’s requirements for the City are not onerous and most of the time-consuming work to meet them is already complete. Modifications to the West Harbour Secondary Plan and the Barton-Tiffany Urban Design Study can produce the urban development and transportation plans required.
In 2012, a group of citizens gathered – independent of the City – to create their own plans for redevelopment of the CN rail yard which showed a wide variety of people-friendly uses including residential, entertainment, and parks.
A consultant can write a financial plan for relocating CN to the Stelco lands.
With all the documents in place, Council can submit a full application to the Canadian Transportation Agency in 2015.
The RRCA requirements to issue an order are:
A urban development plan
A transportation plan (which can be part of the urban development plan)
A financial plan that does not “impose on any railway company affected thereby any costs and losses greater than the benefits and payments receivable by the railway company under the plan, or confer on any railway company affected thereby any benefits and payments greater than the costs and losses incurred by the railway company under the plan”
The RRCA enables the federal government to fund cost of rail relocation up to 50%.
U.S. Steel Lands Provide Opportunity
The US Steel lands are an ideal location to relocate the rail marshalling yards – it is land located along the CN rail line that does not have any conflicting abutting land uses.
This new location will enable CN to continue their operations without being negatively impacted.
In fact, with better connections to major highways and the ability to build a more modern facility, the new yard could better serve CN’s needs and become a leading inter-modal hub that will improve CN’s bottom line.
White Rock BC – First Use of RRCA Since 1987
The RRCA was used by the City of Regina in 1987 to relocate CN and CP rail yards, and is presently being used by White Rock in British Columbia to force the relocation of a coastal rail line that is dangerous and frustrating public access to their waterfront.
(The City’s “Rail in White Rock” page outlines how disruptive the line has become to the city. This Global News report shows video of the interaction between pedestrians and the railway)
The City hired Mary-Jane Bennett of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy as a consultant to prepare their application. Bennett’s 23-page report to the Council outlines the requirements of the Act, costs of relocation in White Rock, and the timelines expected of the process.
White Rock is being closely watched and, if successful, could spur other communities to use the RRCA to force relocation of urban rail lines – especially as the transportation of hazardous goods is a more prevalent concern after the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster that killed 47 people.
(A search of the CTA and CanLii databases finds no other cases. Bennett’s report states this fact as well.)
The Winnipeg RRCA Debate
Winnipeg is the intersection of Canada’s railway networks and the lines divide the City. (See above map created by the Winnipeg Free Press)
It costs the City of Winnipeg hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure to build bridges and underpasses to ensure traffic flows in the City.
With the recent boom in railway traffic, Winnipeg is looking at a $175-million underpass as its top infrastructure priority.
With grade separation taking priority over other infrastructure needs, Winnipeggers are having a serious discussion of spending $1-billion (yes, billion) to use the RRCA to move cross-Canada rail traffic out of the urban area.
The idea is getting traction because it will save Winnipeg hundreds of millions in planned grade separate road work and create urban renewal opportunities across the City as rail lands are converted to other uses.
The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg wrote an extensive report on moving the railways in 2014, but didn’t get as much traction as the current discussion.
The current relocation discussion appears to have originated with Winnipeg businessman Art DeFehr who penned an open statement entitled Rail Location in Winnipeg – Think Bold and Big outlining the opportunities which rail relocation provides for Winnipeg. DeFehr’s proposal received a positive editorial from the WFP editorial board.
Funding Relocation in Hamilton
The cost of relocating the Stuart Street CN yard is not insignificant, the timelines is likely to be nearly a decade between the RRCA hearing and relocation, and funding will require focused leadership at the local level.
Some of the costs will be recouped from eventual development of the West Harbour CN lands, and improved land values in the new Tiffany-Barton development area.
Hamilton City Council will need to secure a tripartite funding agreement with the provincial and federal government, will have to prioritize municipal funding within the City budget for many years, and have the patience to create a structure to lead the project over multiple Council terms.
Is there the willpower on Council to act on relocating the Stuart Street CN yard? Or will there only be more declarations that this is a priority this this term of Council?Humanitarian workers habitually find themselves unwelcome, detained or turned back at Israeli-controlled border crossings. (Joe Goldberg)
The Israeli detention of and denial of entry to Western activists, academics and humanitarian workers sympathetic to Palestinians has received particular attention in recent years, following the targeting of high-profile figures including Richard Falk, Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky.
During the first week in February, I was on the receiving end of Israeli detention practices myself when I attempted to enter the occupied West Bank from neighboring Jordan via the Allenby Bridge border crossing.
Once on the Israeli-controlled side of the crossing, I was detained and interrogated for 12 hours before being denied entry and sent back to Amman. I have been given a five-year ban on entering Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli authorities also detained and interrogated my friend and fellow traveler, who had never previously visited the region.
For those who follow events and developments in Palestine, my experience will be unsurprising; stories of random and unexplained clampdowns are depressingly familiar.
The opacity, lack of due process and disregard for human rights that characterize Israeli detention practices also typify the occupation authorities’ actions in the West Bank (including occupied East Jerusalem) and Gaza.
If the Israeli government will openly flout countless UN resolutions, it is hardly going to care about a traveler’s right to privacy.
Nevertheless, the nature and manner in which I was detained and interrogated remain of value for what they reveal about the Israeli occupation and how it continues to operate in 2014.
Opacity
Most fundamentally, the Israeli detention of “undesirable” travelers provides a terrifying insight into the daily lives of millions of Palestinians, who go without the protections of a Western passport.
For all the fear and horror of my experience, I ultimately knew that the worst thing the Israeli authorities could do was detain and eventually deport me.
Palestinians have no such guarantee.
Moreover, during my detention and multiple interrogations I came face-to-face with the impunity and unaccountability of the system, maintained by way of total opacity.
On a superficial but symbolic note, all the Israeli occupation personnel wore badges with information in Hebrew only — a language which the majority of detainees and travelers through this crossing will not be able to read. We were given no information or explanations as to what was happening.
No recourse
When I was eventually informed that I had been denied entry, one reason given was “some information we found.” My request for further details was denied.
As anyone who has passed through a checkpoint in the West Bank will know, this impunity and arbitrariness is a central part of how the occupation works, and how it continues to exert power.
The time one has to wait, and whether or not one is allowed through, can all too often depend on the mood and character of whoever is on duty.
Entry can be denied with no reason and if this happens, there is no recourse.
My detention was also indicative of Israel’s increased targeting of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
I have previously volunteered in Bethlehem in a program organized by a British NGO; more recently I worked for the London-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
My interrogators questioned me about this work at length, fixating particularly on pushing me to provide the names and contact details of Palestinians I knew in the West Bank (disappointingly for the Israeli staff, I was unable to oblige as nearly all the Palestinians I know are in the diaspora).
They were also interested in my journalistic work, asking me about the articles I have previously written for The Electronic Intifada.
While I had thought that a state facing a supposedly serious security threat might have a better use for its resources than interrogating a London-based humanitarian worker, it was interesting to discover just how gravely any work with Palestinians is regarded.
Unsurprisingly, my current employment with a poverty-relief organization that operates in sub-Saharan Africa was of little interest.
Strategic clampdown
On a similar note, the detention of international humanitarian workers is part of a strategic clampdown on non-violent activism. It was clear from how I was treated that the border staff did not believe I posed a physical threat.
I was frisked but not strip-searched and my belongings only went through the normal security checks. Although I was detained, interrogated and watched, I was not closely physically guarded.
Most of the time I was able to walk around the “waiting room” and go to the bathrooms without a guard accompanying me. My friend, who was also interrogated, was not searched at all throughout the detention period.
After 12 hours the Israelis announced that she was allowed to enter, although she chose to return to Jordan too.
This treatment is inconsistent if the border staff genuinely believed that I might pose a physical threat. It would appear that the intellectual threat is of greater concern.
Insecurity
Finally, the behavior of the Israeli border staff towards Westerners of Arab descent can be seen as a microcosm of the broader disregard with which Israel now routinely treats its international relations.
As a UK citizen, I remember the controversy that hit the headlines four years ago when it emerged that members of Mossad had carried out assassinations in Dubai on British passports, using identities stolen from people traveling through Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv (“Britons queued at Ben Gurion airport as Israeli officials cloned passports,” The Guardian, 24 March 2010).
The incident sparked unprecedented fury, with the then foreign secretary David Miliband issuing a strongly-worded statement and expelling an Israeli diplomat from London (“Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai passport row,” BBC News, 23 March 2010).
After this, the Foreign Office issued new guidelines advising Britons not to part with their passports when entering through Israeli-controlled frontiers (“Don’t hand passport to officials, FCO tells Britons travelling to Israel,” The Guardian, 24 March 2010).
Notwithstanding the diplomatic row with a supposed ally, identical policies continue to operate in Israel.
Despite the ostensible show of strength that is central to detention practices, what my experience has ultimately revealed is the insecurity that lies at the heart of the Israeli state.
Robust democracies do not just tolerate criticism; they welcome it as a part of freedom of expression.
We are all used to hearing that Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East,” according to a whole range of definitions. For now at least, those definitions continue to be stretched to the point of being unrecognizable.
Anne Irfan holds a masters degree in Middle Eastern history. She is based in London and works in international development.Fictional anchorman Ron Burgundy (actor Will Ferrell) compare the horsepower in a new Dodge Durango to a real horse. (Photo: Chrysler)
Dodge turned to legendary 1970s TV anchorman Ron Burgundy — a.k.a. comedian Will Ferrell — to promote the Dodge Durango in TV ads that will run through yearend.
"He very much like Dodge. He is unapologetic. He is irreverent. He has a great deal of attitude," Olivier Francois, Chrysler's chief marketing officer, told the Free Press.
Francois aims to market Dodge as a brand that stands out from rivals because of bold styling and features such as the Durango's giant side-to-side tail lamp with 192 LED lights. That, Francois said, made Ferrrell's Burgundy character perfect.
"People think they already know the Durango, so then you have to be twice as engaging in a marketing campaign," said Francois. "What could be more engaging and entertaining … than to explain all of the new technology and features through the eyes of a guy who comes from the '70s?" said Francois.
The deal will make Chrysler part of the buzz for "Anchorman: 2, The Legend Continues," the sequel due Dec. 20 from Paramount Pictures. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
The original, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," is a cult hit that's grossed $85.2 million in the U.S. since its 2004 release, according to the website Box Office Mojo.
Josh Greenstein, Paramount Pictures chief marketing officer, said the studio likes to partner with auto brands. "We had an incredible experience working BMW on 'Mission Impossible,' and we also have a long-standing relationship with General Motors on 'Transformers.' "
In the TV ads that began airing over the weekend and in web ads, Burgundy is continually shocked by the horsepower, fuel economy and high-tech features of the refreshed 2014 Durango, going on sale now.
Durango could use the buzz. Its U.S. sales are up 48.6% this year, but its 44,650 total is about half the sales of three-row SUV rivals such as Ford Explorer, and Toyota Highlander.
Francois has frequently turned to Hollywood and music stars to build buzz for Chrysler brands since he become marketing chief in 2009. He landed Eminem for a Super Bowl ad in 2011 and Clint Eastwood for one in 2012. Jennifer Lopez and Charlie Sheen have pitched the Fiat 500.
But it's not just abut having a star, Francois said. "It has to be unexpected; it has to be noticeable... and lastly, it needs to really tie into the brand," Francois said.
With "Anchorman," Francois said Dodge has an opportunity to become part of the cult following that has embraced the movie. Nearly 10 years after its release, many people still repeat lines from the movie — such as "You stay classy, San Diego," and "I'm kind of a big deal."
"Some of these lines in the commercials are so incredibly memorable that my hope is that they become become part of the Anchorman culture," Francois said.
The volume of material Francois has to work with gives him a good shot. Paramount and Ferrell originally agreed to film six ads. But in two-days, Ferrell and his production company — Funny or Die — filmed 70.
Francois said not all of the commercials are suitable for television. Still, Chrysler plans to post most of them on Dodge's YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. They'll also be posted on Ferrell's FunnyorDie.com.
Greenstein said Ferrell and director Adam McKay had full control over the scripts for the commercials, which were produced with Wieden+Kennedy, Dodge's ad agency.
In one spot comparing Durango's horsepower with that of a real horse, Ferrell gets into an unplanned staring contest with the horse.
"(Ferrell) is a genius of improvisation," Francois said. "The staring contest with the horse was just something that happened because the horse was staring at him."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1afcR4AOne of the Su-30SM pilots who covered Vladimir Putin’s plane on his recent trip to Syria opened up on the mission. The jets were “heat traps” ready to take possible enemy missiles upon themselves, he said.
“In this case, the task was to meet [the Russian President’s plane] and escort it to the landing strip,” a pilot named Yury told a Rossiya 1 correspondent at the Russian Khmeimim airbase in western Syria. “One of the tasks was to hereby cover it with ourselves, roughly saying,” he added.
According to the ace, the Su-30SM jets were a sort of “heat traps” for missiles that could’ve been fired at Putin’s plane. “The temperature of the exhaust gases of the (Su-30SM) plane is much higher” than of presidential Il-96-300PU, he said. “We were flying at maximum capacity because our planes have different speed and it was that we were protecting the presidential plane from both sides with ourselves,” the pilot added.
The footage of Putin looking at the maneuvers of the Russian military pilots from aboard his plane earlier this week has gone viral. The president thanked the airmen for their courage during his annual Q&A session on Thursday.
“The pilots, those guys, I watched them. They were not just flying nearby – during landing, they descended to be flying below our plane," Putin said. "I am thankful to them and want them to hear and know that.”
READ MORE: Putin thanks Su-30 jet pilots for ‘covering’ his plane during Syria visit (VIDEO)
On Monday, Putin arrived in Syria without any advance notice to visit Khmeimim Airbase in Latakia province and order the withdrawal of Russian troops after the defeat of terrorists in the country.Story highlights Elephant figures are dramatically decreasing due to poaching and black market ivory trade
Christo says in 10 years time, if slaughter continues most of Africa's elephants will be gone
The world faces losing the "linchpin of ecology of an entire continent"
At the start of the 1980s there were more than a million elephants in Africa. During that decade, 600,000 were destroyed for ivory products. Today perhaps no more than 400,000 remain across the continent, according to Samuel Wasser of the University of Washington, who is widely recognized as an authority on the subject.
It is a tragedy beyond reckoning and humanity needs to pay attention to the plight of the elephants before it is too late.
In the past few years an epic surge in poaching has resumed the killing, thanks to the penchant for ivory in the Asian market -- especially in China, where ivory is now selling for over $1500 a kilo.
Recently, Julius Kipng'etich, the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, made a plea at the Library of Congress in Washington in an unprecedented appeal for the world to save Kenya's and Africa's elephants from the plague of poaching that has in recent years seen the decimation of tens of thousands of them.
It is an appeal that follows from Kenya's determination to torch about 10 tons of ivory last July near Tsavo National Park in a show of disdain for the destroyers of elephants and disgust at the resumption of poaching. If this level of killing continues, if elephants continue to be slaughtered for trinkets and statuettes, in 10 years' time most of Africa's elephants will be gone and an ineffable symbol of majesty and wonder -- and the linchpin in the ecology of an entire continent -- will have been consigned to oblivion.
JUST WATCHED Watch elephants play soccer Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Watch elephants play soccer 01:13
Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, John Scanlon, the secretary general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Sen. John Kerry underscored not only the implications of elephant and wildlife poaching, but also the criminal syndicates who make billions on the illegal wildlife trade, as well as its impact on local populations in Africa, global security and even terrorism.
An urgent and concerted international will is needed to fund law enforcement to protect what remains of the elephant population of the world.
Growth in human population is a major concern. Millennia-old elephant migration paths have been disrupted. Climate change is a menace to the elephant and all life.
But the wanton shooting of the innocents to satisfy vanity has reached a level of madness no one can ignore. This is perhaps made most clear in the recent destruction of 400 elephants in the Central African Republic by armed militia from Sudan.
The killing of elephants is not just a wildlife issue. The world now understands that it is a global issue. Not long ago the United Kingdom's Independent newspaper proclaimed that the loss of biodiversity was the greatest threat to humanity.
How, amidst NATO's missile-defense problems in Europe, a possible nuclear Iran and the economic failings of modern nations, unemployment and inflation, can the future of the elephant be so urgent?
It is not on the radar of the media nor is it a priority for most people. The answer comes from our ability to affirm life in its moral, ethical and, I would urge humanity to consider, in its spiritual dimensions.
The elephant helped us walk out of Africa perhaps 60,000 years ago. We learned from tribal elders in east Africa that elephants, because they knew where to find water, helped humanity survive. It was alongside them that we populated the New World.
They are central to our evolution. Elie Wiesel of the Foundation for Humanity has even said that to save the elephant is "an urgent moral imperative."
In Nagoya Japan, in 2010, world environmental ministers agreed on a global strategy to combat the loss of biodiversity. Those countries in Asia that are the driving force behind the mutilation of the greatest land mammal on Earth must join the battle to save the elephant in Africa and the elephant in Asia and the planet's other endangered fauna, such as the rhino and tiger and all the other species that are being so ruthlessly ransacked. In so doing they will save face.
In a society fixated on growth and money, TEEB, (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) has plainly demonstrated the irreplaceable value of biodiversity, which yearly provides trillions of dollars of value. The forests, oceans, whales and elephants of the world must now enter the balance sheet of ultimate consideration.
We have reached the point as a global civilization where we must fight for life and the meaning of life, and much of that stands in the body of the elephant and other fellow species, as well as the forests and the oceans of the world. This battle must not be lost.
Elephants are one of the pillars of existence. We must never tell nor have to tell the children -- "This is where the wild things were."The History of CAN
CAN - Biography
June 2011 marked the 43rd anniversary of the founding of Can when Holger Czukay (bass), David Johnson (flute), jazz drummer Jaki Liebezeit and beat guitar player Michael Karoli met in classical conductor and piano player Irmin Schmidt's Cologne apartment in 1968. Their first gig, a collage of rock music and tape samples, took place at Schloss Nörvenich (Castle Nörvenich, near Cologne). The show is documented on the audio cassette Prehistoric Future.
The nameless collective had established its first studio, Inner Space, at the castle when American sculptor Malcolm Mooney, visiting Irmin and Hildegard Schmidt, joined the band. His intuitive drive led the musicians toward a unique take on rock music and the track Father Cannot Yell originated from one of these early sessions. David Johnson, who by then had become the band's sound engineer, left at the end of 1968. Around this period, the lack of a name was solved by Mooney and Liebezeit who came up with The Can.
The first Can album, Monster Movie (1969), defined Can music. Played and recorded spontaneously and driven by repetitive rhythms, the album was recorded directly on to a 2-track machine and then extensively edited. Soundtracks featuring film scores from 1969 and 1970, was the next album. Just after the record was released, Malcolm Mooney left the band and returned to the U.S. The Mooney era is extensively documented on Can - Delay, released in 1982.
In May 1970, Japanese singer Kenji "Damo" Suzuki joined Can after being spotted by Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit busking in Munich. The very same evening he performed with the band at the Blow Up club.
In December 1971, Can founded the Can Studio - known as Inner Space until 1978 when Can soundman René Tinner took over running the operation - in a former cinema in Weilerswist, close to Cologne. All subsequent Can albums were produced there except Rite Time. The studio has now been painstakingly disassembled and is being reconstructed to scale as a working exhibit at the German Rock'n'Pop Museum in Gronau, near the Dutch border.
The period 1970-2 was a breakthrough time for the band with Tago Mago (1971) impressing critics in England and France as well as Germany. Ege Bamyasi, released in 1972, featured the track Spoon, the theme tune for the crime thriller Das Messer and also the band's first chart success in Germany. The track, which was the first time that Can used an early version of a drum machine, led to a Goldene Europa TV award in recognition of Can's soundtrack work. Ege Bamyasi also included the music from another TV crime series in the form of Vitamin C.
The success of Spoon inspired the band to try to reach a wider audience which led to the Can Free Concert. The event was filmed by Martin Schäfer, Robbie Müller and Egon Mann for director Peter Przygodda at the Cologne Sporthalle on February 3rd, 1972. British music weekly Melody Maker wrote: "Can are without doubt the most talented and most consistent experimental rock band in Europe, England included." French magazine Rock & Folk portrayed Can's music as "one of the most impressive musical experiments offered by contemporary bands."
Future Days (1973) was the last Can album with Damo Suzuki. First Michael Karoli took over the vocal duties, followed by short interludes with a succession of singers, among them Tim Hardin. The recording of Soon Over Babaluma that same year marked the end of the era of recording straight onto 2-track. Landed (1975), was the first Can LP to be produced using multi-track technology. The album led Melody Maker to call them "the most advanced rock unit on the planet."
Double album Unlimited Edition (1976) was an extended version of a release that had quickly sold out as Limited Edition two years earlier. Among the tracks were the multi-facetted experiments known as the Ethnological Forgery Series (EFS). Flow Motion, also released in 1976, featured the disco hit I Want More and saw the band performing on UK primetime hitshow Top Of The Pops. The following year Can was augmented by ex-Traffic rhythm duo Rosko Gee (bass) and Reebop Kwaku Baah on percussion.
Holger Czukay had retired as a bass player and on Saw Delight was in charge of "special sounds". His new instrument was a shortwave radio receiver; while his idea to create new impulses for the musical process via radio signals didn't fit within the new Can structure, it became the basis for his first solo album, Movies (1979). The next Can album, Out of Reach (1978), was recorded without Czukay, who had left the band in May 1977, during the final Can tour. On the last show of the tour, in Lisbon at the end of May, Can performed in front of 10,000 fans. The double album Cannibalism (1978) was not just a "Best of...." compilation, it was in fact, an early indication that Can's reputation would continue to grow.
The British avant-garde and several punk acts were deeply inspired by Can. Speaking for many, Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) is quoted on the Cannibalism cover: "I never would have played guitar if not for Marc Bolan and Michael Karoli of Can". At the end of 1978 the band released Can. Meanwhile Michael Karoli built the Outer Space Studio studio in France, close to Nice. It was there in November 1986 that the original Monster Movie line-up got together again, with vocalist Malcolm Mooney to record Rite Time. The album was released in 1988. The band assembled again at the Can Studio with the same line-up minus Holger to record the track Last Night Sleep for Wim Wenders' film Until the End of the World.
In May 1997, the remix CD Sacrilege provided further evidence of the durability of Can's music. For this tribute, prominent representatives of the techno, dance and ambient scene reworked 15 classic Can tracks. Ironically, the importance of Can's contribution to the wider musical pantheon was summed up by Andrew Weatherall who refused an offer to remix a Can track for Sacrilege: "I love to remix other people's work. But Can? No way. You don't touch music that perfect. There is nothing to add or take away."
The band's chosen means of celebrating its 30th anniversary in 1999 was characteristically original. Eschewing a reunion tour as too obvious, and, more importantly, as being against the spirit of the group, the Can Box and the Can-Solo-Projects tour were the ways in which the group marked the occasion.Can Box includes recordings from the period 1971-77, a tri-lingual book featuring a comprehensive group history, interviews, reviews and photos by Hildegard Schmidt and Wolf Kampmann plus a video with both the Can Free Concert film by Peter Przygodda, and the Can Documentary by DoRo-film.
The Can-Solo-Projects tour, which featured Holger Czukay & U-She, Jaki Liebezeit's Club Off Chaos, Irmin Schmidt & Kumo plus Michael Karoli's Sofortkontakt!, started on March 19th 1999 in Berlin at the Columbia Halle. The tour was so well received that a second leg was organised for September 1999. This went ahead without Holger Czukay who was obliged to pull out at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances.
Can worked together for the last time in August 1999 at Irmin's studio in Provence with Jono Podmore, to record a cover-version of The Third Man theme (from the film of the same name) for the Pop 2000 compilation released on Herbert Grönemeyer's label Grönland/EMI.
On November 17th, 2001, Michael Karoli died after a long fight against cancer.
In March 2003 Can received the most prestigious prize that the German music industry can offer: the Echo award for lifetime achievement was presented at an awards ceremony in Berlin. Herbert Grönemeyer, one of Germany's most famous artists, made the official speech while Brian Eno sent in a short, witty film about the group. The prize was handed over by the Red Hot Chili Peppers whose guitarist John Frusciante also spoke of his appreciation and respect for Can's music.
The remaining members of Can are all active as both solo artists and collaborators.
By Gary SmithTHEY said it couldn't be done, but Parkes is now a world record holder. And by a huge margin. Producing 13 loaves of bread from a standing wheat in the paddock to the final product in less than 18 minutes 11 seconds was the record held by a UK baker. But at a paddock near the Parkes Radio Telescope yesterday in front of a huge crowd, local farmer Neil Unger and baker Morten Staer smashed the mark by almost two minutes. The new world record is 16 minutes 30.87 seconds, and three eminent judges - Leader of the Nationals Warren Truss, radio broadcaster Alan Jones and Parkes mayor Ken Keith - were there to make sure it was all official. The mark will now be submitted for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records. But wait, there's more. There will be another attempt at a world record next year - possibly as an individual, rather than a team. The Paddock to Plate attempt attracted a huge crowd and went off without a hitch. The man behind the event, Neil Unger, banged a hammer on a plough disc to officially start the record attempt. Judges Truss, Jones and Keith started their stop watches and off a huge header went into the paddock, harvesting wheat. It stopped near a tabletop truck which had all of the milling and other equipment - and an oven. There was a quick dash from the header with a bucket of grain to the milling equipment, which quickly produced flour. Renowned bakery consultant with the Grain Growers Association, Morten Staer then went to work producing dough for the 13 loaves of bread. They were then placed into 13 trays and into a portable oven, constructed especially for the attempt. From the time it took to start the harvester and place the loaves into the oven, just 4.25 minutes had passed. This was well in front of the world record mark, and organisers were feeling good about their chances of the record. Then came the long, long wait of 11.5 minutes for the loaves to be baked. The crowd waited anxiously as Judge Alan Jones and MC Barry Green counted down the minutes, then the seconds, for the oven to be opened and the "hopeful" loaves of bread to be produced. The time arrived and the loaves were removed and placed on a large table - and the stop watches stopped. The three judges stopped their clocks within hundredths of a second of each other - with the official average time of 16 minutes, 30.87 seconds and the crowd went wild. But there was still the official nod of approval to be received. Baker Brad Faint - who had received only one hour's sleep from a night session of his own - had the task of determining whether the loaves actually were cooked, and just as importantly, edible. He was quick to give the thumbs-up - and the record was securely in Parkes' hands. The details, video, affidavits, reports have to be sent off for the record to be officially recognised but Neil Unger sees no problems with that at all. "We're the record holders, and we going to give it another go next year to see if we can go even better," he said. "Or we'll try the individual record, with Morten having to do everything himself, no assistance at all. "The present record actually starts from the header, but we might get Morten to drive the harvester as well. Then we will have a unique record as well." The world record attempt was held "so we could take it off the Poms," but also to raise funds for Currajong Disability Services (CDS) of which Neil is president. It is now expected the portable oven built for the record will be made available for hire as a pizza oven to continue to raise funds for CDS. Also assisting in the teamwork of the record attempt was Deb Collier (Neil's daughter). o Editor's note: the bread was quite tasty and certainly edible. Portions of the bread were handed around to the crowd and all gave it the thumbs-up. Judge Alan Jones even described it as "magnificent, you don't even need butter".
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/resize/frm/silverstone-feed-data/56449522-1bf2-40a9-ac9a-a8eec528a98f.jpg/w1200_h678_fcrop.jpgFree sterilizations, just what every graduating senior
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climate change. In each case, the IPCC was relying upon scientific literature that was not peer-reviewed in the traditional sense. No one has found analogous errors in the other direction (which would be an underestimation of climate change based upon the "grey" literature), and you can bet that people have been looking very hard in an effort to exonerate the UN.
In an unbiased world there should be an equal chance of either underestimating or overestimating the climate change and its effects, which allows us to test whether this string of errors is simply scientists behaving normally or being naughty.
What's the chance of throwing a coin six times and getting all heads (or tails)? It's.015. Most scientists consider the.050 level sufficient to warrant retention of a hypothesis, which in this case, is that the UN's climate science is biased.
Patrick Michaels is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.We reported in February of how the Bank of Montreal was shutting down business accounts that had any affiliation with bitcoin. Two months later, the Canadian financial institution is now open to allowing bitcoin transactions if the digital currency becomes regulated.
Speaking in an interview with the Financial Post after the bank’s annual general meeting in Toronto, BMO CEO Bill Downe considered the change if the virtual currency were to become reliable and regulations were clearly outlined by the federal government or the Bank of Canada. If this were to be done “then there’s no reason why we couldn’t be an intermediary in bitcoin-related transactions.”
“Because, if you wanted a Swiss franc transaction or a Japanese yen transaction or a U.S. dollar transaction, we can do that transaction for you,” he said. “If bitcoin [can be] a reliable medium of exchange, then at that point in the future, we would be able to [conduct business] with bitcoin.”
The peer-to-peer decentralized currency has been a thorn in banks’ eyes for a long time. One of the primary features that has irritated payment system providers and financial institutions is cost-savings: each time a credit card or debit card is used for a transaction a three percent fee is charged to a merchant and inevitably passed onto consumers, but bitcoiners can bypass this fee.
Canadian banks haven’t had an open mind in relation to the cryptocurrency. It was noted that the Calgary-based VirtEx bitcoin exchange platform was informed their accounts were being closed without being provided with any reason.
At the present time, the Bank of Canada, the federal government or the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions do not regulate the digital currency. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) classified bitcoin and other digital currencies as like any other commodity and would be subjected to taxation.A truck dealership in Florida has found a new way to drive sales: When you buy a truck, you also get a free AK-47, MyFoxOrlando.com reports.
It’s not a joke.
After purchasing a truck from a Sanford, Fla., dealership, customers get a voucher for a gun shop, which will fill out the required federal and state forms and perform a background check. If you pass, you’ll be entitled to a gun. And if you’re not in the market for a gun, you get $400 off your truck purchase or vouchers for other stores.
The gimmick appears to be working.
“People are calling us, don’t believe it. They want to come in and see it,” general sales manager Nick Ginetta said.
The Sanford Police Chief said he is not concerned about the deal as long as the rules of gun ownership are followed, according to MyFoxOrlando.com.
Ginetta said he’s offering the truck-and-gun deal, which runs through the end of the month, in honor of veterans.
For more on this story, click here.“When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~Viktor Frankl
Bullies are everywhere. One of the most insidious and destructive forms of bullying is family bullying, because it’s often done in the name of love.
As someone who was bullied by family members for more years than I care to count, I spent a lot of time learning that most of the bullying going on was not about me or my failings—it was more about what other people needed to unload.
Family bullies often pretend to (or believe they can) help by offering criticism. But a majority of the criticism is usually designed to make the bully feel better rather than to help the victim.
In my family, bullying was the way my parents got rid of their feelings. After years of paying close attention to what was going on under the surface, I finally realized that the more emotions my parents were trying to deny in themselves, the more they put me down.
I also learned that there are ways to minimize the effects of relating to dysfunctional family members, and I’d like to share them with you.
1. Plan your responses ahead of time.
If you know what kinds of comments push your buttons, prepare responses ahead of time that allow you to hold on to your self-esteem.
For instance, if someone always comments on your parenting style, you can say, “I parent my kids according to my own values. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but that’s what I will continue to do.”
Use “I” messages rather than “you” messages, which means saying “I think” or “I feel” rather than “You always” or “You shouldn’t.” “I” messages keep the focus on what you’re trying to communicate, and are less likely to instigate an argument.
Practice your responses several times when you’re alone so they become automatic. When you’re in the midst of a heated situation, sometimes it’s hard to come up with a response that’s not habitual, so if you practice beforehand, standing up for yourself will begin to become a positive habit.
2. Stand up to the bully without hostility.
One tactic that often works to defuse criticism is to take a strong stance, look the person right in the eye, pause for a moment, and then say, “Excuse me?”
With this phrase, you’re letting the person know that you’re aware they’re putting you down or dumping on you, and you’re not going to take it. But the beauty of this phrase is that it’s not hostile; you’re not adding fuel to the fire or throwing your anger back at the other person.
You do need to take a strong stance, however, maintain eye contact, and say the words very clearly and distinctly. Sometimes this statement will stop the criticizer in his tracks as he steps back in his mind and hears what he actually said.
3. Remove yourself from the situation.
If you find yourself getting sucked into what the person says, take a break and go somewhere private. I used to go in the bathroom and scream silently, shake my hands, and shake my head. It helped to let the tension out of my body. Remind yourself that you don’t have to get caught up in the drama.
It can take some practice over time to remember to take a break, but when you step out of the situation over and over, you’re reminding yourself of your separateness and your awareness of the dysfunction, and validating your desire to stay out of the traps and become mentally healthier.
If you feel a need to leave the situation altogether, you do have the power to do that. People may get upset or yell or threaten you, but you’re not responsible for their feelings—you’re not responsible for calming them down, for solving their problems, or for ignoring your own needs in order to make them happy.
They’ll try to get you under their control again, but the more you pay attention to your own needs and act on them, the more respect you’ll develop for yourself.
4. Set boundaries.
Setting boundaries ahead of time can help you feel more in control of a situation. Tell everyone ahead of time that you can only stay for two hours at a family party, or that instead of cooking the holiday ham for the tenth year in a row, this time you’ll bring a salad.
You’ll need to be prepared for a backlash of “No! You can’t change! We liked you better when you let us control you!” But each time you stick to your guns, you’ll be growing stronger. Pay attention to your own needs and desires—they’re absolutely just as important as anyone else’s.
5. When you leave, leave it all behind you.
When you’ve just left a difficult situation, instead of rolling it around and around in your mind, set yourself a mental task of figuring out how to make it easier for yourself next time.
What would need to change? How could you respond in a way that helps you feel more centered and grounded? What kinds of boundaries could you set up before the next time you see them?
Ruminating over who said what and how awful it all felt for days afterward is a negative habit that reinforces old emotional patterns. Instead, remind yourself that the situation is over, and allow it to turn into a fading memory rather than constantly pulling it back into the front of your mind to relive over and over again.
People who are regularly criticized by others tend to be very critical of themselves, as well. Have compassion for yourself, and treat yourself with kindness. Most of us are actually doing a better job at everything than we think we are—no matter what anyone else believes or says.
Unhappy woman image via ShutterstockFirelord Zuko, done in the style of the portraits of previous Firelords. The royal portraits are crammed full of symbolism, so I had a good time filling this with important details from Zuko’s life:- All firelords have a flaming mandala behind their heads, but Zuko's is larger and more Mayan due to his experience with the Sun Warriors.- Ran and Shaw circling behind him to symbolize his mastery over original firebending.- He's not wearing the traditional firelord crown as he never expected the role; it's moved down to his belt.- The flame crest on his mantle has been replaced with a golden lotus, for the White Lotus.- All firelords wear sashes in their portraits; Zuko's is white to symbolize peace.- Two swords, held balanced and passive, to portray his martial power without needless aggression -- like the Fire Nation itself.- Sunburst mandala, partially eclipsed, to evoke the Day of Black Sun when he formally broke step with the corrupted Fire Nation- Republic City at his feet, as his largest contribution to the world, nestled in a lotus for peace.- And finally, the Blue Spirit mask, because... well, obviously.Drawn specially for Anime Evolution, June 28-30 in Vancouver, BC, as fandom’s beloved Dante Basco (RU-FI-OOO!) will be in attendance! Stop by to pick one up and you might be able to get it signed!TUMBLING FRIENDS: Please reblog from my Tumblr rather than reuploading to your own. Reblogging without credit is THEFT!Magician and entertainer Paul Daniels has been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour, it has been revealed.
Daniels, 77, rose to fame through BBC series "The Paul Daniels Magic Show", which ran from 1979 to 1994.
A statement on his website said: "We can confirm that one of our greatest magicians and entertainers of all times, Paul Daniels, has sadly been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour.
"On behalf of Paul, Debbie and their families, we thank you for your kind concerns and support at this sad time and ask that their privacy continues to be respected. There will be no further comments at this time."
In 1983, Daniels was presented with the prestigious "Magician of the Year" Award by the Hollywood Academy of Magical Arts.
Born in Middlesbrough in 1938, he is the only magician in the history of the London Magic Circle to receive all three of their top awards.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Turkey's bombing of PKK positions could ''complicate the situation", reports Mark Lowen from Istanbul
Kurdish militia forces in Syria have accused Turkey of attacking them.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) say Turkish tanks shelled their fighters near Kobane in northern Syria.
Turkey said it was investigating the claim but insisted that its forces were not targeting Syrian Kurds.
Turkey, which had previously not been involved in fighting in Syria, launched raids on Islamic State fighters there as well as Kurdish PKK militants in Iraq, following attacks in Turkey.
Turkey has battled PKK insurgents on its own territory in a conflict that has killed about 40,000 people since 1984. It says it has no plans to send ground troops into Syria.
The YPG said its forces had been shelled in the Kurdish-held village of Zormikhar, west of Kobane, on Sunday evening.
It added that, an hour later, one of its vehicles had come "under heavy fire from the Turkish military east of Kobane in the village of Til Findire".
If the claims are true, this will complicate matters for the coalition against IS as Western powers are co-operating with Syrian Kurds against the jihadists, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Syrian Kurds are "outside the scope of the current military effort", Turkey insists
In a statement on Monday, the YPG said: "Instead of targeting IS terrorists' occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders' positions. We urge [the] Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow international guidelines."
A Turkish government official said its military operations sought "to neutralise imminent threats to Turkey's regional security" and were targeting IS in Syria and the Kurdish separatist PKK in Iraq.
"We are investigating claims that the Turkish military engaged positions held by forces other than [IS]," the official said.
Kurdish forces within Syria, he added, remain "outside the scope of the current military effort".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Turkish foreign minister: "We use our rights under international law to hit the targets"
'Turmoil and instability'
The Hurriyet Daily News quoted Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying that Turkey's willingness to "use its force effectively can lead to consequences which can change the game in Syria, Iraq and the entire region".
The US and Turkey are reported to have agreed to work together to remove IS from the Syrian-Turkish border area.
The agreement includes a plan to drive the militants from a 68-mile (109km) stretch west of the Euphrates River, according to the Washington Post.
Such a deal would significantly increase the scope of the US-led air war against IS in northern Syria, the paper says.
An unnamed US official told AFP news agency that the aim of the reported deal was "to ensure greater security and stability" along the border.
Turkish press fears new civil war
Nato is to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
Turkey asked for the meeting based on Article 4 of the organisation's treaty, which allows members to request such a summit if their territorial integrity or security is threatened.
"I think it's very right and very timely to have a meeting where we address the turmoil and the instability we see in Syria, Iraq and surrounding and close to Nato borders of Turkey," Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the BBC on Sunday.
Meanwhile the YPG took control of Sarrin, a town about 40km (23 miles) south of Kobane that had been held by IS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group, said on Monday.
Mr Davutoglu said Turkey was prepared to work with the main Syrian Kurdish party - which has links to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) - provided it did not pose a threat to Turkey.
However, the recent raids against the PKK in northern Iraq effectively ended a two-year ceasefire.
The week that changed Turkey
Monday : Thirty-two people are killed by IS-linked militants in the Kurdish-majority town of Suruc, near the border with Syria
: Thirty-two people are killed by IS-linked militants in the Kurdish-majority town of Suruc, near the border with Syria Thursday : IS forces shoot dead a Turkish border guard
: IS forces shoot dead a Turkish border guard Meanwhile, the PKK reportedly kills two Turkish police officers in retaliation for Suruc and what it sees as Turkey's collaboration with IS
Friday : Hundreds of suspected IS supporters are arrested and properties are searched; Turkish F-16 jets bomb three IS targets in Syria
: Hundreds of suspected IS supporters are arrested and properties are searched; Turkish F-16 jets bomb three IS targets in Syria Saturday : Turkey strikes IS and PKK targets in Syria and Iraq; the PKK says the conditions are no longer in place to observe a ceasefire
: Turkey strikes IS and PKK targets in Syria and Iraq; the PKK says the conditions are no longer in place to observe a ceasefire Sunday: Car bomb attack on a military convoy in Lice in Diyarbakir province kills two soldiers as strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria continue
Turkey's dangerous game
Who are the PKK?
Image copyright AP Image caption There have been clashes between protesters and police in Istanbul
Kurdish acronyms:
PKK: Kurdistan Workers' Party - Turkish Kurdish party led by Abdullah Ocalan (jailed since 1999)
PYD: Democratic Unity Party - PKK-aligned party in Syria
YPG: Popular Protection Units - PYD-aligned armed force in Syria
KRG: Kurdistan Regional Government - the official governing body of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern IraqEmployment is the most important indicator of a healthy economy. The recession has left a deep scar and has set us back into a lost decade. Primarily for this reason many Americans are having a hard time jumping on this recovery that officially will reach a four year anniversary this summer. The long term projections for employment have picked up but the recession hit at such a profound level that it jolted the trajectory of job growth for an entire decade. Estimates put a return to “normal” employment deep into 2019 assuming no other major events happen. That is unlikely given our massive debt and the major demographic shifts that we are now experiencing. Over 47 million Americans now rely on monthly food stamps simply to get by. Our economy still faces major challenges but the most important one is putting Americans to work and having an economy that creates enough jobs for population growth.
The long-term trend for jobs
An interesting chart was sent my way highlighting the employment gap:
Source: WLU.edu
The above chart shows how deep this recession was. The growth since 2009 has moved us out of the trough but you can see that we are also chasing normal population growth. At the current rate of job growth it will take us until 2019 to get back on track. Keep in mind that much of this job stability has come at tremendous costs. The Federal Reserve now carries a balance sheet with over $3 trillion. The Fed has also pushed interest rates into the zero percent range and our national debt is now well over $16 trillion. Also, the Fed bailed out the entire financial sector and much of the support is still there. It is unclear if all these measures will sustain the above trajectory.
Keep in mind that the orange line above is the optimistic trend. This is assuming everything moves nicely for the next six years. Six years ago in 2007 we were still in a big euphoric period. We were starting to see cracks in the financial system but the stock markets had yet to make their first peak run. Of course late in the year, the global economy went unglued and we had our first national housing bubble burst in spectacular fashion. For many years all we heard was “unprecedented” or “unforeseen” so it is very likely that we will have some unlikely events in the next few years especially with many countries reaching peak debt situations.
Unemployment is a major problem in many countries. Look at Spain, Greece, Italy, Ireland, or even here in the US. In the US, our unemployment rate looks much better than it really is because we are seeing a large portion of our population opt out of the workforce:
This ratio highlights the major changes in our workforce and we are heading back to levels last seen in the early 1980s. The number of those retiring on Social Security as you would expect is rising:
This would be an ideal time to have a large tax paying base to support all the baby boomers entering retirement. Yet the opposite is happening. We have sluggish growth and many younger workers are facing tough times as they enter the job market.
And Social Security is only one part since Medicare spending is going to be an even bigger issue given the massive costs in healthcare. All of this ties into the economy and employment because it is very likely that taxes will be going up as we move forward to pay for all of these commitments we have made. Debt has to be repaid. Although it is laughable to think we will ever repay that $16 trillion in debt. The ultimate goal for the Fed is to inflate our way out of this mess and the temptation is too high to print when times get tough. So each little hiccup is going to require much more spending and much more dramatic action. That is why the action in Cyprus regarding banks essentially taxing savings to use for bailouts is so startling. In the end, you money is being inflated away.
Given all these short-term challenges, it is very optimistic to think that we will hit the trend line by 2019. Give us a few months with 400,000 or 500,000 jobs added and then we can readjust the above trend line.
If you enjoyed this post click here to subscribe to a complete feed and stay up to date with today’s challenging market!Digital surveillance experts told POLITICO that a president-ordered wiretap of candidate Trump’s phone in Trump Tower is not only improbable, but would likely cross a legal line. | Getty How the feds could have listened to Trump’s phone calls Government has multiple methods for surveillance, but Obama would not have been allowed to order it.
President Donald Trump’s evidence-free accusation that former President Barack Obama tapped his phones has cast a dramatic spotlight on the country’s most clandestine surveillance programs.
Digital surveillance experts told POLITICO that a president-ordered wiretap of candidate Trump’s phone in Trump Tower is not only improbable, but would likely cross a legal line. Officials must meet a high bar to tap the phone of an American citizen on American soil, especially if that person is a political candidate. Presidents are not allowed to request or order wiretaps — that is left to law enforcement agents, with court approval.
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“Wiretaps are not lightly placed,” said Greg Nojeim, director of the Freedom, Security and Technology Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights advocate.
However, there are still many ways in which information from Trump Tower phone calls could end up in the hands of intelligence agents or law enforcement officials — even without any knowledge on Obama’s part.
First, they may have come upon Trump Tower phone calls if a targeted foreign agent was on the other end of the line — this method comes from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA court. Or Trump Tower digital chatter might have shown up while authorities dug through the vast quantities of data hoovered up via more sweeping foreign surveillance programs.
Second, the FBI could also have asked for a so-called “pen register” or “trap and trace device,” which record only the parties involved in a phone call. These requests have a lower bar for approval.
While it's unknown whether any of these scenarios occurred, it's “very likely that the people in the Obama administration had access to the communication of senior Trump officials in the run-up to the election, because they have very, very broad authority,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has advocated for revising surveillance laws.
And given the ongoing FBI-led investigation into potential ties between Trump’s associates and Russian officials, it’s plausible that law enforcement officials and intelligence agencies had an interest in — or simply came across — the communications in Trump Tower, specialists said. The government is also investigating an alleged Russian plot to use cyberattacks and disinformation to help Trump win.
According to news reports, the FBI last summer went to the FISA court — which approves clandestine spying efforts — asking for warrants to monitor four members of Trump’s team suspected of having improper exchanges with Russian officials. After being rebuffed, officials reportedly narrowed their request and got approval in October to monitor a computer server in Trump Tower to establish whether there were ties to Russian banks.
But such surveillance would be vastly different than the type of direct wiretapping Trump raised in his tweetstorm Saturday morning.
Nojeim explained that government investigators have two routes to obtaining a wiretap in the U.S. — one for criminal probes, one for intelligence gathering.
On the criminal side, the government must present a judge with probable cause that a wiretap-eligible offense has occurred — or is occurring — and that a wiretap will uncover the necessary evidence. Wiretap-eligible offenses are numerous, and they run the gamut from bribing witnesses to more opaque ones like “fraud by wire.”
The other route is through the FISA court, where the hurdles are trickier, specialists said, because the spying programs it oversees focus on foreign targets.
Officials must present the FISA court judge with probable cause that the person being wiretapped is an agent of a foreign power, like a spy, or an agent of a foreign terrorist organization. The government must also show that the phone line, email account or computer server in question is going to be used by that foreign target. If that target is an American citizen, the attorney general also has to OK the spying.
“There is a significant hurdle to wiretapping a person in the United States under either of these authorities,” Nojeim said.
Indeed, senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the government’s investigation into Russia’s alleged digital meddling with the U.S. election told The Washington Post there had been no wiretap of Trump.
But surveillance experts — and especially surveillance critics — were quick to note the myriad other routes officials have to get at the banter inside Trump Tower.
Through routine data collection programs authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government gathers information from the internet backbone, which carries web browsing histories and a rapidly increasing amount of telephone traffic.
The government discards information that is plainly domestic and searches through the rest using only specific selectors — a phone number or email address, for instance. But Americans’ information that is incidentally collected and determined to contain some foreign intelligence value is fair game for review.
Cohn said such data on Americans could include communications that are to, from or about foreign targets the FISA court has already approved for surveillance. For example, if two Trump campaign officials were talking via email about a Moscow official under surveillance, that conversation might get flagged as relevant.
Trump’s anger over the potential surveillance of him and his campaign is only likely to increase people’s awareness of these programs, some of which are up for reauthorization at the end of 2017.
The White House reportedly supports a “clean” reauthorization with no revisions. But the heightened attention to the topic has already been used in Capitol Hill hearings to argue for an overhaul of the laws.
“I think that even if [Trump is] not exactly right about what happened here, the fact that he could tweet this … and we can’t tell exactly what happened, means that we need to have an honest conversation in this country about these authorities,” Cohn said.Following a concerted effort to starve Wikileaks of cash by cutting off its sources of funding, the controversial publisher of government and corporate secrets has found a way to once again accept donations via credit cards.
WikiLeaks yesterday announced that it has launched "a new payment gateway" that relies upon the French credit card system Carte Bleue. That system, which works globally with the Visa/MasterCard system that's currently blockading WikiLeaks, is "contractually barred from directly cutting off merchants," according to the organization. A French not-for-profit has taken advantage of that loophole and helped WikiLeaks out.
"The French non-profit FDNN (Fund for the Defense of Net Neutrality) has set up a Carte Bleue fund for WikiLeaks," the organization wrote in a statement. "WikiLeaks advises all global supporters to make use of this avenue immediately before VISA/MasterCard attempts to shut it down."
Financial troubles have long been an issue for WikiLeaks, which relies entirely upon public donations to survive. Its cash crunch grew especially acute in 2010 when several banks froze its accounts after the organization released a trove of U.S. State Department cables on the Internet. Although WikiLeaks continued operating for a period after the blockade, the organization quickly issued a call for help, saying back in October that it would stop publishing material until it could raise some cash.
"We are forced to temporarily suspend publishing whilst we secure our economic survival," the group said in a statement at the time. "For almost a year we have been fighting an unlawful financial blockade. We cannot allow giant U.S. finance companies to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket. Our battles are costly."
According to WikiLeaks, it pays $5,000 for 20 "secure phones to stay anonymous" and its legal cases cost $1 million. Server costs in over 40 countries set the organization back $200,000. WikiLeaks has also faced an "added cost" of $500,000 due to the house arrest of founder Julian Assange.
In yesterday's statement, the organization said that it "has been forced to run on its cash reserves," which dropped from 800,000 euros (about $984,000) at the end of December 2010 to less than 100,000 euros last month. The organization says that its income, which has been generated through alternative funding options, like peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin and Moneygram, currently stands at "just 21 percent of operating costs."
Assange had some fighting words to share with the world in yesterday's statement, saying that his organization is "waiting" for a battle over its new funding method.
"Let them shut it down," Assange said of the new donation option. "Let them demonstrate to the world once again their corrupt pandering to Washington. We're waiting. Our lawyers are waiting. The whole world is waiting. Do it."SheSafe introduces gender-specific ride-sharing
Ride-sharing start-up SheSafe will launch in Melbourne in January, filling a theoretical gap left by industry leaders such as Uber – women-only ride-sharing.
Thanks to the likes of Uber, the ride-sharing phenomenon is strong in Australia. Early adopters spruik the merits of ride-sharing like a well-paid ambassador, while those late to join the ranks question why it took them so long.
Understandably, there are some who are yet to get on the band wagon; it’s not been all smooth sailing, after all. Driver and passengers safety as well as passenger privacy has been called into question on more than one occasion. However, the great gender debate, as a cause of the safety concern, has not… until now.
Start-up ride-sharing business SheSafe offers an Uber-style service with a difference. It’s run by women, for women. Its point of difference is that it offers women-only drivers and women (or children) only passengers. No blokes.
The premise is that women and children (and parents thereof) will feel safer with a woman behind the wheel because male drivers pose a potential risk.
“We started this business after conducting a lot of research into whether women and young girls feel safe travelling in a car with a male driver and the answer was no, most of them don’t.” said SheSafe founder and director Emma Buchanan.
After launching in Melbourne in January, SheSafe will also become available in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
Like Uber, drivers use their own vehicles and work their own hours, it’s a cashless transaction (credit or prepay only), an app-based booking and tracking system will be used and both drivers and passengers build a profile whereby feedback can be shared.
“We’ve had hundreds of drivers sign up already” says Buchanan.
A burning question remains. Is it fair to call a driver safe or otherwise, based on gender alone?
“We knew we would get a little bit of flack. This business really is about safety and concern for women drivers, women passengers and young women and girls. It has nothing to do with sexism or being discriminatory towards anyone.
“What we do know is that the taxi industry and Uber do not have appropriate background checks and they’re not rigorous checks. There’s a real slack there in the marketplace and there shouldn’t be. Our biggest concern, and our whole brand, is about the safety of women and children.
“When people are paying for a service why should they feel scared and uncomfortable about getting into a car with a male driver as many women do?”
Uber currently addresses safety by giving riders information about their driver, tracking trips using GPS from beginning to end, enabling riders to share their ETA or route, and subsequently acting on feedback from riders and drivers.
Changes to Victorian taxi and hire-car regulations, however, will see the Taxi Services Commission require all drivers – ride-sharing or not – to be accredited, which includes passing police, medical and driving history checks. The latter is not currently a requirement of the SheSafe’s driver selection.
Uber currently has no mechanism to facilitate driver selection based on gender and commends competition such as the new SheSafe offering.
“We welcome competition because choice always delivers better outcomes for consumers,” said an Uber spokesperson. “We understand our customers always have a choice and continue to work hard on delivering a safe, reliable and affordable way for more people to get from A to B.”
Any service that offers commuters a new level of safety and comfort is good news and SheSafe is about to deliver this to a powerful and vocal cohort. On that basis alone, you can expect to hear more about SheSafe in 2017.On 22 July 2017, the Chinese digital currency exchange ViaBTC added support for the trading of a possible new fork of Bitcoin that is being called “Bitcoin Cash” or “BCC”. This fork is based on the idea of UAHF, which is a contingency plan first proposed by Bitmain in April to protect the Bitcoin ecosystem from the threats proposed by the BIP148 fork (aka UASF). Because it is a contingency plan, the UAHF will be implemented by us only if the UASF fork happens and poses an imminent risk to the Bitcoin ecosystem. This has been further described in our blog post.
Bitcoin ABC was proposed at The Future of Bitcoin conference in Netherlands and is a software led by developers who believe in increasing Bitcoin’s blocksize.
The development of UAHF is now led by supporters of Bitcoin’s blocksize increase. Bitmain cannot and does not control their opinions.
Following are some clarifications regarding Bitmain’s current stance:
Bitmain and ViaBTC only share an investment relationship in which ViaBTC operates independently. The founder of ViaBTC has ten times the voting rights as those of the investors of ViaBTC. Therefore, the position of ViaBTC does not represent Bitmain’s stance. The New York Agreement is a joint effort of the global Bitcoin community. As one of its signatories, Bitmain has actively supported the smooth implementation of Segwit2x and will continue to run the btc1 software on all our mining pools, namely Antpool, BTC.COM pool and ConnectBTC, in the foreseeable future. We are closely observing the “BCC” movement and do not rule out the possibility of supporting both Segwit2x and BCC.
---------------------Liked this article? Share it with others:Follow Us for Latest News & Articles:They are assaulted on a daily basis by giant cruise ships, uncouth tourists, feral pigeons and flooding caused by high tides.
Now Venetians have declared war on a new foe – noisy suitcases on wheels.
Shopkeepers, cafe owners and residents say they are being driven half mad by the incessant rumble of visitors trundling their luggage along the city's narrow alleyways and up and down delicate stone bridges.
The wheeled suitcases are essential in a city without roads, where tourists have to reach their hotels either by water bus or by walking.
Now Venice council wants to introduce a ban on luggage equipped with hard rubber wheels, forcing the city's 27 million annual visitors to instead use suitcases that roll on air-filled, softer wheels that make less noise.
The authorities are concerned about "growing noise pollution" caused not only by tourists using wheeled luggage, but local businesses wheeling goods around on trolleys, the council said in a statement.
The daily rumble of wheeled suitcases was giving Venetians "serious discomfort" and also causing the "progressive deterioration" of centuries-old paving slabs, marble steps and foot bridges, it added.
The council, which is under special administration after a corruption scandal earlier this year forced the resignation of the mayor, wants to introduce the ban next May.
After that, anyone with a noisy, hard-wheeled suitcase will be liable to a fine of up to 500 euros.
For a city wrestling with so many problems – rising waters caused by global warming, an exodus of locals because of high rents and property prices, and a daily invasion of 60,000 tourists – the issue of noisy luggage may seem trifling.
"Is that true? Jesus, that's crazy," a French tourist told Il Gazzettino, a local newspaper, when told that his suitcase on wheels will be banned within a few months.
A young Italian woman pulling her suitcase along the banks of the Grand Canal said: "It seems to me to be a pretty stupid idea."
But the council insists that the issue is a real one and that locals living near hotels and bed and breakfasts dread the moment when groups of tourists arrive and leave, dragging their heavy loads over the city's stone paving stones, known as "masegni".
The council admits that the new law will be hard to enforce, with thousands of tourists arriving by train, plane and boat every day, and that trolleys with pneumatic wheels are hard to come by.
The vast majority sold around the world have wheels made of hard resin or plastic.
The authorities hope that a firm will spy an opportunity to produce a new line of Venice-friendly suitcases.
"The law won't come into effect until May, so hopefully by then one or two companies might start producing trolley suitcases with air-filled wheels," said Maurizio Dorigo, the council's planning director.
The new, hushed suitcases would benefit not only Venice but the historic centres of many Italian cities, he said. "The historical centres of lots of other places have the same problems as us – Rome, Florence, Siena. There needs to be a way for tourists to wheel around their luggage without making that crazy noise."
Long-suffering Venetians will be exempt from the new law and will be free to clunk their noisy suitcases up and down the canal banks.Space exploration is becoming a big deal again, as national space agencies face competitions from a growing number of private companies to come up with the newest tech and the boldest plans for space travel. And with the Canadian Space Agency set to unveil its long-awaited Space Strategy later this month, it’s time to look at how Canada might figure into the 21st century space race.
Next week, NASA will make a show of announcing its next fleet of astronauts, picked from over 18,000 applicants, all vying to take part in a slew of future US-led space missions. The moon is the near-target, with NASA planning on setting up an orbiter around Earth’s satellite to serve as a testing ground in preparation for
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in a book written by the former "Nightline" anchor. He sees himself as a surrogate for the public, with a responsibility to ask newsmakers about things that their critics are saying about them. If a question is ducked, he'll ask again. If it's ducked again, he'll point that out and move on. For the most part, interview subjects understand his job, he said. Yet it may seem hostile to an interview subject -- or be made to seem hostile -- simply because public figures now understand there are so many more opportunities to bypass the Wolf Blitzers of the world. They could appear on television or radio formats judged ideologically sympathetic, ranging from Rush Limbaugh to "Air America." They could choose hosts -- CNN's Larry King immediately comes to mind -- who primarily lob softballs and let their subjects talk. Or they could use the Internet and cut out the middleman entirely. "I'm not just there to say 'why are you so brilliant?'" Blitzer said. "I'm there to ask serious questions -- awkward questions at times -- that partisans won't feel comfortable with. That's the way I was trained all these years, and that's the way I am." ___ Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Netflix will bring back Ricky Gervais’ kind-hearted, slow-witted “Derek” for a second season, with all six episodes slated to hit the service on Friday, May 30.
The Internet streamer will bow the sophomore season of the half-hour dramedy in all territories where Netflix is available, except for the U.K., where the series will air on Channel 4, which originally ordered “Derek” and owns exclusive TV rights in the country.
Netflix, after initially focusing originals development on dramas like “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black,” is adding more comedy into the mix. Last month ordered comedy “Grace and Frankie” starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, to be released in summer 2015.
Gervais’ titular “Derek” character is a mumble-mouthed naïf who works in an old folks’ home. In the second season, Derek forges new friendships, with his positive outlook and good-natured spirit helping residents get through difficult times.
SEE ALSO: Review of Netflix’s ‘Derek’
“Ricky is a terrific partner and he has created a heartfelt character, in Derek, that Netflix members have fallen in love with,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. “His attention to detail and relentless vision to change conventional storytelling on television is perfectly aligned with what we are trying to do with our original series.”
Said Ricky Gervais: “I was blown away by the affection from around the world for the first series, particularly the emotional connection it seemed to make with people. I hope they like the second offering as much.”
Gervais is best known in the U.S. as creator of the original British version of “The Office,” which NBC adapted into an Emmy-winning nine-season hit, and infamous host of the Golden Globes in 2010 and 2011.
“Derek” costars British thesps Karl Pilkington, David Earl and Kerry Godliman. Show is produced by Derek Productions Ltd. for Netflix.Officials said they did not expect today's discovery to shed any new light on the accident.
''We understand what happened with Challenger,'' said Bruce Buckingham, a NASA spokesman. ''There's nothing more we can learn.''
It has been several years since anything from the Challenger has been found. Fishermen usually discover the scraps; in 1991 they found a small tank and a metal fragment a few feet long off Cape Canaveral.
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''It brings things back,'' said Bruce Jarvis, father of the astronaut Gregory Jarvis, who died in the accident. ''It's like having a bad wound and you've got a scab. It's like somebody picking at the scab.''
The police said they were tipped off by a motel as well as a radio station that got a call from a listener reporting the debris.
Within hours, NASA had verified that the fragments were, indeed, from the Challenger, and the parts were on their way back to the Kennedy Space Center. They will be placed with the other shuttle remains -- about 5,000 pieces weighing a quarter-million pounds -- in two nearby abandoned missile silos.
NASA believes that the two pieces found today were originally connected and came from the flaps of the shuttle's left wing.
Hundreds of pounds of metal from the shuttle were salvaged within a day of the accident. The remains of the astronauts were found in March 1986 in the debris of the crew cabin, but most of the shuttle is still in the Atlantic: half the orbiter and boosters, two-thirds of the external fuel tank and one-fourth of the satellite payload. Only the crucial pieces were retrieved.
NASA theorized that the fragments might have washed ashore today because of rough seas from the hurricane season, or that a fishing boat snagged them and brought them near shore.Scientists have described a previously unknown insect-borne virus, following the death of a man in the Kansas county of Bourbon in the US in mid-2014.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the otherwise healthy, 50-year-old man was working outside on his property in mid-2014, when he sustained multiple tick bites, which led to an array of symptoms including fever, fatigue, rash, headaches, nausea and vomiting around two days after. After he was hospitalised, his white blood cell count dipped, his lungs and kidney started failing, and by day 11, suffered a heart attack, and died.
The culprit? Scientists were able to isolate a new virus from a blood sample collected from the patient nine days after he fell ill, and attributed it to the Thogotovirus genus in the virus family Orthomyxoviridae. This family contains six genera - Influenza virus A, Influenza virus B, Influenza virus C, Isavirus, Thogotovirus and Quaranjavirus.
The researchers say there’s a marked difference between the symptoms suffered by this man, and other known Thogotoviruses. As Liz Szabo reports at USA Today, Thogotoviruses usually cause diseases such as meningitis or encephalitis, where the lining of the brain becomes severely inflamed. But they've never seen these viruses destroy white blood cell counts like the Bourbon virus did to this man.
The team discusses this in the current edition of the CDC journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases:
"Of the seven symptomatic human infections that have been associated with viruses in the genus Thogotovirus, most case-patients have had neurologic findings (e.g., meningitis, encephalitis) without any described abnormalities in blood counts. Although cerebrospinal fluid was not tested for the patient reported, his clinical signs and symptoms were not suggestive of neurologic infection. Furthermore, the patient did not have any respiratory symptoms that would be expected with other viruses that are known human pathogens in the large family of Orthomyxoviridae, such as influenza virus."
As of this month, this man is the only case of Bourbon virus disease that has been identified, but there are likely more cases that have yet to be diagnosed. “I think we have to assume this has been around for some time, and we haven’t been able to diagnose it,” Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease specialist who treated the patient at the University of Kansas Medical Centre in Kansas City, told Denise Grady at The New York Times. “We suspect there have been milder cases and people have recovered from them, but we don’t have a lot of information.”
"It will be important to determine how widespread the Bourbon virus is in both ticks, insects, animals and humans and to grasp the spectrum of illness it is capable of causing," Amesh Adalja, senior associate at the Centre for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre in the US, told USA Today. "The fact that a novel virus was discovered underscores the need for perpetual vigilance, in all locales, with respect to emerging infectious diseases. It is only by leaving no stone unturned when investigating unexplained illnesses that humans can best prepare for microbial threats."
The researchers report that right now, there is no treatment for the disease, no vaccine, and no lab tests to identify it. So those in the US at a high risk of tick bites are advised to wear insect repellents and long-sleeved shirts and pants when outdoors, and to avoid thickly wooded areas as much as possible.
Homebodies: as you were.How to set up GitLab CI for iOS in three relatively simple steps
Hint: It is not hard at all.
Deyan Aleksandrov Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 29, 2017
My own GitLab set-up for work as well as this post came to life thanks to Angelo Stavrow’s post from 2016. Make it all spicier adding fastlane to the jam, find the link for my next article at the end of this post.
Introduction
As developers, young or old, junior or senior, or whatever the title, we all hear about CI/CD and the tools available — there are a lot of paid ones while others are free if your project is open source for example. Cool, I know. But about work that is not open source? You are in luck if you are using GitLab because it comes with CI built-in for free, no matter the project. That sounds like… a goood plan :-).
I will not go into explaining what CI/CD is, you can easily google it. But I need to note that the greater advantage, for myself at least, of having CI is that it will make you write those damn tests you have been procrastinating. So, lets do this.
What set-up is used for this post?
A Mac mini running macOS Sierra 10.12.6
running Xcode 8.3.3 with the iOS 10.3 SDK
First step — setting up your Xcode project
Start of by creating your project including Unit and/or UI tests and linking it with a corresponding GitLab repository.
Really, really make sure that you share your project’s scheme because otherwise GitLab CI cannot locate the context it needs to build and test your project. To do that, you need to open your project in Xcode and choose Product > Scheme > Manage Schemes from the tab menu.
because otherwise GitLab CI cannot locate the context it needs to build and test your project. To do that, you need to open your project in Xcode and choose > > from the tab menu When the menu window shows up, tick the Shared box corresponding to your project’s scheme and then click the Close button
There is no need to share any dependency schemes.
When done with the above steps, you can commit and push.
A good idea is to get xcpretty. It transforms the output of your build into something way more readable.
Second step — installing and registering a GitLab Runner
To really get a good sense of what Runners are, you can check out GitLab’s documentation about them. Explained in short — it is a service on your computer (it could be a remote server somewhere but it will be on your Mac since you are an iOS developer which makes you special :-)) that runs a certain build and its corresponding test process which you get to set up in a special configuration file.
The actual installation of a GitLab runner on your Mac is quite straightforward so I do recommend following the instructions provided by our GitLab friends specifically for macOS.
It is the registration of your GitLab Runner that can be confusing at certain steps. There are indeed instructions on how to do that too(so please follow them) but I do need to point out a few particularities:
When performing the registration process, make sure it is done in user-mode, meaning — there is no need for using sudo in front of every command. Actually, make sure you do not use sudo here because the registration will not work. Believe me, I tried it.
, make sure it is done in, meaning — there is no need for using in front of every command. Actually, make sure you do not use here because the registration will not work. Believe me, I tried it. In step 2 in the instructions, you are asked to enter your GitLab instance URL. What worked for me was entering https://gitlab.com/ci
in the instructions, you are asked to enter your GitLab instance URL. What worked for me was entering In step 8 in the instructions, you are asked to enter the Runner executor. Enter shell.
in the instructions, you are asked to enter the Runner executor. Enter. Your runner should be up and running. You can see that from the command line using the command gitlab-runner verify or when you go to your project’s page in GitLab’s web site, choose Settings > CI/CD.
There are two things to note in the above screenshot — the first one is that I have set up two Specific Runners for my project and I am using just one of them, and the second one is that I have disabled the Shared Runners which is how I make certain that a Specific Runner I have chosen runs my project. The Shared Runners will not work for an iOS project.
Third step — configuring the build and test settings using a YAML file
For those of you who have experience with other CI tools may have seen or configured a YAML file before. Well, with GitLab CI, the configuration is pretty similar — it is just that the YAML file needs to named.gitlab-ci.yml.
For the others that have no experience with such configurations, please check out the instructions on creating a.gitlab-ci.yml file and you will see how easy it is. Just make sure that the file is saved in the proper place in your Xcode project folder.
I will provide you with two examples of a.gitlab-ci.yml file created for iOS projects:
The first one is Angelo Stavrow’s. Scroll down to Installing and registering the GitLab Runner. A bit bellow it you will see a configuration with respective explanation for a Xcode project with no dependencies(Cocoapods for example). The configuration looks like this:
stages:
- build
build_project:
stage: build
script:
- xcodebuild clean -project ProjectName.xcodeproj -scheme SchemeName | xcpretty
- xcodebuild test -project ProjectName.xcodeproj -scheme SchemeName -destination 'platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 6s,OS=9.2' | xcpretty -s
tags:
- ios_9-2
- xcode_7-2
- osx_10-11
The second one is a set-up of mine for a project with Cocoapods. I only have one stage but I am building for two different environments, and I have no tags because my runner is set up to work without them. Please do notice the difference in the naming after the xcodebuild script command. I am clean building and testing a workspace instead of a project for just one branch named addingTestsToProject:
stages:
- build
build_project_1:
stage: build
script:
- xcodebuild clean -workspace WorkSpaceName.xcworkspace -scheme SchemeName | xcpretty
- xcodebuild test -workspace WorkSpaceName.xcworkspace -scheme SchemeName -destination 'platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone SE,OS=10.3.1' | xcpretty -s
only:
- addingTestsToProject
build_project_2:
stage: build
script:
- xcodebuild clean -workspace WorkSpaceName.xcworkspace -scheme SchemeName | xcpretty
- xcodebuild test -workspace WorkSpaceName.xcworkspace -scheme SchemeName -destination 'platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 6,OS=10.3.1' | xcpretty -s
only:
- addingTestsToProject
Conclusion
This is how it is done! Well, most of it at least because, believe me, a YAML file can be really sophisticated. What I provided you with is quite simple and I hope it will be a good start for some and refreshment for others.
In my next post, I will share how I got to set up GitLab CI and fastlane to work together to save me time and effort in developer activities. Read about that here.
Until then, please do ask a question if you find something unclear and do share advice on what I could do better.A number of local authorities in England and Wales are lobbying the government about a potential increase in the amount they can charge for parking fines.
According to a BBC News investigation, the councils want to bring their charges in line with London, where the highest levy for non-payment offences is set at £120.
Norman Baker is to examine proposals regarding a rise in car parking fines (PA)
Outside of the English capital, local authorities can only currently charge a maximum of £70.
The calls have been backed by the British Parking Association (BPA), which said there needs to be a greater difference between the amount it costs to park a car all day and the total amount a motorist can be fined.
It has not been revealed which councils have applied for the increase in penalty charges, but transport minister Norman Baker said the government wants to find a fair compromise between the wishes of the local authorities and the concerns of drivers.
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‘I think motorists will worry that this is perhaps a covert attempt to raise money from them unfairly. That’s not the Department for Transport’s objective in any shape or form,’ he stated.
The BPA represents a host of organisations involved in the car parking industry, including health authorities, airports, railways and shopping centres.Gamesa calls off plans to build first offshore wind turbine generator on Eastern Shore
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Virginia won’t be getting the first offshore wind turbine generator project in the U.S after all. Global wind company Gamesa said Monday that it will build the wind turbine prototype in Spain’s Canary Islands instead of on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
In a press release, the company cited a slow-developing U.S. market for wind power, as part of the reason behind its change of plans. “ … The prospects for the U.S. offshore market and its regulatory conditions in this segment so far do not justify the next step, the installation of a prototype in the U.S.,” the company said. The new location on the Canary Islands south of Spain and off northwest Africa offers high wind resources and optimal returns on investment, Gamesa said, because of the proximity of the site to Gamesa’s factories in Spain where the turbine will be manufactured.
In March, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) approved the proposed construction of a 479-foot tall, five-megawatt wind turbine generator, that would have been built in the lower Chesapeake Bay, about three miles from Cape Charles. Gamesa Energy USA, in a partnership with Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding, was behind the project, lauded by Gov. Bob McDonnell as an important milestone in putting Virginia at the forefront of clean energy technology development. Gamesa said Monday that the Offshore Wind Technology Center that it opened jointly with Newport News Shipbuilding in Chesapeake will wind down at the end of the year as the design phase of the offshore wind platform is completed.
“I want to commend Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his administration, especially the VMRC, for the time and effort they put into approving the permit for this project,” David Flitterman, chairman, Gamesa North America, said in a statement. “The governor is a leader for his vision to utilize clean, renewable energy, and his team did everything in their power to fast track this offshore wind development.”
In the same statement, Doug Stitzel, Newport News Shipbuilding vice president of energy programs, called Gamesa’s decision “disappointing … Huntington Ingalls Industries’ ability to design, fabricate and deliver complex, marinized, safety-related components will be required to satisfy the growing needs for energy. We look forward to future opportunities for collaboration with Gamesa and other alternative energy leaders.”
Glen Besa, director of the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, weighed inon Gamesa’s decision to pull out of Virginia. He said “a lack of leadership in this state on energy policy,” is costing Virginia jobs. Besa blamed politicians and Virginia’s largest utility, Dominion Virginia Power, for the failure in leadership. “Sadly, Dominion has far too much political power, and it is using its clout to guarantee rosy profits for shareholders at the expense of most Virginians. Politicians from Governor Bob McDonnell to U.S. Senator Mark Warner have done virtually nothing to advance renewable energy in Virginia,” Besa said.
Jim Norvelle, a spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power, responded to Besa’s criticism by noting that the company is investing in renewable energy, with biomass generation at five locations and a solar generation plan pending before state regulators. “So renewable energy from Dominion will play a role in Virginia’s energy future, but it must be at reasonable cost to consumers. Our balanced fuel mix is a key to our state’s strong economy and our reasonable rates.”Former Florida governor Jeb Bush formally launched his 2016 presidential campaign at Miami Dade College in Miami on June 15, 2015. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post)
This item has been updated.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush endorsed Ted Cruz for president on Wednesday, the latest sign that the Texas senator is eagerly seeking to unite Republican Party leaders behind his campaign in an attempt to stop Donald Trump.
Securing the Bush endorsement is a coup for Cruz, who may not be well-liked by many GOP colleagues in Washington, but can now boast the support of a key political family and its vast, unrivaled donor network.
The endorsement comes despite Cruz's calls on Tuesday for law enforcement to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods” in the wake of terrorist attacks in Belgium. When Trump called for a database to track American Muslims after terrorist attacks in Paris last November, Bush called the front-runner's comments "abhorrent."
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) offered his condolences to the victims in Brussels and said, "This is a war." (Reuters)
As a candidate Bush raised tens of millions of dollars from a vast national network of supporters who helped bankroll his campaign and an allied super PAC. But most Bush donors have stayed out of the fray since the governor dropped out of the presidential race last month.
Bush insisted that governors, not senators, are better equipped to serve as president because state executives regularly make tough decisions while lawmakers just propose legislation. There appeared to be no deep personal animosity between Bush and Cruz despite stylistic and policy differences and they rarely clashed on a debate stage or had cross words for each other on the campaign trail.
The former governor has privately expressed admiration to friends and associates for the senator's commitment to his conservative beliefs despite his frequent clashes with Republican colleagues. In recent weeks, those associates said Bush has determined that Cruz is now the most electable alternative to Trump, an opponent with whom he bitterly clashed.
A formal announcement came early Wednesday after Bush and Cruz aides shared news of the endorsement in advance with The Washington Post and other outlets.
"Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests," Bush said in a prepared statement. "Washington is broken, and the only way Republicans can hope to win back the White House and put our nation on a better path is to support a nominee who can articulate how conservative policies will help people rise up and reach their full potential."
[In Utah, Trump’s brash style doesn’t sit well with a certain sliver of the GOP base]
"For the sake of our party and country, we must move to overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena, or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee and reverse President Obama’s failed policies," Bush added. "To win, Republicans need to make this election about proposing solutions to the many challenges we face, and I believe that we should vote for Ted as he will do just that."
Cruz called Bush "an extraordinary governor of Florida" whose job creation and education record "left a lasting legacy" for Floridians. The endorsement, Cruz said, "is further evidence that Republicans are continuing to unite behind our campaign to nominate a proven conservative to defeat Hillary Clinton in November, take back the White House, and ensure a freer and more prosperous America for future generations."
Early signs of Bush's likely support came this month when he met privately with Cruz in Miami ahead of a GOP presidential debate there. The meeting came as Neil Bush, the governor's younger brother, joined Cruz's national finance team. Neil Bush lives in Houston and runs in the same social circles as the senator and his wife, Heidi. Other former top Bush bundlers, including C. Boyden Gray and Reginald J. Brown, also signed up with Cruz this month.
Then there's Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) -- one of Cruz's most frequent foils on the Senate floor -- who announced plans to hold a fundraiser for his colleague and former presidential rival. Graham and Bush developed a close bond during the final weeks of Bush's presidential campaign as the pair campaigned together across South Carolina.
[Lindsey Graham will raise money for Ted Cruz — a man he has said some amazingly bad things about]
And don't forget George P. Bush.
The 39-year old Texas land commissioner is now considered the Bush family's next best hope to reclaim the White House, but he cannot expect to easily advance in Texas state politics without Cruz's support.
In 2010, Jeb Bush's sons, George P. Bush and Jeb Bush Jr., endorsed Cruz's long-shot Senate bid as part of their work for Maverick PAC. The group was founded by younger members of George W. Bush's administration with the intent of endorsing younger GOP congressional candidates. Jeb Bush Jr. remains active with the group, while Cruz, 45, has aged out and George P. Bush had to step down due to his statewide political position.
[Raising money is a Jeb Bush family business, even for the next generation]
Meanwhile, Jeb Bush has stayed out of the public spotlight since ending his campaign last month. Friends say he now spends time at the stately Biltmore Hotel near his home, working out of his personal office suite, swimming laps in the pool or playing rounds of golf.
But he may re-emerge on the campaign trail soon, because aides said that the former governor plans to "actively support" Cruz."Raised by governesses and chauffeurs in a wealthy anti-communist family, Havel denounced democracy's 'cult of objectivity and statistical average' and the idea that rational, collective social efforts should be applied to solving the environmental crisis." (Parenti, 97)
While people were still spilling too much ink writing peonages to a petty bourgeois essayist who, regardless of whatever skill he possessed as a stylist, will eventually be forgotten, two historically important figures died. Vaclav Havel and Kim Jong-Il are now dead; the closeness of their respective deaths is simultaneously marked by a vast political distance. Whereas Vaclav Havel represented the aspirations of the global bourgeois class, the frenzied excitement at the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the elevation of capitalism as "the end of history", Kim Jong-Il represented the continuation of the kind of "communism" that served as a straw-person justification for victorious capitalism. And the demonization of the latter figure, that will doubtless continue after his passing, will also serve to justify the hagiography of the former.Indeed, expect the hagiography of Vaclav Havel to reach frenzied heights in upcoming weeks. Although the cultural industry that thrust him into the position of "velvet revolution" hero was no longer necessary in the decades following the fall of the Berlin Wall, we will all be reminded of his importance, his bravery and self-sacrifice, in innumerable obituaries. Doubtless, Bono will speak at his funeral and U2 will produce a chart-topping hit about Havel's accomplishments. The historical amnesia regarding Havel's very existence (for we so often forget the heroes force-fed to us by the bourgeois media industry) will be replaced by that previous historical amnesia, the one that made us believe he was a saint in the first place. Although we must agree that the state capitalism of Czechoslovakia needed to be criticized by the left, the fact that we were told to celebrate Havel and his "velvet revolution" rather than the Czechoslovakian Communists and their Prague Spring (an authentic communist rebellion against Soviet chauvinism where "Lenin wake up, Brezhnev is speaking bullshit!" was the rallying cry) is the most cynical expression of historical memory.The official obituaries of Vaclav Havel, all of which will be devoted to elevating the man to the status of St. Francis of Assisi, will never mention that Havel was a dedicated counter-revolutionary, not the humanist that the Bonos of the world like to claim, whose presidency in Czechoslovakia demonstrated, as Michael Parenti pointed out years ago in, "his reactionary religious obscurantism, his undemocratic suppression of leftist [even anti-communist liberal leftist] opponents, and his profound dedication to economic inequality and an unrestrained free-market capitalism." And if we were told anything honest about Havel's social background we would know the following:Havel also whole-heartedly supported the original Gulf War, suspended his own parliament when he was in power so that he could rule without worrying about constitutional niceties (and to speed up free-market reforms), sold weapons to the repressive regimes in the Philippines and Thailand, signed a law that made the advocation of socialism in Czechoslovakia a felony, advocated that any self-proclaimed "communist" be barred from employment, and passed a law that made criticisms of corporations a "hate crime." He regained his family fortune, becoming extremely wealthy, while pushing through privatization laws that ensured massive poverty.And yet we will celebrate him as a hero, a great statesman, a pacifist standing against "totalitarianism." Especially since he died almost simultaneously to Kim Jong-Il, the perfect spectre of the very totalitarianism we are told communism means. So while Havel's praises are sung with utter historical amnesia, Kim Jong-Il's crimes will be perfectly remembered (along with a bunch that will be added without any historical evidence). A saint and a demon, we will be told, died on the same day: a tragedy and celebration at the same time.Obviously I am not one of those uncritical leftists who imagines the DPRK was the communist wonderland proclaimed by "juche thought". And though I celebrate the Korean revolutionary resistance led by Kim Il-Sung against the forces of reaction led by US imperialism, the extremely problematic feudalized communism that would eventually be promoted by Kim Jong-Il was history repeating first as tragedy and then as farce. At the same time, however, we cannot ignore the brutal sanctions that were applied to North Korea following the imperialists' failure to win the Korean War, sanctions that grew more brutal when China became state capitalist in the 1970s and stopped supporting the DPRK. We know that similar sanctions levelled upon Cuba were a serious problem for the revolutionary government, and North Korea was far more isolated than Cuba. Always the target of imperialist intervention, even though it lacked the power to do anything aside from trying to feed its people and throw parades for a communist leadership distorted into an imperial dynasty, one has to admire the tenacity of the DPRK's people (though not, admittedly, the politics of their leader).Although we will be told that Vaclav Havel was the hero and Kim Jong-Il the villain on this shared obituary date, we should ask why this is the case. What makes Havel more of a "hero" than Kim? Really, only the fact that he served the interests of empire. A plutocrat, an autocrat, a man who used political power to take away democratic rights and who now uses his economic power to ensure that poverty flourishes in his country… How is this man more of a hero than his counterpart in death? Only because Kim Jong-Il more obviously fits the role of villain.Vaclav Havel is a statesman, a staunch opponent of "totalitarianism", a cultural icon who wrote literature and was thus loved by a small but vocal group of the western literati. Kim Jong-Il is a "buffoon", a totalitarian despot, the kind of dictator who fancied himself a cultural icon but whose literary and artistic worth was the product of a self-inflated ego. But Havel was a statesman because he was a manufactured to be a statesman by the imperialist forces behind his "velvet revolution"; his opposition to "totalitarianism" was matched by the anti-democratic laws he pushed through his post-communist parliament; and he's only a cultural icon because he was promoted as such by the imperialist industry. (I mean, really, have you actually tried to read? When I was a confused quasi-anarchist who believed the lies told about Havel I actually tried… Try it for yourself: it's derivative of Beckett, a pantomime of absurdism barely hiding the woefully typical "Animal Farm" anti-communism, the sort of thing no one would care about if Havel had been anyone other than who he was.)Havel cuts a mean figure, sauve and smooth and proto-individualist… and, we must not forget, absurdly rich. The shorter Kim, an easy outlet for orientalism, is the perfect archetype of the "asian despot" which is part of the imperialist collective unconscious… is it any wonder that every so-called "satire" of the man has primarily involved, despite the fact that there is so much that couldbe satired, the most racist "chinaman" depictions?So here is what we will encounter in the piles of obituaries produced in the following weeks: Vaclav Havel the friend of humanity died, a great loss for the world; Kim Jong-Il, totalitarian enemy of existence, is finally gone and this is cause for celebration. But I would suggest that, while not mourning the passing of the latter, those of us who proclaim that we are anti-capitalists, that we are, should celebrate the passing of the former whose death was, like the deaths of so many imperialists and capitalists who promoted the starvation and death of the masses, worth less than the weight of a featherDoctors saved a baby after a pregnant woman was shot and killed Sunday evening in the city's South Chicago neighborhood.Family members said all things considered, the baby is doing well. She was delivered weighing only three pounds.Family identified the woman as 19-year-old Parasha Beard and said she was 6 months pregnant. Beard also has a four-year-old daughter.Beard was sitting in a white sedan parked in the 8700-block of South Marquette Avenue around 6 p.m. when police said another vehicle pulled up alongside her and someone inside opened fire.She was shot in the neck. A 26-year-old man who is the girl's father and was in the car with Beard was shot in the neck and chest. The Chicago Fire Department said he is in critical condition. Police said he is a documented gang member.Beard was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she died and the baby was delivered.The despair of losing a child, the joy of gaining a grandchild, all at the same time, is a lot to deal with for Crystal Jones who is mourning the loss of her daughter."She was a good outgoing person. She always got her goals set for herself. She was a beautiful girl, just like everybody else's kids," said Jones.Family members said the baby was named "Miracle" and she is doing well. "Miracle" was originally due in December."She is doing so good. She's breathing on her own. She's premature but her lungs are still small but right now I just wanna make sure that she don't have brain damage," said Jones.Investigators are reviewing a police camera on the corner."Clearly I hope they catch the killer because there's cameras right there. They paid all this tax money so I just hope justice will be served," Tinishia Jackson, a family friend, said."They don't have no feelings and don't care about nobody unborn child," Jones said. "All the people you would shoot and you would shoot a pregnant woman."The family believes this is retaliation for an ongoing dispute with neighbors on the block where a memorial is growing."I lost one. That's real tough for me to get over then he blessed me with another one," Jones said.The baby's 26-year-old father, is in critical condition. Police said he was a documented gang member. They are currently reviewing surveillance footage from a city camera to try and identify the shooter. Beard's family believes the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute with others on the block.As for beard's 4-year-old child, she was sent off to school Monday, not yet knowing of her mother's death."I don't know what to tell a four-year-old right now," Jones said. "I'm going to have to explain to her that her momma is not going to pick her up anymore."A vigil for Beard will be held Monday evening in the same neighbor where she was shot.No one is in custody in connection with the shooting.We have seen a lot of projects get compiled to JavaScript via Emscripten, including LLVM itself, but nothing quite as complicated and impressive as emscripten-qt, a port of the Qt cross platform GUI toolkit to JavaScript using Emscripten. Qt already works on many platforms natively including most desktop operating systems and some mobile ones as well, but thanks to Emscripten it can now work in the browser directly.
There are a ton of demos that you can check out showing Qt apps compiled to JavaScript and running in the browser. For example, the app I screenshotted and included above is a rich text word processor supporting various fonts and text styles, alignments and PDF generation. Thanks to Emscripten’s File API, you can even open and save documents from a virtual filesystem and access generated PDFs from that filesystem via a link outside the app.
All of the rendering of these apps is done in one large canvas element, which you’d think might be slow, but it turns out that at least for all of the demos I tried, it’s actually really fast and responsive. Of course, Qt has its own image generation routines built in so it’s using the canvas as basically a way to blit pixels to the screen and nothing more. It’s pretty
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well as numerous individual cases in which officials used violent methods to coerce citizens to undergo sterilizations or abortions or pay heavy fines for having 'out-of-plan' children," meaning a family's second child.
In one example from October 2010, the commission said, a woman in southeastern China who was eight months pregnant with her second child was kidnapped and detained for 40 hours. She was forcibly injected with a substance that caused the fetus to abort. Her husband reportedly was not permitted to see her during this time, the commission said.
"Nothing in human history compares to the magnitude of China's 33-year assault on women and children," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey and chairman of the commission, during the September hearing at which Ji Yeqing testified.
"Today in China, rather than being given maternal care, pregnant women without birth-allowed permits are hunted down and forcibly aborted.... For over three decades, brothers and sisters have been illegal; a mother has absolutely no right to protect her unborn baby from state-sponsored violence."
"Out of plan" children whose parents do not pay fines may go without household registration, or hukou, which presents obstacles to social benefits including subsidized health care and public education, All Girls Allowed said, citing the commission's 2010 report.
A woman's family members, including her husband, parents, in-laws or siblings, may also be targeted for violations of the policy, according to Women's Rights Without Borders, which published a 2005 report compiled from Chen's notes into cases he was investigating before his arrest. The report alleges arrest, torture, beatings and fines of family members for the violations of relatives. It also documents a case where a woman suffered health problems after being forced to undergo a tubal ligation despite her high blood pressure.
Ji told lawmakers her first forced abortion was in 2003, after officials said she and her husband would be fined $31,000 for their second child and fired from their jobs. Her second came in 2006, despite the fact she and her husband at that time were willing to pay the fine and lose their jobs.
She continues to suffer consequences from the abortions. Her husband divorced her, she said, because she could not give him a son (the couple already had a daughter). After she remarried and moved to the United States in 2010, she said, she visited a clinic to have her IUD removed and undergo an exam. "The doctor told me that I had cervical erosion, likely due to the poor medical conditions of my forced abortions," she said.
Liu Ping told a similar story to Congress last year. She said after giving birth to her son, she was required to undergo five abortions between 1983 and 1990. During the last procedure, an IUD was inserted.
"When I learned of the procedure, I protested that I had a kidney disease and could not keep the IUD, but they completely ignored me," she said. "The doctor just gave the bill to my husband and told him to pay." Her husband was later arrested, she said, and she was given a "serious administrative warning" at her job and fined six months' pay.
Liu had to report to the factory clinic each month for an exam to make sure she had not removed the IUD on her own or become pregnant again, she said.
In 1997, she missed a monthly pregnancy check because she was caring for her terminally ill mother, she testified.
"Agents from the Family Planning Commission waited at my home to drag me to the exam," she said. "When they pushed me to the ground, I fell and hurt my neck vertebrae. My spirit completely collapsed after this one. I attempted suicide, but was stopped by my family from jumping."
Liu was able to move to the United States and she and her husband reconciled after a divorce.
"I feel happiness and joyful," she told lawmakers. "But I know in my homeland, China, there are millions of women who are suffering as I did. Each day thousands of young lives are being destroyed. I beg everyone to save them."TV Reviews All of our TV reviews in one convenient place.
Stop me if I’ve used this metaphor before—and I think I have—but the problem with Glee is a problem of big and small, especially when it comes to stakes. The show is fond of juxtaposition, of smashing stories up next to each other and seeing what parallels seep out. Sometimes, that works. Other times, it doesn’t. But every once in a great while, we get an episode like this, an episode so wrong-headed that it becomes amazing just how thoroughly the show’s producers don’t understand basic tenets of TV drama. You can have a straightforward, dramatic story with huge emotional stakes. You can have a comedic story with small stakes. You just can’t equate them. Indiana Jones can outrun the boulder. The Millennium Falcon can outrun the explosion of the Death Star. Indiana Jones can’t outrun the explosion of the Death Star. (I really like this metaphor; sue me.)
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There is good stuff in tonight’s episode, more good stuff than my grade would suggest. Indeed, if you could somehow surgically remove the Coach Beiste plotline and stick it into an episode where it had been properly built to and properly dealt with, this would be one of the stronger episodes of the season. Rachel’s devastating choke at her NYADA audition was a moment the show’s been building toward all season, and it absolutely nailed her hopelessness when she realized that her lifelong dream of moving to New York and becoming an actress was gone, just like that. (It’s inevitable that Rachel will still move to New York and will struggle along without attending school, but it’s easy to see why she’s devastated for now.) Puck’s realization that he won’t graduate if he doesn’t pass a test wasn’t bad—though it didn’t have nearly the stakes of Rachel’s storyline—and I liked the various male cast members gathering to try to help him pass, at least until they started teaching him classics of the musical theater. Remove the Beiste stuff, and this is a B episode, maybe even a B+.
But the Beiste stuff is just abysmal, roughly the equivalent of the incredibly awful Santana storyline in “I Kissed A Girl” from earlier this season. “But, Todd!” you might say. “Even if it was F-quality stuff—and I could see why you’d argue that—it took up so little of the episode!” And, honestly, that’s my point. Back when Karofsky tried to commit suicide in “On My Way,” I argued that the show brought it up too abruptly (by only bringing Karofsky back in the episode immediately prior to “On My Way”) and that it too quickly abandoned the suicide storyline in favor of the latest bit about the kids going to regionals and triumphing (while singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger,” which… ugh) and something about teenage marriage and texting while driving.
Compared to “Choke’s” handling of domestic abuse, however, “On My Way” is Marcel Proust quality stuff.
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Coach Beiste has been gone for several episodes now, and since she’s one of my favorite characters, I always enjoy when she pops up. I’d just figured that she had to sit much of the back half of the season out because of budgetary concerns or what-have-you, but then there she is, popping up in the early going of this episode with a big black eye. Some of the girls make a snide joke about if Cooter could ever possibly abuse her, Sue overhears it, and we’re dropped into the middle of an uncomfortable after-school special that perches halfway between an actual attempt to teach teenagers that domestic abuse is not cool and if you’re in a relationship with someone who abuses you, you should run and, well, the show’s usual attempts to satirize an after-school special. Here, those satirical attempts are best exemplified by the way that the girls break into two verses of “Cell-block Tango” from Chicago and Sue and Roz telling them that they totally missed the point of the week’s arbitrary glee club assignment, which was to sing a song that might give women the strength to leave abusive husbands or boyfriends.
The number is also intercut with the night when Cooter hit Beiste in a drunken rage.
We don’t actually see him hit her. All we see is her cutting up a chicken—the better to lace in the “ran into my knife 10 times!” lyric from the number because this show is awful—and then we see him yelling at her for no good reason. (It turns out he’s mad she didn’t do the dishes like she said she would.) It’s a powerful moment because there’s no way it can’t be powerful. Here’s a strong woman—in every sense of the word—being laid low by a man she loves and trusts, a guy we previously thought was just sort of a well-meaning dork who loved bigger women. It feels devastating, and it’s meant to feel devastating. Sue and Roz go to find Beiste and ask why she walked out of the performance, and Beiste admits the truth about where she got her black eye. The two tell her she needs to leave Cooter.
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Then Beiste disappears for well over half the episode, and we spend more time watching Puck learn about European geography by singing a punk-ish cover of “The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The Plain.”
This wants to be an episode about failure. Rachel chokes in her audition. Puck fails the test and will have to repeat his senior year, instead of getting his pool cleaning business off the ground. Beiste leaves her abusive husband, then takes him back at the end after he asks her for a second chance. One of these things is so the fuck not like the other. I can sort of see a version of the episode that figures out a way to tie the Rachel and Beiste storylines together, with Rachel’s story serving as the lower-stakes high school drama to Beiste’s high-stakes emotional trauma. Rachel, after all, has been working toward this audition all season long, and when she seizes up, the show portrays it with all the right dramatic beats. There’s just no way to include the Puck storyline in there, however, and the abrupt shifts into “wacky” comedy are all the more jarring because of the other two stories. The Rachel story occupies a weird middle ground between the two, where it could conceivably share an episode with either of them but not with both. The episode ends up addressing domestic abuse with less emotional depth than an NBC “The More You Know” 15-second spot.
Even worse is that this just comes out of nowhere. Granted, that’s one of the messages the story is trying to impart, I guess: Just because you think you know someone doesn’t mean that he can’t flip with rage at the wrong moment. And once he does, you’re better safe than sorry, because people who flip out once are likely to flip out again. The problem is that Glee has bought into the myth of its own importance so thoroughly that it thinks raising an issue, then explaining what you should do in that situation, then going off to have Puck draw awesome rocker demons on his history final, is an adequate way to discuss serious topics. The show’s been doing this since the second season, but it’s grown even more pronounced this season. The series sees itself as a force for good in the world—and, yeah, if this episode helps one woman get out of an abusive relationship, that’s a good thing. But that doesn’t make the show good art or even good crappy television. It makes it painfully, woefully obvious art and crappy television.
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Last week, I mentioned that Glee increasingly uses the emotions raised by songs to “coast” off of those emotions, by making us associate the show itself with our positive memories of the songs. That’s not the best way to construct television, but it can work. Increasingly, though, the show doesn’t know how to do anything but coast off of unearned emotional reactions. We like Beiste. We don’t want to see pain come to her. The show wants to say something about domestic abuse. Enter a really strained, deeply flawed depiction of a serious issue. There’s a version of this episode that was just about the three adult women or just about those women and the teenage girls they want to make sure are prepared for a life where not every boyfriend will be Prince Charming. There’s a version of this episode that figures out a way to intercut Beiste’s disappointment and shame in herself with Rachel’s disappointment and shame and doesn’t make the whole thing feel like goofy farce. And there’s a version that creates honest dramatic moments, instead of forcing them on the characters and doesn’t have Sue immediately make fun of Beiste for moving in with her sister, just because that sister’s name is Denise. The show thinks it’s a sweet, satirical comedy, but it also thinks it’s the most important TV series to ever have aired. There’s not a lot of room to move between those two poles, and the more the show attempts to, the more its tone problems arise.
So, no. I can’t run a straight average based on how much of the other material was solid (and the Rachel stuff was really strong). When you have material that attempts to do as much as the Beiste stuff does, you can’t just abandon it for over half your running time. And when you’re going to do something as daring as have one of the show’s strongest characters take back her abuser, it has to play as more than a sick twist at the episode’s end. There was the potential for a powerful episode of television here—or at least an episode with an after-school special vibe that earnestly attempted to address the issue it raised. Instead, we got the ultimate in small being overwhelmed by big. You can’t just unlock Pandora’s Box and pretend it’s all good. You have to be prepared to deal with what you unleash.
Stray observations:
Just tell us how the songs were, VanDerWerff, God!: I always like when the show does an episode with more show tunes, and I liked both of Kurt’s numbers quite a bit, particularly how Chris Colfer played the ridiculousness of “Music Of The Night.” (Bonus points to Jenna Ushkowitz for playing the most listless Christine Daaé ever.) And for as much as I’ve shit all over the Beiste storyline, “Shake It Out” was probably the best number of the night (since it borrowed the song’s much stronger acoustic arrangement). That said, “Cell-block” was just the worst. Not a one of those women sounded appropriately sultry; they all sounded like cartoon characters.
I always like when the show does an episode with more show tunes, and I liked both of Kurt’s numbers quite a bit, particularly how Chris Colfer played the ridiculousness of “Music Of The Night.” (Bonus points to Jenna Ushkowitz for playing the most listless Christine Daaé ever.) And for as much as I’ve shit all over the Beiste storyline, “Shake It Out” was probably the best number of the night (since it borrowed the song’s much stronger acoustic arrangement). That said, “Cell-block” was just the worst. Not a one of those women sounded appropriately sultry; they all sounded like cartoon characters. Straight guys, talkin’ ‘bout Glee: I was going to pick Rachel for not getting wrapped up in that whole mess of a storyline, but I think I’ll pick Quinn instead for missing the episode entirely.
I was going to pick Rachel for not getting wrapped up in that whole mess of a storyline, but I think I’ll pick Quinn instead for missing the episode entirely. If you’re just going to watch one thing from this episode, go check out “Shake It Out” (it leads off the last act) and watch the totally distracting weird guitar player in the background. See how he draws focus with his terrifying smiles as the girls serenade a domestic abuse victim!
I would have given this episode an A if Kurt had just turned to the band when he switched up his number and said, “Just follow me on the changes.”
After all of the hype about her appearing, Whoopi Goldberg was a total non-entity. I have to assume she’ll appear again when Rachel magically gets another audition or something.
I think I watched the entire “Rain In Spain” number with an expression of slack-jawed horror. And My Fair Lady is one of my favorite musicals!
Also: Was that the most nonthreatening rendition of “School’s Out” ever? I think it was, and that’s not for lack of serious competition.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using written symbols such as hearts, arrows and hands, the ancient Aztecs maintained an arithmetic system that was far more complex than previously understood, scientists said on Thursday.
A general view shows the "Plaza de las Tres Culturas", or the plaza of the three cultures, in the central Tlatelolco area of Mexico City December 27, 2007. Using written symbols such as hearts, arrows and hands, the ancient Aztecs maintained an arithmetic system that was far more complex than previously understood, scientists said on Thursday. REUTERS/Henry Romero
The Aztecs, an empire in central Mexico toppled by Spanish invaders in 1519, has long been recognized for its sophistication in architecture, engineering, astronomy and other fields. And the new research confirms arithmetic can be added to the list.
The researchers examined hundreds of drawings in two manuscripts dating back to between 1540 and 1544 that were used to document agricultural properties by the Aztec people in the city-state of Tepetlaoztoc, near modern Mexico City.
The Aztecs used a system that included symbols of hearts, hands, arrows, bones, arms as alternatives to using fractions. An examination of these hieroglyphic records showed that the Aztecs used their own calculation system to figure out, for example, the area of a parcel of land.
“What we thought we knew about the Aztec measuring system was a little simplistic. We’ve determined that it was more complex,” researcher Barbara Williams of the University of Wisconsin-Rock County said in a telephone interview.
‘NUMERATE SOCIETY’
Williams teamed with Maria del Carmen Jorge y Jorge of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in the study published in the journal Science.
“They used the four mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. But in almost all of the early societies, they could do everything they needed to do, with just those four. They didn’t need square roots. They didn’t need trigonometry,” Williams said.
The two manuscripts — one found in a library in France and the other in Mexico — were written on European paper by Aztecs a couple of decades after the conquest, using the Aztec system.
They were land records drawn up that helped determine taxation imposed on the local people by the Spaniards, Williams said.
The fact that the Aztecs mathematically calculated areas has been known since 1980, but until now there was little understanding as to how they did it, Williams said.
The Aztec empire held sway over a large part of Mesoamerica for about a century until the arrival of the Spanish, and their capital Tenochtitlan — with towering pyramids and sumptuous architecture — was larger than any European city of the era.
They were a war-like people that many people now associate more with human sacrifice — which they certainly performed — than their many accomplishments. The new research adds further detail to the achievements of the Aztecs in other areas.
“This increases our understanding of Aztec culture. It gets to the idea that it was a numerate society in the rural areas as well as the urban areas — among the surveyors as well as the priests and the royalty,” Williams said.The body of a four-year-old boy who was reported missing on Wednesday night was found in his grandparents' swimming pool, Halifax District RCMP say.
Nicholas Baker was last seen just before 10 p.m. at his grandparents' house, police said, located along Nova Scotia's Highway 224. His grandparents live in the community of Elmsvale, about 63 km northeast of Halifax.
Police confirmed his body was found just after 2 a.m. on Thursday in the backyard swimming pool.
Police say Nicholas Baker was last seen just before 10 p.m. at his grandparents house. (RCMP)
RCMP Cpl. Jadie Spencer said it took several hours to find the boy's body because a preliminary check of the pool found that the surface of the water was dirty and "appeared to be undisturbed."
The officers couldn't see the bottom of the pool, Spencer said.
When ground search and rescue crews went back to the pool hours later, they searched it thoroughly and found the boy.
Police say they do not believe his death is suspicious.
Spencer said the in-ground pool had a fence, in keeping with bylaws for the Halifax Regional Municipality. He said he doesn't know if the gate was open or closed — the bylaws state such gates must have a latch, but they don't have to have a lock.
More details are expected after the medical examiner's investigation.NewBee is the new Dream Team
After a month of long hiatus, the much anticipated Chinese dream team has finally revealed itself to the entire world, thereby, denying us a chance to make any further speculations. Folks, we present you with the new Chinese dream team.
As speculated earlier in our post, the new Chinese dream team comprising of some of China's most prominent players like Ning 'Xiao8' Zhang, Zhi Hao 'Hao' Chen and Pan 'Mu' Zhang, has finally been revealed. Joining the talented trio is none other than the farming legend, Jian 'ZSMJ' Gong and one of the best offlaners, Yang 'KingJ' Zhou.
Henceforth, the new dream team will be known by the name of NewBee. The team will be making their debut in the upcoming qualifiers for Sina Cup season 3. The sponsor behind the team is currently unknown, but can be argued to be an influential one, considering the star-studded roster that it houses.
Previously, it was Hock Chuan 'ChuaN' Wong, the Malaysian superstar rumoured to be joining the dream team, a move that was nearly finalised but didn't go through due to Hong Da 'Faith' Zeng, who played a major role in convincing Chuan to re-join the Invictus Gaming roster.
Whether or not the dream team can match-up to their big counter-parts in DK, Invictus Gaming or Vici Gaming; will be known in the near future.
NewBee roster:
Ning 'Xiao8' Zhang
Zhi Hao 'Hao' Chen
Pan 'Mu' Zhang
Jian 'ZSMJ' Gong
Yang 'KingJ' Zhou
Source: Perfect WorldWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate, having smashed through a Republican wall of opposition, confirmed on Thursday U.S. President Barack Obama’s first and longest-stalled judicial nominee.
On a vote of 59-39, the Senate approved Obama’s bid to elevate U.S. District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana to the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana was the only Republican to vote for the judge’s confirmation. Lugar called him “superbly qualified.”
The action came two days after the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, lifted a Republican procedural roadblock against Hamilton, who became Obama’s first judicial nominee in March 2009.
Federal judges serve for life and have enormous power, ruling on a broad array of issues that range from personal liberties to business rights. Federal appeals courts establish binding precedent with their decisions but only within their jurisdiction.
Democrats were becoming frustrated with the delayed confirmation of Hamilton. It had been stuck on the Senate calendar since June.
During the administration of Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush, Republicans denounced Democratic procedural hurdles known as filibusters that were launched against Bush’s judicial nominees.
Republicans have made it clear that they will try to block some of the Democratic president’s selections.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy ripped into and ridiculed Republicans for opposing Hamilton. He invoked a line of attack reminiscent of those used by Republicans against Democrats who blocked Bush’s picks.
Leahy pointedly noted that Obama won last year’s presidential election and reminded colleagues that “the president gets to nominate judges.”
Critics said Hamilton should be stopped, charging he was a liberal “activist judge” who puts personal beliefs above the law, while backers insisted he was moderate and noted Hamilton received the American Bar Association’s top rating.
Hamilton became the seventh of Obama’s 27 district and federal appeals court nominees to be confirmed since the president took office in January.
Bush, a Republican, had 28 judicial district and federal appeals court nominees confirmed in his first year, while Democratic President Bill Clinton had 27 such confirmations.
While blaming Republican stalling tactics, some critics also say Obama has been relatively slow in sending judicial nominations to the Senate.
Leahy, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, recently urged Obama to quicken the pace and has long encouraged fellow lawmakers to offer recommendations to the White House.
Liberals and political moderates are urging Obama to make judicial appointments that reverse what they see as the conservative drift that occurred under Bush.British defense secretary: ‘We are not a global policeman’
Senior British officials, including new Foreign Secretary William Hague, arrived in Afghanistan Saturday with a warning that Britain wants to withdraw its troops as soon as possible.
Hague, Defense Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell are set to meet President Hamid Karzai in their first visit to the country since a new coalition government took power in London this month.
Hague described Afghanistan — where around 10,000 British troops are helping fight a Taliban-led insurgency well into its ninth year — as “our most urgent priority” in comments released from London as the party touched down.
In an interview with The Times newspaper before arriving in Kabul, Fox made clear the visit would focus on speeding up the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, and that no new troops would be deployed.
“We need to accept we are at the limit of numbers now and I would like the forces to come back as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying.
“We have to reset expectations and timelines.
“National security is the focus now. We are not a global policeman. We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country. We are there so the people of Britain and our global interests are not threatened,” Fox said.
With Karzai having promised that Afghan forces will take on responsibility for the country’s security by 2014, Fox said he would see if training could be accelerated to that end.
“I want to talk to people on the ground, our trainers, to see whether there is room to accelerate it without diminishing the quality,” he said.
His frank comments came as Britain’s defense ministry announced the death of a Royal Marine in southern Afghanistan on Friday, bringing to 286 the number of British soldiers killed in the country since 2001.
Since the overthrow of the Taliban regime in late 2001, a total of 1,778 foreign troops have died in the Afghan war, 1,081 of them from the US.
Britain is the second biggest provider of troops and aid to Afghanistan, behind the United States.
Fox also said British troops, stationed in southern Helmand province, would not relocate to neighbouring Kandahar, where the US is leading international forces in what they hope will be a final fight to eradicate the Taliban.
NATO — which with the US has 130,000 troops in Afghanistan, due to peak at 150,000 by August — announced Friday that about 8,000 British troops in Helmand are to come under US operational control.
The move is part of a restructuring of NATO forces in the volatile south of the country, the Taliban heartland where fighting is fiercest.
Command of forces in the south is being divided into two, NATO said in a statement. Britain’s Major General Nick Carter will oversee Kandahar, with US Major General Richard Mills taking over command of neighbouring Helmand.
US and NATO troops are building up operations against the Taliban in Kandahar, with military planners saying they hope to have pushed the insurgents out of the city, and the province of which it is capital, by the time the fasting month of Ramadan starts in August.
Hague said before his arrival in Kabul that the new counter-insurgency strategy of General Stanley McChrystal, head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, needs “time and support to succeed”.
“We are here in Afghanistan to explore this at the earliest opportunity,” he said, adding that as a foreign policy priority, Afghanistan “will consume a lot of our time, energy and effort and it is therefore vital that ministers have a strong understanding of the issues”.
The importance of Afghanistan to the new British administration was underscored last Saturday when Karzai became the first foreign leader to meet Prime Minister David Cameron.
Britain’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government has said it wants to cut the defense budget by at least 25 percent but has pledged to support the country’s armed forces in Afghanistan.
The trio of visiting ministers are expected to meet British troops — along with English football star David Beckham, who arrived at Camp Bastion in Helmand late Friday on a “morale-boosting” visit, a military official said.
Beckham was expected to spend the weekend in Helmand, splitting his time between Bastion and the British base in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, which also serves as an outpost for British aid projects in the region.The U.S. soldiers hatched a plan as simple as it was savage: to randomly target and kill an Afghan civilian, and to get away with it. For weeks, according to Army charging documents, rogue members of a platoon from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, floated the idea. Then, one day last winter, a solitary Afghan man approached them in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. The "kill team" activated the plan.
One soldier created a ruse that they were under attack, tossing a fragmentary grenade on the ground. Then others opened fire.
According to charging documents, the unprovoked, fatal attack on Jan. 15 was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American soldiers since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as hoarding a skull and other human bones.
The subsequent investigation has raised accusations about whether the military ignored warnings that the out-of-control soldiers were committing atrocities. The father of one soldier said he repeatedly tried to alert the Army after his son told him about the first killing, only to be rebuffed.
More...A council that sometimes faces hours of community protests over basement suites, child-care facilities or apartment projects received virtually no opposition Monday to the 6,000-home inner-city project to which it gave unanimous approval Monday.
The West Campus development, which surrounds Alberta Children’s hospital and directly borders University Heights and Varsity, envisions large clusters of townhouses and higher-density housing, along with retail and 1.5 million square feet of office space that could eventually employ about 10,000 people.
Located on University of Calgary property, the project should take 15 to 20 years to be fully built out but, with Monday’s approval, construction could start next summer, said West Campus Development Trust CEO James Robertson.
Councillors lined up Monday to praise the project’s not-for-profit development agency for the way it worked since 2012 to involve the community in the planning process. The five nearby community associations, brought into discussions early, jointly wrote a letter to praise the “higher standard” of the project engagement.
“You took their input into consideration and that’s why it worked so well,” Coun. Ward Sutherland said.
Each community’s own letter cited minor recommended tweaks — an off-leash dog park, said one; more lower-income housing, said another — but nobody from the associations attended council Monday to speak against the project. No one else did, either.
Two letters of opposition were submitted to council for West Campus. By contrast, about 200 letters came in against a bottle depot in the deep south suburb of Walden, though council voted in favour of it anyway.
Early feedback sessions for West Campus urged lower-density housing closest to existing community and ample cycling paths along the sloped area, before the trust developed its plan. “Not everyone gets what they want, everyone at least got input in a meaningful fashion, so that they understood why the plan is what it is,” said Robertson, a former city land and housing executive.
“I didn’t use the word ‘collaborate’ or ‘engage.’ We just sat down and chatted with people.”
It’s an inner-city development comparable in size perhaps only to East Village, also being built by a not-for-profit corporation. Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the city could learn from the way officials got neighbourhood buy-in. He said West Campus would “change the face of the city forever.”
Other major redevelopment projects within the city, such as Quarry Park and Garrison Woods, aren’t quite the same, the mayor said. Both have stand-alone houses, while West Campus has nothing less compact than townhouses, and will likely cater to university and hospital staff, as well as students.
“Creating a campus district around the hospitals and the campus will really change the character of that piece of the heart of northwest Calgary — and it’s nice. It’s good quality stuff,” Nenshi said.(Natural News) A $43.8 million (about $33 million U.S. Dollar) state-run initiative called “Doctors in Secondary Schools” has been rolled out in the state of Victoria, Australia. This program promises to “fund general practitioners (GPs) to attend up to 100 Victorian government secondary schools up to one day a week to provide medical advice and health care to those students most in need.” While the concept of providing free medical care for in-need teens sounds great on the surface, it has been met with a storm of controversy, for multiple reasons.
For one thing, many see this as a way for the state to line the pockets of Big Pharma and government officials with ties to drug companies. These connections run all the way to the top, with The Mind Unleashed reporting that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife are connected to some of the biggest of all Big Pharma corporations. For example, while the prime minister has pushed for government-mandated vaccinations, his wife serves as chair of the pharmaceutical corporation Prima Biomed.
Many parents are also gravely concerned about their daughters being issued with contraceptive pills at school without their knowledge or consent. Of course, the mainstream media mocks their fears, with Matt Young of News.com.au saying, “I’m here to slap some reality into that overly-cautious parental mind of yours. We don’t live in a perfect world. And sadly, parents, your teenagers are going to have sex and probably not tell you about it. Just like my generation, and yours, did all those years back. How refreshing though that this generation will have an expert to talk to about it confidentially.”
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The wording of the program is also of great concern to many parents, since it mandates that even if a parent “expressly states” that they do not want their child to receive medical treatment from these doctors, the GP can go ahead and do so as long as he or she deems the child to be “mature enough.”
The program also promises to provide “primary health care” to these kids, but never clarifies what this health care will consist of. Will it include vaccinations? Will children whose parents have carefully prevented them from receiving dangerous vaccines be given these shots anyway, without permission? Most likely, these teens will have the HPV vaccine pressed on them, especially if they’ve been handed contraceptives and effectively given the green light to start having sex. Children worldwide have suffered horrific side effects and life-altering disabilities after receiving this vaccine, and it has actually been banned in several countries, but this is not likely to prevent doctors from administering it at these weekly “health care” visits.
And what about psych evaluations? Hormonal swings mean that teenagers are notoriously all over the place when it comes to their moods. Most parents are aware of this and monitor their kids carefully. That doesn’t mean that kids need to be given antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs to cope. Nonetheless, the number of children being handed prescriptions for these drugs has risen dramatically in the past few years, and the doctors in the Australian program are likely to follow the trend. This means that children could be given mind-altering drugs which are known to cause suicidal behavior in teenagers without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
While Victoria, Australia, may seem very far away, similar government policies have been instituted in the U.S. with many states refusing unvaccinated children entrance to schools and day care facilities. A Texas lawmaker recently made the statement that the second a child is removed from their home they become “a child of the state,” and that such children should receive whatever medical treatment the state deems fit as soon as possible. Governments worldwide are exerting more and more control over children, doing their best to sever the ties that bind kids to their parents.
Sources:
TheMindUnleashed.com
News.com.au
Education.Vic.gov.auCanada's Reigning Hottie (aka Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) met with President Obama on Thursday, marking the first time a Canadian leader has officially visited the White House in nearly 20 years. President Obama was in good company, too — the prime minister is known for his liberal, feminist stance on national and foreign affairs. Trudeau has likewise helped to rebuild U.S.-Canada relations after his conservative predecessor's contentious tenure. But is the Internet focused on that? Eh, not really. Maybe the Internet will be after it gets passed how ridiculously good-looking Trudeau is, but for now, here are some Justin Trudeau memes that will make you wonder why we can't have nice things too.
Trudeau is no stranger to this type of attention, either. Before being elected into the country's highest office, the prime minister once used his good looks for a charity event in which he stripped off his suit to reveal a tank and briefs, all in the name of liver disease research. The partial striptease raised $1,500 U.S. dollars, with the highest bidder winning a lunch with Trudeau at Ottawa's Parliamentary restaurant.
So hopefully he won't mind too much if some of his fans at home and abroad take to notice some of his finer assets. The Internet certainly has:
From imagining Trudeau as Han Solo to making America great again (despite being the leader of Canada, go figures), it looks like the Prime Minister will keep doing a great job and doing it in style.
Images: Canada Without Poverty; someecards
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. He has been known to sit with an interviewer and not answer questions. Not even betray that he knows there is another person in a room with him. GQ once scheduled a photo shoot with him, and he could not be persuaded to get off his kitchen counter to have his picture taken (though clearly, as you can see, he enjoys having his picture taken). He didn't say no; he just never acknowledged that anyone had asked him anything. Once, in the middle of another interview, he got up, walked out of the room, went to the airport, and flew away.
Throughout the two days I was with him, people kept asking me: Have you had your interview yet? And when I said no, they raised their eyebrows and smiled knowingly and said, “Yeah, good luck with that.”
Time was set aside for us to talk. At the appointed hour, someone from his team set two folding chairs in a room, facing each other. The room was troublingly quiet—Thug seems to hate quiet. In time, he came in and sat down. He held his chin high in the air, a regal pose. He wore sunglasses so aggressively mirrored you couldn't detect any sense of a human eyeball.
The first question was what you could call soft. Because what does hardball even mean to a guy like Thug, who speaks openly about sex, about the drugs he does, about the beefs he has? Also because of my being afraid he'd walk out of the room.
“What's a question you wish an interviewer would ask you, but they never have?”
Thug was silent for a minute. Possibly looking at me. Possibly looking out the window. Possibly asleep. It was a very, very long minute.
“Meaning?” Every word he says is short. Clipped. Hardly even a syllable.
“People probably ask you the same shit all the time. What's something you wish people would ask you?”
“Do I care.”
“Okay. Do you care?”
“No. I don't give a fuck.”
I think, after spending time with him, that this is true. If Thug can teach us one thing, it's what a deep, profound, disquieting, beautiful, attractively nihilistic thing—what a generationally and musically significant thing—it is to reach the state of NOT GIVING A FUCK.
“What does that mean, to not give a fuck?”
“No feelings.”
“You have no feelings?”
“No. Not at all.”
His real name is Jeff. JEFF. He is 24 years old and six feet three inches tall but has the tiniest little feet, size 8.5, like someone had bound them when he was a child. A 26-inch waist. He eats almost nothing. Says he does not like to eat, and goes for days without food. On the third of every month, a doctor shows up at his mansion near Buckhead and injects him with vitamins. All the greens, he says, to keep me healthy. His toenails are immaculately manicured and painted iridescent. They look like tiny soap bubbles. He wears little girls' dresses as shirts sometimes, women's pants. When he likes something, he calls it sexy. He calls a Gucci shirt sexy, he calls men sexy, and women he flirts with. He recently called the 2-year-old son of a woman he was flirting with online sexy. He has six children by four women. He's on-again, off-again with his girlfriend, Jerrika, but at the time we talked he said they're engaged. He is one of 11 children, dropped out of high school, had his first child at 17. He grew up in Section 8 housing in a very poor, violent part of Atlanta. He had nothing, his first manager says, when he began rapping. Like, a few shirts, a pair of shoes. He was shy then. He didn't have the gold front teeth yet; his teeth were rotted, discolored. He covered them with his hand when he talked.
He is extremely close to his mother, who suffers from an enlarged heart. They call her Big Duck. They call his dad Big Jeff. His mom and dad call each other brother and sister now. His little sister Dora, whom he calls his twin, is almost constantly by his side. They call one of his brothers, phonetically, Oonphoonk. Oonphoonk is in prison on a murder conviction—another of Thug's brothers was murdered outside his house when Thug was a kid.
Thug recently took possession of two new purebred dogs, flown by airplane first-class from Snoop Dogg's dog breeder.
Thug drinks prescription cough syrup all day, takes Xanax, smokes marijuana, eats molly. Sometimes he does all of them at once. He rarely sleeps. A former friend said Thug would stay up for days, take lots of different kinds of drugs, then sleep for 24 to 48 hours.
Thug got in trouble when a mall security guard said Thug threatened to shoot him in the face. He's been questioned about firing shots at the tour bus of Lil Wayne, who was once and probably still is his greatest artistic hero. (Thug's former road manager was convicted for the incident.) He is known to have a temper, to have more—and more dangerous—bad blood with different factions in Atlanta than any other rapper. He refers to those allied against him as “peasants.” There are always lots of guns around him. The people who travel with him cut an equally fashion-forward swath. As *GQ'*s Style Guy, Mark Anthony Green, said during the photo shoot for this story: “You will never see bigger guns tucked into smaller pants.” His main security guard carries a semiautomatic assault rifle even when Thug's at the recording studio. Just the week before, a former security guard had been assassinated in his home near downtown Atlanta. No sign of forced entry. Shot to the back of the head.
And still, the main engine in his life is his music, and the world loves it. Thug's put out 76 solo tracks in the past two years. He's at a spot now where he can make at least $50,000 for a verse on another rapper's song, at least $50,000 for every appearance. Last year he did his first tour and sold out 17 nights. But more than that, Thug has become a kind of status symbol, an unadulterated modern version of the give-no-fucks rock star for people who don't care about the pop charts. All in ladies' Uggs.
Darkness had dropped artlessly around the traffic-choked arteries of greater Atlanta. It was circa 8 P.M., the day before our interview would take place, and Thug was in a black Chevy Suburban being driven to a Weeknd concert at the Philips Arena, where the Hawks play. He sat behind a (different) pair of aggressively mirrored sunglasses. Next to him in the car was Lyor Cohen, the legendary music-industry executive who now works with Young Thug. I guess at one point Lyor dressed like a hip-hop guy, but now he looks and sounds like a well-bred European banker getting into his chauffeured Mercedes after his acquittal for a white-collar crime. His shirtmaker is definitely French.
Lyor did some shtick about traffic in Atlanta, and how could you call this a city, where's the downtown even, where's the center of it, how can you have a city with no center, get me back to New York. Thug didn't/couldn't give a fuck about the relative deficiencies of the urban planning in Atlanta. It would be like asking him to get upset about the air quality on Saturn. Thug simply played music from the mixtape he was working on at maximum volume on the SUV's sound system.
“You said I need to put a girl on ‘Birthday,’ ” he said to Lyor at one point, about a song called “Birthday” that was playing. “Maybe Rihanna. But you know who I want to do a song with no matter what? Adele. Shit'd be over.”
Thug's manager and partner, a small woman named Amina with fragrant hair and knee-high burgundy socks with fur trim, said from the back of the car: “Lyor, if they met? You know they'd have that musician bond. They could do it.”
Thug kept playing his music. He played the same songs over and over again at maximum volume, like he was sitting in a recording studio by himself. The music was otherworldly, consistent with the evolution of the otherworldly music he's been creating since he started making songs five years ago. Like always, it sounded weird, nocturnal, feral, funny. Like always, he was talking about how many white girls he gets: Pour water off a white bitch and call her Ricki Lake. Like always, there were wails and grunts and caterwauls. Like always, the music had kind of an internal quality, as if you're overhearing him mumbling to himself while in a dream state. Like always, the unintelligibleness was punctuated by stuff you could understand and yet still not really understand. Like in one of my favorite new songs, he reaches this point of intense emotional fulcrum; then he belts out the words Patrick Ewing. As if instead of plaintively screaming “Why me?!” he is saying “Patrick Ewing?!”
But it wasn't just the same as his other music. I listened to his new mixtape, Slime Season 3, the music he was playing in the car, a lot (all Thug does is play music loudly, and all he plays is his own music), and…it's better than anything Thug's done until now. It feels less like a kid trying to sound like a legit rapper (like his early songs) and more like a man-boy who'd been raised by wolves and suckled on Xanax and mushrooms and Lil Wayne, inventing his own language.
For some reason, we all stayed in the car after we arrived at the Philips. The VIP entrance is underneath the arena, and the whole of the Atlanta music overclass/underworld was coming through. Famous dudes—T.I., 2 Chainz. And still Thug sat there in the hollows beneath the Philips, listening to the sounds of trucks off the concrete pillars. So much poured concrete you could smell the rebar. Like all gleaming new arenas, the Philips feels immaterial—you can't look at it without involuntarily imagining its demolition.
Then, the way house cats do in the middle of a nap, Thug suddenly roused and made to exit the car. We all got ready to follow him. Amina quickly opened her purse and sprayed a substantial amount of perfume on her wrists. Then she leaned over and rubbed her wrists against Thug's neck, perfuming him.
Inside, we were a group of seven or eight. Amina, Dora, Be EL Be (his video guy and creative director), Duke (a rapper, a compatriot of the imprisoned Atlanta rap legend Gucci Mane), Thug's lumbering security guy with pistol glommed sweatily against his back. In a wider orbit: his dad, Big Jeff, who traveled tonight with his nerdy teenage daughter and filmed the entire evening on his iPhone. We followed Thug into a pre-party room with T.I. Over to someone's dressing room. He'd go one way and we'd go with him. He'd switch directions and we'd all get pulled along, like boats that had made the mistake of harpooning the wrong whale. He wandered toward the stage and all but Duke and security detached.
The stage was high above us, built on scaffolding. Thug wandered restlessly underneath it, where tired men with ambitious facial hair worked at sound consoles and computers. Eventually he paused and signaled to one of his guys, who took out some small baggies containing little white pellets. Like the things my children are infrequently allowed to put on their ice cream. Thug shook them out onto a dollar bill. Would he snort them? Light them? What orifice would the pellets go into? He made the dollar bill into a little funnel, poured them into his mouth with a swig of Sprite. (I guess it was molly.) Then he bent over, tied his little Raf Simons running sneakers, and climbed to the stage.
Travis Scott was opening for the Weeknd. And when Thug grabbed a microphone and came on to join him for a couple of songs, lights shot out and illuminated 15,000 screaming white girls in their twenties going bananas. Throwing up their slender arms, exposing further their tube-topped midriffs, mouthing his name.
I mean, not every single person in the audience was white girls. But they were the salient thing out there. I don't know, that's maybe because it was a Weeknd show. But they all seemed to lose their shit when they saw the dangerous, the trippy, the unpredictable, the GENUINE Young Thug.
The next night, the last night I was with him, I was in the studio with Thug. Or, more accurately, in the studio not with Thug. It was like ten or eleven at that point, but it already felt like a million o'clock. Sitting in studios with rappers takes years off lives. It's interminable. Here at Patchwerk Recording Studios, built into a little bungalow on a residential street, I was just like the rest of the people around Thug: a human with the job description of “your time is less valuable than his time.” But at elevenish, we'd become an entourage without a rapper.
Thug was there when I'd shown up a couple of hours earlier. He was walking around with his daughter Haiti, age 5, on his shoulders. Haiti's sister Hayden, age 3, was sitting on her mother's lap. Little perfectly braided heads, little matching Timberland boots. Thug spent some time snuggling the shit out of those little girls. Be EL Be, Thug's video guy, said Haiti was spoiled and very, very smart. She did seem to have a savoir faire I hope to learn someday.
Quavo, one of the principals of Migos, was in the recording booth at the moment, working on a song called “We Gone Spray on You,” about shooting people. Put ice on that pussy and y'all made her chill it, he rapped. Put my dick in her mouth like a dentist. It was a song about shooting people, yes, but it was also a song about love. Kind of a weird choice for Take Your Daughters to Work Day.
But Thug had been absent for an hour. Dora said he was probably upstairs smoking weed, since at Patchwerk they don't let you “blow” in the studio. And when I got up there, it was like this totally different thing had broken out. There was a big room with a pool table in the middle and 20, 30 people. Some milling. Some standing along the walls. Women chewing gum and flicking at their cell-phone screens like moms waiting at a drop-off birthday party. One guy was asleep on a sofa in a pair of sweatpants printed with the trademarks of America's most enticing prescription pharmaceuticals: Xanax, Percocet, Vicodin, Norco, Lortab Elixir, Roxicodone. And gathered around the big pool table, gamblers were playing a high-stakes dice game.
Thug was at one end of the table, eating Hot Fries from a vending machine (only thing I ever saw him eat), wearing a Bathing Ape hoodie and holding upwards of $10,000 in twenties and hundreds. Offset, from Migos, was standing next to him holding a similar amount, his dreads gathered in three hair elastics like a tricorn hat. And around the table were a bunch of gamblers. A guy named Burger, maybe 350 pounds, who I'd had the unfortunate opportunity to discover earlier in the night had totally destroyed the bathroom at the studio. Next to him was a dude named Killa. There was another guy, in a black tracksuit with hair pulled into two braided pigtails, and a dude all in butterscotch (sweater, pants, boots) whose strategy was just talking unceasing shit (“You ain't a gambler, you a rambler”).
“This is how it is in the hood,” one of the guys in the room said. “Some dudes can't rap or hoop or whatever. So they gamble all the rich guys.”
The dice game was unofficiated. The players would try to trick you, bully you, out of your money. Order was maintained only by a mutual understanding that none of these were dudes you wanted to fuck with.
Be EL Be was up here now, and he explained the scene to me. “There are two Thugs,” he said. “One a rapper and one a gambler. This ain't Thug, it's Lil Jeff. I think he like shooting dice more than rapping.” Then he said, “I saw him win a $100,000 watch a couple weeks ago. Lost all this money and then took it all and the watch, tricked them. He's slick. That's why they call him Slime.”
The people closest to Thug don't necessarily love his gambling habit.
“A lot of times, me and his sisters keep them away,” Be EL Be said. “They come around like, ‘Where Slime at?’ And we're like, ‘No, you had your fun and won your money. Not today.’ Mama Duck hates gambling. It's how she lost her son.” Bennie, the brother Thug saw die on the sidewalk, was killed over a gambling dispute. “But Thug gonna do what Thug gonna do.” He would stay at this table gambling until two the next afternoon.
People—even people who live in the same world he does—find Young Thug to be truly scary. One of his primary character traits is: disproportionate response. All stakes are high with him—I saw Thug and his sister almost cause a riot because a door wasn't opened for them at the Weeknd show. I thought Dora was going to swing at someone. An Atlanta guy who knows him said that's the kind of person he is. “He just jumped off the porch,” this person told me, using an expression for someone who only recently came out of the hood. Having a rapper tell you about how street they are, that's expected at this point. So much of rap is just unrelenting sameness. The entourage, the SUVs, the prescription cough syrup, the weed, the late-night studio sessions. So many of the stories told in rap songs are the same, too. Bitches, drugs, experiencing death and destruction. And unfortunately, since that part of the story has been told for 30 years, it often doesn't have much power anymore. Tragedy × volume = no impact. In a sense, Thug is telling the same stories we've become desensitized to. But it's not his stories that make Thug an electric presence. It's Thug himself. He is the product. Thug is able to channel a kind of genuine nihilism that most people rapping about their rough neighborhoods just can't do.
I have never been around anyone like Thug. He doesn't care about your feelings. He seems to entirely lack empathy. Not in the sense that he doesn't feel bad when babies get killed, I'm sure he does. But in the sense that he seems not to know how you (and by you, I mean me and most of the people reading this article) see the world. He cannot translate himself for you. He does not appear to have any interest in trying. He does not code shift, as they say. He has only a single code. Among artists, he may be the most authentic I've ever met. That authenticity makes him a hero to the people who come from that same universe, and a figure of intrigue to people who don't—kind of the ultimate in black-male fetishism. It's his ability to close himself off from the world most people live in that gives him his power. He's not playing a role for you, because he doesn't seem to be able to see himself from your perspective and play to your desires. But how long can you continue to live in that small south Atlanta world? How long can you channel a mentality in which you're going to fuck people up if they don't open a door for you? How long can you stay up all night playing high-stakes self-regulated dice games? How long can a very successful millionaire musician keep the rest of the world at bay?
I asked his former manager where he expects Thug to be in ten years, and he said, “Either dead or in jail.”
When we finally sat down for our interview, I asked him that same question: Where do you think you'll be in ten years?
“Shit. Top of the world. You know where. Where everybody want to be.”
He sat there in his skinny jeans, his jewels and finery, inscrutable behind those sunglasses, as if posing for a royal portrait. He looked like Cate Blanchett in *Elizabeth—*he's long of neck like that. Pharrell, when I met him, reminded me of a fairy king. Thug reminds me more of the Shakespearean kind, consumed, probably understanding that he's in a tragedy. But the strange thing about the interview wasn't how weird and otherworldly he was. Today, for some reason, he was normal. You could imagine him as a boy wearing a costume. Since he's been thinking about marriage, I asked him what he'd want his wedding to be like.
“Like Heaven Gates.” I didn't know what that meant, so I asked him again. “Like,” he said more slowly, “Heaven Gates.” Okay. How many people? “A million,” he said. “I want everyone to see it.” And who'd play the music? “Bob Marley and Kanye West.” And the food? “Soul food. My mom would cook, of course. She cook everything. Neck bone. She like real, real, like, motherfuckin' black-people food. Like oxtail and shit. All kinda crazy shit.”
Then we talked a little about his domestic life. All his kids have their own rooms when they visit. Having kids, he said, is the hardest thing he's ever done. “They ain't easy. It be like, ‘If I could take this back? Yes, what the fuck was I thinking!’ Haha.” I told him that my advice to friends who don't have kids is to imagine all the stuff they like doing with their time, and Thug cut me off—“Cain't. That's the main part. It's not even taking care of the kids. The main part is you won't be able to do what you always did. That's the number one rule to having a kid: You can't be who you were.”
And do they go to public school or private? “Private school. Of course.”
“Do you go to PTA meetings and shit?”
“No.”
“What would the other parents be like if you did?”
“They probably freak out. I can't do stuff like that. It's just hectic.” So, I said, you'd be uncomfortable in that environment? “No. Comfortable, because I don't give a damn. I don't care. I'd be like, ‘Nigga, I'm Young Thug, millionaire. Fuck how you think.’ ” Did it take you a long time to think like that after you had money? “No,” he said, “I ain't never gave a fuck.”
I tried to get into the important topics for Thug. Namely: Is he going to die. Can he move from a real life to the life of a safe, wealthy, famous person. I began by asking what he'd known about the murder of his former security guard. “Oh,” he said, as if he hadn't remembered who he was. “He was my security for, like, a month.” Do you know what happened to him? “Nah. I just seen it on the news. Somebody called me like, ‘Nigga you had working with you, somebody broke into his house, killed him,’ some shit like that.” Then he said, distancing himself, “I ain't seen that nigga in a minute, though. He wasn't my real security. He was a security guard at clubs. And I always used to go to the same club. So we just ended up choppin' it up one day and he ended up working with me for, like, three weeks.”
So I asked him more directly: Is it dangerous to be you?
“It's dangerous to be anybody popular.”
True. But come on, I said. Some people are in more danger than others. Why is it that way for you? Do people want to prove something with you?
“Oh, people want to prove a point,” he said. “I don't know what the hell they be thinking. I don't understand why everybody be jooging at me.” “Jooging at” kind of means giving someone a hard time.
Later, when we'd moved on, we were talking about being a “finesser.” A finesser is someone who gets what he wants by tricking people, by being psychologically superior. I asked him what's the number one thing to know if you want to be a finesser. “Never back down,” he said. This seemed true. You can get away with a lot simply by pressing forward, sticking with your finesse in the face of mounting odds. But, I asked him, isn't there a time to back down? Would you ever back down?
“Nooooo.”
Would you rather get shot than back down?Noticed Adelaide Botanic Garden's rainbow lorikeets have been a bit rowdy lately? Credit: Botanic Gardens of South Australia
RAINBOW lorikeets, renowned for their screeching, have been distinctly louder in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens recently – because they are getting drunk.
Hundreds of the brightly coloured native Australians have been descending on a Weeping Boer-bean tree (Schotia brachypetala) near the Summer House to drink fermenting nectar from its crimson flowers.
Commonly known as the Drunken Parrot Tree, the flowers bloom in late spring through to early summer, providing the lorikeets with all the ingredients for an avian dawn-to-dusk tree house party.
The birds get intoxicated, similar to native wood pigeons in New Zealand, kereru, which gorge on fermenting, rotting fruit before falling from branches to the ground.
The kereru were popular with the Maori, who would wait until they were drunk before clubbing them and cooking them.
Luckily for the Botanic Gardens lorikeets, they are not as plump or tasty as the kereru.A student cleared of being the “third man” in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris has been arrested for allegedly trying to join Isil in Syria.
Mourad Hamyd, 20, the brother-in-law of one of the two Kouachi brothers, who murdered 12 people in and around the office of the satirical magazine in January last year, was initially suspected of being their getaway driver.
The quiet, polite young man surrendered to police in his home town of Charleville-Mézières in eastern France and was questioned over two days. A huge social media campaign protesting his innocence and alibis from his classmates led to his release without charge.
Hamyd remained on a terrorist watch list, but appeared to be a model student, passing his baccalauréat, equivalent to A-levels, five months later. He spoke of his shock that his name had been linked to “barbaric crimes”, saying he hoped it would not spoil his future.
Hamyd had completed his first year at university when his family reported him missing on July 25. Three days later, he was turned back as he allegedly tried to enter Turkey. He is now in custody in Bulgaria, it emerged on Sunday.
He managed to slip out of France undetected by French security agencies despite being on the watch list. The contents of his travel bag — a uniform, heavy shoes and gloves — seem to indicate that he was a “candidate for jihad” rather than a visitor planning to sunbathe on a Turkish beach, French intelligence sources told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
His mobile phone and laptop are now being scrutinised for evidence of jihadist links. Anti-terrorism prosecutors in Paris have opened a judicial investigation in order to issue a European arrest warrant for him,” the paper reported.
Hamyd was the brother-in-law of Chérif Kouachi, who attacked Charlie Hebdo with his brother Said Kouachi.MAY 20 I GUITAR CENTER I SALES
GC Severs Relationship With Behringer On May 16, Guitar Center terminated its relationship with Behringer. According to Guitar Center sources, “the decision was made by Guitar Center executive leadership based on Behringer’s revision to unreasonable business terms late last year and a continuous history of attempting to force unfavorable changes into agreements.” “Decisions like this are never made easily,” a Guitar Center spokesperson said. “There are rare occasions where the integrity of the relationships and agreements we make with vendors are challenged, despite the potential impact to the bottom line or overall sales. We can’t speak for anyone else in the industry, but we’d had enough of watching Behringer try to do business this way. It’s not the way we like to work with people and it’s not productive. They made some questionable choices that put us into a position to develop a contingency plan. As we re-evaluated that plan several weeks ago, we found that it would allow us to build better relationships with other vendor partners in the category. When Plan B starts to make this much business sense, it became clear we didn’t need to tolerate this anymore. We’re focused on where we can succeed in partnership with our new vendors and we’re excited about the future.”Jerry Leggatte USBR/Flickr
It's been almost three weeks since
an ExxonMobil pipeline burst beneath the Yellowstone River in Montana, spilling an estimated 1000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of crude oil into the water. And still, cleanup crews keep coming. As of Monday, about 700 workers and regulators from ExxonMobil, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state agencies and private spill-response companies were on the scene.
The Exxon spill in the Yellowstone River happened little more than a year after the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But oil spilled in a river is a very different beast than oil spilled at sea, Steve Merritt, the EPA's on-scene coordinator at the Yellowstone, tells PM. Here are the unique challenges of cleaning up the 300-mile (and counting) oil-dotted stretch of the river.
It's (Relatively) Easy to Stop a River Leak
Shutting off the leak is job one when responding to a spill, Merritt says, and in that respect Yellowstone responders had an easier task than the people trying to close off BP's Macondo well. It took BP multiple attempts with an armada of drill ships, capping equipment and van-size underwater robots to seal off the well. But the source of the Yellowstone spill was close to the surface. The 12-inch pipeline, which carries crude from oilfields in northern Wyoming to an Exxon refinery in Billings, Mont., is buried about 5 feet below the riverbed, according to the company.
Crews from ExxonMobil took about 10 minutes to find the spill and about 5 more minutes to turn off the pumps. Shortly thereafter they shut off valves on both banks of the river, preventing more oil from entering the section of pipe between the valves. Where BP spent three months trying to cap the leak in the Gulf, Exxon had the Yellowstone leak stopped within about an hour.
Still, there was plenty more to do. This past weekend, following recommendations from the Department of Transportation and the EPA, Exxon crewmen hooked up a vacuum truck to the buried line on either side of the break and sucked out another 18,900 gallons (about 450 barrels) of oily water. "We were concerned about a second discharge," Merritt says. "From my perspective, I don't want to risk more flooding and more potential damage to the pipeline."
But Corralling Oil in a Fast and Flooding River is Dangerous
For four days after the pipe burst, snow melting in Yellowstone National Park about 150 miles upstream from the spill raised the water level to near-record levels. It gushed past the busted pipe, carrying the oil downstream nearly to the North Dakota border and depositing some of it on the grassy, tree-lined riverbanks, in roadside ditches and in farmer's fields along the way. "The amount of force a river can have amazes me," Merritt continues. "That's a huge difference from a coastal zone spill, where you can get some wave action but it's fairly gentle."
Bob Rogers, the president of Bob Rogers and Associates, an environmental consulting company in Mississippi, says that if the river were at normal height (and didn't have cottonwoods in the middle of it), cleanup crews would most likely have strung floating snake-like booms from bank to bank to corral oil. With booms in place, responders could have begun to use skimmers to separate the oil from the water, similar to what happened in the Gulf last year. Finally, they would have sucked up the oil with vacuum trucks, burnt it or soaked it up using sheets of oil-loving solvents.
But not this time. Currents faster than 1 knot would snap the ropes tethering a containment boom, Merritt says. At the height of the spill in the Yellowstone, the river was running at about 7 to 10 knots. "There just isn't technology to fight a river like that," he says.
Unable to access the main channel of the Yellowstone, orange-vested cleanup workers went low-tech, spending most of their time wiping oil off grasses and trees with absorbent pads. They were able to lay some booms in side channels and soak it up with the pads. As of last Friday, they'd used up some 260,000 pads and over 50,000 feet of booms. "It's not rocket science," Merritt says. "Most of what we're doing is picking up the oil, putting it in bags and disposing of it."
Chemical Dispersants Aren't an Option
The one thing cleanup crews on the Yellowstone wouldn't even consider using to clean up the spill, flood or no flood, is a chemical dispersant.
"Dispersants are a big-ticket item in the sea," Rogers says. They are often used, as during the BP spill, to get rid of oil on the ocean surface in places where it can't be removed with booms and skimmers or by controlled burning, such as in rough seas far from shore. When sprinkled on a slick, dispersants help break it down into smaller droplets that either rise back to the surface or, in most cases, drift down into the water column where ocean microbes break them down.
In a river, however, spill responders generally agree that dispersants create more problems than they solve. "I don't know of any case where chemical dispersants were used in a river," says Robert Simmons, president of Environmental Science Services in Louisiana. Because rivers are so much shallower than the sea, responders worry that sinking droplets of oil might settle in the gravel and sediment of a riverbed rather than stay suspended in the water column. Once dispersed along the river bottom, the oil might persist in the river much longer than if responders simply let it wash downstream.
The Work Goes On
Investigators at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration say it could take months to figure out what caused the pipe to rupture, though there's been some speculation that recent flooding and fast-flowing debris may have had something to do with it.
Merritt says that cleanup crews have captured just nine of the 1000 barrels spilled. He doesn't expect them to capture much more. Some of the oil will be left to decompose naturally in places along the river where Yellowstone County officials worry that cleanup crews might disturb delicate ecosystems or spread noxious weeds. The rest will be slowly and meticulously wiped off grasses, logs and trees. Merritt estimates it will take a crew of several hundred workers two or three months of "methodical and physical effort" to sufficiently clean up the spill. "Unfortunately, you can't go out there and spray it all off," he says.A University of Virginia law student who said he was the victim of racial profiling by campus police now says he concocted the claim, U.Va. said in a release.
Johnathan Perkins, 25, admitted he made up the story that police stopped him on March 31 and mistreated him, according to the release issued Friday.
The Daily Progress of Charlottesville reports that Perkins did not respond to a request for comment.
Students walk on the University of Virginia campus earlier this year. (File photo: Rebecca Drobis/For The Washington Post)
“I wrote the article to bring attention to the topic of police misconduct,” Perkins wrote in a written statement to U.Va. officials. “The events in the article did not occur.”
During an investigation following Perkins’ allegation, campus police reviewed dispatch records, personnel rosters and police radio tapes.
“The student cooperated with the investigation,” U.Va. Police Chief Michael A. Gibson said. “But details and facts of his story came into question as the investigation unfolded.”
Gibson said he hopes Perkins’ false claims will not deter other students from coming forward if they have problems with police.
“I recognize that police misconduct does occur,” Gibson said in the release. “I want to send the message just how seriously we take such charges and that we will always investigate them with care and diligence.”
The university release said Perkins will not face criminal charges for making a false report.
He is scheduled to graduate in two weeks.
___
Information from: The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.comAn Oregon witness at Eugene reported watching and photographing a dark sphere UFO just above the tree line on an adjacent property, according to testimony in Case 71227 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness was looking out a kitchen window facing east when a dark object was first noticed above the tree line over a neighbor’s backyard at 9:24 a.m. on October 6, 2015.
“I had just enough time to get my camera and caught several in-focus images of a dark sphere or something round and dark,” the witness stated.“I was standing in the sliding glass doorway when I photographed the dark object before it moved behind a tree and I lost sight of the object.”
The witness filed a case with MUFON on October 7, 2015, and included three images: Image 1, Image 2 and Image
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amazing thing is that for his career, he also averages 2.9 per game but he hits 2.1 of his attempts. So with averaging 2.9 per game, Horford is contributing towards 13.96% of the overall.
The rookie John Jenkins is next time. Jenkins is averaging 89.5% from the line this year and hitting about.5 of them per game.Interesting stat is that while he has only attempted 19 this season, he has only missed 2. As you can guess, with the low attempts he only contributes to 2.1%.
Ivan is the next one on the list. Ivan is another case in which his shooting could be hurting the team since his 59% is way down from last year which was 72%. He seems to only get to the line almost 2 times a game while hitting just a little above one per game. Its low for him but he is contributing towards 7.1%
Surprisingly Kyle is shooting better than he was last year but still slightly below his career average this season which is at 83.7%. Now before you think that he is shooting terribly for him, you have to remember that he hardly gets to the line and each one of those rare misses will kill his average. If you didn't guess it, Kyle is getting to the line 1.2 times per game and hitting at exactly 1. So with Kyle hardly getting to the line, he only contributes to 5.4%
#22, I think his name is Anthony Morrow is shooting at 89% which is very close to his career average. Ammo is worse then Kyle in getting to the line since he only goes there.8 times per game and hitting at.7. So yeah this low number puts him at 2% for the team.
Next we have the man, the myth, the legend of ZAZA PACHULIA. Zaza is doing really well for him and shooting slightly above his career average at 74.1%. He gets to the line exactly 2 times an game and hits about 1.5 of those time. Zaza is doing good for him and contributing towards 9.4% towards the total team free throw percentage.
Well the cheese.....er Jannero Pargo A.K.A. this years 10 day contract man is shooting at a.................. PERFECT 100% by hitting all of the 2 free throws that he has attempted. He may only be contributing to.22% of the teams free throws, but hitting at 100% makes him not your............... Janneric point guard. (Yes I really wanted to put this in)
Petro is another one of those players that knows his role. He has attempted 3 free-throws this year and made all 3 of them shooting at 100% (feel free to add your jokes in the comment section). so yes with only taking 3, he is adding to only.33% of the free-throws for the Hawks.
The other rookie Mike Scott is shooting exactly at 75% for the season. He seems to be getting to the line more than I originally thought at 1.1 times per game and hitting.9 tomes. Oh yes and Great Scott his is contributing to 2.7% of the teams free throw percentage.
I feel like my next one needs to be a whole separate post and I'm sure this is the one that everyone reading this wants to see. So without waiting any further, I'll give you the number for Josh Smith. This year Josh is shooting an abysmal 49.7% from the line and is way below his career average. He has taken 175 shots from the line so far this year while getting to the line 4 times a game and hitting slightly below 2. Well I'm sure most of you are thinking that he is most of the reason that our team percentage is so low, well to let you officially know, Josh is responsible for a team high of 19.4% of the teams shooting.
Well I had to catch from breath from the last one before I moved onto everyone's favorite 3-point chucker Deshawn Stevenson. The 5 dollar bill man is shooting.............yes I'm reading this right..............38.5% from the line which is (I kid you not) his exact same percentage for 3 point land this year. Well in his defense Deshawn is attempting.4 shots from the line while hitting.2 of those times while only shooting 13 free throws this season. Well his low number only contributes to 1.4% of this teams free throws.
Next up we have the M-V-Teague himself. Jeff is shooting a career high of 86.4% from the line and getting to the line 2.5 times per game and hitting 2.2 of those times. Now in my opinion Jeff should've been to the line more, but let me stop before start a rant. Jeff's improved shooting is contributing to 13.1% towards this team overall percentage.
Anthony Tolliver, is the last healthy Hawk on the list. Tolliver is hitting slightly above his career average at 77.3%. He gets tot he line.7 times a game and makes a shot.6 of those times. His limited shooting as contributed to 2.4% of the teams overall percentage.
Finally last on the list we have Lou Williams. As I said in my last article, Lou is shooting a career high at 86.8%. Again he was getting to the line 3.1 times a game and making 2.6 of those shots. We will miss him because he contributed to 13.4% of the teams shots.
Well that's it and NOW YOU KNOW (I'm bringing it back). Hopefully now you guys can see who contributes to what and that some of these players are actually having a career year despite the overall percentage being so low. Oh yes and now you can join me in yelling at the T.V. who we should be giving the ball to in fouling situations. In the mean time enjoy the funny picture I found let me know of your thoughts.The CBC’s Canada Reads radio program was launched in 2001 with the intention of creating a national book club, a way to “get Canada reading.” And over the years it has enjoyed some success, becoming probably the most prominent platform for the discussion of Canadian books in the country.
In 2014, however, something interesting happened when the program announced a theme: pick the one book that could change the nation. For starters, not one of the five panelists was what might be considered, however loosely, a literary figure. And that’s fine. People like celebrities, so inviting a sports star, a television star, a film star, a former politician, and a rapper made a kind of sense. These are, theoretically, the kind of people who can be counted on to provide articulate and entertaining debate.
But then things got weird. Not only were the five panelists not bookish types, they weren’t even great readers, at least of novels (which is what they were discussing). Wab Kinew got the ball rolling in the prelims by announcing that while he reads “a lot” it was “mainly nonfiction.” I wonder if he was counting the internet. Then Stephen Lewis offered up his own mea culpa: “I don’t read, it’s the scourge of my life, I don’t read. I read reports from morning to night, I’m a philistine around literature.” Despite this confession of ignorance, however, Lewis still admitted to being in “awe” of Margaret Atwood, whose book, The Year of the Flood, he was promoting. Samantha Bee was next to chime in: “Let me tell you something, I’m a mother of three children and I don’t get to read.” No time, I guess. Moms have it tough. Then Olympic sprinter Donovan Bailey let us know something that we had, by now, probably already guessed: “I don’t read, or I don’t read a lot.”
Academics, for no good reason whatsoever, are expected to publish a great deal of stuff that nobody—and I mean nobody—reads.
By this point host Jian Ghomeshi was driven to make a joke about the situation: “I’m glad we populated the panel for Canada Reads with a bunch of people who don’t read.” What sorts of arguments, he wondered, would the panelists be making in defense of their picks? “I don’t read, ever, but just let me say this is a good book”?
Many believe we live in a post-literate age, one in which, writer Douglas Glover concludes, “books have become irrelevant.” Others disagree, some vehemently. His point is not, however, one I want to enter into a debate over. I don’t want to beat up on the degraded tastes of the common reader, analyse the impact of the digital revolution on reading habits, or make an appeal for the government to do more to address stubbornly high rates of illiteracy. What I find of most concern and significance is the rise in aliteracy—the growth of a population that can read but simply doesn’t want to.
Now there is nothing new about the fact of mass aliteracy. Writers like Daniel Boorstin, Richard Poirier, and Neil Postman were raising the alarm decades ago. In 1982 Poirier took it as axiomatic that in an affluent, democratic age “people have acquired enormous cultural power, but they do not exercise it by reading. Their cultural power is expressed by their choosing, as they could never have done before, not to read, or at least, not to read Literature.”
It is this exercise of choice that makes our own time different from previous eras of mass illiteracy, when the vast majority of people couldn’t read. The twenty-first century has lowered the bar still further as aliteracy has come out of the shadows, encouraged by its public, sometimes even proud, display—not just among our vulgar celebrity classes and undereducated young people but among the very people (the intellectual gatekeepers, tastemakers, and cultural elite) that previous generations looked to as role models. This “advanced aliteracy” is something new, and it has had damaging effects.
The author of the surprise bestseller How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, Pierre Bayard, is a standard-bearer for today’s highbrow aliterates. Bayard is a college professor of French literature, a position that paradoxically leaves him with “no way to avoid commenting on books that most of the time I haven’t even opened” (or, for that matter, has ever had any desire to open). And this is nothing he feels any shame or anxiety about. Not reading, Bayard believes, is in many cases preferable to reading and may allow for a superior form of literary criticism—one that is more creative and doesn’t run the risk of getting lost in all the messy details of a text. Actual books are thus “rendered hypothetical,” replaced by virtual books in phantom libraries that represent an inner, fantasy scriptorium or shared social consciousness.
Assuming that Bayard’s tongue isn’t stuck too far in his cheek, one can interpret his reasoning as an argument that not reading books can be a cultured activity in itself, a way of expressing one’s faith in and affection for literature. More often, however, top-down aliteracy only expresses weariness, cynicism, and even contempt for the written word.
My first exposure to this type of thinking came, naturally enough, while studying English literature in university. Academics, for no good reason whatsoever, are expected to publish a great deal of stuff that nobody—and I mean nobody—reads. Bayard, referencing David Lodge, is only stating the obvious when he says that most academics don’t read their colleagues’ work. I remember, as a grad student, visiting a professor who had been selected to read the publications of another scholar up for tenure at the same institution. I thought this seemed like a minor inconvenience, having assumed that my acquaintance was already familiar with much of the material since he published in the same area and was a friend of the tenure-seeker. But he was livid. “If they,” the tenure committee that had dropped this unwanted assignment in his lap, “think I’m going to waste any part of my weekend reading all that shit, they can think again!”
Our current system of higher education is in enough trouble without me piling on. The point I want to make here is that we shouldn’t expect much help from the professoriate in stemming the rising tide of educated aliteracy. Only ten years after leaving university, I went back and saw that the reading list for a course I had taken on the eighteenth-century novel had been cut in half. The core texts of the period (Tom Jones, Clarissa, Tristram Shandy) had been dropping like flies. “Why bother making Tom Jones a required text?” one professor responded when I mentioned my concern at all that was being lost. “They [the students] aren’t going to read it anyway.”
It’s hard to argue with thinking like that. Or with the professor of Canadian literature I met in a bookstore around the same time, who, upon my inquiring if he’d read a new Canadian novel I was interested in, responded as though I’d asked if he enjoyed molesting his children.
“I never read anything,” he replied, “unless I’m paid.”
In more recent years, however, theory has come to the rescue of our obviously overworked and underpaid academics and made the disposability of the text more respectable. Enter “distant reading.”
Kathryn Schultz, author of a 2011 piece in the New York Times, sets out to explain: in an age of information overload, with far too many books being published for any one person to get through, our only way of coping is to not read them. One imagines Bayard nodding his head. Stanford University literary scholar Franco Moretti, founder of a new school of computer-generated, quantitative macroanalysis of texts, has it all worked out:
We need distant reading, Moretti argues, because its opposite, close reading, can’t uncover the true scope and nature of literature. Let’s say you pick up a copy of Jude the Obscure, become obsessed with Victorian fiction and somehow manage to make your way through all 200-odd books generally considered part of that canon. Moretti would say: So what? As many as 60,000 other novels were published in 19th-century England—to mention nothing of other times and places. You might know your George Eliot from your George Meredith, but you won’t have learned anything meaningful about literature, because your sample size is absurdly small. Since no feasible amount of reading can fix that, what’s called for is a change not in scale but in strategy. To understand literature, Moretti argues, we must stop reading books.
There now. Wasn’t that easy?
Academic professionalism, however, is only a symptom, and a mostly harmless one at that, of a deeper cultural malaise. In 2008, in an essay in the Globe and Mail, author Russell Smith attacked the shortlist for that year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize on the grounds of its being characterized by “ecstatically lauded, good-for-you Canadian books... that you can’t bear to even begin.” This was, he went on to say, an opinion shared by many of his fellow writers—and if this gave “the impression that these Canadian fiction writers don’t have a whole lot of time for the work of their Canadian peers... that impression may well be correct.” Smith’s criticism of the shortlist, however, could go no further since he admitted he hadn’t read any of the books on it; indeed, he had no intention of ever reading them, and therefore couldn’t judge them.
Obviously he hadn’t been liberated by Bayard.
A year later it was fellow Globe columnist (and novelist) Leah McLaren’s turn:
It’s award season in book world. Short lists for the Triple Crown of Canadian literature—the Governor-General, the Giller and the Roger’s Writer’s Trust—have all been announced and the jury selections pored over like tea leaves in a mug. Ah, the comforting brew of Canadian literary culture. High in antioxidants, low in caffeine. Like everyone else, I have followed the coverage and pondered the obvious: When exactly did Douglas Coupland find time to write another novel? Who does Annabel Lyon’s hair? Is Margaret Atwood pissed? One thing I have not wondered, however, is which of the anointed books to add to my shelf, worthy efforts I’m sure they are. You read that right: This fall, I won’t be reading any of the books that are nominated for Canadian literary prizes. And I don’t feel guilty about it either.
No anxiety here! And McLaren’s friends, like Smith’s, certainly weren’t exerting any peer pressure on her to get with the reading program. She even quotes the opinion of one of them (another shortlist non-reader, one assumes) that the Gillers have thus far only been successful at “calcifying CanLit into a predictable brand.” Which is to say, good-for-you books that you can’t bear to even begin.
And this was before the anointing of The Bishop’s Man and The Sentimentalists as the very best this country has to offer!
Smith and McLaren aren’t the only ones who have taken a principled stand against reading the Giller shortlists, and I am, in fact, in complete agreement with their attitude toward most recent Giller nominees. I wouldn’t have read more than a couple of the books shortlisted from the past several years but for the fact that it was, occasionally, my job. But that’s the point. Some time ago a friend of mine, an author as well as a prolific book reviewer, was asked to compile a list of his Top Ten Books of the Year for a magazine feature. What surprised me about the list when it came out was the fact that I knew my friend held a very low opinion of many of the titles he had included.
So I popped the question: How many of those ten books—and mind you these were his cream of the crop—would he have read if he hadn’t been paid to read them?
His forthright answer: None.
John Metcalf’s concern seems apposite: “It has been borne in on me during the last forty years that it is unusual to find Canadian writers who even read other Canadian writers... If the country’s writers do not read each other—an aesthetic and competitive necessity, one would have thought—why should we expect an audience to read us? If writers do not care, why should anyone else?”
What we have here is a pathology we are hearing a lot more about in this openly aliterate age. British novelist and critic Geoff Dyer describes some of its symptoms:
I find it increasingly difficult to read. This year I read fewer books than last year; last year I read fewer than the year before; the year before I read fewer than the year before that. The phenomenon of writer’s block is well known, but what I am suffering from is reader’s block. The condition is creeping rather than chronic, manifesting itself in different ways in different circumstances. On a trip to the Bahamas recently, I regularly stopped myself from reading because whereas I could read a book anywhere, this was the only time I was likely to see sea so turquoise, sand so pink. Somewhat grandly, I call this the Mir syndrome, after the cosmonaut who said that he didn’t read a page of the book he’d taken to the space station because his spare moments were better spent gazing out of the window.
Do we smile or sigh at this? Shouldn’t authors be the kind of people who like to read—maybe not War and Peace (the book Dyer chooses as an example) but something, anything... even the in-flight magazine—in their spare time? Dyer, however, is atypical only in his mellow yearning to be the kind of person who still reads. At least he feels the tug of conscience as he turns away from the page to gaze at those fine pink beaches. Not so Philip Roth, who made his real feelings known, at least about reading novels, to an interviewer in 2011:
“I’ve stopped reading fiction. I don’t read it at all. I read other things: history, biography. I don’t have the same interest in fiction that I once did.” How so? “I don’t know. I wised up... ” And with those three words he gave me a long look from those fierce eyes and then a significant glance at my notebook, as if to say: that’s what I want you to write down.
“It’s a new attitude,” English professor and critic Mark Bauerlein concludes in The Dumbest Generation (2008), “this brazen disregard of books and reading.” But is it? Or is it just that we live in a more honest age? To be sure, the greater part of the literary production of any period is dross, and so commenting on contemporary writing is necessarily going to involve wading through a lot of muck that the common reader would be well advised to steer clear of. While it’s a dirty job, somebody, in the end, really does have to do it. Alas, these modern aliterates I’ve been talking about—authors, critics, academics, reviewers, editors, agents, prize jurors—are the professionals! That is, eminent literate people who can’t even be paid to read! What, given this culture of cynicism and indifference, this great closing of the literate mind, is the point of trying to instil a passion for Canadian writing among the masses? If the professionals don’t care, as John Metcalf would say, why should anyone else? Shouldn’t they “wise up”: take their cue from the happily aliterate who feast on pop culture’s groaning buffet tables of empty calories and decide that this whole “reading” thing is vastly overrated? Are they wrong in choosing to do other things in their free time, like going to the gym, watching movies, playing videogames, or surfing the internet?
While I can certainly sympathize, at least to some extent, with their decision to forego reading, I think they are wrong to give up on it so completely. Make no mistake: there is some great writing being published in this country, and an argument could be made that it is (miraculously, I think, under the circumstances) getting even better. This is a point worth underlining, as there’s a commonly held misconception that if only our writers wrote better books then things would have never come to such a pass and aliteracy wouldn’t be such a problem. Nonsense. Today’s best writers are as good as, or better, than the writers of any previous period in Canadian literature—superior even, I would argue, to the generation that came of age in the 1960s and ’70s. It’s the culture that has changed. The audience has left the building.
Meanwhile, without readers we have been easily misled, sold a bill of goods: a process assisted by the critical cloaking device I mentioned earlier. Without any guides or responsible source of critical authority we stick with legacy brands and familiar names. We complain about the lack of literary debate in this country without stopping to ask who is going to do the work of reading what it is we’re supposed to be debating—that is, if we assume reading is still necessary for such a conversation.
I think it is. Criticism can’t exist in a vacuum. There has to be a common, shared mental infrastructure to support it. Most of all, it still requires readers.
Such a critical mass doesn’t exist for Canadian fiction, though it does in the field of poetry. In the last few years there have been a number of first-rate, non-academic collections of essays on Canadian poetry published by critics like Zachariah Wells, James Pollock, Jason Guriel, and Michael Lista. I’ll confess I feel more than a bit of envy at all of this activity. While this has been going on, where were all the books dedicated to contemporary Canadian fiction?
I think that part of the explanation for the field being this open is the simple fact that it’s next to impossible to find people willing to read enough contemporary Canadian fiction to be able to comment on it. When I was working on the essays in my book Revolutions I had discussions with a couple of critics who had published fairly extensively in the field of contemporary Canadian fiction. When I mentioned the centrality of well-known figures like Douglas Coupland and David Adams Richards, however, they were dismissive. They didn’t think Coupland and Richards were very important.
They also hadn’t read a word of either author.
It’s hard to overstate how pervasive the problem of aliteracy is among our former literary classes, not just in this country but throughout the English-speaking world. Perhaps a few stray examples I’ve gathered will help give you some idea of where we’re at.
In 2002 Tom Bissell wrote an essay that appeared on the Salon website. It began as follows:
Whether one chooses to admit it or not, every reader has a secret list of writers one is, for whatever reason, incapable of reading. To get it over with, what follows is my own: Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Henry James, Jane Austen, Samuel Becket... already embarrassment keeps me from going on. For a long time, I was careful to keep this information from falling into the wrong hands—praising Faulkner, comparing work unfavorably with Beckett’s, nodding indulgently at mentions of Morrison. But secrets are nothing if not what we carefully choose to share, and thus I would, if pressed, admit that Morrison, excepting her strong early work, struck me as suffering from a terminal case of allegorical bloat; that Faulkner, perhaps the streakiest writer to have ever lived, seemed to me only intermittently good; that, despite his staggering descriptive gifts, even James’ shorter work left me feeling as though a very large screw indeed were turning into my brain; that Austen made me certain I would never care this much about my own wedding, much less the weddings of people who do not exist; and that not even Beckett’s inarguable brilliance could relieve me of the suspicion that his godless pose was one of effortful heresy. Shockingly, the truth is that, with the exception of Morrison’s Beloved (a novel I was assigned to read no fewer than six times in college), I have never actually finished a book by any of these writers. In the case of Faulkner and James, I admit, God help me, to having never read more than a dozen sequential pages of their work. For a literate person to make such an admission is, I imagine, distressing to these writers’ many devotees. For a former book editor and fiction writer to make such an admission is, I do not doubt, enough to have me dragged before a literary tribunal and stoned.
What are we to make of this? Bissell takes what amounts to drive-by shots at some big names, but what weight can be given to his opinions—and he has opinions—when he hasn’t read the authors in question? Faulkner is “perhaps the streakiest writer to have ever lived”? This is a judgment based on... what? Skimming a dozen pages of one of his books? The slaughtering of sacred cows is a ritual activity I enjoy and usually encourage, but Bissell’s brash aliteracy is depressing. As he notes, he is both an author and editor himself (writing for prestigious journals such as Harper’s and The Virginia Quarterly Review), but he feels quite comfortable in not having read the major authors whose work he insults. He even concludes his essay by saying that he never will. I’m reminded of a passage in the critic (and proud aliterate) Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself to Live where, when a girlfriend starts talking about The Merchant of Venice, he tells us that he has “never read The Merchant of Venice, and I’ll never read it, and I don’t even care what the fuck it’s about.” Indeed, Klosterman secretly suspects that he hates reading: “sometimes it feels like something I’m forever forcing myself to do (and for reasons I don’t understand)... Nobody’s paying me to read, you know?” So there.
Attempting to explain what has changed in the current cultural climate to make aliteracy so prevalent among young people like himself, Bissell adverts to the growth in “the average college student’s sense of entitlement”:
Thirty years ago, a student unresponsive to James may have swallowed “Brooksmith” like spinach, afraid of what a public dislike of James might have revealed. Since many students today regard their role as that of a freely discerning consumer, disliking James is as easy as sending back an overdone fillet. I tried, at any rate, to read “Brooksmith” in preparation for this essay. Two pages were enough to give me over to unbidden thoughts about the necessity of cleaning my clothes dryer’s lint trap.
The sense of entitlement presents “the average college student” with a choice, and the choice being made is not to read. Furthermore, the takeaway from Bissell is clear: this means that the average college student has wised up. And this is not just someone from the corporate world speaking. Here is a prominent, educated, literary commentator who admits that he hasn’t read the great books he is shooting down and it doesn’t matter. The entitled college student can still have his or her opinions, opinions which are worth just as much as anyone else’s.
And so for critics like Bissell and Klosterman, reading is an unnecessary and time-consuming annoyance. The image of being punished by a literary tribunal is drollery; the exact opposite is the case. If Bissell had not made such an admission of aliteracy, his essay would never have been published in the first place. Instead of addressing a community of readers, Bissell addresses a community of non-readers, which guarantees him a larger audience.
Now let’s move across the pond and take the British novelist Tom McCarthy. After the runaway success of Remainder (2001), McCarthy became something of a cult figure on the Brit Lit scene well known for making provocative comments on literary matters. Inspired by the manifestoes of various modernist groups, he attacked “bourgeois, liberal, humanist fiction,” especially the kind written by Martin Amis and Ian McEwan.
Which is all well and good (unless, I suppose, you’re Amis or McEwan). The problem is that McCarthy, at least at the time he was making these charges, was reported not to have read either author.
Obviously John Metcalf’s supposition that reading is a “necessity” for authors (or critics, or academics, or anyone else for that matter) was naive. There is no competition or anxiety of influence among the aliterate. But here’s the thing: a progressive cultural dialectic doesn’t work unless one is responding to a position or point of view that is at least partially understood, or understood enough to be creatively misunderstood. You don’t get to skip a stage. And so it’s no surprise at all that a book like McCarthy’s C doesn’t move us a scratch beyond Amis or McEwan, but instead presents us with a flat retread of Pynchonian hijinks and French poststructuralism.
A final example: in 2015 the art critic for the Guardian, Jonathan Jones, wrote a brief piece disparaging the work of the late Terry Pratchett. Here’s how it begins (you will, by now, be familiar with the passive-aggressive voice):
It does not matter to me if Terry Pratchett’s final novel is a worthy epitaph or not, or if he wanted it to be pulped by a steamroller. I have never read a single one of his books and I never plan to. Life’s too short. No offence, but Pratchett is so low on my list of books to read before I die that I would have to live a million years before getting round to him. I did flick through a book by him in a shop, to see what the fuss is about, but the prose seemed very ordinary.
Jones was savaged for this online, though he had at least one prominent defender in an editor at The Paris Review. In the wake of the outcry over Jones’s article, Dan Piepenbring wrote a thoughtful blog post, “On the Pleasures of Not Reading,” where he offered the opinion that
beneath [Jones’s] hauteur is a useful point, one that much of literary culture, in its glad-handing, is at pains to admit. There are writers we instinctively, permanently dislike: not only will we never read them, we will quietly relish the not-reading, finding in it a pleasure that can occasionally rival reading itself.
Again we see the point made by Bayard and reinforced by many others: not only is the act of not reading nothing to be ashamed of, but it may even be a superior form of intellectual activity. Furthermore, and this is a point worth emphasizing as it marks a ground shift in our critical culture, the opinions one expresses about books one hasn’t read are every bit as valid as those held by someone who has read them. So what’s the point of reading? Life’s too short.
And as for Pratchett, he is dead.
But who, to repeat my earlier question, are we to debate these matters with? One can’t argue with Bissell about Faulkner or James; discuss Amis and McEwan with McCarthy; tell Klosterman he should pick up some Shakespeare; or defend the merits of Pratchett against Jonathan Jones. They’re just not interested. Indeed, they don’t seem to be interested in much of anything aside from airing their own uninformed opinions. This is an attitude characteristic of the internet—where it seems everyone has an opinion to express no matter how little they know about a subject.
All of this uninformed discourse has been profoundly damaging to our literary ecosystem. By abandoning its subject matter, criticism has rendered itself without purpose, value, or meaning. We have created a void, and what has rushed to fill it is either ignorant bloviating or, even worse, the manipulations of self-interested parties, now free to operate without checks or balances. Such hollowness may be comfortable—not reading is easier than reading—but it cannot be sustained. What scares me is that the rot now so much in evidence at the top of the food chain is the result of what have been bottom-up cultural forces. Which means we really have nothing to fall back on as well as no guides left to urge a change of course.
Excerpted from Revolutions: Essays on Contemporary Canadian Fiction. © 2017. Published by Biblioasis. All rights reserved.A spokeswoman for the minister said he did not object to the content of the largely crowd-funded film. A still from Gayby Baby that fuelled controversy as it was distributed to parents on a flyer at Burwood Girls High School. She said the decision was taken to avoid students missing out on class and that screening the film may be considered if it is an integral part of the planned curriculum for an age appropriate year group. The state-wide ban comes after the Minister personally intervened to prevent Burwood Girls High in Sydney's inner-west screening the film to 1200 students on Friday morning, in the wake of a front page Daily Telegraph story about the controversy on Wednesday. Fairfax Media understands four emails from parents were sent to the school expressing concern about the screening.
The film's director, former Burwood Girls High student Maya Newell, said that minister's decision had sent the wrong message to children who may be feeling ostracised. Students at Burwood Girls High School are among those who participate in the Proud Schools program. Credit:Janie Barrett "This is a film about kids who are growing up, they just happen to have gay parents," she said. "The minister could have told all these families that they are equal and respected. He chose not to do that." Mr Piccoli has previously been a vocal supporter of programs that target homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism. NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Louie Douvis
Wear it Purple day founder Katherine Hudson said she could understand the film being banned if it showed "grotesque sex scenes or violence". "But this is a film about families. Even for conservatives, this stuff would be easy to swallow," she said. On Tuesday the film screened inside NSW Parliament as part of the opening for the LGBTI ( lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) friendship group at the state legislature, after sell-out sessions at the Sydney Film Festival, and in Canada and New Zealand. The ban follows complaints from some parents and religious groups including the Presbyterian church, which criticised the school for planning to screen a film which "promotes a gay lifestyle". Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said the minister's decision to prevent the film from being shown during school hours was "absurd and deeply disappointing".
"From a personal perspective, if I had seen a film that showed that gay and lesbian people can have loving and stable families and are just as normal as everyone else, that would have a positive and profound impact on my confidence and self identity. "It is not a controversial film. It just shows that rainbow families are just as normal as any other," he said. The NSW Department of Education guidelines on film screenings do not prohibit showing films with homosexual themes and advise that films with an M+ rating can be shown at the discretion of the principal. Gayby Baby has been rated PG. The department's policy on controversial issues maintains schools should avoid creating "arenas for opposing political views or ideology". On Wednesday the NSW Premier Mike Baird said he did not believe the film belonged in the classroom.
"I think tolerance is a good thing. But I think there should be some parameters around it," he said. "This is something that can be provided but done outside class time."We are now €1.64 trillion in the red, says CSO
The eye-popping figure excludes the assets also owned by the same organisations. The figures is €37.9bn less than the total debts back in March.
The CSO added that general government foreign borrowing decreased by €1.2bn, from €130.9bn to €129.7bn, at the end of June thanks to the repayment of bonds worth around €5.3bn.
The Central Bank's debts of €57bn are almost all connected to so-called emergency lending, which is given to our banks but underwritten by the Central Bank through various programmes such as the TARGET2 settlement system. That's €3.1bn less than it was at the end of the first quarter.
Debt liabilities of banks and money market funds were €277.3bn at the end of June, a decrease of €21.3bn compared with the end of March.
The liabilities of companies and households decreased by €4.5bn but still stood at €877.7bn, which represented 54pc of the total debt at the end of June 2013. Direct investment liabilities
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not for #GamerGate, I would not have felt the need to lend my support 20oz at all in the first place, and you would not be laying eyes upon this text at this very moment.
The gamer lives on in all of us, because we say it lives on. We will not be told our identity is dead, nor that we are “evil” by bullying tactics and ad hominem attacks. We will persevere, and they will never break us. If we survived the barrens run of WoW, the voice chat of XBox Live or CoD, and the forums of League of Legends, what makes them think they even hold anything in their verbal arsenal that could harm us anyway?
And so, dear gamers, game on, and let us go out this evening for pleasure. The night is still young.
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TumblrWith a crazy-fast reset, nearly nonexistent over-travel, and a smoother, crisper, lighter trigger pull, the RA-535 Advanced Performance Trigger APT helps you fire more quickly and accurately. The single-stage trigger group is easy to install.
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Manufactured and assembled in their facility according to strict AS9100 aerospace requirements, which are more stringent than standard gun manufacturing requirements
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Contained in RISE Armament’s signature bright red 8625 hardcoat anodized aluminum housing(Last Updated On: February 18, 2019)
This is the third part of the optimistic locking series, and I will discuss how we can implement the automatic retry mechanism when dealing with JPA repositories. You can find the introductory part here and the MongoDB implementation here.
JPA requires running the Persistence Context code inside a Transaction, and if our Transaction Manager catches a RuntimeException, it initiates the rollback process. This makes the Persistence Context unusable since we should discard it along with the roll-backed Transaction.
Therefore it’s safer to retry the business logic operation when we are not within a running Transaction.
For this, we altered our @Retry annotation as
public @interface Retry { Class<? extends Exception>[] on(); int times() default 1; boolean failInTransaction() default true; }
We here added the failInTransaction property which is set to true by default.
The Aspect was also changed to take into consideration the new annotation property.
private Object proceed( ProceedingJoinPoint pjp, Retry retryAnnotation) throws Throwable { int times = retryAnnotation.times(); Class<? extends Throwable>[] retryOn = retryAnnotation.on(); Assert.isTrue(times > 0, "@Retry{times} should be greater than 0!"); Assert.isTrue(retryOn.length > 0, "@Retry{on} should have at least one Throwable!"); if (retryAnnotation.failInTransaction() && TransactionSynchronizationManager.isActualTransactionActive()) { throw new IllegalTransactionStateException( "You shouldn't retry an operation from withing an existing Transaction." + "This is because we can't retry if the current Transaction was already rollbacked!"); } LOGGER.info( "Proceed with {} retries on {}", times, Arrays.toString(retryOn) ); return tryProceeding(pjp, times, retryOn); }
If we are running inside a Transaction and we don’t suppress the default safe-check we then throw an IllegalTransactionStateException, notifying the caller that’s safer to retry if the Transaction is contained in the proceeding service call, without nesting our intercepting aspect.
This utility is part of my db-util project along with the MongoDB optimistic concurrency control retry mechanism.
Since it’s already available in Maven Central Repository, you can easily use it by just adding this dependency to your pom.xml:
<dependency> <groupId>com.vladmihalcea</groupId> <artifactId>db-util</artifactId> <version>0.0.1</version> </dependency>
You can configure the optimistic retry as simple as this:
@Retry(times = 10, on = OptimisticLockException.class) public Product updateName( final Long id, final String name) { return transactionTemplate.execute( new TransactionCallback<Product>() { @Override public Product doInTransaction( TransactionStatus status) { Product product = entityManager.find(Product.class, id); product.setName(name); LOGGER.info("Updating product {} name to {}", product, name); product = entityManager.merge(product); entityManager.flush(); return product; } } ); }
Running a JUnit test which schedules 10 threads to update the same entity will generate optimistic locking exceptions and this what the test outputs.
Line 102: INFO [Thread-3]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 103: INFO [Thread-12]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 104: INFO [Thread-9]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 105: INFO [Thread-6]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 109: INFO [Thread-9]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 8 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 110: INFO [Thread-7]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 114: INFO [Thread-3]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 8 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 115: INFO [Thread-5]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 117: INFO [Thread-11]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 9 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 118: INFO [Thread-6]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 8 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 123: INFO [Thread-7]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 8 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 124: INFO [Thread-5]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 8 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 126: INFO [Thread-11]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 8 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException] Line 129: INFO [Thread-5]: v.c.a.OptimisticConcurrencyControlAspect - Optimistic locking detected, 7 remaining retries on [class javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException]
If you enjoyed this article, I bet you are going to love my Book and Video Courses as well.
So we reused the same optimistic locking retry logic we first implemented for our MongoDB batch processors, proving we can easily implement such behavior even for JPA repositories.
Code available on GitHub.
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NEW YORK -- Despite sweltering heat and barely tolerable humidity, hundreds marched through New York City on Thursday to protest against mass spying by the U.S. National Security Agency.
About 500 people met in Union Square to listen to a number of privacy advocates and civil liberties groups discuss Fourth Amendment rights as they stand today, in light of recent revelations about the U.S. government's spying capability.
The government has been embroiled in an international diplomatic crisis over its intelligence agencies' spying on foreign nationals. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on a number of programs the U.S. employs to acquire masses of data on citizens around the world, including those in the European Union.
According to the organizers, Independence Day is a poignant day to protest in support of citizens' constitutional rights for protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, which they claim have been eroded under both the Bush and Obama administrations.
The U.K. government was also embroiled in the NSA spying saga after its Cheltenham-based listening station GCHQ was found to have tapped undersea fiber optic cables, in an operation code-named Tempora.
And the European Parliament on Thursday voted to give the European Commission authority, should it wish to use it, to suspend data-sharing agreements between Europe and the U.S., including SWIFT banking data and passenger name records (PNR) data. The U.S. government believes PNR data is vital for preventing terrorists from landing in the U.S. Should the agreement be put on ice, it could ground planes between the two continents.
People of all ages, from children to elderly folk, joined in the march, which snaked through the midtown area of Manhattan. The police presence was heavy -- more so to control the traffic than the crowds. Many marchers were chanting slogans, but the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly.
More than 100 protests are being held around the U.S. and Europe, as far as San Francisco; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; London; and Munich, according to the Restore the Fourth group.
The protesters are calling for an end to dragnet surveillance conducted by U.S. intelligence agencies, an investigation into domestic spying, and accountability on the part of public officials for what the protestors call this "unconstitutional surveillance."
Also, in a move reminiscent of the anti-SOPA actions of 2012, dozens of popular and high-profile Web sites, such as Mozilla, Reddit, WordPress, and Imgur, joined in publicly protesting the scope and reach of the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which paved the way for NSA programs like PRISM.Help What is a Location?
The name Location simply refers to any type of place to explore. A building, tunnel, cave, field... whatever comes to mind.
What is the UE Location Database?
The UE Location Database is located at the Urban Exploration Resource (uer.ca). It allows anyone to create a new Location, upload pictures and stories, and much more.
Since when is this around?
The UE Location Database was officially opened on July 30th, 2003.
Icon Help What do those little icons mean?
These icons can help you keep track of any changes to the Locations since you last looked at them. They appear in combinations to mean more than one thing.
Nothing new.
There has been a change to the location itself
There is a new comment or new post in a thread you've already seen
There is a new thread, picture, or story.
There is a new location which you have not yet seen.A bid to remove Toronto planning decisions from the oversight of the Ontario Municipal Board deserves support, city councillors say.
Ontario’s capital city has a strong planning department which should be accountable to the public for how the city evolves, said Councillor Adam Vaughan.
Vaughan and Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam held a city hall news conference Thursday to support a move by a Toronto MPP to exempt the city from the municipal board, which hears appeals of planning decisions.
Toronto could set up its own appeals body under private member’s legislation being pushed at Queen’s Park by New Democrat Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina).
Vaughan said the current system lets councillors off the hook by allowing them to pretend to oppose unpopular developments while knowing they will likely be approved on appeal to the OMB.Small amounts of electricity can be produced from tears and other substances thanks to a new method discovered by scientists.
Pressure is used to create energy from protein crystals found in the saliva, milk and tears of mammals as well as the egg whites of birds. The energy generated could be used to power medical implants which release drugs into the body, researchers at the University of Limerick’s Bernal Institute said.
“The impact of this discovery in the field of biological piezoelectricity will be huge and Bernal scientists are leading from the front the progress in this field,” said Professor Luuk van der Wielen.
Piezoelectricity is a property of materials like quartz that can convert mechanical energy into electricity and vice versa. It is already used to create vibration in mobile phones and ultrasound imaging.
Piezoelectricity has been used to generate energy from gravity by perpetually unbalancing a weight at the top of a system to generate energy at the bottom.
The capacity to generate electricity from this particular protein has not thus far been explored. Because it is a biological material it is non-toxic and could have innovative applications involving medical implants, lead researcher Aimee Stapleton said.
The high precision structure of lysozyme crystals has been known since 1965. They are easily made from natural sources.
Professor Tofail Syed from the University’s Physics Department said: “Crystals are the gold-standard for measuring piezoelectricity in non-biological materials. Our team has shown that the same approach can be taken in understanding this effect in biology.”
The team have been investigating simple fundamental building blocks creating piezoelectricity.
The discovery may have wide-reaching applications and could lead to further research into energy harvesting and flexible electronics for biomedical devices. Future applications of the discovery may include controlling the release of drugs in the body by using lysozyme as a pump that scavenges energy from its surroundings, the report authors added.
It may present an alternative to conventional piezoelectric energy harvesters, many of which contain toxic elements such as lead.Andrews sets out leadership challenge
Updated
Challenger Kevin Andrews has threatened to delay a vote on the Government's emissions trading scheme if he unseats Malcolm Turnbull in a possible Liberal leadership spill this afternoon.
Mr Turnbull has put his leadership on the line by calling a party room meeting for 1pm AEDT to decide on whether or not there will be a leadership spill.
Mr Andrews has confirmed he will run if a spill is called after the initial show of hands in the party room. But Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey say they will not stand against Mr Turnbull.
Speaking at Parliament House this lunchtime, Mr Andrews said he was offering to stand because he did not believe that Mr Turnbull's decision to back the Government on emissions trading represented the views of the majority of Liberal Party members.
Mr Andrews said he would refuse to back the emissions scheme in the Senate this week if he was elected.
"The reason I'm doing this is because I believe that the decision, or the reported decision that was taken yesterday did not reflect the views of the majority of Liberal Party members throughout Australia about this issue.
"[The ETS scheme would] make the GST pale into insignificance in terms of its impost on the nation."
He said he would withdraw support for the emissions trading scheme if elected as leader, and would seek to send the legislation back to a Senate committee for more scrutiny.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said he wants the legislation passed by the end of the week before parliament rises for the Christmas break.
Mr Andrews denied suggestions he was not a legitimate leadership candidate.
"I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't want the job," he said.
And he said he was "quite sceptical" on whether humans were causing climate change.
"The jury is still out."
The ABC has confirmed that three senators who have previously spoken out against supporting the ETS have offered their resignations from the frontbench - Mitch Fifield, Brett Mason and Mathias Cormann.
Mr Andrews has held the Victorian seat of Menzies since 1991.
He first rose to prominence in 1996 by sponsoring the private members bill to overturn Northern Territory legislation legalising euthanasia, and is a prominent member of the now-defunct conservative Christian Liberal faction, the Lyons Forum.
Mr Andrews has also been outspoken in his opposition to a number of birth control reforms as well as the use of human stem cells for research.
In the Howard Government he served as minister for ageing, before being appointed the minister for employment and workplace relations and finally immigration minister.
It was during his tenure as immigration minister that Mr Andrews came under fire for his handling of the Mohamed Haneef scandal.
He has also been criticised for his outspoken stance on Muslim immigration, recently being branded as racist for his claims Muslim immigrants were not assimilating into the community.
Mr Turnbull last night stamped his authority on the party by declaring it would support the Government's revamped emissions trading scheme and vote for it this week.
This morning he reiterated his position that there was a clear majority from the party room endorsing his position and dismissed calls for a spill, saying there was no credible support for one.
The initial motion for a spill has been brought on by backbenchers Wilson Tuckey and Dennis Jensen, who were calling for a party room meeting tomorrow morning.
But a party room meeting to have a vote on Mr Tuckey's motion today was later confirmed by Mr Turnbull's office.
Mr Turnbull's earlier refusal to agree to hold the meeting prompted accusations from Mr Tuckey he was running from a ballot.
"I know now that Malcolm Turnbull has dodged the spill he said we should call," Mr Tuckey told ABC 2.
"Yes, I'm destabilising the Opposition leadership - quite deliberately - but during proper process. Yes, it'll shut me up if the party endorses him, but if he doesn't front, it won't shut me up.
Mr Tuckey says Mr Turnbull's leadership must be tested with a vote and he believes the numbers in the party room yesterday were clearly against the scheme.
"I've never, ever, seen the day when the leader would question whether we're going to have a meeting as called," he said.
"He believes that he's been elected and nobody else's opinion matters
"In my opinion he will continue to drag us to a position where we'll be lucky to return to this place with 10 or 12 seats and he won't be one of them."
Mr Jensen has accused Mr Turnbull of "ripping our party apart" and says there is more support within the party for a spill than just him and Mr Tuckey.
"This is something that happened as a result of the behaviour of Malcolm last night," he said.
Mr Turnbull has refused to spell out how many spoke for and against the scheme but Dr Jensen says the numbers who spoke against were "well over 40".
Meanwhile, another backbencher Peter Slipper has likened Mr Turnbull to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.
"Look, the result of the party meeting as declared by the leader last night was about as dodgy as a Zimbabwean election organised by Robert Mugabe," he said.
But senior shadow cabinet members have rallied around Mr Turnbull this morning, scoffing at suggestions there are any serious challengers who could topple Mr Turnbull.
"If a meeting arises Malcolm will secure the numbers comfortably," climate change spokesman Ian Macfarlane said.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, emissions-trading, climate-change, government-and-politics, federal-government, liberals, turnbull-malcolm
First postedMandatory Drug Testing
Pittsburgh, PA-It’s the usual tale of hypocrisy and double-standards that have always been part of the “war on drugs,” only this time with a slightly ironic twist. The union representing Pittsburgh police officers has filed a grievance against workplace drug and alcohol testing, claiming that forcing cops to mandatory drug testing is a violation of their Constitutional rights.
Union attorney Bryan Campbell describes the testing policy as “an illegal search and seizure,” and thus a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The remarkable thing is that the policy the union is up in arms about is shockingly small.
There’re only three circumstances under which a police officer is compelled to submit to a drug and alcohol test. 1. Displaying signs of impairment, 2. Discharging a weapon, or 3. Being involved in a vehicle crash. That’s it!
The union’s complaint arises from a recent pursuit that ended in a car crash. Two officers who participated in the chase but were not directly involved in the crash were required to undergo testing.
But critics are claiming the complaint is clearly an assertion of “Blue Privilege,” the idea that law enforcement officers needn’t be accountable to the laws they swear to uphold.
The result has been a firestorm of back-and-forth posturing and maneuvering.
Police Chief Cameron McLay insists that the terms of the contract allow him to require tests of all officers involved in a pursuit, irrespective of whether they were also involved in a collision.
But union attorney Campbell suggests that the city is sacrificing the rights of his clients to protect itself in the event of a lawsuit: “They don’t forfeit their constitutional rights to protect the city from civil liability.”
But the seriousness of filing a civil rights grievance may also be a tactic to stave off public accountability of the substances used by police officers.
In other words, cops might be getting so defensive because the do have something to hide: not drugs or alcohol, but anabolic steroids.
Police officers aren’t unfamiliar with “Vitamin S,” and many have been caught using the rage-inducing hormones and even in some cases, selling them.Osgood Perkins is now one of my top indie filmmakers.
Even though he penned the awful, terrible, no-good The Girl in the Photographs (it’s clear that the director destroyed his script), Osgood’s directorial debut, The Blackcoat’s Daughter (February), landed in my list of best genre films of 2015.
After Blackcoat, I cannot wait to see what comes next. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long.
Netflix acquired Perkins’ I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, which stars Academy Award Nominee Bob Balaban (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom), Lucy Boynton (February) and Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson (“The Affair,” Saving Mr. Banks), and will release it on their streaming service October 28th.
Bloody Disgusting has the exclusive trailer premiere for I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, which follows Lily (Wilson), a young nurse hired to care for elderly Helen Bloom, a best-selling author of ghost stories who has chosen to live out her final days in her beloved country home – a home that holds an horrific ghost story of its own.
Joe Lipsett reviewed the film out of the Toronto International Film Festival, calling it a “slow-burn ghost story” that’s “a brazen, confident sophomore effort from Perkins.”Breath:
Life is all about breathing, yet breath and its benefits are often left unnoticed. Inhale and exhale are common across different forms of life on our planet. Animals breathe, plants breathe; Even mother earth itself breathes … she be alive! The only thing that varies from one form of life to another is the duration and speed of breathing.
Inhale-Exhale loop:
Breathing cycle
Inhaling starts, a tiny pause and then the exhale begins that ends in another pause; Inhale-pause-exhale-pause, and then repeat. Or in other words, expansion, point of stillness, shrinking and then another point of stillness. This simple cycle explains life. Breathing includes two opposite forces, push & pull: pulling the air in and pushing it out. The air that comes in and goes out is the same air, only we change during this flow. And since it is the same air, it connects all of us together.
Push-Pull Operation:
Push & pull is a pretty interesting concept on its own, but it has been a major source of suffering for us recently: pulling things into our lives and pushing things out. I want this burrito, I can’t stand this boy, I need this car, etc. It is a circle of suffering that doesn’t allow us to be happy with what surrounds us, causing our minds to constantly process things it wants to pull in or things it wants to push out.
It’s intriguing how this circle is included in breathing. I tend to think if you come to understand this circle, the ramifications are awesome! Buddha became enlightened on this simple yet so hard, breathing technique and managed to free himself from the circle of suffering.
Life&Death:
OSHO
Breathing, includes life & death too! If you associate the inhale with life, the exhale is death! But how about the pause point in the middle? Osho explains this beautifully in his book of wisdom: it is the moment when neither life nor death exists! It is the point where cosmic energy flows in you and all you need to do is to simply be aware.
Universe:
Come to think of it, our universe may be breathing too! Based on the Big Bang Theory, we know our universe is expanding. Maybe our universe is in its inhale phase and there will be a point where expansion stops and shrinking begins and maybe then we will reunite with the Big Bang again and another breath/BigBang will form.
The history of the universe starting with the BigBang. credit : grandunificationtheory.com
Given the new astounding discovery, our universe is apparently expanding at an accelerating rate. If you compare it to breath, this might makes sense. Toward the end of inhale, the speed increases and the chest expands faster.
Why and how this breathing mechanism started and evolved is beyond me, but understanding and observing it seem to help us in many ways to live a fuller, happier and more connected life ☺
Namaste
PouriaOverview of Services Installed by Exchange Setup
7 minutes to read
In this article
Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
During the installation of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Setup runs a set of tasks that install new services. A service is a background process that can be launched during operating system startup by the Service Control Manager in Microsoft Windows. Services are executable files designed to operate independently and without administrative intervention. A service can run using either a graphical user interface (GUI) mode or a console mode.
Services aren't new to Exchange 2010. All previous versions of Exchange included components implemented as services. Each server role includes services that are part of, or may be needed by, the server role to perform its functions. Although Setup installs all services whether they're immediately needed or not, some services only become active when specific features are used.
The following table lists by name and by short name the various services installed by Exchange 2010. Also included is a description of each service, the server role that installs the service, and whether the service is required or optional. In the table, optional means that the service is installed by Setup, but you can disable it if you determine that the function provided by the service isn't needed by your organization.
Services installed by Exchange Setup
Service name Service short name Security context Description and dependencies Default startup type Server roles Required (R) or optional (O) Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology MSExchangeADTopology Local System Provides Active Directory topology information to Exchange services. If this service is stopped, most Exchange services are unable to start. This service has no dependencies. Automatic Mailbox, Hub Transport, Client Access, Unified Messaging R Microsoft Exchange ADAM ADAM_MSExchange Network Service Stores configuration data and recipient data on the Edge Transport server. This service represents the named instance of Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (AD LDS) that's automatically created by Setup during Edge Transport server installation. This service is dependent upon the COM+ Event System service. Automatic Edge Transport R Microsoft Exchange Address Book MSExchangeAB Local System Manages client address book connections. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Client Access R Microsoft Exchange Anti-spam Update MSExchangeAntispamUpdate Local System Provides the Microsoft Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server anti-spam update service. On Hub Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. On Edge Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange ADAM service. Automatic Hub Transport, Edge Transport O Microsoft Exchange Credential Service MSExchangeEdgeCredential Local System Monitors credential changes in AD LDS and installs the changes on the Edge Transport server. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange ADAM service. Automatic Edge Transport R Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync MSExchangeEdgeSync Local System Connects to an AD LDS instance on subscribed Edge Transport servers over a secure LDAP channel to synchronize data between a Hub Transport server and an Edge Transport server. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. If Edge Subscription isn't configured, this service can be disabled. Automatic Hub Transport O Microsoft Exchange File Distribution MSExchangeFDS Local System Distributes offline address book (OAB) and custom Unified Messaging prompts. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology and Workstation services. Automatic Client Access, Unified Messaging R Microsoft Exchange Forms-Based Authentication MSExchangeFBA Local System Provides forms-based authentication to Microsoft Office Outlook Web App and the Exchange Control Panel. If this service is stopped, Outlook Web App and the Exchange Control Panel won't authenticate users. This service has no dependencies. Automatic Client Access R Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 MSExchangeIMAP4 Network Service Provides IMAP4 service to clients. If this service is stopped, clients won't be able to connect to this computer using the IMAP4 protocol. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Manual Client Access O Microsoft Exchange Information Store MSExchangeIS Local System Manages the Exchange Information Store. This includes mailbox databases and public folder databases. If this service is stopped, mailbox databases and public folder databases on this computer are unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start. This service is dependent on the RPC, Server, Windows Event Log, and Workstation services. Automatic Mailbox R Microsoft Exchange Mail Submission Service MSExchangeMailSubmission Local System Submits messages from the Mailbox server to Exchange 2010 Hub Transport servers. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Mailbox R Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Assistants MSExchangeMailboxAssistants Local System Performs background processing of mailboxes in the Exchange store. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Mailbox R Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication Service MSExchangeMailboxReplication Local System Processes mailbox moves and move requests. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology and Net.Tcp Port Sharing service. Automatic Client Access O Microsoft Exchange Monitoring MSExchangeMonitoring Local System Allows applications to call the Exchange diagnostic cmdlets. This service has no dependencies. Manual All O Microsoft Exchange POP3 MSExchangePOP3 Network Service Provides POP3 service to clients. If this service is stopped, clients can't connect to this computer using the POP3 protocol. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Manual Client Access O Microsoft Exchange Protected Service Host MSExchangeProtectedServiceHost Local System Provides a host for several Exchange services that must be protected from other services. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Hub Transport, Client Access R Microsoft Exchange Replication Service MSExchangeRepl Local System Provides replication functionality for mailbox databases on Mailbox servers in a database availability group (DAG) and database mount functionality for all Mailbox servers. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Mailbox R Microsoft Exchange RPC Client Access MSExchangeRPC Network Service Manages client RPC connections for Exchange. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Mailbox, Client Access O (Mailbox), R (Client Access) Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer MSExchangeSearch Local System Drives indexing of mailbox content, which improves the performance of content search. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology and Microsoft Search (Exchange Server) services. Automatic Mailbox O Microsoft Exchange Server Extension for Windows Server Backup WSBExchange Local System Enables Windows Server Backup users to back up and recover application data for Microsoft Exchange. This service has no dependencies. Manual Mailbox O Microsoft Exchange Service Host MSExchangeServiceHost Local System Provides a host for several Exchange services. On internal server roles, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. On Edge Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange ADAM service. Automatic All R Microsoft Exchange Speech Engine MSSpeechService Network Service Provides speech processing services for Unified Messaging. This service is dependent upon the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service. Automatic Unified Messaging R Microsoft Exchange System Attendant MSExchangeSA Local System Forwards directory lookups to a global catalog server for legacy Outlook clients, generates e-mail addresses and OABs, updates free/busy information for legacy clients, and maintains permissions and group memberships for the server. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start. This service is dependent on the RPC, Server, Windows Event Log, and Workstation services. Automatic Mailbox R Microsoft Exchange Throttling MSExchangeThrottling Network Service Limits the rate of user operations. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. Automatic Mailbox R Microsoft Exchange Transport MSExchangeTransport Network Service Provides SMTP server and transport stack. On Hub Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. On Edge Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange ADAM service. Automatic Hub Transport, Edge Transport R Microsoft Exchange Transport Log Search MSExchangeTransportLogSearch Local System Provides remote search capability for Microsoft Exchange Transport log files. On Hub Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service. On Edge Transport servers, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange ADAM service. Automatic Hub Transport, Mailbox, Edge Transport O Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging MSExchangeUM Local System Enables Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging features. This allows voice and fax messages to be stored in Exchange and gives users telephone access to e-mail, voice mail, calendar, contacts, or an auto attendant. If this service is stopped, Unified Messaging isn't available. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology and the Microsoft Exchange Speech Engine service. Automatic Unified Messaging R Microsoft Search (Exchange Server) msftesql-Exchange Local System This is a Microsoft Exchange-customized version of Microsoft Search. This service is dependent on the RPC service. Manual Hub Transport, Mailbox O
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.Image copyright Tinsel Image caption Aniyia Williams is a co-founder of the so-called zebra movement
Zebras fix what unicorns break.
That's the motto of a new movement in the tech industry frustrated by Silicon Valley's lust for so-called unicorn companies.
A unicorn is a start-up valued at more than $1bn (£750m) - Facebook is a classic unicorn.
The zebra movement was launched earlier this year by four female founders who struggled to find funding for their tech start-ups.
The entrepreneurs wrote a manifesto calling for Silicon Valley to invest in more female and ethnic minority founders, and to back new companies from such backgrounds that want to be both profitable and improve society - zebras - instead of chasing mythical unicorns.
Aniyia Williams is a co-founder of the zebra movement. She has also set up and runs San Francisco-based Tinsel, which makes necklaces with earphones concealed inside.
She was tired of her headphones being tangled up and lost in the bottom of her bag, and imagined a better, more stylish way to wear her technology.
Image copyright Tinsel Image caption Tinsel's headphones double as necklaces
Aniyia wanted headphones embedded inside a bold, statement necklace. She presumed such a product already existed - and was surprised when she searched online and couldn't find what she was wanted.
So she decided she would create a luxury necklace that looked as good as it sounds.
Her first product, The Dipper, is a bold, chevron-shaped pendant, which conceals the ear buds. It comes in gold and gunmetal and is one of those products that makes you wonder "why didn't I think of that?".
And with the zebra movement Aniyia imagines a better, more inclusive world for female and minority founders.
Her own experience was of a struggle to convince venture capitalists, known as VCs, about her idea.
"I pitched to over 100 investors, and at the end of the day I ended up landing two," says Aniyia, who has also invested personal money in her company.
"I think there are a lot of issues with how the VC model works. It favours a specific type of person over everyone else."
I ask her whether she means white men. "You said it," she replies.
Aniyia's first investor was her boss at voice communication app Voxer. She'd worked her way up from part-time office assistant to leadership roles, and was the head of a marketing team at the San Francisco-based company.
When she told her boss, Tom Katis, about her idea for Tinsel - he loved it so much that he offered to help fund the company himself.
Image copyright Ian J Whitmore Image caption Aniyia Williams spoke at the recent DazzleCon event in Portland, Oregon
Her other investor is Backstage Capital, which specifically funds companies started by women, ethnic minorities and LGBT founders who are often ignored by traditional venture capitalists.
Less than 10% of all venture capital deals go to women, people of colour and LGBT founders, according to Backstage Capital.
Aniyia, who is 32 and African American, says she thinks too many investors in Silicon Valley are missing opportunities to be part of profitable, sustainable companies because they're chasing things that aren't real - unicorns.
Zebras by contrast, she says, are real. I meet Aniyia in Portland, Oregon at DazzleCon, the first gathering of the zebras, where founders and investors met in person to discuss business strategies and if nothing else, to realize they're not alone. Why the name? Well, in the wild a group of zebras is called a dazzle.
Initially, Aniyia was swept up in the Silicon Valley ethos and planned to build a billion dollar company.
"I was trying to build the Apple for fashion tech," she says. "But I am not trying to build a billion dollar business. That's not even aligned with the lifestyle I want."
Aniyia became pregnant as she was building her company and working with a team to design her stylish headphones.
The reality of building a family and a company, and trying to raise money, made her realize she wanted a business that would be profitable and sustainable - not one with a billion-dollar price tag.
"It was a really challenging journey," she says. "I would say the parts around raising the money was
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50 states” or something and sound really impressive.
The [Expert Political Judgment] data revealed an inverse correlation between fame and accuracy: the more famous an expert was, the less accurate he was. That’s not because editors, producers, and the public go looking for bad forecasters. They go looking for hedgehogs, who just happen to be bad forecasters. Animated by a Big Idea, hedgehogs tell tight, simple, clear stories that grab and hold audiences.
One day aliens are going to discover humanity and be absolutely shocked we made it past the wooden-club stage.
In 2008, the Office of the Director of national Intelligence – which sits atop the entire network of sixteen intelligence agencies -asked the National research Council to form a committee. The task was to synthesize research on good judgment and help the IC put that research to good use. By Washington’s standards, it was a bold (or rash) thing to do. It’s not every day that a bureaucracy pays one of the world’s most respected scientific institutions to produce an objective report that might conclude that the bureaucracy was clueless.
This was a big theme of the book: the US intelligence community deserves celebration for daring to investigate its own competency at all. Interestingly, a lot of its investigations said it was doing things more right than we would think: Tetlock mentions that even independent-to-hostile investigators concluded that it had been correct in using the facts it had to believe Saddam had WMDs. The book didn’t explain exactly how this worked: possibly Saddam was trying to deceive everyone into thinking he had WMDs to prevent attacks, and did a good job? This was part of what got the intelligence community interested in probability: given that they had made a reasonable decision in saying there were WMDs, but it had been a big disaster for the United States, what could they have done differently? Their answer was “continue to make the reasonable decision, but learn to calibrate themselves well enough to admit there’s a big chance they’re wrong.”
[We finished by giving] the forecast a final tweak: “extremizing” it, meaning pushing it closer to 100% or zero. If the forecast is 70% you might bump it up to, say, 85%. If it’s 30%, you might reduce it to 15%…[it] is based on a pretty simple insight: when you combine the judgments of a large group of people to calculate the “wisdom of the crowd” you collect all of the relevant information that is dispersed among all those people. But none of those people has access to all that information…what would happen if every one of those people were given all the information? They would become more confident. If you then calculated the wisdom of the crowd, it too would be more extreme.
Something to remember if you’re doing wisdom-of-crowds with calibration estimates.
The correlation between how well individuals do from one year to the next is about 0.65…Regular forecasters scored higher on intelligence and knowledge tests than about 70% of the population. Superforecasters did better, placing higher than about 80% of the population.
People interested in taking these kinds of tests are generally intelligent; superforecasters are somewhat more, but not vastly more, intelligent than that.
Researchers have found that merely asking people to assume their initial judgment is wrong, to seriously consider why that might be, and then make another judgment, produces a second estimate which, when combined with the first, improves accuracy almost as much as getting a second estimate from another person.
There’s a rationalist tradition – I think it started with Mike and Alicorn – that before you get married, you ask all your friends to imagine that the marriage failed and tell you why. I guess if you just asked people “Will our marriage fail?” everyone would say no, either out of optimism or social desirability bias. If you ask “Assume our marriage failed and tell us why”, you’ll actually hear people’s concerns. I think this is the same principle. On the other hand, I’ve never heard of anyone trying this and deciding not to get married after all, so maybe we’re just going through the motions.
[Superforecaster] Doug Lorch knows that when people read for pleasure they naturally gravitate to the like-minded. So he created a database containing hundreds of information sources – from the New York Times to obscure blogs – that are tagged by their ideological oreintation, subject matter, and geographical origin, then wrote a program that selects what he should read next using criteria that maximize diversity.
Of all humans, only Doug Lorch is virtuous. Well, Doug Lorch and this guy from rationalist Tumblr who tried to get the program but was told it wasn’t really the sort of thing you could just copy and give someone.
[The CIA was advising Obama about whether Osama bin Laden was in Abbotabad, Pakistan; their estimates averaged around 70%]. “Okay, this is a probability thing,” the President said in response, according to Bowden’s account. Bowden editorializes: “Ever since the agency’s erroneous call a decade earlier [on Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction], the CIA had instituted an almost comically elaborate process for weighing certainty…it was like trying to controve a mathematical formula for good judgment.”Bowden was clearly not impressed with the CIA’s use of numbers and probabilities. Neither was Barack Obama, according to Bowden. “What you ended up with, as the president was finding, and as he would later explain to me, was not more certainty but more confusion…in this situation, what you started to get was probabilities that disguised uncertainty, as opposed to actually providing you with useful information…” After listening to the widely ranging opinions, Obama addressed the rrom. “This is fifty-fifty,” he said. That silenced everyone. “Look guys, this is a flip of the coin. I can’t base this decision on the notion that we have any greater certainty than that… The information Bowden provides is sketchy but it appears that the media estimate of the CIA officers – the “wisdom of the crowd” – was around 70%. And yet Obama declares the reality to be “fifty-fifty.” What does he mean by that?…Bowden’s account reminded me of an offhanded remark that Amos Tversky made some thirty years ago…In dealing with probabilities, he said, most people only have three settings: “gonna happen,” “not gonna happen,” and “maybe”.
Lest I make it look like Tetlock is being too unfair to Obama, he goes on to say that maybe he was speaking colloquially. But the way we speak colloquially says a lot about us, and there are many other examples of people saying this sort of thing and meaning it. This ties back into an old argument we had here on whether something like a Bayesian concept of probability was meaningful/useful. Some people said that it wasn’t, because everyone basically understands probability and Bayes doesn’t add much to that. I said it was, because people’s intuitive idea of probability is hopelessly confused and people don’t really think in probabilistic terms. I think we have no idea how confused most people’s idea of probability is, and perhaps even Obama, one of our more intellectual presidents, has some issues there.
Barbara Mellers has shown that granularity predicts accuracy: the average forecaster who sticks with the tens – 20%, 30%, 40% – is less accurate than the finer-grained forecaster who uses fives – 20%, 25%, 30% – and still less accurate than the even finer-grained forecaster who uses ones – 20%, 21%, 22%. As a further test, she rounded forecasts to make them less granular, so a forecast at the greatest granularity possible in the tournament, single percentage points, would be rounded to the nearest five, and then the nearest ten. This way, all of the forecasts were made one level less granular. She then recalculated Bier scores and discovered that superforecasters lost accuracy in response to even the smallest-scale rounding, to the nearest 0.05, whereas regular forecasters lost little even from rounding four times as large, to the nearest 0.2.
This was the part nobody on the comments to the last post believed, and I have trouble believing it too.
[There’s a famous Keynes quote: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”] It’s cited in countless books, including one written by me and another by my coauthor. Google it and you will find it’s all over the internet. Of all the many famous things Keynes says, it’s probably the most famous. But while researching this book, I tried to track it to its source and failed. Instead I found a post by a Wall Street Journal blogger, which said that no one has ever discovered its provenance and the two leading experts on Keynes think it is apocryphal. In light of these facts, and in the spirit of what Keynes apparently never said, I concluded that I was wrong.
The funny part is that if this fact is true, we’ve known it for fifty years, and people still haven’t changed their mind about whether he said it or not.
“Keynes is always ready to contradict not only his colleagues but also himself whenever circustancse make this seem appropriate,” re[prted a 1945 profile of the “consistently inconsistent” economist. “So far from feeling guilty about such reversals of position, he utilizes them as pretexts for rebukes to those he saw as less nimble-minded. Legend says that while conferring with Roosevelt at Quebec, Churchill sent Keynes a cable reading, ‘Am coming around to your point of view.’ His Lordship replied, ‘Sorry to hear it. Have started to change my mind.'”
I sympathize with this every time people email me to say how much they like the Non-Libertarian FAQ.
Police officers spend a lot of time figuring out who is telling the truth and who is lying, but research has found they aren’t nearly as good at it as they think they are and they tend not to get better with experience…predictably, psychologists who test police officers’ ability to spot lies in a controlled setting find a big gap between their confidence and their skill. And that gap grows as officers become more experienced and they assume, not unreasonably, that their experience has made them better lie detectors.
There’s some similar research on doctors and certain types of diagnostic tasks that don’t give quick feedback.
In 1988, when the Soviet Union was implementing major reforms that had people wondering about its future, I asked experts to estimate how likely it was that the Communist Party would lose its monopoly on power in the Soviet Union in the next five years. In 1991 the world watched in shock as the Soviet Union disintegrated. So in 1992-93 I retunred to the experts, reminded them of the question in 1988, and asked them to recall their estimates. On average, the experts recalled a number 31 percentage points higher than the correct figure. So an expert who thought there was only a 10% chance might remember herself thinking there was a 40% or 50% chance. There was even a case in which an expert who pegged the probability at 20% recalled it as 70%.
As the old saying goes, hindsight is 20/70.
The results were clear-cut each year. Teams of ordinary forecasters beat the wisdom of the crowd by about 10%. Prediction markets beat ordinary teams by about 20%. And superteams beat prediction markets by 15% to 30%. I can already hear the protests from my colleagues in finance that the only reason the superteams beat the prediction markets was that our markets lacked liquidity…they may be right. It is a testable idea, and one worth testing.
The correct way to phrase this is “if there is ever a large and liquid prediction market, Philip Tetlock will gather his superforecasters, beat the market, become a zillionaire, and then the market will be equal to or better than the forecasters.”
Orders in the Wehrmacht were often short and simple – even when history hung in the balance. “Gentlemen, I demand that your divisions completely cross the German borders, completely cross the Belgian borders, and completely cross the River Meuse,” a senior officer told the commanders who would launch the great assault into Belgium and France on May 10, 1940. “I don’t care how you do it, that’s completely up to you.” This is the opposite of the image most people have of Germany’s World War II military. The Wehrmacht served a Nazi regime that rpeached total obedience to the dictates of the Fuhrer, and everyone emembers the old newsreels of German soldiers marching in goose-stepping unison…but what is often forgotten is that the Nazis did not create the Wehrmacht. They inherited it. And it could not have been more different from the unthinking machine we imagine. […] Shortly after WWI, Eisenhower, then a junior officer who had some experience witht he new weapons called tanks, published an article in the US Army’s Infantry Journal making the modest argument that “the clumsy, awkward and snail-like progress of the old tanks must be forgotten, and in their place we must picture this speedy, reliable, and efficient engine of destruction.” Eisenhower was dressed down. “I was told my ideas were not only wrong but dangerous, and that henceforth I was to keep them to myself,” he recalled. “Particularly, I was not to publish anything incompatible with solid infantry doctrine. If I did, I would be hauled before a court martial.”
Tetlock includes a section on what makes good teams and organizations. He concludes that they’re effective when low-level members are given leeway both to pursue their own tasks as best they see fit, and to question and challenge their higher-ups. He contrasts the Wehrmacht, which was very good at this and overperformed its fundamentals in WWII, to the US Army, which was originally very bad at this and underperformed its fundamentals until it figured this out. Later in the chapter, he admits that his choice of examples might raise some eyebrows, but says that he did it on purpose to teach us to think critically and overcome cognitive dissonance between our moral preconceptions and our factual beliefs. I hope he has tenure.
Ultimately the Wehrmacht failed. In part, it was overwhelmed by its enemies’ superior resources. But it also made blunders – often because its commander-in-chief, Adolf Hitler, took direct control of operations in violation of Helmuth von Moltke’s principles, nowhere with more disastrous effect than during the invasion of Normandy. The Allies feared that after their troops landed, German tanks would drive them back to the beaches and into the sea, but Hitler had directed that the reserves could only move on his personal command. Hitler slept late. For hours after the Allies landed on the beaches, the dictator’s aides refused to wake him to ask if he wanted to order the tanks into battle.
Early to bed
And early to stir up
Makes a man healthy
And ruler of Europe
The humility required for good judgment is not self-doubt – the sense that you are untalented, unintelligent, or unworthy. It is intellectual humility. It is a recognition that reality is profoundly complex, that seeing things clearly is a constant struggle, when it can be done at all, and that human judgment must therefore be riddled with mistakes. This is true for fools and geniuses alike. So it’s quite possible to think highly of yourself and be intellectually humble. In fact, this combination can be wonderfully fruitful. Intellectual humility compels the careful reflection necessary for good judgment; confidence in one’s abilities inspires determined action.
Yes! This is a really good explanation of Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Say It Loud.
(and that sentence would also have worked without the apostrophe or anything after it).
I am…optimistic that smart, dedicated people can inoculate themselves to some degree against certain cognitive illusions. That may sound like a tempest in an academic teapot, but it has real-world implications. If I am right, organizations will have more to gain from recruiting and training talented people to resist their biases.
This is probably a good time to mention that CFAR is hiring.Facebook defended its support for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a controversial cyber security bill critics often compare to the unpopular Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
In a Facebook blog post, Joel Kaplan, Facebook's Vice President-U.S. Public Policy, explained the difference between the two bills and how CISPA would protect Facebook and other websites.
Most importantly, Kaplan says Facebook or other companies would not be required to share its users data with the government or any other site under CISPA. Instead, the cyber bill allows the government to pass along cyber threat data to companies like Facebook to better protect their sites. He explained further that CISPA would not require Facebook to share more information with the government than it already shares, which does not include user's private data.
"One challenge we and other companies have had is in our ability to share information with each other about cyber attacks. When one company detects an attack, sharing information about that attack promptly with other companies can help protect those other companies and their users from being victimized by the same attack," Kaplan wrote a blog post on Friday. "Similarly, if the government learns of an intrusion or other attack, the more it can share about that attack with private companies (and the faster it can share the information), the better the protection for users and our systems."
The post was prompted after several privacy and civil liberties groups have opposed CISPA and asked Facebook to not support the bill. CISPA bill sponsor Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has said CISPA is not another version of SOPA, but that hasn't convinced the critics.
"The concern is that companies will share sensitive personal information with the government in the name of protecting cybersecurity," Kaplan wrote. "Facebook has no intention of doing this."
CISPA differs from SOPA in that it protects computer networks from being attacked by hackers, while SOPA focused on intellectual property and copyright protection, Rogers has said. SOPA bill sponsor Lamar Smith (R-Texas) withdrew the bill in January.
Kaplan doesn't want critics to worry about CISPA having any effect on Facebook users' privacy. He explains there is still time for the bill to be modified and that Congress is working with privacy and civil liberties groups to address questions and privacy concerns about CISPA.
"We hope that as Congress moves forward in considering this and any other cyber legislation, the result will be legislation that helps give companies like ours the tools we need to protect our systems and the security of our users’ information, while also providing those users confidence that adequate privacy safeguards are in place," Kaplan said.UNITED NATIONS—Prime Minister Stephen Harper sought details from the U.S. on how Canada could play a more muscular role in Syria and Iraq, an offer that led to the American letter for military assistance, according to U.S. and Canadian officials. Pentagon officials confirmed to the Star Thursday the Canadians were willing partners who approached them. Harper appeared to suggest Wednesday it was the U.S. who took the initiative via a letter of request he received in the “last couple of days.” Harper told a New York audience Wednesday that Washington sought more help from Canada on top of the 69 Canadian military advisers already on the ground in Iraq. “The United States just recently in the last couple of days has asked for some additional contribution and... we’re weighing our response to that this,” Harper said Wednesday, suggesting because it was a U.S. letter, it was up to the U.S. Administration to release it.
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However, a Pentagon official on Thursday said it was actually the Canadian government that came knocking. “What I can tell you is that the Canadians requested additional details on what they could do to contribute to coalition efforts to aid the Government of Iraq in countering ISIL and (the Department of Defence) sent a letter describing areas where their contributions would be helpful,” Cdr. Bill Urban, a press officer with the U.S. Department of Defence, said in an email. Harper spokesperson Jason MacDonald denied there was any contradiction. He said Canada’s outreach to Washington was simply part of ongoing discussions between the two governments on Canada’s role in the Islamic State fight.
“What we have said is, ‘We’re prepared to provide additional assistance but we need to understand what it is you would need in terms of additional assistance, so outlining that would give us something we can take to cabinet that we can discuss,’ ” said MacDonald. “What we have said is, ‘We’re prepared to provide additional assistance but we need to understand what it is you would need in terms of additional assistance, so outlining that would give us something we can take to cabinet that we can discuss,’ ” said MacDonald.
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper addresses the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations in New York on September 25, 2014. AFP PHOTO/Jewel SamadJEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images ( JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/GETTY IMAGES )
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“That is what we have received in the form of a letter that the prime minister mentioned yesterday. It’s that simple.” MacDonald insisted the prime minister has been publicly clear all along since deploying 69 military advisers to aid Kurdish forces that in Iraq that Canada was in ongoing discussions with allies, could make further contributions, and never downplayed what was at stake. The late-day revelation prompted outrage from New Democrats, who accused Harper and his government of keeping Canadians in the dark about the evolving mission. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.... The story we were told doesn’t seem to be true,” NDP MP Paul Dewar said in an interview. “I just wish we would have the prime minister come clean, tell us what he actually said, what he wants to do and give us the straight facts... especially when we’re talking about going into a theatre of war,” said Dewar, the NDP’s foreign affairs critic. Dewar recently accompanied Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird on a fact-finding trip to the region but was kept in the dark about the deployment of Canadian military advisers to aid the Peshmerga in northern Iraq.
“We don’t trust the Conservatives on this,” Dewar told the Star. “We’ve gone from mission vagueness... to mission creep to mission leap.” Because the U.S. is leading the response to the Islamic State, it is best placed to know what assets and resources are needed, MacDonald said in an interview with the Star Thursday. He compared it to discussions with NATO over Canada’s participation in Baltic patrols. Baird said cabinet would discuss the U.S. requests and would not detail exactly what the U.S. says it needs, however he told reporters at the UN he would “absolutely” consider Canadian participation in air strikes a combat mission that would be brought to a vote in Parliament. Harper expressed support of air strikes Wednesday, backing efforts to strike Islamic State operating bases in northern Syria and Iraq to prevent a “terrorist caliphate” from spreading. “A lot of that can be done from the air,” Harper said. But MacDonald declined to discuss “what we may or may not do, what we may or may not have been asked to do.” MORE ON THESTAR.COM Instead of clarity on Iraq mission, PM plays peek-a-boo: Tim Harper Transcript of Harper’s speech at UN Iran points finger at West but opens door to accord Harper barely touched on the turmoil in Iraq and Syria in only his third address in eight years to the UN’s annual meeting of global leaders. It was a speech that contrasted sharply with his first 2006 address that was a call to aid Afghanistan in its fight against ousted Taliban forces. This year, Harper made only passing reference to the threats to global security that “deserve our urgent attention.” He said Canada “has always been ready and willing to join with other civilized peoples and to challenge affronts to the international order, affronts to human dignity itself, such as are today present in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine, the Middle East, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, and many parts of Africa.” “We will continue to contribute to the extent to which we are able in assisting our friends and allies in the international community to deal with these grave challenges.” He devoted much of his evening address to a call to global leaders. “Saving the lives of vulnerable mothers, infants and children must remain a top global priority.” He called it the issue “closest to my heart.” Earlier Harper announced Canada would spend $100 million to jumpstart a new international fund housed at the World Bank to encourage private donors and developing countries to finance concrete steps to boost maternal, newborn and child health. He also announced another $100 million specifically for projects will register vital statistics in poor countries.
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Last month, Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton ordered Budget Rent-a-Car to stop holding on to driver's licence information of its clients.
Mohamed Ali, who co-owns the Calgary franchises, says he began taking copies to try to catch the people who steal rental vehicles.
"For us, it's strictly protection of our asset," he said. "It's the picture we're interested in, not in the driver's licence number."
"When you return the vehicle, we can give it back to you or shred it," Ali added.
But according to the province's privacy commissioner, shred it or not, there's no point in having the information in the first place.
However, Clayton's office said in a news release the company does not have the authority to take that information and couldn't provide enough of an explanation to justify it.
"Though the answers drew on the combined experience of Staff Sgt. Drennan and the detectives in the fraud and auto theft units over the course of several years, there was reference to only a single case in which the photocopy of the image of a fraudulent thief was successfully used to identify that person through facial recognition software," Clayton's office said.
But several weeks later, Budget keeps making the photocopies.
Company faces deadline
Privacy expert Rick Klumpenhouwer says companies shouldn't take that type of information unless it's absolutely necessary.
"The big issue here is photocopying the actual record, and keeping that as opposed to using the driver's licence to verify that you are who you are," he said.
The company has until mid-December to comply.
"Budget was slapped with the order because if you don't need a photocopy of someone's identification, you can't take it," Klumpenhouwer said.
He says a driver's licence is often used in identity theft and Budget customers have no idea who has access to the information and where it is stored.
Other types of businesses also keep a copy of your driver's licence, such as some nightclubs and car dealerships, when you take a test drive.
Consumers asked for a photocopy of their driver's licence can file a complaint, generally the first step if the privacy commissioner's office is going to get involved.
In this case, if Budget does not comply with the order, the privacy commissioner could take the company to court. However, the commissioner's office says that type of action has never been taken.You don't have to try very hard to find photos of the 2013 Range Rover online, but just in case you were feeling a bit lazy here are two photos clearly showing two angles of the latest big SUV from the brand. Evocative of the Range Rover Evoque, don't you think?
The clearest indication of a new direction is the more aerodynamic front and thinner headlights that wrap around the nose. Basically, it no longer looks like an electric shaver with lights coming straight at you. There's also significant work to the rear, but you only get a hint of this in these shots.
What you can't see in this photo is the all new aluminum body architecture rumored to be under there. This will help Range Rover drop weight and, hopefully, add some much-needed mileage.
As always, an assortment of diesel and gasoline engines will be offered, though we're not expecting a lot of diesel action over here. Instead, the 5.0-liter supercharged V8 should cary over, as well as possibly a new 3.0-liter V6.
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(Hat tip to Only!)My name is Dede Goldsmith. On August 31, 2013, my daughter, Shelley, died of heat stroke at an electronic dance music (EDM) concert in Washington D.C. after taking MDMA. Her death was partly the result of a dated law from 2003 called the RAVE Act that prevents safe settings at EDM events. Please join me in signing this petition. It is time for a “safety first” approach to drug use that includes harm reduction measures along with current law enforcement efforts.
Dear Members of Congress,
I urge you to enact legislation to amend the 2003 Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (aka the RAVE Act) to ensure that music venue owners and event organizers can implement common sense safety measures to protect their patrons and reduce the risk of medical emergencies, including those associated with drug use, without fear of prosecution by federal authorities.
As the law currently stands, many owners and organizers are reluctant to institute such measures, fearing they may be accused of “maintaining a drug involved premises” under the Act, and thus opening themselves to criminal or civil prosecution. Clarifying the original intent of the Act will ensure that the Act can no longer be misinterpreted in ways that jeopardize public safety.
Respectfully,
(your signature)We recently brought you the story of the rumor about Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk leaving BioWare. Well, there is good news for fans of the doctors because they are not actually leaving the company.
As I told you before, Matthew Bromberg has been the new leader of BioWare Austin since May but this is not because Greg is leaving BioWare but instead because he’s just leaving Austin to go back home.
In a statement to the press, he explains:
“With regard to BioWare Austin, I handed off the leadership of the studio to Matthew Bromberg quite some time ago (back in May),” he said. “Ray [Muzyka, BioWare co-founder] and I picked Matthew to take over and he’s been doing a great job with the studio.
“My time in Austin was always planned to have a finite endpoint (my family was still living in Edmonton throughout my time in Austin) and now that I’ve handed the baton to Matt, I will be able to spend more time on a wider range of BioWare games rather than focusing on just one as I did with SWTOR.”
So while Zeschuk is leaving Austin to return to his home, as he had planned all along, this does not mean he is leaving the company or work on SWTOR.
As for the rest of the rumors, they were just that. A “trusted source” said that the two doctors had not been present at earlier meetings for the company but it doesn’t say why. I cannot find any verification of this source or anything proving this to be true, nor is it good evidence that either of the doctors is leaving the company.
So there you have it folks- rumor proven false!
(Visited 49 times, 1 visits today)Image caption Cybersecurity was central to the US-China summit in California
China's official Xinhua news agency has condemned the US over continuing revelations about Washington's surveillance activities by intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden.
In a commentary, it said the US had turned out to be the "biggest villain in our age".
Washington has often accused China of being behind US cyber-attacks.
But Mr Snowden has disclosed extensive gathering of phone and internet data by US agencies.
His latest revelations, published in the South China Morning Post, suggest a Beijing University was targeted.
He alleged that as recently as January this year the NSA hacked into computers and servers at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Mr Snowden is reported as telling the paper that on one single day in January, at least 63 computers and servers at the university were affected.
Xinhua says the latest allegations in the South China Morning Post, along with previous disclosures, are "clearly troubling signs".
"They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber-attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age," says Xinhua.
It owes too an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on. Xinhua
And Xinhua says Washington should be honest about what it has been doing.
"It owes too an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on. It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs."
Xinhua says the Snowden developments provide support for China's position on cybersecurity.
"Both the United States and China, together with many other countries, are victims of hacking. For the uncharted waters of the Internet age, these countries should sit down and talk through their suspicions," says Xinhua.
"With good intentions, they can even work for the establishment of certain rules that help define and regulate Internet activities and mechanisms that can work out their differences when frictions do arise."
Summit
Cybersecurity featured prominently at a summit in California two weeks ago between Present Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The US warned China that the issue of Chinese "cyber-intrusion" and theft of intellectual property could strain relations, while China said it did not want the issue to become a source of friction.
Washington has expressed concern at what it says are cyber-attacks from China targeting US companies as well as government departments, including the Pentagon.
But officials from both sides have been quoted as admitting privately that nations will always attempt to steal military and political secrets from each other.
Mr Snowden first leaked details of his work as an NSA analyst and the extensive US surveillance programme to Britain's Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post before fleeing to Hong Kong last month.The next five bands have been announced for the 2015 Vans Warped Tour. BoyMeetsWorld, Candy Hearts, I Killed The Prom Queen, Sirens And Sailors (7/14-8/8), and Youth In Revolt will all be attending punk-rock summer camp this year. Check back with us every Wednesday for more band announcements.
Warped Tour kicks off June 19 in Pomona, California. General tickets are on sale now. You can check out the full list of dates and locations below.
Warped Tour lineup so far:
BoyMeetsWorld
Candy Hearts
I Killed The Prom Queen
Sirens And Sailors (7/14-8/8)
Youth In Revolt
Being As An Ocean
Born Cages
Rotting Out
While She Sleeps
Baby Baby
Icon For Hire
Matchbook Romance (6/19-7/11)
The Relapse Symphony (6/19-7/12)
The Wonder Years
Black Boots
Escape The Fate
Hands Like Houses
Le Castle Vania
M4Sonic
As It Is
Beautiful Bodies
Crossfaith
Fit For A King
Splitbreed
Alive Like Me (6/19-7/12)
Blessthefall
Hundredth
Lee Corey Oswald
Trophy Eyes
Family Force 5 (6/19-8/5, 8/8)
Neck Deep
Palisades
Front Porch Step
Handguns
Kosha Dillz
Dates:
JUNE 19 Pomona, CA Pomona Fairplex
JUNE 20 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
JUNE 21 Ventura, CA Seaside Park – Ventura County Fairgrounds
JUNE 23 Mesa, AZ Quail Run Park
JUNE 24 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
JUNE 25 Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheater
JUNE 26 Houston, TX Reliant Park – Main Street Lot
JUNE 27 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
JUNE 28 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
JULY 01 Nashville, TN Tennessee State Fairgrounds
JULY 02 Atlanta, GA Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood
JULY 03 St. Petersburg, FL Vinoy Park
JULY 04 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
JULY 05 Orlando, FL Tinker Field
JULY 07 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
JULY 08 Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live
JULY 09 Pittsburgh, PA First Niagara Pavilion
JULY 10 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
JULY 11 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Amphitheatre
JULY 12 Hartford, CT Xfinity Theatre
JULY 14 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
JULY 15 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake PAC
JULY 16 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
JULY 17 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
JULY 18 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
JULY 19 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
JULY 21 Scranton, PA The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
JULY 23 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
JULY 24 Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
JULY 25 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
JULY 26 Shakopee, MN Canterbury Park
JULY 27 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
JULY 28 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheatre
JULY 29 Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center
JULY 30 Bonner Springs, KS Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
AUGUST 01 Salt Lake City, UT Utah
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as Jaune for three minutes or so. But yeah, Jaune asks Weiss to the dance.
Where’s an informative P-MoneySA when you -
- need one. Twenty guesses on Weiss’s answer? C'mon, guess. Doooo iitttttt. It’s no. Weiss shuts the door in his face.
Yang and Ruby react appropriately.
I wouldn’t call that rejection particularly Ice Queenish at all, but eh. Weiss talks about how boys have only cared about her last name, which is pretty hilarious given that Jaune is probably one that doesn’t at all. And she says she already has a date in mind. Or I wonder if Weiss is just waiting for the dinosaurs to eat man and let woman inherit the earth. Aren’t we all. Well okay not me, I’m waiting for the zombies.
Yeahhhh. It is kinda worth pointing out that humour of that whole situation. Neptune hit on Weiss the exact same way as Jaune did at first, but Neptune’s spell seemed to have worked. Would be something if Weiss soon discovers Neptune’s attentions go all over the gaff - Yang, the twins, a random tree - while Jaune’s at least one-woman oriented. Because I think we’re setting up for Weiss to discover Neptune wants to go with Yang instead/Yang snipes Neptune first, and if not, they could go the route where Neptune goes with Weiss instead of Yang because of Weiss’s last name and potential influence. Icky all 'round. Funnily enough, if Jaune hadn’t been so overtly persistent to the point of getting on Weiss’s shit-list forever, you could almost expect some romantic comedy movie ending comin’ for him and Weiss, with Neptune as the possible romantic comedy movie jerk jock along the way. Hahaha nah. Vegas odds are rooting for Arkos. Speaking of, they’re doing some training!
I was rather looking forward to seeing some of the training for Jaune that was promised at the end of his arc last volume. Compared to her thrashing of Team CRDL, P-Money’s obviously going soft on her team leader. Still wins, though.
As she helps him up, it’s mentioned that they’re trying to discover Jaune’s semblance. Which is cool. I too am curious. I’m betting it’s kinda something defensive, like a super shield or super healing. The end result of Jaune’s semblance for me should be that it allows him to survive potentially being burned at a stake or whatever. But anyways, Jaune’s heart isn’t in it, as it believes it’s been broken by Weiss yet again.
P-Money is upset that the big thing on Jaune’s mind is Weiss, and not her. Probably.
Been there P-Money, been there.
She tries to be encouraging. Oh how she tries.
But as much as Pyrrha’s this big champion who is great at everything she does, she’s lonely in a way that just having friends won’t cover. There’s a connection between her and Jaune for sure, and it seems she wants to make it deeper. I can dig it. It gives us plenty of this:
Unfortunately, Jaune possesses a lack of irony detection in his own words of saying she’s probably got guys by the truckload trying to ask her out.
I’d imagine being a famous amazing celebrity person like Pyrrha means that people are either too intimidated by her, or would try to get with her because of her status. It makes me wonder if she’s been hurt before. It also kinda makes me sadly lol 'cause Weiss faces similar problems. All this Pyrrha/Jaune/Weiss/Neptune stuff, why can’t they all just engage in polygamy! That solves all problems, or so fanfiction has taught me. For now, Jaune leaves on the note that if Pyrrha doesn’t get a date to the dance, he’ll show up in a dress.
Guess who has two thumbs and is going to show up in a dress to that dance! Not only Jaune, but two out of the three folk discussing Pyrrha at the moment.
Cinder calls P-Money the invincible girl. If that’s a common nickname for her, again, the irony in her being something untouchable to the point of someone like Jaune not getting close to her is deliciously sad. Merc and Emmy Rald aren’t on the invincibility train, thanks to their earlier observations.
They’ve noticed the polarity semblance. Nobody can tell by just watching, and that makes Pyrrha look untouchable. She doesn’t broadcast it to keep her opponents at a disadvantage, as was speculated by some of us last year. Of course the same people speculating that were laughed at after Chapter One where Pyrrha did her magnetic wave of soda cans by the rest of the fandom, but hah, we won the day in the end. Sweet victory. Tastes like maple syrup. Oh Canada.
Cinder muses on the fact Pyrrha is letting the chips fall where they may and fate just wants her to win - hey Achilles shoutout - but in fact she’s letting the chips fall herself to support herself to win. Sneaky. Makes me curious and all about her darker moments where she knows what she’s doing and hates herself for it. This revelation by Cinder earns Pyrrha a spot on a mysterious list. What’s it about?
Who knows. I’m guessing it’s just a watch list for those that’ll be a problem when Cinder enacts her plans. Merc’s sure that Cinder would be able to beat her. Good for him.
But Cinder says it’s not about overpowering the enemy, it’s about taking away the power they have. People have speculated this means that Cinder’s going to be stealing Semblances. Possible, wouldn’t be against it. But I think it’s probably just a metaphor for putting P-Money in a position where her powers are exposed and people turn their backs on her. Sets her up for a fall, basically. Of course the power of RWBYJNR’s friendship will help save her, but still. It’s going to be a hell of a ride. Mercury can’t wait for it.
And so, to cap off the episode, Cinder assures her minions that they have a fun weekend ahead of them. The camera zooms in.
This whole time, she’s been sewing or something. A dress infused with Dust is the general guess. Could just be a rockin’ dress she Bedazzles later so she can win Prom Queen. I mean, if you’re going to infiltrate a school years after your education’s over, why not go for broke? Pew pew pew. Episode’s done now.
Fun one. Freaking loved the opening fight, am so aboard with a Pyrrha development arc, and ball hijinks give me lovely Yule Ball flashbacks. Blake’s deepening obsession is a neat touch of realism to the main quartet doing their main character thing and fighting bad guys. Jaune… give him time. As to where things are going to go for Chapter Six, I couldn’t tell you. It’s a safe assumption to guess it’s going to be the big dance, but I don’t know, actually. I’m hearing that the preview scene Monty showed at PAX Prime this past weekend, which did include a glimpse of the dance, might be for Chapter Seven, and if that’s so, then Chapter Six is going to be… a thing. We’ve been promised some Weiss/Yang tension, either over Neptune, their conflicting styles of dance planning, or maybe even Yang constantly encouraging Jaune’s attempts to ask out Weiss (If that’s the case, its 'cause Yang’s a trolling Goldilocks. Trolldilocks.). Some of that, some Blake stuff, and continuing Pyrrha angst. All good.
Also, I’m aware that in the community that coming up there’s going to be a couple of… outbursts. When there’s a dance going on and there’s teenage characters involved, it can be expected that there’s going to be ship teases. And already there’s folk bracing themselves and battening down the hatches as it’s probable the biggest ships won’t be doing any dancing. The show’s in pretty early days and it’s not like every couple here is going to be married and have ten kids by Volume Three, so. Don’t give up hope for your ships, sure, but also don’t be assholes about whatever happens, because the second something’s happened, it’s happened. Can’t change it. Can’t loudly ignore it forever. Rational fan input on how things are going compared to how you’d prefer it to go will be much more appreciated than any irrational hatred and impatient whining. And for the love of freaking god, don’t take it out on others in the community (Such as RPers for certain characters, or shippers for certain ships) without provocation. Maybe I’m the asshole for saying all that, but eh. Everybody be good and you’ll get ice cream.
That’s about it from me. Before we go, a word from our sponsors!
Fantastic. You can also find RWBY fans hanging out at the following joints: There’s the always classic Roosterteeth forums (General discussion and the RWBY Vol. 2 thread), the RWBYForums, RWBY Wiki, the r/RWBY subreddit, the RWBY TVTropes page (And hey this recap even has a lil’ page of its own, which is awesome), and the main tumblr tag. Hopefully not with joints at those joints. 4/20 just blaze, amirite. Yeahirite.
That’s all folks! Until next week, remember that knowing is half the battle!
Also, I’m more than a dress and a voice…Anthony Martial feels Manchester United can do a double by winning both the Premier League and the Champions League this year.
Martial, 19, believes Louis van Gaal's side, who were not in Europe last season, can become the continent's champions as well as reclaiming the English title.
United finished seventh in 2014 and fourth last season and are now third, two points behind leaders Manchester City, while they have lost one and won one of their two Champions League group-stage games this term.
They have twice triumphed in the Premier League and the Champions League in the same campaign, in 1999 and 2008, both under Sir Alex Ferguson, but Martial aims to make it a hat trick.
He is quoted by the Mirror as telling Telefoot: "I think we can win the Premier League and the Champions League this season. Both of them. We are among the top five clubs [in Europe]."
The France international became the most expensive teenager in the history of football when United paid Monaco an initial £36 million, which could rise to £58.8 million, for him at the end of the summer transfer window.
But he began his Old Trafford career with a goal after 21 minutes of his debut in the 3-1 win over Liverpool and said his fee has not affected him.
"It is going well so far," he added. "I have had a great welcome from the fans. I don't think about my price on the pitch.
"The goal against Liverpool, the big enemy of the club, allowed the fans to get to know me a bit better."Brian Provinciano took to the PlayStation Blog today to share news that his over-the-top mashup of classic gaming, Retro City Rampage, is now scheduled to arrive on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita alongside previously-announced iterations for PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and WiiWare. For those unfamiliar, the game features a cartoonish visual style with an overhead view reminiscent of the earliest Grand Theft Auto titles. While RCR employs the same carjacking and other means of creating chaos found in those games, Provinciano and his team have also mixed in countless nods to other games of yesteryear. You'll be collecting gold coins from fallen enemies a la Super Mario and engaging in hand-to-hand combat not unlike Double Dragon, for instance.
All told, players can expect a story mode comprised of over 50 missions offering various styles of play such as platforming, adventure, stealth, and even rhythm. We even spotted a level that looks like a direct transplant from Smash TV in the video at Ubergizmo linked below. For those who prefer a less story-driven rampage, the included Arcade Mode promises more than 30 challenges featuring 25+ weapons and power-ups to help you along the way.
Provinciano also used the opportunity to share his positive experiences developing for the PS Vita, calling Sony's tools the best he's used to date and teasing that the Vita's display takes Retro City Rampage's art style "to the next level". Though such praise is perhaps to be expected on Sony's official blog, it's good to know that gamers will have more options when the game sees release in May.Tropical Cyclone Olwyn: Exmouth, Onslow on red alert as winds gusts exceeding 165kph predicted
Updated
A tropical cyclone off Western Australia's North West has intensified to a category three with destructive winds and a significant storm surge predicted.
Tropical Cyclone Olwyn is about 40 kilometres southwest of Exmouth and moving south with destructive winds.
A red alert has been issued for people in or near coastal communities from Mardie to Minilya, including Onslow, Nanutarra, Exmouth and Coral Bay.
A yellow alert covers coastal communities from Minilya to Overlander Roadhouse, including Cape Cuvier, Carnvarvon, Wooramel and Denham.
A blue alert has been issued for communities between Mardie and Pannawonica and from Overlander Roadhouse to Geraldton.
The three-stage cyclone alert system ranges from blue, where residents are advised to get ready for a cyclone, to yellow, which advises communities to take action and get ready to shelter, then to red, which is for when residents are advised to immediately take shelter.
Very destructive winds with gusts exceeding 165 kilometres per hour may develop near the west Pilbara coast early Friday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The bureau's Mike Bergin said a significant storm surge was also predicted.
"Inundation of low-lying areas would be quite significant," he said.
Residents between Mardie and Exmouth are specifically warned of the potential of a very dangerous storm tide as the cyclone crosses the coast.
The weather bureau said tides were likely to rise significantly above the normal high tide mark with very dangerous flooding.
"We're also expecting rainfall in the range of 200 to 300 millimetres through the Onslow coastal area then further south into the Ashburton and Gascoyne rivers," said Mr Bergin.
Residents urged to put preparations in place
Authorities in Exmouth have spent the day preparing the town for the coming storm.
Ronnie Michajlow has been helping to organise food supplies for the evacuation centre and said it should be able to accommodate dozens of people.
"Hopefully, there'll be plenty of food for people and they won't starve," she said.
"She'll take well up to 100 people, but if we get 100 we're going to be spreading sandwiches very thin."
She said most of the people in the evacuation centre will be tourists.
"About 85 per cent [of likely evacuees] are people who haven't got caravans. They're people in... hire vans and things like that," she said.
"They're not [used to cyclones]. It is something that they're quite excited about. They've been having little get-togethers, but they've got their beds set up.
"I'm expecting a few of the elderly, especially those who are living at home on their own. They would rather be with people and are more than welcome."
Ms Michajlow said most people in town are "pretty well prepared".
"Luckily the whole town has been keeping a very good watch on it," she said.
"The bottle shop's busy! We've got all the boys up here for Gamex, the big fishing competition. It's due to start tomorrow but it might start later."
The Education Department said Exmouth District High School, Onslow Primary School, Useless Loop Primary School, Carnarvon Community College and Carnarvon School of the Air will be closed tomorrow.
Pannawonica Primary School will re-open tomorrow.
Cape Range National Park is also closed, as are Dirk Hartog and Francois Peron national parks, while the Millstream sector of Millstream Chichester national park and Loop/Z Bend access road in Kalbarri national park are also off limits.
Emergency evacuation centres have been set up in Onslow, Carnarvon and Exmouth.
The ports of Dampier and Ashburton closed Thursday morning and will remain closed until further notice, but Port Hedland port is still open.
Bracing for possible flooding
Carnarvon is also undergoing emergency preparation as it braces for possible impacts from Tropical Cyclone Olwyn.
State Emergency Service crews were flown to the Gascoyne town, which experienced a major flood in December 2010 due to a tropical low that passed through the region.
Carnarvon Shire president Karl Brandenburg said Tropical Cyclone Olwyn would test $60 million worth of new flood levies that were installed last year.
"I've got a reasonable amount of faith in them, I think they will work," he said.
"It's not going to stop flooding 100 per cent, but at the same time it's going to make a hell of a less impact than if we had the same thing happen like the 2010/2011 flood."
Mr Brandenburg said the cyclone was expected to send a lot of rain into the Gascoyne River, which was already full.
Topics: cyclone, exmouth-6707, port-hedland-6721
First postedDevious Maids is a comedy-drama about maids solving murder mysteries and so much more. The series has a very Desperate Houswives-esque feel to it with the help of Eva Longoria! This must-watch summer show has been on the air since 2013.
It has come to my attention that the viewership has dropped and the future of Devious Maids is currently up in the air. Show runner Brian Tanen is asking for fans to come out and show our support for the beloved maids.
It is up to us to let it be known that we want to see what happens to Marisol in season 5. The show must go on! Please sign this petition to let ABC Studios, Lifetime, and Brian Tanen know that we aren't ready for this loss <3
Devious Maids’ Season 5 Cancellation: Showrunner Lobbies For Support From Fans For Renewal: Read Article HereA Harvard Law professor is claiming that Donald Trump’s wild accusations against former President Barack Obama could be yet more grounds for impeachment.
Professor Noah Feldman says that Trump’s tweets that allege that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, if not proven, could be a justification to impeach the current President.
There has been almost continuous talk of impeachment since the President was inaugurated. Although no motion has as yet been filed, there have already been calls to impeach the President for potential violations of the Constitution’s Emolument Clause, or for other suspect financial dealings. In addition, the widening Russian scandal may have the potential to bring down the President.
Some pundits have even speculated that there may be cause to invoke the 25th Amendment based on the President’s erratic behavior.
Early Saturday morning the President deluged the internet with a bizarre unprovoked series of tweets:
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Beyond the tweets themselves, the so-called President offered no evidence or other justification for the charges. Bizarrely, he encouraged Congress to investigate the matter, although the tweets themselves indicate that he already has evidence.
Many observers – of course – assume that this is simply a ruse to deflect attention from the widening Russia scandal which has already cost the Administration one senior advisor and has now ensnared the Attorney General.
Feldman acknowledges that if the allegations were to be proven true that it would be an epic scandal, perhaps comparable to Watergate, but conversely if the allegations are not proven it would represent significant and impeachable misconduct on the part of the current President:
If the allegation is not true and is unsupported by evidence, that too should be a scandal on a major scale. This is the kind of accusation that, taken as part of a broader course of conduct, could get the current president impeached”
The Harvard Professor explains that the President, although exempt from libel laws in his official capacity, is subject to oversight: “An allegation of potentially criminal misconduct made without evidence is itself a form of serious misconduct by the government official who makes it.”
It remains to be seen if the President can and will produce any evidence to support his allegations before becoming further embroiled in the widening RussiaGate scandal that has been dominating Washington for the past several weeks.
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Like this: Like Loading..."As always in my strange and roving existence, wonder soon drove out fear; for the luminous abyss and what it might contain presented a problem worthy of the greatest explorer. That a weird world of mystery lay far down that flight of peculiarly small steps I could not doubt…"
–H.P. Lovecraft, The Nameless City
In Arkham Horror: The Card Game, you and your friends assume the roles of investigators brave enough to sift through the webs of conspiracy surrounding the strangest and most terrifying events taking place in and around Arkham, Massachusetts.
And what's the one, defining thing that separates you from the local police and other authorities? Your willingness to follow the clues wherever they lead you—no matter how dark or dangerous or maddening the path may become.
Now there's a new twist in your path—one that leads you into a clearing, where you can catch your breath, gather your wits, and plan your next move. The game's developers have released a new FAQ (pdf, 2.0 MB), and you can download it now to shed new light upon your investigation.
For more about the FAQ, we turn to the developers.
A Word from Designers Matthew Newman and Nate French
Greetings, brave investigators!
It’s an exciting time for Arkham Horror: The Card Game. The conclusion to The Dunwich Legacy campaign, Lost in Time and Space, is almost here. With its release, the first full campaign for Arkham Horror: The Card Game will come to a close. But with The Path to Carcosa campaign and a special scenario at Gen Con 2017 following hot on its heels, there are many more stories waiting in the wings!
It is our goal to build upon these adventures and provide players with rewarding gaming experiences and interesting stories to tell for years to come. To that end, we have updated the game’s FAQ to answer some commonly asked questions, clarify some rules, and issue errata to a couple of problematic cards.
Two cards have received errata in this update to the FAQ. The first is one of the two copies of the Burned Ruins (Blood on the Altar, 205). This is a simple errata that changes this card’s Reaction ability to a Forced ability, as it was intended to be a mandatory effect, not an optional one.
The second errata is to the Lucky Dice (Undimensioned and Unseen, 230), which is a much trickier card than it appears.
Due to the timing of the card’s original ability, it did not function as originally intended. As an “After…” effect, its effect would technically only allow you to ignore a chaos token after triggering other “When…” and “If…” abilities related to the revealing of that token. This meant that while you could ignore a chaos token’s modifier, you could not prevent a skull token from discarding a Baseball Bat (Core Set, 74), or dealing you one horror from Shrivelling (Core Set, 60). It also means that Lucky Dice could do effectively nothing against a treachery card such as Twist of Fate (The Dunwich Legacy, 93).
In order to make the card work according to its intended function, we decided we would have to change its triggering condition to “When” instead of “After.” However, doing so posed an interesting conundrum, as it allowed Lucky Dice to effectively circumvent its own downside. Changing one aspect of Lucky Dice forced us to change several other aspects of the card, but in the end we are left with a version that is crystal-clear without sacrificing any of its playability.
The new version reads: “When you reveal a non- chaos token, spend 2 resources: Ignore that chaos token and reveal another one to resolve. If that token has a symbol, remove Lucky Dice from the game (cannot be ignored/canceled).” This version of Lucky Dice works as intended; it can be used to ignore almost all chaos tokens, but it is clear that it cannot ignore the token in any way, nor can its ability save it from being removed from the game if the token is revealed.
We have also issued an errata to one of the resolutions for Blood on the Altar. This additional line of text won’t matter for many campaigns, but it ensures that investigators won’t get stuck when they flip to Act 1b of Undimensioned and Unseen.
In addition to these errata, we have introduced a few new rulings to ensure the long-term health of the game. For example, we clarified the order in which actions are “taken” or “lost” when an investigator has one or more “additional actions,” such as Daisy’s investigator ability. This is an advanced concept that was not covered in the Rules Reference, and is now mapped out for any eventualities that may arise in the future. We have also issued a ruling with regards to Wild skill icons. The rules, as written, do not expressly permit Wild icons to match other skills except during skill tests. For example, you would not discard Unexpected Courage (Core Set, 93) from your hand in order to avoid taking damage from a Passenger Car (Essex County Express, 167). However, we found that most players intuitively believe that Wild icons should be able to match in these instances. Sometimes, in cases like this, we believe it can be helpful to shift the rules just slightly in order to mirror players’ intuition or expectations.
The design team is confident that these updates and clarifications will improve each player’s understanding and enjoyment of Arkham Horror: The Card Game. We’re very excited for the future of the game, and we hope that you are too.
Thank you for playing!
Delve Deeper
Delve deeper into the mysteries of Arkham Horror: The Card Game by downloading the new FAQ. Then share your thoughts with the other members of our community forums, and keep your eyes open for more clues about Lost in Time and Space, The Path to Carcosa, and more!Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder and chairman, tries the company's internet-connected car during a launch event in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, July 6, 2016. China Daily/via REUTERS
HANGZHOU/BEIJING, China (Reuters) - Chinese tech firm Alibaba’s internet-connected car will set the Chinese e-commerce giant up to quickly introduce driverless vehicle technology, Chief Technology Officer Wang Jian told Reuters on Wednesday.
Alibaba and the country’s largest automaker SAIC Motor Corp demonstrated their jointly developed car equipped with the YunOS operating system, which can link up with smart phones, at an event in eastern China’s Hangzhou on Wednesday. The car is slated to go on sale later this year.
“You’ll quickly see driverless car technology resulting from this platform,” Wang said on the sidelines of the event.
Among major tech companies, Alibaba is relatively late to offer a platform that can link a smart phone to a car, trailing platforms already launched by Alphabet’s Google, Apple and Baidu.
But the race to commercialize driverless cars is far from over with experts predicting that a fully autonomous car will not hit the market until 2020 or later.A good local craft beer goes well with many things. Here’s one that may surprise you. Redeveloping polluted urban property known as “brownfields’’ may be one of the happier synergies emerging from the growth of local breweries in Minnesota.
Tracy Babler
Last Thursday, Minnesota Brownfields announced that Surly Destination Brewery was one of several winners of its fourth annual ReScape Awards. The awards celebrate 12 finalist projects demonstrating innovation, collaboration and exemplary results in revitalizing brownfields throughout Minnesota. Following a national trend in brewery land use, Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors joined Surly as one of the finalists this year.
Craft breweries have been popping up all over the Twin Cities for years. When Surly Brewing Company decided to transform its Brooklyn Park-based facilities into an urban destination brewery and taproom, a Minnesota state law preventing beer sales on brewery premises stood in the company’s way.
Surly banded together with other local brewers and its legion of loyal followers known as “Surly Nation” to change the law. With the law changed, the brewery faced the daunting task of finding a large enough site in a desirable urban neighborhood. The brewery opened its $20 million beer hall and restaurant in Minneapolis’ Prospect Park Neighborhood in 2014, on an 8.5-acre former brownfield site large enough to host production, a taproom, an event center and a rooftop patio.
Cleanup grants help
Surly owner Omar Ansari says that despite the cost and longer development timeline, taproom owners across the nation are turning to brownfield redevelopment as they balance the need to find sites that can draw in foot traffic and afford ample space for beer production. In Surly’s case, the land remediation racked up an environmental assessment and brownfield cleanup bill of more than $1.5 million. The extra cost was made more palatable because the brewery was able to access ample government cleanup grants.
“We had to look for spots that were affordable. And if you want to be in the city, you need to find some spots that are less than prime. Brownfields fit that description,” says Ansari. “This site is in the heart of the city and everyone knows where it is. It was big enough. There are just not a lot of examples like that.”
The Surly team determined that the extra cost and difficulty of brownfield redevelopment would be recovered through the extra business the location could generate in the long term. The site was attractive because it was located just a few blocks away from the University of Minnesota and its 50,000-seat TCF Bank Stadium, a residential neighborhood with several new multifamily housing buildings, and a nearby commercial corridor along University Avenue. Easy access to a nearby Green Line light rail transit station was also a big selling point, reducing the number of patrons who would have to drive home from the taproom.
“We could have been up and brewing two years ago on a greenfield site,” says Ansari, referring to development of previously unused land. “But we were interested in more than how fast we could brew beer.”
Benefits to communities
Brownfield redevelopment is proving beneficial to brewers, but it can also bring significant improvements to urban communities. The Surly development has created or retained 230 jobs at the new location and reports a property tax increase of nearly $200,000 since opening. “It’s a net positive for the community,” says Martha Faust, executive director of Minnesota Brownfields. “Surly took an eyesore, a place where we didn’t know what was in the ground, and turned it into something to benefit the community and improve the property. On an average brownfield redevelopment, properties within a ¾-mile radius will see a 5 to 15 percent increase in value.”
Data from Summit Brewing Company, an early adapter of brownfield redevelopment back in 1999, demonstrates the long-term community return on investment of brownfield cleanup programs. Summit reports that property taxes have increased an average of 5 percent every year since its doors opened. Newer hot spots in the Twin Cities like Bauhaus Brew Labs, Fulton Brewing and Flat Earth Brewery are all drawing people to previously underutilized buildings and land. Outside of the metro area, businesses like Castle Danger Brewing and Canal Park Brewing Company in Duluth are cashing in on the beer-brownfields connection.
The site selection of these breweries might be a case study in the future of development in the Twin Cities region. More people are choosing the convenience of walkable urban neighborhoods, which indicates that developers will have to be increasingly creative with their use of land in communities that hold few undeveloped parcels. An analysis for the Metropolitan Council by Arthur C. Nelson, a national expert on how demographic and economic changes shape America’s cities, reveals that the amount of nonresidential development in the Twin Cities region in the next 30 years will be “nothing short of staggering.” He estimates that 1.2 billion square feet of nonresidential space will be redeveloped by 2040. By contrast, only 300 million square feet of new nonresidential floor-space will be developed. If these predictions hold true, good redevelopment policy — and increased funding for brownfield redevelopment — will be essential for the economic health of the region.
‘It takes a whole city’
Yet every year there are rumblings at the Minnesota Legislature that brownfield programs could be cut back or defunded entirely. Ansari says that a lack of remediation funding could spell trouble for the vibrancy of the region. “The sad reality is there are a lot of sites that would have become a parking lot without the redevelopment funds, because there is literally nothing you could have done with them,” he said. “The Twin Cities has done a great job. If you go to older metro areas in the Midwest, you see emptied out parts of the city. If you don’t have redevelopment dollars, that’s what you’re going to get. It takes a whole city to build a brewery.”
Tracy Babler is a freelance writer from Minneapolis. She wrote this piece for the McKnight Foundation, a funder of Minnesota Brownfields. Learn more about the winners of the Rescape Awards here.
WANT TO ADD YOUR VOICE?
If you’re interested in joining the discussion, add your voice to the Comment section below — or consider writing a letter or a longer-form Community Voices commentary. (For more information about Community Voices, email Susan Albright at [email protected].)Debates over China’s anti-access system of systems and its desire to pierce the successive Pacific Island chains often overlook the fact that China faces a very basic set of maritime problems. The PRC draws its most important resources from across an ocean that it cannot control, and exports most of its finished goods to overseas partners who similarly lay beyond the reach of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Whether or not the PLAN can deter or defeat the U.S. Navy (USN) in China’s littoral, the organization’s true test lies in its ability to secure the PRC’s critical lines of communication.
The concept of the Sea Control Ship builds on the World War II experience of escort carriers; small, slow aircraft carriers with air wings focused on anti-submarine missions. The Royal Navy and the United States Navy pioneered development of these ships, designed to cover the gaps in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) air coverage over the Atlantic. Escort carriers were remarkably successful in forcing German U-boats to remain submerged, or destroying them outright.
The United States played with the concept (espoused most vigorously by Admiral Elmo Zumwalt) during the Cold War without ever embracing it outright, although it did convert several old Essex class carriers to perform anti-submarine duties. The USN also experimented with converting USS Guam (an Iwo Jima class LPH) to sea control duties, although the experience was not widely regarded as a success. Nevertheless, healthy debate in the Navy continued into the late 1970s and 1980s.
In practice, the USN did not need to construct dedicated Sea Control Ships, because so many U.S. allies operated (and continue to operate) small carriers that perform basic sea control missions. Ranging from the Colossus class carriers distributed across the world at the end of World War II, to the Spanish Dedalo, to the modern Hyuga class Helicopter Destroyer, the USN could and can depend on allies to conduct escort missions. The USN could also rely on access to airbases worldwide in order to support land-based sea control aviation.
China has none of these advantages. No Chinese ally is likely to devote treasure to the construction of sea control ships in the near future (Pakistan might be the best long term bet), and China lacks access to good bases for counter-sea aviation. For sea control beyond China’s littoral, the PLAN has few, if any, good options.
In a structurally similar position to China (although much less dependent on foreign trade), the Soviet Navy started with what amounted to Sea Control Ships, in the form of the Moskva class helicopter carriers and the Kiev class “heavy aviation cruisers.” Although these ships weren’t designed specifically with commerce protection in mind, they were specialized for anti-submarine warfare, with allowance for air superiority and surface warfare in the Kiev class. Moreover, Soviet naval aviation evolved over time, with new platforms benefitting from experiences earned with older vessels.
China has been determined to leap several stages, with consequences for training that are already becoming apparent. But perhaps more importantly, by skipping ahead the PLAN has left itself bereft of the kind of low cost, medium size platforms that can support sea control operations at a distance from home. The lack of these sea control platforms (or suitable alternatives) will leave the PLAN at a serious disadvantage when and if it needs to protect lines of communication in unfriendly environments. Liaoning can only operate in one place at a time, and only for a limited time period. The PLAN might have been better served by adopting the more evolutionary Soviet approach to naval aviation.RSA 2015 Fraud fighters David Byrne and Charles Henderson say one of the world's largest Point of Sale (PoS) systems vendors has been slapping the same default passwords – 166816 – on its kit since 1990. Worse still: about 90 per cent of customers are still using the password.
The enraged pair badged the PoS vendor by its other acronym, labelling it a "piece of shit" and heaping scatological scorn on a bunch of other borked sales systems.
Fraudsters would need physical access to the PoS in question to exploit it by opening a panel using a paperclip.
Such physical PoS attacks are not uncommon and are child's play for malicious staff. Criminals won't pause before popping and unlocking.
Bishop Fox consultant Byrne and Trustwave testing chief Henderson say passwords Z66816 and 166816 – the 1 and Z being variations according to PoS keyboard layouts – are even being carried across to rival vendors as customers
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worse time for CNN. Earlier this month, the leftwing network was humiliated when another single-sourced Trump "bombshell" backfired. This happened just a week or so after CNN was caught red-handed lying about Fox News.
Worse still, all of these scandals swirled around Time-Warner's (CNN's parent company) support for a Trump assassination play, CNN star Kathy Griffin holding Trump's decapitated head up in effigy, the revelation that during the 2012 presidential election, CNN host (and literal cannibal) Reza Aslan wished rape on a Republican Congressman, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper talking about Trump pooping on a desk, CNN caught staging a protest (and then blaming it on the cops), and something even bigger no one is talking about … CNN's recent dive in the ratings.
In May, and for the first time in more than a year, CNN slipped into last place behind MSNBC and Fox News. And despite all the mammoth news last week, not once throughout the day was CNN able to attract an average of even a million viewers. On Thursday, CNN averaged only 778K viewers, on Wednesday it was 738K, Tuesday 858K, on Monday 880K. This is catastrophic. For context, Fox News usually more than doubles CNN; MSNBC always attracts over a million viewers.
Although polls prove otherwise, CNN chief Jeff Zucker continues to falsely claim that his network's reputation has never been better. Nevertheless, CNN's frenzied panic over the weekend appears to prove that the failing network knows its residual credibility is swirling the drain.
P.S. If you want to finish the job of destroying CNN and save money doing so, click here.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.San Francisco’s political progressive movement may continue to surge — or find itself checked come November.
With 64 days before voters head to the polls on Nov. 8 — early voting at City Hall begins on Oct. 11 — campaigns are expected to kick into high gear, as they traditionally do, after Labor Day weekend.
Adding to intensifying politics, the Board of Supervisors returns today from its four-week-long summer legislative recess.
Some nine months ago, Supervisor Aaron Peskin ushered in a new progressive era by defeating Mayor Ed Lee’s appointment to the District 3 seat, Julie Christensen, and taking over the seat he previously served from 2001-2009, another time the progressives dominated the board’s politics.
Peskin’s victory last year created a six-vote progressive majority voting bloc, after progressives had been in the minority, leading to a left-leaning agenda at odds with the mayor and his moderate allies.
The progressives succeeded in passing Proposition C at the ballot in June, which increased affordable housing requirements in new developments; placed a moratorium on converting single-room occupancy units; and passed tougher controls on short-term rentals, over which Airbnb is suing The City in federal court.
A handful of progressive-backed measures are also on the November ballot that take aim at the mayor’s power, such as the creation of a public advocate or splitting up the mayoral appointment power of the board overseeing the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
The progressive faction also “took back” the Democratic County Central Committee, or DCCC, in June, which makes some of the most influential candidate endorsements in local politics.
But with six seats on the board up for grabs in November, including three currently held by progressives who are termed out, there’s a chance the progressives could lose their board majority.
And in at least one contest, they may not be doing themselves any favors.
Progressive unity questioned
Supervisor John Avalos, a progressive, is termed out of his District 11 seat, and is supporting Kimberly Alvarenga as his progressive successor. Alvarenga is among five candidates vying for the seat, including Francisco Herrera, Ahsha Safai, Berta Hernandez and Magdalena De Guzman.
But the endorsements for this race have exposed a weakness in progressive unity.
“I am disappointed how progressives have some divided loyalties,” Avalos told the San Francisco Examiner in a series of text messages. “One of Peskin’s biggest supporters David Ho, who helped get him elected and who wields a considerably powerful electoral apparatus among Chinese voters citywide, is backing Safai and modulating the endorsements of several key people.”
Ho is a community organizer and former employee with the nonprofit Chinatown Community Development Center.
“Peskin has not endorsed; [Supervisor Jane] Kim has dual endorsed and [Supervisor Norman] Yee has either not endorsed or dual endorsed. The ‘no endorsement’ vote at the DCCC seemed to indicate that these elected were practicing some independence from Ho,” Avalos continued. “Safai is supported more strongly by the people whom Peskin, Yee and Kim have the most political battles yet they all want to be on David Ho’s good side.”
Ho rejected Avalos’ assertions. “Why put it on David Ho? I think people have their own political intentions and agenda,” said Ho, who confirmed he is backing Safai. “Does David Ho control Aaron Peskin? Come on.” In terms of the DCCC vote, Ho said, “If I tried, I failed spectacularly but I was there for Victor Hwang.” Ho is the political consultant for Hwang, a Superior Court judge candidate.
Peskin did tell the Examiner during a Thursday editorial board meeting that he will endorse in the District 11 contest but he would not say when or who. On Monday, Peskin denied he is being influenced by Ho and said Avalos “is welcomed to his opinion,” adding that the District 11 race is complicated because there is a “divided house of labor.”
Yee, who is up for re-election in District 7, and Kim did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
Some progressives see District 11 as the one seat most at risk of causing the progressives to lose the board majority..
Meanwhile, Peskin wouldn’t say Thursday whether he would endorse in the District 5 race, where board President London Breed is up for re-election against tenant advocate and progressive Dean Preston, who Avalos recently endorsed. Breed doesn’t expect Peskin to endorse Preston, she told the Examiner.
Should Breed prevail and the progressives lose the majority, there is some precedent for Breed to continue serving as president, as the previous two board presidents served multiple two-year terms. The board will vote Jan. 8 on who will be board president, arguably the second most powerful position at City Hall — for instance, the president assigns which committees board members serve on.
For what it’s worth, Peskin said he’s not interested in being board president next year. “Been there, done that,” he said. “I am sure should the progressives have a majority that there will be other alternatives to myself.”
Framing the stakes
As progressive interests seek to prevail this November, they are framing the debate, in part, around money.
“These past six years, San Francisco has seen the greatest shift of wealth to the upper income brackets,” Avalos said. “Overall, I am concerned that the powerful economic interests that have done so well these past few years while working people have fared so poorly, will continue to hold sway over our politics.”
Jim Ross is a political consultant for tenant advocates and labor unions backing progressive candidates in the open races in Districts 1, 9 and 11, that’s Sandra Fewer, Hillary Ronen and Alvarenga, respectively.
Ross cast the contests as less ideological and more about financial interests, putting developer, real estate and the tech community on one side and the labor and neighborhood groups on the other.
The divide, he said, is whether large companies and developers “should be dictating city policy around development, around regulation, around taxation or should there be at least a fairer system across the board.”
Board versus mayor
The mayor, whose popularity plummeted leading up to his re-election last November, is keeping his distance from the supervisor races. When asked which candidates the mayor is endorsing, mayoral spokesperson Deirdre Hussey said in an email that “the mayor has other priorities this November.” Hussey said the mayor has no comment on the board’s performance during the past nine months.
Ross said the lack of the mayor’s endorsement in those three races, that “are so important to the mayor, so important to his allies,” suggests his own poor political standing. “I can’t remember a mayor where basically the candidates he is supporting weren’t listing him [as an endorsement],” Ross said.
Peskin, who has blasted the mayor in the past for his cozy relationship with tech interests, took aim Thursday at the mayor’s chief-of-staff Steve Kawa, going so far as to say Kawa should retire.
“I think he has helped create this kind of politics of embattlement,” Peskin said. “It’s not an open, gregarious administration. It’s not like they want to partner with people or work with people. It’s very guarded, it’s very insulated”
Still, Peskin emphasized he has no issues personally with the mayor.
“Having said that, personally between the mayor and I, we are fine,” Peskin said. “But that doesn’t translate once his senior deputies get in the way.”
When pressed why Kawa, the largely behind-the-scenes figure who also served as chief of staff for former mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom, should resign, Peskin said, “I think it’s policy, I think it’s politics, I think it’s personality and I think it’s time.”
In response, Hussey, the mayor’s spokesperson, said, “The mayor has a delightful relationship with Supervisor Peskin and Supervisor Peskin is welcome to his opinions and expressing them fully and openly.”
Ross said Peskin’s characterization of the mayor’s administration was accurate. “The mayor’s office is as isolated from the rest of the policy-making world of San Francisco as I have ever seen it,” Ross said. “But I don’t know if Steve Kawa resigning changes that. You might need a new mayor to change that.”
Ross added that Kawa is effective at City Hall because it is largely a place built on relationships. “So many people know [Kawa]. He has an ability to get things done that would be hard to replicate in any other staffer,” Ross said. “When it comes to implementing policies there’s nobody’s better.”
Hussey defended the mayor as being inclusive in his decision making. “Like other strong leaders, Mayor Lee takes input from a variety of people” including former mayors and community leaders, while also drawing on his own past experiences, she said.
Breed, who ran on the moderate slate for the DCCC in June, acknowledged the frustration in The City.
“There is a lot of blame on the mayor for a lot of things. I’m not here to defend him.” Breed added, “Working with him and his administration, it can be quite challenging and frustrating.”
As for the board’s own dynamics, Breed said the progressive shift on the board with Peskin’s presence has created “some challenges.” For instance, the progressives used an unprecedented maneuver to call for a special board meeting in July.
“It was a sign of disrespect,” Breed said. “But we got that straight and moved passed it.”
She said that even with the current political dynamic, “I feel the things I want to do are getting done.”
Senate race
Another factor in the board’s power balance is the outcome of the state Senate race between the progressive Supervisor Jane Kim and the moderate Supervisor Scott Wiener. Whoever wins will leave a vacancy on the board that under current rules the mayor would appoint to fill.
If Kim wins, that means District 6 would likely be filled by a moderate politician. However, if voters approve Proposition D this November, the mayor could only appoint a placeholder who could not run in an election to fill that seat.
Mayor’s race 2019
As soon as November is over, the political focus will shift to the mayor’s race in 2019, when Lee is termed out of office. The board’s dynamics are expected to be greatly influenced by this race as at least three board members are rumored potential mayoral candidates: Breed, Peskin and Supervisor Mark Farrell.
Ross said that multiple board members vying for the top city post could blur the ideological lines as they would seek to build new political coalitions.
“The progressive-moderate split will become much murkier after this election,” Ross said. That means, he said, each board member will start as a “coalition of one” and have to figure out issue by issue how to achieve the six votes needed for passing legislation.
Click here or scroll down to commentThe Gift of Asian-American Manhood
I hate to even reference the outrageous stereotype that all Asian-American men have small penises, but we are in search of healing, and I have never known of a person who healed a wound that is constantly being stabbed by simply ignoring the injury. Let's be honest: Asian-American men are not consistently celebrated by the mainstream media. I can think of heartthrobs of European and African descent and of various other cultures, such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Denzel Washington, Idris Elba, Will Smith, Laz Alonzo, Ricky Martin, and Pitbull, but I struggle to think of a single Asian-American actor, musician or model who is widely celebrated for his dashing good looks and sex appeal.
The lack of acknowledgment by the mainstream media may have a meaningful impact on the romantic lives of Asian-American men. A recent Pew Research Center study revealed that while 36 percent of Asian-American female newlyweds married outside their race, only 17 percent of Asian-American male newlyweds did so.
I am not sure of the history and forces that contribute to the lack of celebration of Asian-American males or why the few representations of Asian-American men seem to center around effeminate, wimp and geek stereotypes. Please email me if you have some insight into this. But I do know that it is high time that we end bullying against and stereotyping of Asian-American men and start celebrating them! I contacted Ranier Maningding, the innovator behind the wildly popular blog The Love Life of an Asian Guy, and he described in detail the bullying that he's experienced as a result of being an Asian-American male, and how he's overcome it.
Ranier Maningding
He said that during his early years the bullying centered around his racial and cultural differences. He was bullied for not looking "American." He was bullied for having rice or noodles in his lunchbox instead of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Kids said his food smelled weird. The bullying contributed to a feeling of not belonging, and a feeling of racial and ethnic self-hatred.
But the most harmful bullying and stereotyping occurred when he became a teenager and began to embark on romantic relationships. Not only did he have the normal pressure of finding a girl who appreciated his appearance and personality, but he had to find girls who were open to dating Asian-American boys. "Time after time after time, Asian girls were saying, 'I'm not interested in you; I'm only interested in white guys,'" he recalled. He went online to research how Asian-American men are perceived and realized that Asian-American men are viciously stereotyped as being effeminate. He told me that it all boils down to the myth that Asian men all have small penises. "It's our kryptonite," he said, adding that it is the hardest myth to disprove, because he and other Asian-American men can't pull down their underpants for all of the world to see.
Personally, I am just so horrified by this stereotype. Asia is such a huge continent that I don't think that any generalizations can be made about men of Asian descent except for the generalization that they are men, and that their lineage is Asian! Similarly, I don't' believe that all men of African descent have large penises. Moreover, does it even matter? Does a man need a large penis to be a good lover? I don't think so. According to some researchers, 75 percent of all women never reach orgasm from intercourse alone, so the vast majority of men are going to have to be more "creative" to please their female partners, regardless of penis size.
But I digress.
Let's get back to the topic of celebrating Asian-American men and overcoming bullying. Ranier has overcome this bullying and now believes that being an Asian-American man is a gift. He feels that because of the relative lack of representations of Asian-American men in the media in general, Asian-American men are freer to create their own identities and are not as subjected as men of other races are to the pressure to be so "hard" and devoid of emotion that they suppress aspects of their humanity. As an Asian-American man, "you can play football and be big and strong, or you can relax and do what you want to do, because there is less pressure," he explained.
How Can Asian-American Men Overcome This Bullying?
My fable, Sunne's Gift: How Sunne Overcame Bullying to Reclaim God's Gift, is about overcoming bullying in order to step into one's true power to illuminate the world. Thankfully, Ranier, like Sunne, overcame bullying, and he is now thriving. He is in a loving relationship with his African-American girlfriend, and he is successfully blogging about Asian-American men and romantic relationships. Here is my summary of the steps outlined by Ranier Maningding:
Confront the stereotypes. There is no use ignoring them or trying to avoid them. The vast majority of Asian-American guys are going to hit a roadblock in middle school or high school when they begin to explore dating. They are going to realize that there are many damaging stereotypes about Asian-American males, and they are going to be forced to ask questions such as these: "Am I really a man? Who am I as an Asian-American man? Are the stereotypes true?"
Create your own identity. After confronting the stereotypes, it is time to wipe the slate clean and reject the mainstream media's image of you as an Asian-American male. It's time to explore yourself as a human being and create your own identity that conforms to your unique background and personality.
Open yourself to the world. It is a large world out there, and there are plenty of open-minded women who are not gullible enough to internalize all stereotypes. Just as you expect people to see past your color, you should see past color and take an avid interest in women of various racial and cultural backgrounds. The world will open for you, and you will be happier for it.
Trust me: My time with Ranier was great. He is a straight shooter. Watch the video of our conversation below; you will love it!
Email me at [email protected] if you have an inherent gift for which you have been bullied and would like to discuss it in my "The Gift" series.Irish republican politician Gerry Adams was denied entry to the White House’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration Tuesday due to reported “security” and administrative reasons.
Adams, the leader of Ireland’s Sinn Fein party, was made to wait outside the event for 80 minutes before he decided to leave. Adams said that he received his “usual” invitation to the White House event, but once he arrived at a security checkpoint, he was told there was a security issue preventing him from entering. Adams released a statement after leaving the event, saying he “will not sit at the back of the bus for anyone.”
“After two decades of travelling back and forth to the USA and countless meetings in the White House with successive U.S. presidents, this is an unacceptable development,” said Adams. “It is obvious that there remain some within the US administration who seek to treat Sinn Féin differently.”
Though Adams was not allowed into the event, his deputy, Mary Lou McDonald, and Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness were given entry.
Adams has been a notable figure in Irish republican politics for several decades. His rise in Sinn Fein began in the late 1970s and continued through some of the most violent years known as “the Troubles,” a period that saw violent conflict between those who wanted to unite Northern Ireland with the rest of the country and those who were British loyalists.
The Sinn Fein party operates in both Ireland and Northern Ireland and seeks an independent and united Ireland. It has often been associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), an off-shoot of the original IRA that fought for Irish independence during the revolution from 1919 to 1921.
The PIRA fought a guerrilla war with British and loyalist forces from the 1960s to 1998 after a non-violent Catholic civil rights campaign in Northern Ireland was met with violence from loyalist government forces. PIRA is a listed organization under the U.K’s Terrorism Act 2000 and considered an unlawful organization under Ireland’s Offenses Against The State acts, though officially the group is not referred to as a terrorist group by neither Ireland nor the U.S.
Adams has been accused of being a member of the PIRA, but he has denied the allegations and maintained that he is only a Sinn Fein politician.
The U.S. Secret Service issued a statement after the event saying it regretted the handling of the situation. “Unfortunately, an administrative input error received by the Secret Service was not able to be rectified promptly,” said the statement.
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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], I was linked to the Python Forum because one of my friends on the wxPython IRC channel said that Packt was trying to find reviewers for their new book, Numpy 1.5 Beginner’s Guide by Ivan Idris. I doubt they’re going to find many people on that website though. I’ve certainly never heard of it. Anyway, Packt was kind enough to give me a copy of it as an ebook, so I’ll be reading it over the next couple of weeks so I can review it for this website.
I haven’t used NumPy before, but I hear about it from time to time on the wxPython mailing list and I thought it sounded interesting. So I am glad that there’s a new beginner’s book on the topic. I hope it’s a good one. In the meantime, Packt gave me a link to chapter 3, so you can read that while you wait for my review. It looks like Doug Finke will also be doing a review of this book too, so you may want to keep an eye on his blog to see what he thinks too.He comes on the scene in my poem, but He says nothing, only appears and passes on. Fifteen centuries have passed since He promised to come in His glory, fifteen centuries since His prophet wrote, ‘Behold, I come quickly’; ‘Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, neither the Son, but the Father,’ as He Himself predicted on earth. But humanity awaits him with the same faith and with the same love. Oh, with greater faith, for it is [five years] since man has ceased to see signs from [Satoshi].
No signs from heaven come to-day to add to what the heart doth say.
There was nothing left but faith in what the heart doth say. It is true there were many miracles in those days. There were saints who performed miraculous cures; some holy people, according to their biographies, were visited by the Queen of Heaven herself. But the [block size increase haters] did not slumber, and doubts were already arising among men of the truth of these miracles. And just then there appeared…a terrible new heresy. ‘A huge star like to a torch’ that is, to a church ‘fell on the sources of the waters and they became bitter.’ These heretics began blasphemously denying miracles [and Distributing Denial of Service attacks]. But those who remained faithful were all the more ardent in their faith. The tears of humanity rose up to Him as before, awaited His coming, loved Him, hoped for Him, yearned to suffer and die for Him as before. And so many ages mankind had prayed with faith and fervour, ‘O [Satoshi] our God, hasten Thy coming’; so many ages called upon Him, that in His infinite mercy He deigned to come down to His servants. Before that day He had come down, He had visited some holy men, martyrs, and hermits, as is written in their lives. Among us, [Gavin Andresen], with absolute faith in the truth of his words, bore witness.
…
“And behold, He deigned to appear for a moment to the people, to the tortured, suffering people, sunk in iniquity, but loving Him like children. My story is laid in [Australia and thence London], in the most terrible time of the [Block Size] Inquisition, when fires were lighted every day to the glory of [the 1MB block size given unto us by Scripture], and ‘in the splendid auto da fé the wicked heretics [Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn] were burnt.’ Oh, of course, this was not the coming in which He will appear, according to His promise, at the end of time in all His heavenly glory, and which will be sudden ‘as lightning flashing from east to west.’ No, He visited His children only for a moment, and there where the flames were crackling round the heretics. In His infinite mercy He came once more among men in that human shape in which He walked among men for three years [five years] ago. He came down to the ‘hot pavements’ of the southern town in which on the day before almost a hundred heretics had, [1MB], been burnt by the Grand [Block Size] Inquisitors, in a magnificent [DDoS], in the presence of the king, the court, the knights, the cardinals, [the Core Devs,] the most charming ladies of the court, [miners,] and the whole population.
…
He stops at the steps of the Seville cathedral at the moment when the weeping mourners are bringing in a little open white coffin. In it lies a child of seven [months — Bitcoin XT — in it], the only daughter of [two] prominent citizens [Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn]. The dead child lies hidden in flowers. ‘He will raise your child,’ the crowd shouts to the weeping mother[s]. The priest, coming to meet the coffin, looks perplexed, and frowns, but the mother[s] of the dead [code] throws herself at His feet with a wail. ‘If it is Thou, raise my child!’ she cries, holding out her hands to Him. The procession halts, the [code] is laid on the steps at His feet. He looks with compassion, and His lips once more softly pronounce, ‘Maiden, arise! [Arise to 340 gigabytes!]’
…
[The Block Size Inquisitor] holds out his finger and bids the guards take Him. And such is his power, so completely are the people cowed into submission and trembling obedience to him, that the crowd immediately makes way for the guards, and in the midst of deathlike silence they lay hands on Him and lead him away.
…
“’Is it Thou? Thou?’ but receiving no answer [– no new keys, no Genesis block signature, and for damn sure, no 1-million BTC movements –] he adds at once. ‘Don’t answer, be silent […and definitely no more 20-screenshot blogposts!] What canst Thou say, indeed? I know too well what Thou wouldst say. And Thou hast no right to add anything to what Thou hadst said of old [in “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”]. Why, then, art Thou come to hinder us? For Thou hast come to hinder us, and Thou knowest that. But dost thou know what will be to-morrow? I know not who Thou art and care not to know whether it is Thou or only a semblance of Him, but to-morrow I shall condemn Thee and burn Thee at the stake as the worst of heretics. And the very people who have to-day kissed Thy feet, to-morrow at the faintest sign from me will rush to heap up the embers of Thy fire.”
…
“And the Prisoner too is silent? Does He look at him and not say a word?”
“That’s inevitable in any case,” Ivan laughed again. “The old man has told Him He hasn’t the right to add anything to what He has said [in the immutable White Paper]. One may say it is the most fundamental feature of [Bitcoin], in my opinion at least. ‘All has been given by Thee to [Gavin],’ they say, ‘and all, therefore, is still in [Gavin]’s hands, and there is no need for Thee to come now at all. Thou must not meddle for the time, at least.’ That’s how they speak and write too — the [block size haters], at any rate. I have read it myself in the works of their theologians. ‘Hast Thou the right to reveal to us one of the mysteries of that world from which Thou hast come [like the completely arbitrary selection of 1MB]?’ my old man asks Him, and answers the question for Him. ‘No, Thou hast not; that Thou mayest not add to what has been said of old, and mayest not take from men the freedom which Thou didst exalt when Thou wast on earth. Whatsoever Thou revealest anew will encroach on men’s freedom of faith; for it will be manifest as a miracle, and the freedom of their faith was dearer to Thee than anything in those days fifteen hundred years ago. Didst Thou not often say then, “I will make you free”? But now Thou hast seen these “free” men,’ the old man adds suddenly, with a pensive smile. ‘Yes, we’ve paid dearly for it,’ he goes on, looking sternly at Him, ‘but at last we have completed that work in Thy name. For fifteen [months] we have been wrestling with Thy freedom, but now it is ended and over for good. [XT is dead. Classic is dead. Unlimited stillborn.] Dost Thou not believe that it’s over for good? Thou lookest meekly at me and deignest not even to be wroth with me. But let me tell Thee that now, to-day, people are more persuaded than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet. But that has been our doing. Was this what Thou didst? Was this Thy freedom?’”
…
“’The wise and dread spirit, the spirit of self-destruction and non-existence,’ the old man goes on, great spirit talked with Thee in the wilderness.
…
And yet if there has ever been on earth a real stupendous miracle, it took place on that day, [October 31, 2008]. The statement [“A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”] was itself the miracle. If it were possible to imagine simply for the sake of argument that those questions of the dread spirit [Jamie Dimon] had perished utterly from the books, and that we had to restore them and to invent them anew, and to do so had gathered together all the wise men of the earth — rulers, chief priests, learned men, philosophers, poets, [cypherpunks] — and had set them the task to invent [distributed ledgers again], such as would not only fit the occasion, but express in words, human phrases, the whole future history of the world and of humanity — dost Thou believe that all the wisdom of the earth united could have invented anything in depth and force equal to [“Double-spending is prevented with a peer-to-peer network; no mint or other trusted parties; participants can be anonymous; new coins are made from proof-of-work. Any needed rules and incentives can be enforced with this consensus mechanism.”] From those alone, from the miracle of their statement, we can see that we have here to do not with the fleeting human intelligence, but with the absolute and eternal. For in those the whole subsequent history of [payments, ownership registry, storage of wealth, identity, IoT] is, as it were, brought together into one whole, and foretold, and in them are united all the unsolved historical contradictions of [the legacy financial system]. At the time it could not be so clear, since the future was unknown; but now that fifteen hundred years have passed, we see that everything in those questions was so justly divined and foretold, and has been so truly fulfilled, that nothing can be added to [the arbitrary block size picked in 2010].
…
They will raise against Thee, and with which they will destroy Thy temple [Bitcoin]. Where Thy temple stood will rise new buildings [Ripple, Ethereum, Chain]; the terrible tower of Babel will be built again, and though, like the one of old, it will not be finished, yet Thou mightest have prevented that new tower…for they will come back to us after a thousand years of agony with their tower. They will seek us again, hidden underground in the catacombs, for we shall be again persecuted and tortured. They will find us and cry to us, “Feed us [megabytes], for those who have promised us fire from heaven haven’t given it!” And then we shall finish building their tower, for he finishes the building who feeds them [real-time transaction confirmations]. And we alone shall feed them in Thy name, declaring falsely that it is in Thy name. Oh, never, never can they feed themselves without [more than 1MB]! No, science will give them [other blockchains] so long as they remain free. In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, “Make us your slaves, but feed us [block space].”
…
But man seeks to worship what is established beyond dispute [– like signing the freakin’ Genesis block!!!], so that all men would agree at once to worship it. For these pitiful creatures are concerned not only to find what one or the other can worship, but to find community of worship is the chief misery of every man individually and of all humanity from the beginning of time. For the sake of common worship they’ve slain each other with [personal, vindictive campaigns and DDoS attacks]. They have set up gods and challenged one another, “Put away your gods [XT, Classic, Unlimited] and come and worship ours, or we will kill you and your gods!” And so it will be to the end of the world, even when gods disappear from the earth.
…
When the Inquisitor ceased speaking he waited some time for his [Satoshi] to answer him. His silence weighed down upon him. The old man longed for him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But He suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly [blogged “I’m Sorry…And goodbye.”] That was all his answer. The old man shuddered. His lips moved. He went to the door, opened it, and said to Him: ‘Go, and come no more… come not at all, never, never!’ And he let Him out into the dark alleys of the town. [Craig Wright] went away.”
“And the old man?”
“The [Block Size] Inquisitors adhere to their idea [– artificially limiting the block size — even if it] destroys Thy temple [Bitcoin]. Where Thy temple stood will rise new buildings [Ripple, Etherium, Chain, DAH, et al]; the terrible tower of Babel will be built again….”
Dan Morehead
San Francisco
May 26, 2016Payum vs Omnipay
The short answer is Payum provides same functionality as Omnipay plus some extra features.
Payum works best when you combine a payment model with a convert action. The model must not be only a Payum’s one, I encourage you to use your own or one from a ecommerce platform. The idea is simple: you send a request to Payum to capture your model. In the action you convert the payment model to a gateway specific format, most probably an array. The beauty of this approach is that your code is never changed, and looks like this:
$gateway->execute(new Capture($payment));
All gateway’s differences are hidden inside a gateway. Of course Payum supports a gateway specific format, or a Payum’s Payment model as well. In case of Omnipay you cannot simply replace a stripe gateway to a paypal one, because they behave differently and what is more important they require different data. Stripe require a credit card to be provided where Paypal does not care about it but instead wants return and cancel urls to be set. You have to reflect these differences in your code, is this abstraction? By the way Payum generate cancel and return urls for you and they are secure ones (we talk about it later).
Sometimes you have to get more details about the payment transaction, or a payer, or more info about an error. Payum provides you access to all data that takes part in a communication between your code and a payment gateway. The data format is a payment specific, so if you familiar with Paypal protocol (for example) it would be easy for you to understand what is going on there. Another good example is Klarna Checkout. It returns shipping\billing addresses, gender and date of birth. With Payum you can easily get these out of payment and use for your needs.
Payum gives you a better status handling. Omnipay provides only two statuses success and failed, but it is not enough. For example Paypal sometimes returns pending status because of multi currency issue. In this case omnipay says the payment has failed, but in fact it is not. Or user can cancel the payment at Paypal side, Omnipay will tell you it failed but it is not really true. If you need a status which is not provided by Payum by default, you can easily add it. Do you already have payment statuses, maybe your ecommerce platform provide them and you want to reuse, no problem Payum could be adjust to use them.
Sometimes users want to cheat on you or pay less for the stuff. As a developer you have to think about it and take care of your data. What do you expose to a user? Could it be used the wrong way? You can not rely on an amount given in the url, until you validate it. For example Paypal sends you a push notification to the notify url you previously sent to them. Payum generates for you such an url and when the notification comes back it validates it. You get unique, secured urls out of the box. The payment internally associated with that url, and once you remove\invalidate the url user not able to access the payment behind it. Omnipay does
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(writer: "Revolution")
(TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Revolution")
2002 Back in the U.S. (TV Special documentary) (performer: "Hello, Goodbye", "Jet", "All My Loving", "Live and Let Die", "Coming Up", "Blackbird", "We Can Work It Out", "Here, There, and Everywhere", "Eleanor Rigby", "Matchbox", "Your Loving Flame", "The Fool on the Hill", "Getting Better", "Here Today", "Something", "Band on the Run", "Let Me Roll It", "Back in the USSR", "My Love", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Freedom", "Let it Be", "Hey Jude", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Lady Madonna", "The Long and Winding Road", "Yesterday", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "The End", "I Saw Her Standing There") / (writer: "Hello, Goodbye", "Jet", "All My Loving", "Live and Let Die", "Coming Up", "Blackbird", "We Can Work It Out", "Here, There, and Everywhere", "Eleanor Rigby", "Your Loving Flame", "The Fool on the Hill", "Getting Better", "Here Today", "Band on the Run", "Let Me Roll It", "Back in the USSR", "My Love", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Freedom", "Let it Be", "Hey Jude", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Lady Madonna", "The Long and Winding Road", "Yesterday", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "The End", "I Saw Her Standing There")
(TV Special documentary) (performer: "Hello, Goodbye", "Jet", "All My Loving", "Live and Let Die", "Coming Up", "Blackbird", "We Can Work It Out", "Here, There, and Everywhere", "Eleanor Rigby", "Matchbox", "Your Loving Flame", "The Fool on the Hill", "Getting Better", "Here Today", "Something", "Band on the Run", "Let Me Roll It", "Back in the USSR", "My Love", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Freedom", "Let it Be", "Hey Jude", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Lady Madonna", "The Long and Winding Road", "Yesterday", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "The End", "I Saw Her Standing There") / (writer: "Hello, Goodbye", "Jet", "All My Loving", "Live and Let Die", "Coming Up", "Blackbird", "We Can Work It Out", "Here, There, and Everywhere", "Eleanor Rigby", "Your Loving Flame", "The Fool on the Hill", "Getting Better", "Here Today", "Band on the Run", "Let Me Roll It", "Back in the USSR", "My Love", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Freedom", "Let it Be", "Hey Jude", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Lady Madonna", "The Long and Winding Road", "Yesterday", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "The End", "I Saw Her Standing There")
2002 Comedian (Documentary) (performer: "Valentine Day", "Smile Away") / (writer: "Valentine Day", "Smile Away")
(Documentary) (performer: "Valentine Day", "Smile Away") / (writer: "Valentine Day", "Smile Away")
2002 The Transporter (writer: "Muzik")
(writer: "Muzik")
2002 Party at the Palace: The Queen's Concerts, Buckingham Palace (TV Special documentary) (performer: "Her Majesty", "Blackbird", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)", "The End", "All You Need Is Love", "Hey Jude") / (writer: "The Long And Winding Road", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Her Majesty", "Blackbird", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)", "The End", "All You Need Is Love", "Hey Jude")
(TV Special documentary) (performer: "Her Majesty", "Blackbird", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)", "The End", "All You Need Is Love", "Hey Jude") / (writer: "The Long And Winding Road", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Her Majesty", "Blackbird", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)", "The End", "All You Need Is Love", "Hey Jude")
2002 Undercover Brother (writer: "Ebony And Ivory")
(writer: "Ebony And Ivory")
2002 Bowling for Columbine (Documentary) (writer: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (1968))
(Documentary) (writer: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (1968))
2002 10 Minutes of Noise & Confusion: Part 1 (Video documentary short) (writer: "Revolution" - uncredited)
(Video documentary short) (writer: "Revolution" - uncredited)
2002 The 74th Annual Academy Awards (TV Special) (performer: "Vanilla Sky") / (writer: "Vanilla Sky")
(TV Special) (performer: "Vanilla Sky") / (writer: "Vanilla Sky")
2002 Desejos de Mulher (TV Series) (writer: "Minha Vida")
(TV Series) (writer: "Minha Vida")
2001 Acústico MTV: Cássia Eller (TV Movie) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
(TV Movie) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
2001 Elton John: One Night Only - Greatest Hits Live (TV Special documentary) (writer: "Come Together")
(TV Special documentary) (writer: "Come Together")
2001 George Harrison - Der sanfte Beatle (TV Short documentary) (writer: "She Loves You", "GET BACK")
(TV Short documentary) (writer: "She Loves You", "GET BACK")
2001 Vanilla Sky (performer: "Vanilla Sky" (2001)) / (producer: "Vanilla Sky" (2001)) / (writer: "Vanilla Sky" (2001))
(performer: "Vanilla Sky" (2001)) / (producer: "Vanilla Sky" (2001)) / (writer: "Vanilla Sky" (2001))
2001 I Am Sam (writer: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Two of Us", "Across the Universe", "I'm Looking through You", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Golden Slumbers", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "Blackbird", "Mother Nature's Son", "Nowhere Man")
(writer: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Two of Us", "Across the Universe", "I'm Looking through You", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Golden Slumbers", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "Blackbird", "Mother Nature's Son", "Nowhere Man")
2001 Oasis: 10 Years of Noise & Confusion (TV Movie) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(TV Movie) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
2001 The Royal Tenenbaums (writer: "Hey Jude")
(writer: "Hey Jude")
2001 Ping qiong gui gong zi (TV Series) (lyrics: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand") / (music: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand")
(TV Series) (lyrics: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand") / (music: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand")
2001 Shining Stars: The Official Story of Earth, Wind, & Fire (Video) (writer: "Got to Get you Into My Life")
(Video) (writer: "Got to Get you Into My Life")
2001 Moulin Rouge! (writer: "Elephant Love Medley")
(writer: "Elephant Love Medley")
2001 Heartbreakers (writer: "Back in the U.S.S.R.")
(writer: "Back in the U.S.S.R.")
2001 Top of the Pops: The True Story (TV Movie documentary) (writer: "I Wanna Be Your Man", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - uncredited)
(TV Movie documentary) (writer: "I Wanna Be Your Man", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - uncredited)
2000 The British Invasion Returns (Video) (writer: "Bad To Me")
(Video) (writer: "Bad To Me")
2000 Okupas (TV Mini-Series) (writer - 1 episode)
Miguel (2000)... (writer: "Because" - uncredited) (TV Mini-Series) (writer - 1 episode)
2000 Rick Wakeman: The Legend Live in Concert 2000 (Video) (writer: "Help/ Eleanor Rigby")
(Video) (writer: "Help/ Eleanor Rigby")
2000 Piso porta (writer: "The Word", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds")
(writer: "The Word", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds")
2000 Shine On (TV Special) (writer: "Revolution", "Tomorrow Never Knows" - uncredited)
(TV Special) (writer: "Revolution", "Tomorrow Never Knows" - uncredited)
2000 Ha-Kasefet (TV Series) (writer: "Can't Buy Me Love")
(TV Series) (writer: "Can't Buy Me Love")
2000 Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955-1970) (TV Movie documentary) (writer: "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her", "Help!", "With a Little Help From My Friends")
(TV Movie documentary) (writer: "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her", "Help!", "With a Little Help From My Friends")
2000 Maybe Baby (performer: "Maybe Baby")
(performer: "Maybe Baby")
2000 The Linda McCartney Story (TV Movie) (writer: "I want to hold your hand", "Please, please me")
(TV Movie) (writer: "I want to hold your hand", "Please, please me")
2000 Net All Nighter (TV Special) (writer: "Helter Skelter" - uncredited)
(TV Special) (writer: "Helter Skelter" - uncredited)
2000 Hanging Up (performer: "Junk", "Singalong Junk") / (writer: "Junk", "Singalong Junk")
(performer: "Junk", "Singalong Junk") / (writer: "Junk", "Singalong Junk")
2000 Paul Is Dead (performer: "Wonderful Christmastime") / (writer: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Wonderful Christmastime", "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", "I Am The Walrus")
(performer: "Wonderful Christmastime") / (writer: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Wonderful Christmastime", "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", "I Am The Walrus")
1999 Eglimata (TV Series) (writer: "Little Child")
(TV Series) (writer: "Little Child")
1999 Kung Fu Kenobi's Big Adventure (Short) (performer: "Momma Miss America") / (writer: "Momma Miss America")
(Short) (performer: "Momma Miss America") / (writer: "Momma Miss America")
1999 Regine: R2K (Video documentary) (writer: "The Long and Winding Road")
(Video documentary) (writer: "The Long and Winding Road")
1999 Paul McCartney: Live at the Cavern Club (TV Special) (performer: "Honey Hush", "Blue Jean Bop", "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "Fabulous", "What It Is", "Lonesome Town", "Twenty Flight Rock", "No Other Baby", "Try Not to Cry", "Shake a Hand", "All Shook Up", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Party" - uncredited) / (writer: "What It Is", "Try Not to Cry", "I Saw Her Standing There" - uncredited)
(TV Special) (performer: "Honey Hush", "Blue Jean Bop", "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "Fabulous", "What It Is", "Lonesome Town", "Twenty Flight Rock", "No Other Baby", "Try Not to Cry", "Shake a Hand", "All Shook Up", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Party" - uncredited) / (writer: "What It Is", "Try Not to Cry", "I Saw Her Standing There" - uncredited)
1999 American Beauty (writer: "Because")
(writer: "Because")
1999 Outside Providence (performer: "Band On The Run") / (writer: "Band On The Run" - as McCartney)
(performer: "Band On The Run") / (writer: "Band On The Run" - as McCartney)
1999 Michael Jackson & Friends (TV Movie) (writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
(TV Movie) (writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
1999 The '60s (TV Movie) (writer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
(TV Movie) (writer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
1999 Providence (TV Series) (writer: "In My Life")
(TV Series) (writer: "In My Life")
1998 1968: The Year That Shaped a Generation (TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Helter Skelter", "Blackbird")
(TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Helter Skelter", "Blackbird")
1998 In My Life: A Unique Recording Project from Sir George Martin (TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Golden Slumbers", "Come Together", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Am the Walrus", "Here, There and Everywhere")
(TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Golden Slumbers", "Come Together", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Am the Walrus", "Here, There and Everywhere")
1998 Travellers Tunes (Video) (writer: "Day Tripper")
(Video) (writer: "Day Tripper")
1998 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (lyrics: "Wonderful Christmastime" - as McCartney) / (music: "Wonderful Christmastime" - as McCartney)
(lyrics: "Wonderful Christmastime" - as McCartney) / (music: "Wonderful Christmastime" - as McCartney)
1998 Saturday Night Live: The Best of Dana Carvey (TV Special) (writer: "Back in the U.S.S.R." - uncredited)
(TV Special) (writer: "Back in the U.S.S.R." - uncredited)
1998 Fiona Apple: Across the Universe (Video short) (writer: "Across the Universe")
(Video short) (writer: "Across the Universe")
1998 Pleasantville (writer: "Across the Universe")
(writer: "Across the Universe")
1998 A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (writer: "Let It Be")
(writer: "Let It Be")
1998 Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy (Video documentary) (writer: "Ebony and Ivory", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Love Me Do" - uncredited)
(Video documentary) (writer: "Ebony and Ivory", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Love Me Do" - uncredited)
1998 Armageddon (writer: "Come Together")
(writer: "Come Together")
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
(writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
1998 Lukas (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)
Unter Strom (1998)... (writer: "All You Need Is Love" - uncredited) (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)
1998 Oasis: Live at Luna Park (TV Special) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(TV Special) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1998 Oasis: Live at Apoquindo Stadium (TV Special) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(TV Special) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1997 Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters (TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Ticket To Ride")
(TV Movie documentary) (writer: "Ticket To Ride")
1997 The Piano Tour Live (writer: "Eleanor Rigby")
(writer: "Eleanor Rigby")
1997 Tropic Island Hum (Short) (arranger: "Tropic Island Hum") / (performer: "Tropic Island Hum") / (writer: "Tropic Island Hum")
(Short) (arranger: "Tropic Island Hum") / (performer: "Tropic Island Hum") / (writer: "Tropic Island Hum")
1997 Breast Men (TV Movie) (writer: "A Hard Day's Night")
(TV Movie) (writer: "A Hard Day's Night")
1997 Red Corner (writer: "I want To Hold Your Hand")
(writer: "I want To Hold Your Hand")
1997 Times of Our Lives (Video) (writer: "Day Tripper")
(Video) (writer: "Day Tripper")
1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer (writer: "Hey Bulldog")
(writer: "Hey Bulldog")
1997 Rayearth (TV Mini-Series) (writer: "All You Need is Love")
(TV Mini-Series) (writer: "All You Need is Love")
1997 Bean (writer: "Yesterday")
(writer: "Yesterday")
1997 Fathers' Day (performer: "Young Boy", "The World Tonight") / (writer: "Young Boy", "The World Tonight")
(performer: "Young Boy", "The World Tonight") / (writer: "Young Boy", "The World Tonight")
1997 Gun (TV Series) (lyrics: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun") / (music: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun")
(TV Series) (lyrics: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun") / (music: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun")
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank (writer: "Live and Let Die")
(writer: "Live and Let Die")
1996 El amor perjudica seriamente la salud (writer: "Let It Be")
(writer: "Let It Be")
1996 Eli's Coming (lyrics: "Give Peace A Chance") / (music: "Give Peace A Chance")
(lyrics: "Give Peace A Chance") / (music: "Give Peace A Chance")
1996 From the Beatles to Oasis: Forty Years of Granada Pop (TV Movie) (writer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
(TV Movie) (writer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
1996 Oasis: First Night Live at Maine Road (Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1996 The Perfect Woman (Short) (writer: "Michelle")
(Short) (writer: "Michelle")
1996 Michael (writer: "All You Need Is Love" (1967))
(writer: "All You Need Is Love" (1967))
1996 Jerry Maguire (performer: "Singalong Junk", "Momma Miss America") / (writer: "Singalong Junk", "Momma Miss America")
(performer: "Singalong Junk", "Momma Miss America") / (writer: "Singalong Junk", "Momma Miss America")
1996 My Entire Life (writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
(writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
1996 Oasis... There and Then (Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1996 The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (Documentary) (writer: "Yer Blues")
(Documentary) (writer: "Yer Blues")
1996 Oasis: Second Night Live at Knebworth Park (Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1996 Sexy Sadie (writer: "Sexy Sadie" - as McCartney)
(writer: "Sexy Sadie" - as McCartney)
1996 Oasis: Second Night Live at Maine Road (Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1996 The Rock (writer: "World Without Love")
(writer: "World Without Love")
1996 The Craft (writer: "Tomorrow Never Knows")
(writer: "Tomorrow Never Knows")
1996 Oasis: (What's the Story?) - An MTV News Special (TV Short documentary) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(TV Short documentary) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1996 Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival (Documentary) (writer: "Let It Be")
(Documentary) (writer: "Let It Be")
1995 You Can't Do That! The Making of 'A Hard Day's Night' (Video documentary) (writer: "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), "You Can't Do That" (1964), "This Boy (Ringo's Theme)" (1963), "I Should Have Known Better" (1964), "Tell Me Why" (1964), If I Fell" (1964), "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" (1964), "And I Love Her" (1964), "Can't Buy Me Love" (1964) - uncredited)
(Video documentary) (writer: "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), "You Can't Do That" (1964), "This Boy (Ringo's Theme)" (1963), "I Should Have Known Better" (1964), "Tell Me Why" (1964), If I Fell" (1964), "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" (1964), "And I Love Her" (1964), "Can't Buy Me Love" (1964) - uncredited)
1995 Oasis: First Night Live at Earls Court (Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1995 The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special (TV Movie) (writer: "Let it Be")
(TV Movie) (writer: "Let it Be")
1995 Hootie & the Blowfish: Summer Camp with Trucks (Video documentary) (writer: "The Ballad of John and Yoko")
(Video documentary) (writer: "The Ballad of John and Yoko")
1995 Oasis: Live by the Sea (Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
(Video) (writer: "I Am the Walrus")
1995 El secdleto de la tlompeta (Short) (writer: "All My Loving")
(Short) (writer: "All My Loving")
1995 Bye Bye Love (writer: "I Will")
(writer: "I Will")
1995 Houseguest (writer: "Michelle")
(writer: "Michelle")
1994 With... (TV Series documentary) (writer - 1 episode)
Oasis (1994)... (writer: "We Can Work It Out" - uncredited) (TV Series documentary) (writer - 1 episode)
1994 Love Affair (writer: "I Will")
(writer: "I Will")
1994 EarthBound (Video Game) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" - uncredited)
(Video Game) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" - uncredited)
1994 Lassie (writer: "In My Life")
(writer: "In My Life")
1994 My Girl 2 (writer: "All My Loving")
(writer: "All My Loving")
1993 A Bronx Tale (writer: "Come Together")
(writer: "Come Together")
1993 You Know My Name (Short) (writer: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)")
(Short) (writer: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)")
1993 Reckless Kelly (writer: "Happiness Is A Warm Gun")
(writer: "Happiness Is A Warm Gun")
1993 Loaded Weapon 1 (lyrics: "WE CAN WORK IT OUT") / (music: "WE CAN WORK IT OUT")
(lyrics: "WE CAN WORK IT OUT") / (music: "WE CAN WORK IT OUT")
1992 Shindig! Presents British Invasion Vol. 1 (Video short) (writer: "A World Without Love")
(Video short) (writer: "A World Without Love")
1992 Guns N' Roses: Use Your Illusion I (Video documentary) (writer: "Live and Let Die")
(Video documentary) (writer: "Live and Let Die")
1992 Secrets (writer: "LOVE ME DO", "I SAW HER STANDING THERE", "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "It Won't Be Long", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Helter Skelter", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Can't Buy Me Love", "All My Loving", "She Loves You", "Revolution", "I Feel Fine", "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Dear Prudence", "Eight Days a Week", "She's Leaving Home", "Hold Me Tight", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "This Boy", "A Hard Day's Night")
(writer: "LOVE ME DO", "I SAW HER STANDING THERE", "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "It Won't Be Long", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Helter Skelter", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Can't Buy Me Love", "All My Loving", "She Loves You", "Revolution", "I Feel Fine", "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Dear Prudence", "Eight Days a Week", "She's Leaving Home", "Hold Me Tight", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "This Boy", "A Hard Day's Night")
1992 Concierto Guns N Roses (TV Movie) (writer: "Live and Let Die")
(TV Movie) (writer: "Live and Let Die")
1992 Pilkkuja ja pikkuhousuja (writer: "Hey Jude")
(writer: "Hey Jude")
1992 Mr. Saturday Night (lyrics: "I Want to Hold Your Hand") / (music: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
(lyrics: "I Want to Hold Your Hand") / (music: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
1992 Veturimiehet heiluttaa (writer: "With a Little Help From My Friends")
(writer: "With a Little Help From My Friends")
1992 Noises Off... (writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
(writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
1991 The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit (Video documentary) (writer: "All My Lovin", "From Me To You", "I Saw Her Standing There", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "It Won't Be Long", "Love Me Do", "Please, Please Me", "She Loves You", "This Boy")
(Video documentary) (writer: "All My Lovin", "From Me To You", "I Saw Her Standing There", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "It Won't Be Long", "Love Me Do", "Please, Please Me", "She Loves You", "This Boy")
1991 Grand Canyon (writer: "She's Leaving Home")
(writer: "She's Leaving Home")
1991 Ai monogatari (TV Mini-Series) (writer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
(TV Mini-Series) (writer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
1991 For the Boys (writer: "In My Life")
(writer: "In My Life")
1991 To meteoro vima tou pelargou (writer: "Let it Be")
(writer: "Let it Be")
1991 1991 MTV Video Music Awards (TV Special) (writer: "Live & Let Die")
(TV Special) (writer: "Live & Let Die")
1991 Riff-Raff (writer: "With A Little Help From My Friends")
(writer: "With A Little Help From My Friends")
1991 Matkalaukkukostaja (TV Mini-Series) (writer - 1 episode)
Murhapoltto (1991)... (writer: "Michelle") (TV Mini-Series) (writer - 1 episode)
1991 Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight (Documentary) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
(Documentary) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
1991 Unplugged (TV Series documentary) (lyrics - 1 episode)
Slaughter/Winger (1991)... (lyrics: "Revolution") (TV Series documentary) (lyrics - 1 episode)
1990 Because (Short) (writer: "Because")
(Short) (writer: "Because")
1990 David Hasselhoff Live & Forever (Video) (lyrics: "Back in the USSR") / (music: "Back in the USSR")
(Video) (lyrics: "Back in the USSR") / (music: "Back in the USSR")
1990 Flashing on the Sixties: A Tribal Document (Video documentary) (writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
(Video documentary) (writer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
1990 Jul med Paul McCartney (TV Special documentary) (performer: "The Long And Winding Road", "Let It Be") / (writer: "The Long And Winding Road", "Let It Be")
(TV Special documentary) (performer: "The Long And Winding Road", "Let It Be") / (writer: "The Long And Winding Road", "Let It Be")
1990 Woodstock: The Lost Performances (Video documentary) (writer: "Blackbird", "Strawberry Fields Forever")
(Video documentary) (writer: "Blackbird", "Strawberry Fields Forever")
1989 Peacemaker (Short) (performer: "Pipes of Peace") / (writer: "Pipes of Peace")
(Short) (performer: "Pipes of Peace") / (writer: "Pipes of Peace")
1989 Roman Amiti (Documentary) (writer: "Dear Prudence")
(Documentary) (writer: "Dear Prudence")
1989 The 13th Annual Young Comedians Special (TV Special) (writer: "Her Majesty")
(TV Special) (writer: "Her Majesty")
1989 Life Goes On (TV Series) (writer: "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da")
(TV Series) (writer: "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da")
1989 Isang araw walang Diyos (writer: "Yellow Submarine")
(writer: "Yellow Submarine")
1989 Rude Awakening (writer: "Revolution" - as McCartney)
(writer: "Revolution" - as McCartney)
1989 Troop Beverly Hills (writer: "When I'm Sixty Four")
(writer: "When I'm Sixty Four")
1989 Depeche Mode: 101 (Documentary) (writer: "I Saw Her Standing There")
(Documentary) (writer: "I Saw Her Standing There")
1989 A Night of Comic Relief 2 (TV Special) (writer: "Help!")
(TV Special) (writer: "Help!")
1989 Scandal (writer: "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", "Please Please Me" - uncredited)
(writer: "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", "Please Please Me" - uncredited)
1989 Cousins ("The Long and Winding Road")
("The Long and Winding Road")
1989 Brev till paradiset (writer: "A Hard Day's Night")
(writer: "A Hard Day's Night")
1989 The Experts ("Back In The U.S.S.R.")
("Back In The U.S.S.R.")
1988 Neil Diamond: Greatest Hits Live (Video documentary) (writer: "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End")
(Video documentary) (writer: "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End")
1988 The Prince's Trust Rock Gala (Documentary) (writer: "With a Little Help from my Friends")
(Documentary) (writer: "With a Little Help from my Friends")
1988 Tommys Hollywood Report (TV Movie) (writer: "Drive My Car" - uncredited)
(TV Movie) (writer: "Drive My Car" - uncredited)
1988 Rain Man (writer: "I Saw Her Standing There" (1963))
(writer: "I Saw Her Standing There" (1963))
1988 Moonwalker (writer: "Come Together")
(writer: "Come Together")
1988 Imagine: John Lennon (Documentary) (writer: "A Day in the Life", "Across the Universe", "All You Need Is Love", "Ballad of John & Yoko", "Come Together", "Don't Let Me Down", "Give Peace a Chance", "Help", "In My Life", "I've Got a Feeling", "Julia", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Nowhere Man", "Revolution", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "From Me to You", "Love Me Do")
(Documentary) (writer: "A Day in the Life", "Across the Universe", "All You Need Is Love", "Ballad of John & Yoko", "Come Together", "Don't Let Me Down", "Give Peace a Chance", "Help", "In My Life", "I've Got a Feeling", "Julia", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Nowhere Man", "Revolution", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "From Me to You", "Love Me Do")
1988 License to Drive (writer: "Drive My Car")
(writer: "Drive My Car")
1988 Bebê a Bordo (TV Series) (writer: "Viver e reviver" ("Here, there and everywhere"))
(TV Series) (writer: "Viver e reviver" ("Here, there and everywhere"))
1988 7T3 (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)
Episode #1.23 (1988)... (writer: "With a Little Help from my Friends") (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)
1987 Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist (TV Movie documentary) (lyrics: "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE") / (music: "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE")
(TV Movie documentary) (lyrics: "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE") / (music: "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE")
1987 Five Corners (lyrics: "In My Life") / (music: "In My Life")
(lyrics: "In My Life") / (music: "In My Life")
1987 Can't Buy Me Love (writer: "Can't Buy Me Love")
(writer: "Can't Buy Me Love")
1987 Disorderlies (writer: "Baby You're a Rich Man")
(writer: "Baby You're a Rich Man")
1987 Rock Odyssey (writer: "Help", "Yesterday")
(writer: "Help", "Yesterday")
1987 Concrete Angels (writer: "She Loves You", "Love Me Do", "From Me To You", "Misery", "P.S. I Love You", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Saw Her Standing There")
(writer: "She Loves You", "Love Me Do", "From Me To You", "Misery", "P.S. I Love You", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Saw Her Standing There")
1987 Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (TV Movie documentary) (lyrics: "Live and Let Die") / (music: "Live and Let Die") / (performer: "Live and Let Die")
(TV Movie documentary) (lyrics: "Live and Let Die") / (music: "Live and Let Die") / (performer: "Live and Let Die")
1987 Prick Up Your Ears (writer: "A Day in the Life")
(writer: "A Day in the Life")
1986 Lovedolls Superstar (writer: "Give Peace a Chance")
(writer: "Give Peace a Chance")
1986 Jimi Plays Monterey (Documentary) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band")
(Documentary) (writer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band")
1986 The Prince's Trust Rock Gala: 10th Birthday (TV Special) (performer: "Long Tall Sally", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Get Back") / (writer: "I Saw Her Standing There", "Get Back")
(TV Special) (performer: "Long Tall Sally", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Get Back") / (writer: "I Saw Her Standing There", "Get Back")
1986 The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (TV Movie) (writer: "Hey Jude", "Strawberry Fields Forever" - uncredited)
(TV Movie) (writer: "Hey Jude", "Strawberry Fields Forever" - uncredited)
1986 Mala Noche ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
1986 John Lennon Live in New York City (Video documentary) (writer: "Come Together", "Give Peace a Chance")
(Video documentary) (writer: "Come Together", "Give Peace a Chance")
1985 Buddy Rich and His Band: Channel One Suite (writer: "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)")
(writer: "
|
Salon Pundit Amanda Marcotte: Hannity's ‘A Strong Believer In the Christian Version’ of Sharia Law
Seriously? Marcotte Compares Planned Parenthood Abortions to Strawberries
Slate's Amanda Marcotte Slams 'Tyranny' of the 'Home-Cooked Meal'
Feminist Amanda Marcotte Compares Abortion to Cavity Removal, Calls Babies ‘Time-Sucking Monsters’
As an example of how a normal person reacts to someone with a record of unbelievable accuracy, we have Jake Tapper's interview on The Lead with Scott Adams in February.
JAKE TAPPER: Joining me to talk Trump is Scott Adams. He's the creator of "Dilbert" and author of a memoir/inspirational book called "How to Fail Almost Every Time and Still Win Big." And Scott on his blog has been analyzing the rise of the Republican front-runner for months now. And, frankly, he has some of the most interesting and accurate observations about why Trump is appealing to so many people and in the process winning.
But...but Jake! What about his secret thoughts on feminism? Isn't that what is all important?
TAPPER: Democrats like to say they would like to run against Trump. You clearly think that they are underestimating him. SCOTT ADAMS: Yes, based on his talent stack alone. If you look at any individual talent he has, you can say, well, that's not the best in the world. But look how many he's put together. He knows strategy, business strategy, he knows negotiating. He's the best persuader I've ever seen. He's quick on his feet, he's funny. He's smart enough. He knows enough about politics. So, when you put that stack together, nobody really stands up to that stack. I've been predicting he's going to win in a landslide since last year. TAPPER: Not just the nomination but the presidency? ADAMS: Yes, I think it will be one of the biggest margins of victory in history.
Fascinating stuff but what is of most interest to Marcotte is what taboo thoughts may or may not be floating around in the crevices of Scott Adams' mind.Posted 05 September 2015 - 11:27 PM
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Feel free to provide feedback for ways to improve this thread. Thanks!Hamou Benlatreche, a 36-year-old Algerian, was formally indicted by an anti-terrorism judge at a Paris hospital on Tuesday evening.
Investigators have not yet had the chance to interrogate Benlatreche as he was shot and seriously wounded during his arrest several hours after ploughing a black BMW into troops in Levallois-Perret on the morning of August 9.
READ ALSO:
AFP
He was eventually arrested several hours later after a dramatic motorway chase near the port of Calais in northern France.
He remains in hospital in the Paris area.
Last week, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the suspect had scoped out the Levallois-Perret area three days before the attack and that the contents of his phone suggested an interest in the Islamic State (IS) group and a desire to go to Syria.
Since early 2015, France has been hit by a series of deadly attacks by Islamic extremists which have killed more than 230 people and injured hundreds
Of late, many of the attacks have been relatively low-tech, involving lone wolf suspects using vehicles as weapons or blades, and often targeting the security forces.
The suspect lives in Bezons, about eight kilometres (five miles) from the attack site, and has no previous convictions.Abington fifth-grade teacher Christine McCallum, if convicted on rape charges, would join an ugly list of female teachers with a thing for little boys.
Abington fifth-grade teacher Christine McCallum, if convicted on rape charges, would join an ugly list of female teachers with a thing for little boys.
Gender aside, there’s something scary about the idea that a person can achieve a master’s degree in education, make it through the hiring process, successfully educate kids for a while, have parents say things like “what a great teacher,” and then one day – boom – she’s an alleged rapist who took advantage of a motherless 12-year-old boy and had her way with him 300 times in 18 months!
I can already hear her citing an oft-used defense: “She’s sick. She couldn’t help it – it’s a compulsion.”
Yeah, sure. So is the urge to use the bathroom – but defendant McCallum managed not to pull her pants down and relieve herself in the middle of Main Street. Spare me. And if I may offer up a prayer to the gods of justice: Please save us from the nonsensical “she’s not the type” defense.
The truth is, people who look nice on the outside are just as capable of doing dastardly things as the toothless homeless guy living in a box by the river. In fact, I’d go further and suggest that the pretty people can be even more dangerous because they can afford the cover of a good job and a white picket fence.
Like most parents, I relish the myth that blonde female fifth-grade teachers aren’t dangerous. It helps me feel good about sending little Johnny off to school every day.
But feel-good cultural pablum distorts the disturbing facts:
According to the Department of Justice, females account for 6,000 sexual offenses each year. A total of 1.6 million men and 1.5 million women were sexually abused by women when they were children. The majority of female offenders are between 22 and 33 years old and are not mentally ill. They are typically employed in professional jobs or as managers and a high percentage of their victims are “close” contacts, such as students, family friends and children they advised in some fashion.
When they offend against boys, we either ignore or discount the harm because it seems impossible for a boy’s parts to get, um, tingly if he’s truly being harmed. Truth is, boys suffer terribly, even when their parts are tingling. But because we high-five them as “lucky,” they aren’t free to talk about the experience as painful. This silencing adds to the psychic pain for male victims and so long as we continue to view male sexual abuse through the prism of an orgasm, it will continue.
If we really care about boys, we need to mind the research that shows how they suffer as men. As adults, they often suffer from PTSD, drug addiction, failed intimate relationships, etc., and they don’t heal easily because they have to find a way to connect the dots between adult symptoms and long since-ceased abuse.
If we did a better job understanding the harm when it happens, things would improve overnight. One way to get there is to stop thinking about male sex abuse as “good” because of the tingles. Let’s think about it, instead, the way we think about the excitement boys feel when they drink beer underage and then drive around in fast cars. They may find the experience tingly, but it doesn't mean we should cheer them on – and it surely doesn't mean drinking and driving fast is “good” for them.
That McCallum was ordered to post only $1,000 cash bail and faces no mandatory prison time is proof that our legal system is part of the problem. And our schools have to step up to the plate, too.
Kids will never be safe from predatory teachers unless schools do at least three things:
Screen applicants with a good psychological tool to ferret out those with personality disorders.
Adopt clear guidelines so that boundary violations are recognized as warning signs.
Enforce guidelines with mandatory sanctions so that risk factors lead to swift termination.
If prevention is the goal, these things are important because the flames of teacher sexual abuse are typically preceded by the smoke of boundary violations.
The school system’s failure to recognize the risk factors in McCallum’s case rightly makes all parents very nervous about all seemingly great teachers.
Does this mean we should we stop assuming that schools are safe?
I don’t know.
But I’m certain that if we blindly trust the system, we might be 300 rapes too late for little Johnny.
Wendy Murphy is a leading victim-rights advocate and nationally recognized television legal analyst. She is an adjunct professor at New England Law in Boston and a radio talk show host. She can be reached at [email protected] the popularity of the suit as we know it today go down in history as one of the most elegant eras in men’s style? While future generations likely won’t wear the suit (of today) forever, in order to imagine the future, it helps to look to the past.
If you like science fiction films, then you’ve noticed most futuristic men in sci-fi movies don’t wear suits. On the flip side, when you visit a historical art museum, you’ll notice that paintings of people from the 1600s don’t show men wearing classic suits either.
You may know the story of George “Beau” Brummell, who dressed so well that he caught the attention of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV). The Prince became so enamored with Brummell’s knack for elegant style that soon after introductions, he and Beau became fast-friends.
Although their friendship ended a few years later when Mr. Brummell poked fun of the Prince’s portly figure, the famous story of Beau being the inventor of the modern suit has endured.
Known for his savvy for elegance and for taking up to five hours a day to dress, Brummell dramatically changed the minds of men in regard to the rules of how men should dress. Beau refused to wear knee breeches and stockings in favor of fitted and tailored full length trousers.
He favored dark coats with linen shirts and well-tied cravats/neckties. If we calculate that this kind of suit made its introduction just after 1800, it would mean the invention of the modern suit (with a few style variations) is a little more than 200 years old.
Two centuries may seem like a long time for a specific style to endure in menswear, but stop and think about the length of time “knee breeches and men in stocking-socks” stayed around in Europe. As the precursor of the suit, knee breeches worn with cutaway or frock coats entered the scene in (roughly) the late 1500s.
The Spanish propelled the trend around 1630, and the style quickly spread all across Europe and the UK, making knee breeches with stocking-socks a specific style pattern for around 250 years before Brummell debuted the classical suit.
Yet, what was the precursor to knee-breeches? The Bayrische National Museum in Munich, Germany, features men’s hosiery emerging on the menswear scene around the late 1300s. During this time, many men in western civilization wore stockings or hosiery–what laymen call tights–with varying styles of jackets (short jackets called ‘pourpoints’ from 1350 and up, until ‘doublets’ became popular in the 1420s…For earlier history, see the excellent comment below). The wearing of hosiery appears to have started around the 1360s and continued until breeches came onto the scene in the mid-1500s. If this timescale estimation is correct, then the style of men in stockings with jackets lasted for around 200-250 years.
Of course these are rough estimations of different eras of men’s clothing in western civilization–serving only to point out that a particular men’s style can endure for a few centuries.
ARE MEN DUE FOR A STYLE CHANGE?
If history repeats itself, then there could be at least one major change in classical men’s dress in the next 50 years and such a change could endure for another couple of centuries.
In terms of men’s classical dress today, G. Bruce Boyer puts it this way:
“The tailored wardrobe as we know it– suit, shirt and ties, leather shoes — has had a long go of it, hasn’t changed much at all in 150 years, which is an incredibly long time when you consider what’s happened in science–think of transportation, medicine, and technology [developments] in those years. We can have a nice cup of coffee 50,000 feet in the air, and all the while be dressed the way we were a hundred years ago.”
You’ve heard the saying “don’t throw any clothes away because they’ll eventually come back in style”. While this saying could apply in your lifetime, certainly every men’s style statement under the sun has not yet been invented and the practice of recycling old styles in order to find new styles will eventually play itself out.
History tells us a story if we will only listen.
STYLE ICONS OF THE PAST
Unless you’re a societal hermit, you’ve noticed that elegant male dressers from the past are looked to for sartorial inspiration.
Many men are borderline-obsessed with the classic style of the 1930s and 40s–when men in the Western world dressed up most every day (which gave these men a lot of practice at looking good in a suit).
The media feeds our appetite for nostalgia with doses of sartorial delights like the Cooper-Astaire-Grant heyday and pinstripe-clad gangsters from the prohibition era. We are further inspired by T.V. series like Boardwalk Empire with men’s heads topped with homburgs and fedoras and Mad Men corporates clad in vibrant mohair suits accentuated with skinny ties clamped soundly with a low-placed tie bar.
Hardcore lovers of the early days go as far as to order actual vintage clothing to get the look of the golden days–only to find that the fantasy of wearing vintage can at times be more fanciful than the reality of wearing vintage.
Vintage cloth can be beautiful, yet heavy vintage cloth can also be rough and nonporous. These fabrics can cause sweating during physical movement or upon entering a heated room and winter tweeds can feel like sandpaper grating the skin. Even pinstripes that look incredible in old photographs can lack luster and dimension in real life and beautiful dated mohairs can prick the skin like sudden dull needles.
Infatuation with vintage is a great thing, but comfort and the condition of the cloth is an undeniable factor. Try before you buy vintage wear to prevent problems. Note any irritation against the skin and any strange odors from humid storage conditions, as well as scour the fabric for holes made by scavenging moths.
Still, buying vintage can also be wonderful! For example, the great master tailor Gianni Celeghin in Legnano, close to Milan, recently crafted a stunning overcoat for me using an original 1950s vintage cashmere/silk fabric with an extraordinary result. There are indeed some glorious vintage pieces out there; but vintage cloth should be, in my opinion, well examined and never bought solely for the hype of the vintage experience.
Misconceptions about vintage fabric aside, it’s an eye-opener to discover that today’s fabric technology is able to recreate the same vintage look of the past while erasing issues of comfort, porosity, heaviness, odors, poor storage issues and cloth damage.
Newly produced fabrics with vintage aesthetics have the ability to create the same emotion vintage fabrics create through dimensional effects, beautiful textures, replicative patterns, and reproductions of bulky wools that are breathable and comfortable to wear, and in some cases even resistant to weather elements.
If you’re a lover of vintage, don’t assume that vintage fabric is always superior to new fabrics–although sometimes this may be the case. Instead, reserve judgement and base fabric selection on a case-by-case scenario.
THE MAD SCIENCE OF ROBERTO BOLLO
Similar to a “nose” in perfumery (the artist behind the fragrance), VBC Textile Designer Roberto Bollo focuses on balancing visual pleasure with fabric functionality.
Mr. Bollo is fast on his feet and a sharp-shooter when it comes to working with color and patterns.
His father was a textile designer too, and often took young Roberto to the wool mill to teach him about different types of yarns and to explain the build and make of various weaves. From then on, Roberto imagined creating clothes from yarn and tinkering with the technical side of the textile world.
As a young boy of 14, he attended the State Technical Industrial Institute “Quintino Sella” in Biella, to learn the technical rudiments of becoming a cloth designer. After completing school, he became an intern in women’s wear and quickly landed a job contract, where he worked for 20 years–moving up to the position of Style Manager, before joining Vitale Barberis Canonico in 2010.
In his new job, Roberto created the VBC “Vintage” Range, making fabrics by balancing four components: comfort – functionality – impeccable style – and performance. He now heads the Earth, Wind & Fire line, the new capsule collection of functional textiles.
Roberto admits that working in women’s wear with different yarns and unexpected weaves has been one of his great secret weapons when it comes to innovation in menswear, and he adds, “There’s everything you need in the yarn and the weave”!
His latest mission? Find new colors and unique fabric textures that please the eye, feel good on the body, and eradicate the need for lining in a coat or jacket by working with 2-ply fabric…all the while increasing the performance of the cloth.
Roberto lives by a unique motto : stylistic disobedience has the power to confer personality.
He seeks to answer the question “What hasn’t been done before?” and to break away from the humdrum framework of menswear-as-usual.
Bollo says :
“Visual impact is big. If a suit fabric pleases the eye, then men will be drawn to that fabric. But sometimes function becomes as important as visual impact. Suddenly, when a man finds a way to merge beauty and style with comfort in situations where he has had problems in the past, and solves problems that come with overheating, discomfort, and disagreeable weather, he doesn’t want to go back to the old way of doing things.”
We asked Roberto to choose two of his favorite fabrics for us to feature:
Double-face overcoat
While you may not like double-faced people, it’s easy to fall in love with double-face fabric.
Double-face cloth answers the request for two-fabrics-in-one.
There are two ways to make double-face fabric: the industrial method joins two textiles with adhesives, while the other method, used by VBC, is more natural but takes a lot longer to produce, as cloth is made with weaves that join two layers of fabric by fine threads (called binding weft) instead of using glue. The ‘hand’ of this type of fabric is fluid, unconstrained and soft—a result of highly sophisticated research and development work.
Vitale Barberis Canonico double-face uses finely worsted carded yarns for the binding weft. The worsted yarn allows the fabric to open by using specific machines so that two pieces of fabric stay together with threads, thus completely eliminating the need for any type of lining in a coat or jacket.
In the 1950s, connecting two pieces of fabrics was not uncommon, but later, fabrics lightened in weight and almost all men’s garments came with lining, unlike women’s clothing–which continued to innovate with double-face cloth.
The recent refinement of double-face technology is a great development in menswear, as overcoats made in the fabric invite extreme comfort, vintage-like appearance, and high performance.
Seersucker Vintage
Seersucker is a fresh fabric with a puckered surface and can be checked, striped or micro-gingham. The fabric originated in India, where it was created by alternating warps of silk and cotton.
The fabric became a Southern U.S. specialty in 1907, when a New Orleans merchant sought a light weight suit that could handle the hot and humid conditions of Louisiana. Blue and white seersucker soon became the rage, with the name paying homage to the Persian term “milk and sugar” for its dimensional textured weave. However, the invention of air conditioning lowered the demand for Seersucker, and the suit became more of a novelty than a necessity.
Yet, in the 1990s, a Mississippi Republican Trent Lott revived the popularity of the seersucker suit by instating “Seersucker Thursday” during summers on Capital Hill and added “The Senate isn’t just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits and– in the case of men — red or blue ties”.
Vitale Barberis Canonico still weaves seersucker (90 percent cotton, 10 percent silk) in the traditional way, while other manufacturers, instead of using silk, resort to shrinking polyester yarn to get a dimensional affect (polyester is thermo-sensitive and shrinks at about 40° C).
VBC uses a specific weave to accentuate the pucker, followed by a clear water wash that results in a magnificent three-dimensional effect, with absolutely no use of synthetic elastic yarns.Rangers general manager Glen Sather has been in touch with Ducks counterpart Bob Murray regarding the availability of 24-year-old power winger Bobby Ryan, The Post has learned.
It is unclear whether Sather is simply conducting due diligence regarding Ryan, who is being dangled by the skidding Ducks, or whether discussions have evolved beyond the tire-kicking stage.
The Rangers, who toppled the Penguins 4-3 last night, have a number of prime assets to send to the Ducks for Ryan, who will attract considerable interest from big-time franchises throughout the league as Anaheim — which is on streaks of 0-5, 0-6-1 and 1-10-3 in carrying a 6-13-4 record into tonight’s match against Montreal — is seeking to replenish by gaining a package of young, cap-friendly players in exchange for the three-time 30-goal scorer.
It is believed the Rangers consider Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan, Marc Staal (who has begun skating on his own), Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh and Michael Sauer to be untouchables within the organization regarding this particular equation.
“The Rangers have a lot of assets within the organization,” an individual familiar with the situation told The Post. “A lot of assets.”
Ryan, who has recorded 11 points (7-4) following last season’s 71-point performance (34-37), has been a part of the Ducks’ formidable first-line that includes reigning Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry and center Ryan Getzlaf.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound New Jersey native has three seasons following this one remaining on a contract that carries a $5.1 million cap hit. Ryan, a right-handed shot who can play either wing, is due to become an unrestricted free agent following 2014-15 under the current CBA that expires on Sept. 15, 2012.Those of you who have been waiting to hear news about what will happen with Lai GuanLin following his time with Wanna One, you might be surprised to find out the wait won’t be nearly as long as you might’ve thought!
This week, Cube Entertainment opened up about GuanLin’s future activities and gave fans more information about the agency’s upcoming boy group. While no actual name has been confirmed, the agency announced that the group will be making their debut sometime in 2019 – which is only one and a half years away! They also revealed three members that will definitely be joining the line-up.
Must Read : Korean Women Nominated for The 100 Most Beautiful Women of 2017
Lai GuanLin (17 years old)
Voted 7th place during the second season of “Produce 101,” GuanLin is currently promoting alongside project group Wanna One as a rapper. Born and raised in Taiwan, the singer is popular not only for his dancing skills and strong visuals, but his ability to speak Chinese, Korean, and English.
Yoo SeonHo (16 years old)
Although he did not make it as far as GuanLin did on “Produce 101,” SeonHo was able to gain plenty of attention during his stint on the program. The two showed their teamwork and adorable chemistry while appearing together on the show – particularly winning over fans with their cover dance of “Troublemaker.”
Jo WooChan (13 years old)
WooChan may not have been on “Produce 101” like the others, but he certainly has experience making waves on a competition program. The 13-year-old rapper appeared as a contestant on “Show Me The Money 6,” where he wowed the judges with his innate talent for rhyming at such a young age.
So far, these three members are the only ones confirmed to be a part of the group. However, Cube Entertainment has expressed the intention to add further members to the line-up via audition. Are you excited to see the group finally make their debut?Apart from concerns about the expense, Burnett has a personal stake in desalination’s environmental challenges. He’s the son of two marine biologists, and his grandfather David Packard’s Silicon Valley fortune was integral to founding the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Burnett himself worked on climate rules for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before becoming Carmel's mayor.
“I’ve dedicated my professional life to working on climate change," Burnett says. "My family is very dedicated to the health of our oceans. So here I am advocating a project that has a large carbon footprint, and, if not done correctly, can hurt the oceans.”
Burnett met me on a beach where the Carmel River flows out to the Pacific Ocean. Nearby, ladies in straw hats were hauling easels and paints out to the sand to capture the picturesque landscape. Wearing designer sunglasses and a crisp blue shirt, Burnett told me desalination was the community’s last resort.
“We’ve explored a wide range of options," he says. "Everything was on the table -- harnessing icebergs and bringing them down, filling up huge balloons of water from up north and bringing them down."
It came to desal because the area’s for-profit water supplier, California American Water Company, was told it had to find a new source. For decades Cal Am had relied on the Carmel River, but then came a cease-and-desist order intended to protect the river’s threatened steelhead trout. There were years of wrangling and competing designs. A deadline was set for the end of next year –- a deadline Cal Am’s proposed desal plant will not hit. All the same, a plan is moving forward.
“This is, at its core,” says Burnett, “an environmental project.”
Intakes and Outfalls
There are three main environmental considerations when building a desalination plant: how seawater is brought in, how the drinkable water is separated out, and what happens to the salt afterward.
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The simplest intake is essentially a straw in the ocean -– a design that risks trapping and killing sea life. One solution is to affix a grate to the end of such a pipe, but even then, tiny larvae and fish eggs can still be sucked in. Instead, regulators tend to prefer what’s known as a "subsurface intake."
At a cement company’s beachside site on Monterey Bay, California American is currently working on a proof-of-concept for this approach. They’re using directional drilling, similar to the technology oil companies use to extract fossil fuels. The idea is to run a slant well hundreds of feet out, passing beneath the dunes to a spot under the waves. From below 200 feet of sand, and well insulated from any vulnerable sea life, Cal Am hopes to suck up a couple thousand gallons of water per minute.
It will take a huge amount of power to pump that much water, that far.
“Our energy bill is going up, no question,” an engineer on the project told me.
This is the second concern with desalination: once the seawater gets to the plant, it has to be pushed through membranes fine enough that salt can’t pass through them. That requires immense pressure – on the order of a pressure-washer.
An official at a smaller desal facility told me it took $25,000 of electricity per month to produce enough water for 1,200 homes. In Cal Am’s case, they’re hoping to reach a deal to power the plant using methane from a nearby landfill.
One other still-tentative design element addresses the third challenge of the desalination process: all that salt has to go somewhere.
Only about half of the saltwater piped into a desal plant is made drinkable. All the salt that’s separated out ends up concentrated into the other half, in a kind of brine that’s much denser than seawater. As a result, it doesn’t easily mix back in.
If it's just dumped carelessly back into the ocean, it sinks, and can kill any marine life having the misfortune of dwelling on the seafloor below.
Blending the briny byproduct back into the ocean may involve sprayers, or in Cal Am’s case, an existing outfall that the nearby Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency uses to dispose of wastewater. It's a pipe that runs thousands of feet out to sea, with small holes spaced ten feet apart, so not too much brine would pour out in any one place.
The desal facility isn’t expected to start delivering water to customers for several years, and in the meantime, it has to navigate a regulatory thicket of needed approvals.
Optional or Inevitable?
In recent years, desalination projects were considered in places like Marin County and Santa Cruz, only to end up sidelined amid skepticism. Between the environmental headaches and the cost of engineering work-arounds, critics argued the technology is often more trouble than it’s worth.
To the extent that conservation's an option, it’s much simpler and cheaper to do. Mayor Burnett says the towns along the Monterey Peninsula have just about wrung out that sponge for all it’s worth: people there get by on 60 gallons per day -- less than half what many Californians use.
Susan Jordan with the California Coastal Protection Network is a longtime critic of desal. She says, indeed, communities should first exhaust their other options.
“If you’re going to do something like desal," Jordan says, "you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can in terms of conservation, water recycling, water re-use, and you don’t want unsustainable development that just perpetuates your problem, or the state’s problem.”
That question of what constitutes sustainable development underpins the debate around desal. The counter-argument I heard from Scott Maloni, vice president at
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Hirsch. For 2003–04, Utah added Dan Ellis to their roster, with whom Smith split back up duties, again to Bacashihua. Smith went to play for the Houston Aeros in 2004–05, sharing the net almost equally with Josh Harding, putting up a 0.915 save percentage and 2.42 GAA.
Smith joined the Iowa Stars for their inaugural season in 2005–06. The Stars played Smith and Dan Ellis back-and-forth for much of the season until Smith appeared to take much of the netminding responsibilities late in the season. A Stars rally in the stretch secured the final Western Conference playoff spot. Smith started in every game of the seven-game series against the Milwaukee Admirals, which Milwaukee ultimately won.
Smith underwent shoulder surgery during the off-season for an injury he sustained during Iowa's 2005–06 season. After a faster-than-expected recovery, Smith attended the Dallas Stars' training camp in the fall of 2006, and was awarded the backup goaltender position behind Marty Turco. In his first-ever regulation NHL game on October 21, 2006, Smith stopped 22 shots to post a shutout against the Phoenix Coyotes.[2]
On January 4, 2007, Smith was hit in the mask by a slapshot, causing him to miss a few weeks with a concussion. He came back strong, however, winning two games in which Turco was pulled. He then registered a 32-save shutout over the Anaheim Ducks on February 10.
Smith also started the year living with Marty Turco's family. However, he eventually moved out and then signed a two-year, $950,000-a-year contract with the Stars.
On June 14, 2007, Smith was named to the 2006–07 NHL All-Rookie Team.
Tampa Bay Lightning [ edit ]
On February 26, 2008, Smith was traded, along with Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and a fourth round draft pick in 2009, to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist. Smith made his Lightning debut the following night against the Minnesota Wild, stopping 24 of 27 shots in a 3–2 loss.
On March 15, Smith recorded a 3–0 shutout victory over the New York Rangers. He became only the third rookie goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout for two different teams in the same season, and the first to do so in 79 years.[3] Smith recorded 14 wins for the Lightning during the 2008–09 season before suffering a concussion that kept him out of action for the remainder of the season. On February 2, 2011, the Lightning placed Smith on waivers, where he cleared the next day and was subsequently assigned to the Lightning's AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals.[4] He returned to Tampa Bay later in the season, however, and, backing up Dwayne Roloson during the Lightning's 2011 playoff run, made his playoff debut in place of Roloson in the third period of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Bruins.
Smith with the Coyotes during the 2011–12 NHL season.
Phoenix Coyotes [ edit ]
On July 1, 2011, Smith signed a two-year contract worth $2 million with the Phoenix Coyotes.[5] Smith set the NHL record for the most saves in a regulation shutout victory, as he stopped all 54 shots he faced in a 2–0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 3, 2012.[6] However, his record was later surpassed on January 29, 2014, when Ben Scrivens stopped 59 shots in a 3–0 win for the Edmonton Oilers over the San Jose Sharks. He went on to record an impressive 38 wins in his first season in Phoenix, as the Coyotes qualified for their third consecutive playoff berth, and finished fourth in voting for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league's top goaltender.
In the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, Smith led the Coyotes to their first playoff series win since 1987, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 4–2 in the series. Smith and the Coyotes went on to defeat the Nashville Predators in the Western conference semi-finals, winning the series 4–1. The Coyotes then faced the eventual Stanley Cup champions Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Finals, losing the series 4–1.[7] He posted a superb 1.99 GAA and a.944 save percentage, some of the best numbers for starting goaltenders in the playoffs.
On July 5, 2013, Smith signed a six-year contract extension with the Coyotes worth $34 million.
On October 19, 2013, Smith became the seventh NHL goalie to score a goal with a shot on goal (four other goaltenders have been credited based on own-goals by the opposition). Smith scored with 0.1 seconds left in regulation on an empty net during a win against the Detroit Red Wings.[8] Two months later, Smith would score on himself when, as a result of the hockey puck getting lodged into his waistband, he inadvertently backed into his own net and scored an own goal. The "butt goal" handed the game to the Buffalo Sabres, as the game was in overtime.[9]
Calgary Flames [ edit ]
On June 17, 2017, Smith was traded to the Calgary Flames in exchange for goalie Chad Johnson, prospect Brandon Hickey, and a conditional third-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.[10]
Smith played his 500th career NHL game on December 9, 2017.[11] This made him the 11th active goalie to reach the milestone and tie with Jeff Hackett for 69th place on the all-time list.[12]
After being glanced over for the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, Smith was invited as a replacement for Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, who declined his invitation due to a nagging injury.[13][14]
International play [ edit ]
Smith won a gold medal with Canada's 2014 Winter Olympic team, dressing as a backup for one of Canada's group games. He did not see any ice time and was primarily the third choice keeper. He also won gold at the 2015 world championships as Canada's starting goalie, going 10-0 through the tournament and recording a shutout streak of 190:03 in the medal round (the final three games).[15]
Personal life [ edit ]
Smith was raised in Verona, Ontario.[16][17]
Smith and Canadian former World Cup skier Brigitte Acton married September 3, 2010.[18][19] They have four children.
Career statistics [ edit ]
Regular season and playoffs [ edit ]
[20]
International [ edit ]
Year Team Event Result GP W L T/OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% 2015 Canada WC 8 8 0 0 480 12 2 1.50.932 Senior totals 8 8 0 0 480 12 2 1.50.932It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from the Austin orchestra, aka Explosions in the Sky. Since the group issued their fifth studio album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, in 2007, they’ve toured endlessly and apparently put together what sounds like a rousing sixth entry. Yes, the band’s back, and come April 26th, Explosions in the Sky will have a new album to support: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care.
Six tracks flesh out the album, but for those interested in hearing 1/6th of it, the band’s issued its first single. Titled “Trembling Hands”, the three and a half minute track offers much of the typical Explosions fare. The pulsing, backing guitar lines that drag the bass into the mix, supporting dancing lead guitar melodies that skate about the rollicking percussion… That could describe any number of the band’s songs, which might tell you something about this one in general. To be honest, though, given the band’s sound, there’s nothing wrong with more of the same. Alas, more tuneage for late-night writing sessions. Joy!
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care hits streets April 26th (via Temporary Resistance). Peep the tracklist below, including tour dates that include exciting openers like The Octopus Project, Lichens, and if you’re really lucky, Arcade Fire.
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care Tracklist:
01. Last Known Surroundings
02. Human Qualities
03. Trembling Hands
04. Be Comfortable, Creature
05. Postcard from 1952
06. Let Me Back In
Explosions in the Sky 2011 Tour Dates:
04/01 Oxford, MS @ The Lyric ^
04/03 Charlotte, NC @ Amos Southend ^
04/04 Richmond, VA @ The National ^
04/06 New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall *
04/08 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE ^
04/09 Columbus, OH @ Outland Live ^
04/10 Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note ^
05/03 Austin, TX @ The Backyard #
05/04 Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Pavillion #
05/15 Edinburg, UK @ HMV Picturehouse %
05/16 Dublin, IE @ Vicar St %
05/17 Manchester, UK @ Academy %
05/19 London, UK @ The Roundhouse %
05/20 Paris, FR @ Bataclan %
05/22 Berlin, DE @ Postbahnhof %
05/23 Cologne, DE @ Essigfabrik %
05/24 Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique %
05/25 Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso %
05/27 Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
06/09-12 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
09/09-13 Oslo, NO @ Oya Festival
^ = w/ The Octopus Project
* = w/ Low and Eluvium (piano only set)
# = w/ Arcade Fire
% = w/ LichensBy: Wyatt Silverman
This week, the Penguins had a dominating performance against two top-performing teams (LA and NJ) and one squad (BUF) that would struggle in the AHL.
However, the positive energy of that success was diminished by the revelation of defenseman Olli Määttä’s likely-cancerous tumor. The team took the news in stride, and outperformed my prediction — going 3–0 instead of 2–1. Scoring 16 goals, and only allowing three over this stretch, the Pens had one of their better weeks in recent memory. Marc-Andre Fleury had a very strong performance overall. He had his first ever back-to-back shutouts in the NHL, stopping 54 pucks combined.
Evgeni Malkin continued his hot streak on his way to gaining points in every game this season. This past week, Malkin potted 2 goals and totaled 5 points. Though he has not scored at even strength, when a player has 5 PPGs in 10 games, it’s hard to complain.
Captain Sidney Crosby leads the league with 18 points (7 G, 11 A), including a three-assist night against Buffalo in just over 15 minutes played.
The Penguins special teams have been excellent. The power play has continued their ridiculous run, bumping the success rate up to 41.9%. In fact, the gap between Pittsburgh and #2 New Jersey (26.3%) is as large as the gap between the Devils and the #25 Nashville Predators at 10.7%.
On top of their elite performance on the man advantage, the Penguins have really gotten things together on the penalty kill. They’ve successfully defended their last 26 penalties taken, which has brought the season average up to 85.4% and ranks ninth in the league.
With such success on the power play, it can be legitimately confusing why teams continue to take penalties against the Penguins. Despite that apparent logic, Pittsburgh ranks eighth with 43 power play opportunities.
Returning to the Määttä situation, the team announced this week that doctors had found a tumor on the young defenseman’s thyroid. Supposedly, there is an 85% chance of it being cancerous. He has played this entire season so far while knowing about the issue. However, he will now be out 4 weeks after a surgery in the next few days. Thankfully, Määttä is expected to make a full recovery.
The games against New Jersey and Los Angeles were the most relevant this week, considering the quality of competition. Against the Devils, the Penguins came roaring back from a 3–1 deficit, scoring seven unanswered goals to win the game handily. The Devils are a team the Pens have traditionally struggled to come back against due to their trapping defensive style. Mike Johnston’s system seems to work effectively as a means to make it through the neutral zone.
Los Angeles remains an extremely formidable defensive team, despite the absences of Anze Kopitar and Slava Voynov, so it was nice to see the Pens win by 3 goals. Some of that may have been the presence of the backup goalie, but the shutout by the Penguins also says a lot.
This week can only be considered a success on the ice, but the news about Määttä certainly casts a pall over everything. Up next are games in Minnesota, Winnipeg, and Buffalo, as part of a 5-game road trip. Based on the way the Pens have been playing, fans would hope they continue the undefeated streak.
Minnesota is sitting atop the Central Division with a 7–3 record. Zach Parise leads the Wild with 10 points, and new acquisition Thomas Vanek isn’t far behind him with eight of his own. Primary goaltender Darcy Kuemper has been very solid over his eight starts, clocking in a.930 save percentage.
The Winnipeg Jets are down in 6th place, having earned only 11 points. Bryan Little leads them with both five goals and nine points.
Having already covered Buffalo, there’s not much more to go back over.
The big question for this week is how will the defensive lineup change to replace Määttä? Simon Despres is a likely candidate for more playing time, based on his strong performance on the third pairing, but Robert Bortuzzo should be returning soon from injury. Scott Harrington, one of the team’s better defensive prospects, may also pick up some time as the seventh defenseman.
This road trip will be a major cue as to how good this team really can be. I’m interested to see if they continue this hot streak.Remember the dog who was thrown off a five-storey building in Chennai and the way social media rallied together to find the culprit? It's been a year since the sad incident occurred.
Bhadra, as she was named by animal rescuers who found the stray a couple of days after the incident, is a happy and completely fit dog now.
She's a year and 6 months old now, and after being treated for a year, can walk and run around perfectly.
The puppy initially stayed with Shravan Krishnan, an animal rights activist in Chennai, after it was found that she had spinal injury. "People would stand outside my house hoping to get to meet Bhadra or take a selfie with her because of how popular she had become," Krishnan told HuffPost India. "There was a lot of media attention. Every day someone would come to take photographs of Bhadra, so my friend took the dog in his care."
Karthik Dhandapani, a friend of Krishnan and long time Blue Cross volunteer, took the stray under his care, two months after the incident. Soon, he decided to adopt her.
The 35-year-old has never had a pet in his life because his mother was never in favour of keeping one. But Bhadra has worked her charms on both.Steven Sotloff, the American journalist whose gruesome beheading was confirmed in a video released Tuesday night by Islamic State terrorists in Syria, first came to know Israel as an optimistic government student at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. On Wednesday afternoon, the Foreign Ministry cleared for publication the fact that he held Israeli citizenship.
Sotloff, a Jewish native of Miami and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, came to Israel in 2008 to pursue his undergraduate degree at the IDC. He wasn’t starry-eyed about the Jewish state, a former classmate said last week. In fact, while he clearly loved Israel, his views on the country were as complicated as the region itself.
“Like most of us, he came here and he became very critical of the government,” said Hillary Lynne Glaser, who studied conflict resolution, international relations and counter-terrorism alongside Sotloff.
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“I’m not so sure it was about the Israeli-Arab conflict, I think it was more how they treat their own people. But he still came back to visit,” she said, noting that Sotloff was in Israel as recently as last year to celebrate the wedding of a former IDC roommate.
“He didn’t hate it enough to not come visit,” she said. “He still considered it his home.”
Bearded and big-boned, Sotloff was an imposing presence on campus. His personality, Glaser said, was as big as his form.
“He had such energy. Depending on how well you knew him, he was either abrasive or he was like a teddy bear,” she said. “I saw that nice soft side where all he wanted was to explore and find a girlfriend, find someone other than his roommates whom he could complain to about the state of Israel and embrace his travels with.”
After graduation, Sotloff began his freelance journalism career, filing stories for both the Jerusalem Post and Jerusalem Report before moving on to outlets including Foreign Policy and TIME. Journalist Ilene Prusher, who served as his editor at the Jerusalem Report in 2011 and 2012, recalled a fearless writer who sent in polished stories and was hungry for more.
“He was an excellent journalist, and he filed great work,” she said. “He was our only guy who was filing [from the region], and he was filing for a bunch of different places… In addition to covering Libya, he was covering Arab uprisings. I felt like he really cared about it, he thought it was extremely important. He was very conscientious, enterprising and brave.”
On Wednesday, IDC President Prof. Uriel Reichman, said, “Steven’s murder proves to us that the immunity of journalists, once granted even in times of warfare in order to protect the truth and defend free speech, has been erased.”
As the Arab world was roiling, Sotloff began chasing its endless stories. As a freelancer, he traveled to Yemen, Libya and Egypt to chronicle the peoples’ uprising and dictatorial downfalls cascading across the Middle East, and then the surge of vicious new radicalism that came in their wakes. Eventually, his work took him to Syria, where he went missing on August 4, 2013.
His family knew that he had been kidnapped, but chose to keep the story quiet and rally for his release behind the scenes. Only on August 19, when a horrific video showing the barbaric beheading journalist James Foley at the hands of IS surfaced on YouTube, did the world learn that IS was also holding Sotloff.
The Times of Israel held this story for several weeks out of fear of endangering Sotloff’s life by writing about his Jewish and Israeli connections.
Sotloff was apparently captured by IS in Aleppo and held in Raqqa for nearly a year. In the video of Foley’s death, which showed Sotloff with a shaved head and wearing the same kind of orange jumpsuit as Foley, the IS terrorists gave US President Barack Obama 24 hours to respond to the situation, threatening that they would take Sotloff’s life next.
Obama condemned the murder and kidnapping in harsh terms, saying in a speech at Martha’s Vineyard that “the entire world is appalled” by Foley’s brutal murder and the entire Islamic State terror group. One week after the release of the Foley video, with Sotloff’s fate still uncertain, Shirley Sotloff, Steven’s mother, released an emotional video plea for her son’s release.
In the video, Shirley Sotloff — whose parents survived the Holocaust — directly addressed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, and acknowledged his authority as caliph over the Islamic State. In a note inserted by The New York Times at the video’s beginning, editors said that she was perhaps the first-ever non-Muslim to acknowledge al-Baghdadi’s authority.
While Sotloff’s fate hung in the balance over the past two weeks, friends and colleagues reacted with shock.
“This man, and what he achieved, it was fascinating,” said Michael Sapir, who played rugby with Sotloff in Israel. “He was a remarkable man with a great amount of courage.”
In July of 2013, Sotloff returned to Israel for a visit and he and Sapir went to the Wingate Institute in Netanya to cheer on the Israeli rugby team. It would be the last time Sapir saw his friend, and when he found out a year later that Sotloff had been kidnapped shortly after the visit, he described his reaction as “surreal.”
Oren Kessler, an American-Israeli journalist currently working in London, spent a big chunk of his workday on August 20, the day after the video of Foley’s death was released, combing through years’ worth of online correspondence between himself and Sotloff. The two had never met in person, but began chatting online via Facebook in 2011 when Sotloff sent Kessler, the former Middle East affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, a message introducing himself.
“He wrote me and said, ‘Hey Oren, I’m also an IDC grad and I think you were in Egypt around the same time as me. Good to know there’s a good regional reporter for the JPost,’” Kessler said then, while looking through his archived messages.
At the time, Kessler was reporting on Libya, where Sotloff was stationed. As two Jewish journalists writing about the ever-hostile Middle East, they struck up a sort of alliance.
“There weren’t many people in Libya who were willing to talk to a reporter from the Jerusalem Post. He was one of the only people on the ground who would talk to me,” Kessler said. “And then he was in Egypt and then in Syria… We would exchange contacts, say, ‘Hey, do you know anybody here?’ as journalists do.”
Every time Sotloff came to Israel, the pair would pledge to get together for a beer. It never happened.
“He was my almost-friend,” Kessler said. “Sort of like a pen pal.”
Also on August 20, after the graphic video of Foley’s beheading surfaced and the public realized that Sotloff’s fate hung in the balance, Kessler and Glaser, Sotloff’s former classmate, both circulated a petition on their Facebook pages calling on the White House to do everything in its power to help free Sotloff.
In his posting, Kessler reminisced a bit about past conversations with Sotloff, in which the latter brushed off threats of Islamic fundamentalism and cheekily said that if he should be captured, “I’ll just let them convert me.”
Sotloff, Kessler said, never shared his Jewish identity with anyone in the field, opting instead to tell locals that he had been raised Muslim but secular, without mosque affiliation. He sometimes even chose to tell people that he was of Chechen origin, and that Sotloff – a name that rings decidedly Jewish to those familiar with Jewish names – was actually a Chechen name.
In Yemen, Kessler said, Sotloff once allowed locals to give him a “quickie conversion,” a 10-minute ceremony meant to return him to his purported Islamic roots.
“You could say a petition won’t change anything, and you’d be right, but f*ck if I know what else to do,” Kessler said.Steve Rogers is one of a kind. So is Captain America, at least as a symbol.
But if we’ve learned anything over years of reading Marvel comics, it’s that the man and the costume aren’t necessarily synonymous. During times when Rogers has given up the shield, either voluntarily or because he’s been out of commission, the MU version of the U.S. government has stepped in to ensure that someone is serving as the Sentinel of Liberty.
In the 21st Century, these were planned transitions, like the one writer Ed Brubaker orchestrated with Bucky Barnes temporarily taking over the role during the “Death of Captain America” arc. Others have been retcons necessary to explain real life happenings, like the fact that there were Captain America stories during the 50s and 60s when Rogers was still on ice.
The job has a way of finding its way back to its rightful owner one way or another, and the suspicion is that this will always be the case as long as there’s a Marvel that is publishing comics. In the meantime, the list you’re about to read is likely going to continue to grow. In fact barring a return appearance from someone who has already served in the past, we’re going to be updating it this fall thanks to the current storyline in the Captain America ongoing series.
Before we dive into the list of men who were officially Captain America, it’s only right that we start with a man who chronologically came before almost all of them and deserves a special honorable mention …
(Note: this list doesn’t include self-declared Captain Americas, like the ones who popped up when Steve Rogers first became Nomad, clones, Caps from alternate timelines, etc. That way lies madness.)
Isaiah Bradley
Though for decades readers were led to believe that the experiment that created the Super Solider Serum was never able to be duplicated, that turned out not to be the case. A joint effort between American, British and German scientists was able to repeat the process during a secret program called Project: Rebirth, though Bradley was one of only five men to survive the process, and the other four were killed not long after.
Like Rogers, Bradley ended up as a pretty effective Nazi-smasher, and he even kind of, sort of got to be Captain America thanks to a spare costume and shield that were supposed to be used by the real deal. Sadly, he ended up a prisoner of war and even had his own government turn its back on him, as he was court-martialed and sent to prison for more than 15 years.
To top it all off, the Project: Rebirth version of the Super Solider Serum had negative effects on Bradley’s mind, so even though his aging was slowed, he didn’t retain all of his faculties through the decades. Yet his legacy lives on in the form of his grandson Elijah, the young hero known as Patriot whose powers stem from a blood transfusion he received from Bradley. Several Marvel writers have also established Bradley’s story as an inspiration to various African-American super heroes since he predated them all.Facebook 559
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I started talking about this last week on Facebook about the coming cold pattern coming to the Southeast. It’s also a favorable pattern for a storm to develop but as of right now there isn’t anything specific that points to one. Here in lies the problem. Too many people like to talk about potential as reality or worse yet talk about one model run of the deterministic model as something that is going to happen. I’ll get into what a deterministic model is versus ensemble in a second. First let address a fundamental aspect of being a good weather forecaster. Job #1 of any good and experienced forecaster is to forecast what is “most” likely to happen not what “could” happen. I see entirely too much time spent on the “could” forecast and not the most likely forecast. While it can be fun to talk about the what ifs it doesn’t make for a very good forecast.
Deterministic versus Ensemble:
The majority of the model data people post on-line and that you see is deterministic. Meaning it’s just one model solution or a single model forecast from the Numerical Weather Model. Although the “deterministic” approach has served us well, it is steeped in error and will NEVER provide a perfect forecast. That’s right – NEVER – due to 4 primary reasons: (via WPC training manual)
Summary of primary sources of error using the deterministic method of modeling
1. Equations used by a model do not fully capture processes in the atmosphere
2. Model resolution is not sufficient to capture all features in the atmosphere
3. Initial observations are not available at every point in the atmosphere
4. The observational data can not be measured to an infinite degree of precision
When doing Ensemble forecasting you are using many model solutions and trying to eliminate error or the outliers and come to the most probable solution. We call this the Probability density Function. Which is illustrated below. You want to be forecasting in the peak of the curve not the edges.
So how does this apply to next week?:
A cold pattern is depicted in the ECMWF ensemble mean. Which has 51 members versus the GFS which has 22. The ECMWF mean 500mb anomalies shows a persistent trough or batch of cold air over the eastern U.S. all of next week. Below is a graphical depiction of the mean 500 mb trough over the eastern 2/3rd of the U.S. Notice the below average heights over the eastern half the country. Plus notice poor California continues to stay bone dry.
Now this means the likelihood of cold air is high but and with a trough it’s logically to think we may see a few storms form in the base of the trough. Maybe even finally a gulf low that rides up the east coast. Right now though there is nothing that points to a specific storm. Unless you go crazy and just look at the ECMWF deterministic output for next weekend.
Right now every snow lover looking at this is like, YEAH!!!!!! and with the cold pattern in the Ensemble forecast one could be excused for getting excited for snow. Small problem though when looking at the ensembles for this storm they tell a far different story. Below is a graphically output for Charlotte, NC of the 51 members that make up the ECMWF ESP.
Notice that only 3 members out of the 51 have significant snowfall. Then at the bottom of the chart you can see the Deterministic snowfall(blue) versus Ensemble mean in green. So while there “could” be 4” of snow in Charlotte next week the probability is more like 0.3” and even that is a 7 day output which further diminishes the confidence in the outcome.
More reason to doubt a snow forecast this far out is that there is little backing from the GFS deterministic model output as well as it’s 22 ensemble members.
So what’s the forecast?
Based on using the most probable forecasting technique plus my experience as a forecaster. It’s easy to say it will be very cold next week and that we need to watch next weekend for a possible storm. Though right now there is no storm to talk about because the likelihood of no storm is about 9 times higher than the likelihood of a storm at this forecast range. Once the confidence in the storm grows to about 30% then we can start talking.
These are all things to take into account when seeing people just post model output without explaining it or using their own experience to make an actual forecast. Forecasting the weather is a skill acquired through time and with experience. This skill is built on the back of many failures which all makes you a better forecaster over time.
I’m an unapologetic snow lover myself, but as much as I love snow I like getting the forecast right more!NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rough few months for most U.S. bank stocks has been particularly unkind to regional banks, and that’s not likely to change soon as hopes dim for higher long-term interest rates and timely policy relief from Washington.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
While some investors see bargains in lower valuations of regional banks’ shares, few can point with any confidence to near-term catalysts for a turnaround in their fortunes.
After outperforming larger banks in the wake of the Nov. 8 U.S. Presidential election, the S&P 600 index.SPSMCBKS of small cap banks are down 8.1 percent so far this year, data through Thursday showed, while the S&P 500 index of the biggest U.S. banks.SPXBK is unchanged. The full S&P 500.SPX, meanwhile, is up 8.7 percent.
Last year, investors bet heavily that smaller, entirely U.S.-focused banks would benefit most from Donald Trump’s promises of tax cuts, deregulation and economic stimulus.
But those hopes dwindled dramatically as it became clear that President Trump would have difficulty gaining enough support to deliver on any of his pro-growth proposals.
“I would expect (smaller banks) to continue to underperform as long as we don’t get some of these policy decisions to move through,” said Stephen Scouten, banking analyst for Sandler O’Neill in Atlanta.
Fading hopes for an economic boost from Trump’s agenda has compressed the gap between short- and long-term interest rates, putting pressure on bank loan profit margins. This is a bigger issue for regionals which have a greater dependence on lending for their profits than bigger, more diversified banks.
Also, commercial and industrial loan growth has slowed this year after climbing steadily since late 2010. The Federal Reserve’s latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, released May 8, showed domestic banks reporting weaker commercial and industrial loan demand from firms of all sizes in the first quarter.
WAITING FOR CLARITY
Part of the problem is that companies are waiting for clarity on economic growth prospects and tax rates before making borrowing decisions, according to investors and analysts.
“Eventually, for the smaller banks to outperform, concerns about the overall economy need to dissipate. Better economic growth usually leads to better lending growth and in that environment the yield curve steepens as well,” said Brian Kleinhanzl, analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.
Short selling has decreased in most regional and diversified banking sectors so far this year. But short interest in both the SPDR S&P Bank Exchange Traded Fund (KBE.P) and SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE.P) increased as short sellers may be replacing exposure to individual banks with short bets on the sector.
Short interest in the S&P bank ETF is up 36 percent for the year while it is up 23 percent in the regional banking ETF.
While tax cuts are viewed as one of the biggest boosts for regional banks of all Trump’s policy proposals, investors are skeptical it will come any time soon. JPMorgan analysts on Thursday scaled back their forecast on the size of possible U.S. tax cuts and pushed out the timing to the second quarter of 2018 from the third quarter of 2017.
White House economic adviser Gary Cohn has said he expects U.S. Congress to get tax reform done this year. But investors say 2018 would likely be the earliest this could happen.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected this month to unveil plans for regulating the U.S. banking sector including a relaxation of regulations for community banks, which have struggled with rules imposed after the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis.
While investors expect the administration to have trouble winning congressional support for legislative changes to regulations such as Dodd-Frank, some are hoping Trump will be able to appoint people to key regulatory positions.
If Trump can replace the Federal Reserve’s head of banking supervision, this might at least help slow the pace of regulation, said investment managers.
Trump is expected to nominate Carnegie Mellon University professor Marvin Goodfriend and former Treasury Department staffer Randal Quarles to fill two of three open seats at the Fed, according to a New York Times report.
“If they do get traction and get some of these (policy changes) done, even if they’re more watered-down versions of what they had proposed, that’s probably very good for sentiment and good for the fundamentals,” said Miles Lewis, portfolio manager for American Century Investments’ Small Cap Value fund.
For a graphic on regional banks running out of steam, click reut.rs/2s8NYepAmerica In Decline Articles
Here’s Who REALLY
Runs Things In America
By Brother Nathanael Kapner Copyright 2013
October 13, 2013 Articles May Be Reproduced Only With Authorship of Br Nathanael Kapner
& Link To Real Jew News (SM) Support The Brother Nathanael Foundation!
Or Send Your Contribution To:
The Brother Nathanael Foundation, PO Box 547, Priest River ID 83856
E-mail: [email protected]
___________________________________
HERE WE GO AGAIN…
back to those formless culprits once again. Now we have “Trilaterists” running things in America. Added to Alex Jones’ “globalists;” Gerald Celente’s “presstitutes;” and all those slippery “Bilderbergers” hiding under every political rock, we now have Jon Rappoport
telling us that it’s the “Trilaterists” that we must be wary of.
Not only is Rappoport dodging the ‘Jew word’ when revealing “who really runs things in America” but his list of “Trilaterists” is outdated. For Geithner, James Jones, Volker, and Blair, have long since vacated the Obama administration.
Rappoport, a Jew himself, just can’t bring himself to name his fellow Jews as those who really run things in America. Apparently, blood runs thicker than naming the names.
My point is this. “Trilaterists” (or any other “infowars” formless entities) do NOT possess the machinery that pulls the levers of America’s political infrastructure.
Only JEWS with their tightly-woven organizational network combined with billions of dollars and control of the media possess the apparatus that manipulates political events in our Jew-ridden nation.
JEWS ‘RUN THINGS’ IN AMERICA
IF WE REALLY want to save America then we have to name the JEWISH names.
Anything less is cover for the real culprits who are running our country into the ground.
At the top of the food chain (to name a few) are Gary Cohn of Goldman Sachs and Janet Yellen of the Fed who is the third Jew
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the middle of the street in a residential area after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was allegedly assaulted by a woman driving a vehicle.
Officials said Border Patrol agents were serving a felony warrant in the area when Alvarado allegedly intentionally tried to run over an agent. Alvarado was not the subject of the warrant.
Family Outraged Over Woman's Shooting
The family of 32-year-old Valeria Alvarado, who was shot and killed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Friday in Chula Vista, is outraged over her death, saying the shooting was unjustified. NBC 7's Tony Shin reports. (Published Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012)
CBP Chief Patrol Agent Rodney Scott said the agent was carried several hundred yards on the hood of the car before he fired his weapon at the woman.
"The suspect was armed with a vehicle, and literally ran our agent down," said Scott. “He was carried several hundred yards before he discharged his weapon through the windshield of the vehicle.”
Alvarado was killed in the shooting. The agent was hospitalized and his current condition is unknown.
Family, Friends Shocked Over Woman's Shooting Death
Family, neighbors and friends of Valeria "Monique" Alvarado are saddened over her death. She was shot and killed by a border patrol agent in Chula Vista. NBC 7's Elena Gomez reports. (Published Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012)
But, in spite of information from Chula Vista officials, Alvarado’s family has a very different story about what happened on Moss Street Friday.
Her husband, Gilbert Alvarado, is furious about what happened to his wife – the mother of his five children. He believes the agent who shot her overreacted.
"My wife got killed for no reason," Gilbert told NBC 7 Friday night. "Show me that my wife had a gun or something that threatened the guy’s life where he had to use lethal force against her."
Border Patrol Agent Fires Shots in Chula Vista
An agent is in the hospital after he was dragged by a vehicle and discharged his weapon in Chula Vista on Friday, Sept. 28. (Published Friday, Sept. 28, 2012)
Alvarado’s family confirmed the warrant had nothing to do with her and the mother of five would never intentionally hurt anyone for any reason.
Alvarado’s cousin, Bernice Ratcliffe, is trying to make sense of something she believes was senseless.
"I think we're all shocked and we want answers,” said Ratcliffe. “"They didn't have to shoot her!”
Chula Vista Shooting: Raw Video
Raw video of the scene following a deadly shooting involving a member of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. (Published Friday, Sept. 28, 2012)
Witnesses in the area at the time of the shooting told NBC 7 San Diego they saw Alvarado slowly driving in reverse as the agent opened fire on her at least six times.
"As the car was backing up the officer was in the street walking toward the car, and discharging,” recalled witness Prince Watson.
“I heard it, ‘Pow, pow,’ and just told my family to get down,” said witness Ayanna Evans.
Witnesses believe Alvarado may have accidentally struck the agent and panicked when he told her to stop and pulled out his gun.
They said the agent was in plain clothes and was not displaying a badge.
“The whole [thing] didn’t look right,” added Evans.
Meanwhile, Christian Ramirez of the Southern Border Communities Coalition said the organization stands behind Alvarado’s family and will help them seek justice.
"We will do everything in our power to make sure the investigation is conducted in a transparent fashion, and the family gets the justice they deserve,” said Ramirez.
Still, that doesn’t erase the pain and anger Gilbert feels after losing his wife.
“Whoever shot my wife -- whoever he is – that guy needs to get shot,” he said.
Family members said Alvarado went to Chula Vista High School. The five children she leaves behind range in age from three to 17.
Officials have not yet released the name of the agent involved in the deadly shooting. The investigation is ongoing.
On Saturday, Alvarado's loved ones set up a small memorial of flowers, photos and messages near the area where Alvarado was killed. A fundraiser for the family is planned for Sunday at the Rally's on 3rd and Moss Street betwen 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Near the memorial, many neighbors, friends and family called Alvarado “innocent” and were still in shock by the way she was killed.
“I don't think it should have [gone] down like that. I don't think she should have been shot,” one neighbor told NBC 7. “They're a person. They are a part of this world. I decided to put up how we feel [in the memorial] and [show] that we are with the family.”
“I feel bad for the family that has to go through this. I think Monique is an innocent person,” added another friend.
NBC 7 investigated Alvarado’s criminal history, which only includes a court case from 2004.
A spokesperson for the family said Alvarado was involved with drug possession eight years ago, but she never served time in jail and has been clean for years.Some say his voice is inseparable from the mating call of a whale and he can drive a car using just the power of his mind.
We say he’s onboard with Project CARS! Slightly Mad Studios is delighted to announce that the man formerly known as ‘The Stig’, Ben Collins, will be joining Project CARS as a contributor.
“I’m delighted to be working on Project CARS to create the best racing simulation in the world! Computer ‘games’ and simulations have become integral to success on the race track and I will be applying all my racing knowledge to provide handling input and advice to the builds on a regular basis. I’m also looking forward to meeting some of the project’s contributors at the trackday events and working with SMS’s team of experts, whose passion and pedigree will be key to the development of this incredibly exciting new model.”
In case you’ve been living under a stone for the entirety of your life, you’ll probably know Ben best as the man known formerly as ‘The Stig’ from BBC’s popular Top Gear show. But he has also had an extensive racing career since 1994, including driving for teams in GT racing, Le Mans, Formula Three and more.
Ben will be offering his invaluable advice and insight on various aspects of the project, including working towards making the handling feel as authentic as possible, and we’re very excited to have him onboard
Ian Bell, MD of the company behind Project CARS and the WMD platform said, “When we found out Ben was interested in the project it was an obvious decision to get him involved. I can’t think of anyone better. As ‘the Stig’ he has driven the best cars in the world and was universally regarded as the best real racing driver around. The experience that he can bring to the team will be invaluable. He’s also really enthusiastic about working in a new development model alongside fans, members of the public and experienced developers alike.”State troopers say a man driving a tractor-trailer hauling a load of kerosene rammed a car that wouldn't move out of his way Thursday afternoon eastbound on the Thruway near Utica.
After the car pulled off the road, the truck driver pulled over as well. Police say the truck driver walked up to the car and started choking and hitting the driver of the car.
Inside the car were a woman in her 40s and two children, ages 12 and 5.
Troopers say the truck driver, Ronald J. Constable, Jr., of Earlton, N.Y., complained that the car was going 60 mph in the passing lane. Police said Constable then started tailgating the car.
The driver of the car -- Carlos Perez, 21, of Geneva - slowed down even more.
Constable then rammed the back of the car "a couple of times," said Inv. James Hunt. After Perez pulled over, Constable did, too, and attacked Perez.
Traffic started to back up on the Thruway and a passing trooper thought there had been an accident. Instead, he discovered the altercation between Constable and Perez.
Constable was charged with felony reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment. He was arraigned in the town of Herkimer Court and held in the Herkimer County jail when he failed to post bail. He is due to appear in Schuyler Town Court on Tuesday.William Koch — yes, one of those Kochs — is giving a tour of his wine cellar when he asks the obvious question: “Did you see the wine bathroom?” he asked. “Wanna see it?”
It’s an opulent cellar, replete with Roman mosaics, a Guastavino-style ceiling and a Dionysian bust. The bathroom is, one can’t help but assume, where Koch and his guests unzip the flies of tailored Brioni suit pants and catch final glimpses of $1,000 bottles of Burgundy and Bordeaux, since metabolized and micturated.
But some of Koch’s bottles will now meet different ends. Koch gave a tour of the wine bathroom for a promotional video ahead of the sale of more than 20,000 bottles from his cellar, at Sotheby’s, in New York. The sale, which took place over three days last month, fetched $21.9 million, going down as one of the richest wine auctions in history.
I watched the sale’s final day unfold, fascinated — and a little dismayed — by the wines fetching these handsome sums, where they came from, and where they were going. Questions like that are sparks a FiveThirtyEight writer is obligated to kindle.
Off I went in search of data, and I found it in the form of a juicy, dense spreadsheet containing 140,000 wines from 10,000 producers in 33 countries, and their prices. The data was sent to me by Peter Krimmel, the CTO of Vinfolio, a fine wine retailer. It’s wide-ranging, assembled by the company using auction results from 12 major houses, including Sotheby’s, representing “the vast majority of the fine wine auction market.” For the 140,000 wines covered, it has data on the producer, year (the wine’s vintage), bottle size, region, subregion, American Viticultural Area (where applicable), color (red, white or rosé) and price.
After quaffing the data, what I found was a high-end wine market, and a blockbuster auction, with notes of geography, chemistry, economics, culture and thousands of years of history — with a detectable aroma of bullshit. Let’s have a taste.
France
“Starting in Bordeaux, with the Latour,” auctioneer Jamie Ritchie said, as he opened the Koch sale’s third and final day. Bids flew in via the telephone, the Sotheby’s website, and the floor of the auction room on New York’s Upper East Side. It was a good place to start the day — no place gives a better introduction to the history, and economics, of wine than France.
Château Latour, in Pauillac in southwestern France, traces its history back to 1331. It was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson’s. Koch had set out to collect a thorough “vertical” of the wine — owning at least one bottle of Latour from each of the past 100 years. Today, Latour sits at or near the apex of the some 7,000 producers in France’s Bordeaux wine region. It’s a storied region; the Romans were the first to cultivate vineyards there. Millennia later, it’s a useful place to show what almost any wine drinker knows: The older stuff is the pricey stuff.
In Bordeaux, as almost anywhere else in the world of fine wine, wines get more expensive as they get older, and that effect accelerates the older the wine becomes. There’s a lot going on here — aging and its complex chemistry, market scarcity (people do sometimes drink the wine, after all), vintages perceived as particularly desirable or undesirable as a result of the weather, the scope of the data set.
The increasing value of older wines is an essentially universal phenomenon in the high-end auction market. But for the rich oenophile, old wines may not be such a bad deal. “Although old wines are expensive, I think they’re actually priced more reasonably than new wines,” Robin Goldstein, editor of “The Wine Trials,” told me in an email. “Old wines’ value is driven by their age-worthiness and verifiable storage history, which really does impact their taste, whereas new wines’ value is driven by critics’ rating scores and hyper-inflation in the high end of the market, neither of which correlates with taste.”
Leah Hammer, Vinfolio’s director of cellar acquisitions, echoed this idea. She told me that one reason older wine is expensive is because it was too good to drink right away. So, say 1960 was a bad year for Bordeaux wine because of weather. The bottles from that year would tend to get drunk right away, as the Bordeaux faithful consumed the swill they didn’t think was worth keeping. The best stuff — from 1961, say — was saved for later. Two effects — the aging of the wine and the selection of the good vintages — drive the price increase in the chart above.
The most expensive Bordeaux wine, on average, and one of the most expensive wines in the world, comes from a tiny little place called Château Le Pin. (Two double magnums of 1995 Le Pin were sold for a total of $30,000 at the Koch sale.) It sits on less than seven acres (less than four soccer fields) on Bordeaux’s Right Bank and produces just 5,000 to 6,000 bottles a year. A single bottle averages over $2,000. One other Right Bank producer, Petrus, a 12-minute drive from Le Pin, also cracks the four-figure average. (For those of us who can’t afford a bottle and would like to taste vicariously: Robert Parker, the influential wine critic, found flavors of lead pencil, roasted nuts, smoke, spice, fruitcake, black cherries, white chocolate, cola, kirsch and black raspberry in the 1995 Le Pin.)
CHÂTEAU AVERAGE PRICE Le Pin $2,035 Petrus 1,921 Lafleur 447 Lafite-Rothschild 432 Ausone 354 Mouton-Rothschild 315 Margaux 305 Latour 304 Haut-Brion 295 Cheval Blanc 289 Pavie 190 L’Angelus 188 La Mission Haut-Brion 185 La Fleur-Petrus 148 Palmer 143 Priciest Bordeaux châteaux Red wine in 750 ml bottles, since 1980 vintage Source: Vinfolio
In addition to the scarcity of wine from a producer such as Le Pin, there is also a strict hierarchy of pedigree influencing prices in Bordeaux. In 1855, in preparation for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, a group of French courtiers, at the behest of Napoleon III, ranked the region’s wines — a sort of viticultural, Second Empire version of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings. Five châteaux — Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and Mouton — are designated premiers crus, or first growths, the Ivy League of the 19th-century wine world. Fifty-three other producers are also ranked in categories ranging from deuxièmes crus (second growths) down to cinquièmes crus (fifth growths). This classification consisted of wines from the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux, both on the Left Bank. (The Koch sale was heavily Francophile, with both first and second growth Bordeaux attracting heavy bidding.)
CHATEAU 1855 NOW Lafite Rothschild 1 1 Latour 2 4 Margaux 3 3 Haut-Brion 4 5 Mouton Rothschild 5 2 Rauzan-Ségla 6 23 Rauzan-Gassies 7 85 Léoville 8 8 Durfort-Vivens 9 54 Gruaud-Larose 10 39 Lascombes 11 48 Brane-Cantenac 12 57 Pichon Longueville 13 11 Ducru-Beaucaillou 14 13 Cos d’Estournel 15 15 Montrose 16 17 A new Bordeaux classification? Left Bank producers in 1855 compared to average prices over the past 20 years of vintages. Source: Vinfolio
It’s remarkable how accurate — or how persistently self-fulfilling, or both — those classifications continue to be. In the table are the original 1855 rankings, compared with the average-price rankings of châteaux in those same subregions over the past 20 years of vintages. If the classification were redone with price as the guiding light, the five first growths, highlighted in the table, would remain exactly the same. There’s been more change when you move further down the list, but a handful of the second growths would remain just the same, too.
With age comes viticultural know-how, after all. “Over time, it starts getting harder and harder to screw up, because you’ve figured it out. You do it really well. You’ve built your reputation. You’ve built your reputation on the secondary market,” Hammer said.
All five of the first growth châteaux, and many of the second, were heavily represented at the Koch sale in New York.
Another famed wine-producing region in France is Burgundy, in the east. While Bordeaux is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot reds, Burgundy is known for its Pinot Noir reds and Chardonnay whites. The two regions are the wine world’s “dueling colossi.” Data is unlikely to settle any matters of oenological taste, but it can provide dueling summaries. In this case, it reveals two wine regions that appear, quantitatively, quite similar: Ages and quantities sold at auction mirror each other closely, as does the price increase as the regions’ wines age.
But the psychophysiological effects are purported to be quite different. One region speaks to the super-ego, the other to the id. “Aspects of Bordeaux appeal to the aesthete, as Burgundy appeals to the sensualist,” Hugh Johnson wrote in “The World Atlas of Wine.”
California
Moving stateside: The Vinfolio data includes 2,345 California producers and nearly 43,000 wines. Relative to France — and to the Romans — the United States’ West Coast is a relative newcomer to the wine game.
There’s also a New World version of the Bordeaux-Burgundy rivalry in California: Napa versus Sonoma. The two regions are of fairly equal size and share a border. They’re also similar in age, getting their starts in the mid-19th century. The two stand out in an array of nine of California’s main wine-producing regions.
WINERY AVERAGE PRICE Screaming Eagle $1,845 Sine Qua Non 774 Harlan Estate 463 Schrader Cellars 393 Bryant Family Vineyard 332 Hundred Acre Vineyard 323 Colgin Cellars 319 Dana Estates 307 Sloan Estate 295 Marcassin 265 Abreu Vineyards 265 Opus One 252 Bond Estates 221 Verite Winery 195 Lokoya 180 Priciest California reds Red wine in 750 ml bottles, since 1980 vintage Source: Vinfolio
But despite its junior status, California has scored major wine victories. In 1976, top French Bordeaux wines went up against top Californian Cabernet Sauvignon wines in a blind taste test that came to be known as the Judgment of Paris — an intercontinental, blue blood Pepsi Challenge. The Californians won in a rout.
The most expensive bottle in California — from Screaming Eagle, in Napa, a so-called cult wine — rivals the average price of the most expensive in France. Like Le Pin, it’s a small winery, producing just a few thousand bottles each year. (Unlike Le Pin, it was absent from the Koch sale.)
“It’s sort of secretive. Not secretive in a bad way,” Hammer said of Screaming Eagle. “You couldn’t walk into a wine store and get it off the shelf. You couldn’t drive to the winery and purchase it. The only way to get it was to be on this very small mailing list.” (Screaming Eagle declined to comment for this article.)
And elsewhere
There’s lively viticulture outside of France and California, of course. Germany has its Riesling, Argentina its Malbec, Australia its Shiraz, and South Africa its Pinotage. The near-infinite combinations of soil, climate, botany, culture and method produce near-infinite expressions of wine. The Koch sale was French-centric with a smattering of California, but even the billionaire deigned to collect Pingus from Spain, Penfolds Grange from Australia and Bruno Giacosa from Italy. Lo! Time, fruit and money around the world, over the past century:
But wait a second. Isn’t this all bullshit? A study has shown that tasters can’t even really tell the difference between a glass of red and a glass of white. Another study has shown that people don’t do better than a coin flip in guessing whether a wine is cheap or expensive. Another study has shown that people, unaware of a wine’s price, might actually enjoy more expensive wines less.
“We observe that people’s preferences in blind tastings are actually inversely correlated with price, i.e., on average, when they don’t know what they’re drinking, people prefer cheaper wines,” Goldstein said.
But maybe it’s not about the wine at all. Maybe you can actually taste the money. A 2008 paper found that telling people a wine cost more than it did resulted in more positive reviews from the drinkers. But, moreover, a higher faux price increased “blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity in medial orbitofrontal cortex, an area that is widely thought to encode for experienced pleasantness during experiential tasks.” More expensive wine may actually taste better, for literally no other reason than the price on its sticker.
But a historic producer and blockbuster auction sales aren’t necessary conditions for oenological enjoyment. Many, many wines are outside the database entirely. In eastern Iowa, for example, in a region now known as the Upper Mississippi River Valley Viticultural Area, just outside of Baldwin (population: 106), my uncle makes wine. Good wine. He makes it where my grandfather, and his grandfather before him, once farmed. Corn and cattle. The winemaking started as a hobby in the farmhouse basement — proto-homebrewers, my family. Grapes there aren’t the varietals with which most are likely familiar, your Cabernets and Pinots. They’re thicker-skinned, to withstand the harsh Midwest winters, and go by names like St. Croix, LaCrosse and Marechal Foch. My uncle’s bottles go for about $14. You won’t find it in any of the charts above. But we drink it. And we are happy.For most people, there is nothing quite as interesting as other people. We are incredibly well attuned to what others are doing and thinking – especially if they might be thinking about us. The choices we make speak volumes about our likes, our hates, our personalities and our social status. New research published yesterday suggests that our environmental choices are no different. Over and above the financial or environmental benefits of making low-carbon choices, we value the boost in social status this can provide – what's important is that we are seen to be going green.
Across three studies, Vladas Griskevicius and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota examined the conditions under which people selected the "green" option when provided with a choice between a regular and environmentally beneficial product. Some participants read a story about social status and "moving up in the world" before making their choice. Displaying a phenomenon known as "competitive altruism", these people opted to "self-sacrifice" and chose the environmentally friendly product, even though it was of inferior quality.
The authors of the study argued that what these participants lost in product functionality, they gained in social status. Voluntarily engaging in altruistic behaviour sends a powerful signal that you are caring and compassionate enough to take a hit for the team – and that you have the resources to act pro-socially. Previous research has shown that we take our cues for what is "normal" from those around us, and it seems that we're even prepared to "self-sacrifice" to boost our social standing. Combine these two findings and you have a powerful tool for promoting pro-environmental behaviour. As the long decarbonisation of the transport system begins, will people start competing over the efficiency rather than the acceleration of their cars?
Interestingly, participants in the study only displayed competitive altruism when they thought that others would be made aware of their choice – or when the green products were highly priced (signalling high status wealth). Coupled with the recent finding that individuals in an experiment who bought green goodies subsequently displayed more selfish behaviour, does this undermine the seemingly selfless nature of altruistic, pro-environmental behaviour?
The study certainly provides a window on the psychological basis of greenwash. When people make a consumer decision they buy into the idea of the product as much as the product itself. Unfortunately, the "idea" of sustainability can be a remarkably effective way of shifting patently unsustainable goods, and left to their own devices, people will compete to outdo each other on whatever criteria happen to be around. Flying to an eco-trek in Peru? I'll take two please.
Confronted with a problem like climate change, our consumption-based economy responds in the only way it knows how – by selling sustainability like it sells soap. But while a desire to be "seen to be green" clearly leaves us vulnerable to the dubious motives of commercial marketing campaigns (not to mention some ribbing down the pub), harnessing the primal urge for social status is critical for promoting pro-environmental behaviours that are more substance than spin. We may currently compete through demonstrations of conspicuous material consumption, but material goods are simply a marker for social status. It's the social status that's important – and the markers we use to signify it can easily change.
Griskevicius and his colleagues suggest that visible signs, tags and badges are an important aid for signalling to others that a particular behaviour is not just common, but desirable. Several studies in America have found that rates of recycling were boosted when householders were asked to make a public commitment to recycle, rather than just get on with it quietly.
But paying attention to the social aspects of how and why people take action to protect the environment goes far deeper than displaying a pro-recycling window sticker. Many environmental messages focus on what others should be doing, but time might be better spent setting a positive example and letting the social status that comes with altruistic behaviour do the hard work.
No one likes to be told what to do, but few of us can resist the temptation to get one over on the Joneses. And if what the Joneses are doing happens to be good for the environment, then being green to be seen might not be such a bad thing after all.Image copyright PA
Ed Miliband is to warn that threats to leave the EU are a "clear and present danger" to the UK's future prosperity.
The Labour leader will tell the CBI on Monday that an EU exit would "close us off from the world" and risk jobs.
The party is keen to move the focus away from debate about the leadership, with one Labour MP saying Mr Miliband was "not popular".
But former cabinet minister Lord Falconer said there was "absolutely zero chance" of him stepping down.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an in/out referendum by 2017 if the Tories remain in power after next May's general election.
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason says the EU speech comes with Labour desperate to shift the headlines back to what it sees as significant policy differences with its rivals.
'False solutions'
Mr Miliband is expected to tell business leaders that the UK is "ever more isolated from its partners", urging closer working with other members to reform the EU budget.
Every nod and wink to those who want to leave sends a message to potential investors in our country that we are not open for business Ed Miliband, Labour leader
"Leaving the single market and stepping away from a trading block that strengthens Britain's ability to work with the new economies, like Brazil, India and China, would be a disaster for our country," Mr Miliband is expected to say.
"It would risk businesses billions of pounds in lost profits. It would risk millions of jobs. It would make Britain weaker, not stronger, in the world."
The Labour leader will argue it is equally dangerous to either advocate an EU exit or to "flirt" with the idea, thereby sending a message that Britain is "not open for business".
A Labour government would not transfer any further powers to the EU without an in/out referendum, he will tell the business lobby group.
Last month, Mr Miliband promised to "seek change in Europe", with plans including longer transitional controls on immigration when new countries join the EU, stopping child benefit and child tax credits being paid to children living abroad and doubling the period of residence before people are entitled to benefits.
Leadership in spotlight
His Europe speech comes amid further reports that some members of his own party are unhappy with his leadership - despite several Labour MPs publicly backing him.
Labour backbencher Simon Danczuk told BBC One's Sunday Politics Mr Miliband would lead the party into the election, but added: "The numbers show us he's not popular. That's the reality."
Speaking on Sky News, former Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay said Mr Miliband should step down. But former London Mayor Ken Livingstone predicted he would become "the most significant prime minister since Margaret Thatcher".
Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, acknowledged it was "not a good day in the Sunday papers" for Mr Miliband.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lord Falconer says there is "zero chance" of Labour changing its leader
But he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "He is strong and focused and aware that one's going to go through periods like this, but he's very aware of the responsibility on his shoulders to win this election."
Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt dismissed as "total nonsense" a report in the Mail on Sunday that he expressed concerns about Mr Miliband's leadership in private chats with colleagues.
Writing on Twitter he said Mr Miliband was "the right person to lead Labour and the right person to lead Britain".
And former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who has been talked of as a potential Labour leader, told the Times on Saturday he supported Mr Miliband and had "no intention of going back to frontline politics".
Image caption Former home secretary Alan Johnson is being touted as a potential replacement for Mr Miliband
However, according to the Observer, 20 shadow ministers are ready to call on Mr Miliband to quit, with three senior Labour MPs apparently contacting the paper to say that frontbenchers were ready to take action with the party's leadership situation at "critical mass".
Shadow Europe minister Pat McFadden denied there had been calls among the shadow cabinet for Mr Miliband to stand down.
He told BBC News: "When you join the Labour Party, it's part of your terms and conditions that you're allowed to grumble about the leadership. So I'm sure there's some of that going on. But I don't really see the talk of plots and coups going anywhere."
Meanwhile, a Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday suggested Labour's four-point lead would double if Mr Miliband stood aside for Mr Johnson or shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna.
And a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times, suggested only 34% of people who voted Labour at the last general election believed Mr Miliband was up to the job of prime minister, compared with 51% a month ago.
YouGov president Peter Kellner told the Andrew Marr Show Labour was in "real trouble", although he said most 2010 Labour voters would support the party again in May.
"Ed Miliband's ratings are terrible but it's not yet translating into Labour being on the floor as a party," he said, adding that the government was also unpopular according to the polls.In defiance of her supporters’ wishes, her critics’ open calls, and even her own promises, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton continues to block the publication of transcripts from the speeches she gave to several banks, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, in 2013 and 2014. According to MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, however, Clinton may no longer have much of a choice.
As the Nevada caucuses were wrapping up on Saturday, Brzezinski mentioned off-handedly that she “[knew] a print reporter who has the actual transcripts, and they are working on this.” As you can see in the clip above, her on-air comment came in response to Bloomberg host and MSNBC guest John Heilemann’s argument that the lack of publicly-available transcripts encouraged reporters to seek out and record the recollections of bank employees who had attended the speeches—an imperfect process which has not been particularly flattering to Clinton. One attendee told Politico, for example, that the candidate “sounded more like a Goldman Sachs managing director” that a former Secretary of State.
Brzezinski did not elaborate on the identity, employer, or motivations of the unnamed reporter who apparently obtained access to the speech transcripts. But it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which such a leak was not carefully orchestrated by Clinton’s own press team. After all, access to the transcripts appears to be tightly controlled; in the years since she gave the speeches, no public report has ever directly quoted her verbatim remarks. And the candidate’s most recent effort to distract the public from the same transcripts—a bizarre gambit in which she stated during a Democratic town hall that “I am happy to release anything I have when everybody else does the same”—quickly fizzled after her Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders, accepted her challenge by noting he had never given a single speech to a Wall Street firm.
By providing the transcripts to a carefully-vetted reporter, the Clinton camp would likely to maintain some control over the way the resulting story is presented. This is not to suggest the reporter—if this reporter is even real!—would allow a Clinton spokesperson to dictate the precise description and framing of the speech’s contents. It’s just to point out that such an article—if the article ever materializes!—would almost certainly feature detailed comments from Clinton’s camp about the speeches’ most noteworthy or controversial passages. Considering her recalcitrance thus far, we’re guessing there’s more than few of those.
It’s true, of course, that releasing the transcripts at all is a much-needed demonstration of transparency from a candidate who often seems allergic to the whole concept of transparency. But the act of publication is unlikely to mitigate the troubling fact that Clinton didn’t want them published in the first place. Indeed, if the speeches’ contents are sufficiently unsettling, it’s easy to see a new accusation gaining currency: That Clinton authorized the transcripts’ release only after the Nevada caucuses had vastly increased the odds of her nomination over an opponent who has repeatedly and enthusiastically criticized Wall Street’s avarice.
In any case, it’s hard to see how Clinton doesn’t release the speech transcripts at this point. Regardless of her campaign’s underlying strategy (or lack thereof), the corner into which she has painted herself doesn’t provide her many other options.
By the way, if you know the name of the reporter Brzezinski is referring to, drop us a line. Anonymity guaranteed.
H/T The American MirrorBaba Ramdev-founded Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. has become India’s second biggest consumer goods maker behind Hindustan Unilever Ltd., riding on the success of its lower-priced ayurvedic products.
The company reported higher sales than rivals like ITC Ltd. (FMCG segment) and Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. in the year ended March. The growth was driven by key products like cow’s ghee, toothpaste and herbal soaps and shampoos. The company expanded into newer categories, taking its yearly revenue to Rs 10,561 crore.
Patanjali has positioned itself in the entire FMCG space as “very Indian and rural-oriented”, said Dhanraj Bhagat, retail partner at consultancy Grant Thornton India LLP. Competitive prices make its products immensely popular, he said.
Its revenue grew at a faster pace even though its distribution reach is nearly a fifth of the average of its rivals’. The company sells its products through 250 mega stores, 5,000 Patanjali Chikitsalaya and Patanjali Arogya Kendra outlets, one million retail stores, modern trade and online retailers, according to SK Tijarawala, spokesperson of Patanjali Ayurved.
Ajay Thakur, research analyst at Anand Rathi Securities, pegged HUL’s distribution reach at 5.6 million outlets, ITC’s at 4.5 million, Dabur’s at 5 million, Colgate Palmolive’s at 5 million outlets, and Marico’s at 4-4.5 million outlets.6 years ago
(CNN) – Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney praised President Barack Obama's remarks on Thursday at an interfaith service remembering victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.
In an interview on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," Romney also stressed the importance of learning from such terror attacks and opened up about how his faith plays a role in times of crisis.
Follow @politicalticker
"I thought the president gave a superb address to the people of this city and the state and the nation," the former Massachusetts governor said. "It was an inspiring day."
Romney has deep ties to Boston. He ran his presidential campaign from the city and now serves as a chairman of a committee for the Boston-based Solamere Capital, the investment firm founded by his eldest son, Tagg.
Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick invited Romney to attend the church ceremony, along with other current and former Bay State politicos. Romney and the president did not speak at the event, the former GOP nominee said.
In the interview, Romney repeatedly emphasized a need to learn everything possible from Monday's bombings, which killed three people and injured 180 others.
The FBI released video footage of two suspects on Thursday and asked the public for help in identifying them.
"This is a learning opportunity," Romney said. "We should learn the lessons that come from this and apply them to the extent that we possibly can."
Asked if he would consider working on a security commission to study the terror attack and design steps to avert future attacks, Romney said he wouldn't
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general pleasantries in your cover letter. If the job listing is several pages long, listing a myriad of qualifications and certifications desired, take the extra time to address the areas where your skills/experience line up with the organization's needs.
Your occupational therapy cover letter: Dissected :)
Introduction:
People are quite opinionated about how to kick off a cover letter. We recommend following the lead of the organization, again, basing your approach on the job posting. If you're shooting for a small clinic with a casual attitude, a simple “Hi!” or “Hello” may do. While states on the left coast have a reputation for being more casual than the rest of the US, don’t go overly casual when kicking off communication with a potential employer.
Just like choosing wedding attire, you're better off being too formal than too casual. No matter how casual you feel you can be, let's avoid the "Whatup!" or "Hey!" intro, unless you're already buddies with the owner/manager or you are independently wealthy and can afford to lose the job before you even have an interview.
Conversely, a large organization may respond well to “Dear Rehab Manager,” "Dear Director of Rehab," or "Dear Hiring Manager." Some applicants use the intro, "To Whom it May Concern," but we feel like that sounds a bit confrontational!
Body:
Typically, 3-4 body paragraphs will be plenty so try to avoid the temptation to delve into every one of your magical achievements within one letter. Within your 3-4 body paragraphs, you'll want to organically work in the following elements:
1. Why you admire the clinic
Before anything else, mention something flattering about the organization to which you're applying. Did it win awards for pediatric trauma care? Low infection rates? Does it engage in autism awareness volunteer work in the community? This is, quite possibly, the most important part of your cover letter. It is how you convey your most sincere interest in the position and organization as a whole. This section proves that you’ve done your homework and truly want *this* job, not just *a* job. Remember, the last thing that busy clinic director needs is to waste time interviewing a lackluster and unengaged job candidate.
2. Why you want a job at the organization
Do you like working with an underserved patient population? Do your knees go weak at the thought of pediatric stroke rehab? Is your sister autistic and you want to work with that particular patient population? Heck, did you receive treatment or clinical education/mentorship at the clinic? Do you like working with a large team of multifaceted staff members...or do you prefer an intimate family-sized team? Mention specifically what it is about the clinic that attracted your interest.
3. Why you are such a dadgum special candidate
Seriously: what makes you so special? We're sure there are plenty of things to love about you, so stick to relevant info about your clinical experience and desire to learn. RESIST THE URGE TO BRAG. A well written occupational therapy cover letter does not exist to regurgitate the exact information found in your resume. Rather, drop at least one key experience point from your time in the field that directly relates to the job position. For example, if you worked at a Children's Hospital, and you're applying for an outpatient pediatrics position, you could say:
"My passion for pediatrics truly emerged during my level II clinical rotation, where I was able to work with children in an acute care setting. I would love to bring my existing knowledge to an outpatient pediatrics clinic, where I can also receive mentorship to build my pediatric treatment skills."
4. A few "soft skills" that connect well to the facility
If you really don't have professional experience that matches the job description, you can still tout personality traits that line up with the company mission statement. Are you punctual, warm, flexible, eager, friendly, caring or ambitious? Some quick digging can tell you if the facility values innovation, nurturing, flexibility, etc.
In most cases, you can glean clues from a company's website that highlight practice philosophies or how active they are in community service. Try to connect on the levels that matter to the organization. If you cannot find an area where you feel you can build a connection, make sure to mention one of your qualities that will enhance their practice. For example, if you have been told that you're a bundle of energy, state that you're someone who will always bring energy to the clinic.
Closing:
Without fail, thank the person reading the letter for their time. Make sure to reiterate your interest in the position, and provide several methods of contact. For example:
“If you agree that I would be a good complement to your team, please contact me anytime at (phone) or (email). Thank you very much, in advance, for your consideration. I hope to hear from you soon!”
Signature:
Your attitude shows through your parting signature. Unless you're targeting a casual clinic, avoid “Cheers,” “Best” or "Thanks". “Best regards” is always a good bet for hospital systems, and “With gratitude” might work for a yoga clinic. "Warmly" can work, depending on the rest of the tone of your letter.
If you're having writer's block, never fear. Think of a friend/family member, and pretend you're explaining why you're applying for a particular job. Write down the points as you think of them, and work them into a letter. Points to omit from the letter include the fat stacks of cash you'll be earning and other self-serving reasons for applying :)
Download our sample cover letter by filling out the form below!BALLSTON SPA — A former Roman Catholic priest who served prison time for sexually abusing a New York teenager 17 years ago is now charged with abusing a boy earlier this year.
Authorities say 51-year-old Michael Hands, of Easton in Washington County, has been charged with sexually abusing a teenager in neighboring Saratoga County this year.
The former priest in the Diocese of Rockville Centre was convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in Suffolk County. He served 15 months in prison and is registered with the state as a Level 3 sex offender.
Authorities say 51-year-old Michael Hands, of Easton in Washington County, has been charged with sexually abusing a teenager in neighboring Saratoga County this year. (WNYT)
Saratoga County prosecutors say Hands was charged in July with sexually abusing a local boy he met online. He remained in the county jail Wednesday.
A message left with his attorney wasn't immediately returned.
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing!The Olympic Games are one of the most effective international marketing platforms in the world, reaching billions of people in over 200 countries and territories throughout the world.
Support from the business community is crucial to the staging of the Games and the operations of every organisation within the Olympic Movement.
Revenue generated by commercial partnerships accounts for more than 40% of Olympic revenues and partners provide vital technical services and product support to the whole of the Olympic Family.
Each level of sponsorship entitles companies to different marketing rights in various regions, category exclusivity and the use of designated Olympic images and marks.
TOP: The Olympic Partners The Olympic Partners (TOP) Programme is the worldwide sponsorship Programme managed by the IOC. The IOC created the TOP Programme in 1985 in order to develop a diversified revenue base for the Olympic Games and to establish long-term corporate partnerships that would benefit the Olympic Movement as a whole. The TOP Programme operates on a four-year term – the Olympic quadrennium. The TOP Programme supports the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games, the NOCs and the IOC. The TOP Programme provides each Worldwide Olympic Partner with exclusive global marketing rights and opportunities within a designated product or service category. The global marketing rights include partnerships with the IOC, all active NOCs and their Olympic teams, and the two OCOGs and the Games of each quadrennium. The TOP Partners may exercise these rights worldwide and may activate marketing initiatives with all the members of the Olympic Movement that participate in the TOP Programme.Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru. Dancing the tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Soaking up the sunshine on a beach in Brazil. Taking a slow boat down the Amazon river. Watching the sunrise mirrored on the surreal salt flats of Bolivia. Marvelling at Angel Falls, Venezuela, the tallest waterfall in the world. Checking out the hip cafes, cars, museums and restaurants of Santiago, Chile… and so much more!
Travelling around South America offers so many opportunities for unforgettable experiences. This continent offers a lot for the adventurous traveller to see and it is relatively simple to make most of the border crossings. There are plenty of options for bus travel, including night buses that are comfortable enough to sleep on so that you can save on a night of accommodation.
In order to make your travels around South America a little bit easier, I have put together a guide to the travel visa requirements for every country on the continent. This is just an introduction, to give you an idea of what to expect when you visit each of these countries. Of course, this visa information is subject to change so I recommend you double check the requirements before for each specific country before coming face to face with immigration officials.
Now strap on your backpack, grab your passport and go for it!
*All Visa Fee Amounts are in US Dollars*
Looking for the Central America Backpacker Visa Guide? Click here.
The Global Goose Backpacker Visa Guide to South America
Argentina
From the laid back vibe of Buenos Aires to the gorgeous rugged landscapes of Patagonia – Argentina is not to be missed. This country offers great value for money and a lot of excellent attractions, with a great bus system making it easy to get around. It’s a great place to indulge in the finer things in life, so why not treat yourself to a fantastic Argentinian steak and wash it down with a glass of superb local red wine?
If you are from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the European Union and many other countries, you will not need a visa to travel to Argentina. However, as of 2009 citizens of Canada, the USA and Australia are required to pay a “Reciprocity Fee” to enter the country. This fee is different for each nationality and it is similar to how much an Argentinian would need to pay to enter your country. The fee must be paid in advance online at the website of the Argentinian Department of Immigration. You will need to show your proof of payment to the immigration officials when you cross the border.
Here is a breakdown of the reciprocal fees:
Americans: You must pay a $160 fee. This allows you multiple entries to Argentina over a period of 10 years.
Australians: You must pay a $100 fee. This allows you multiple entries for one year.
Canadians: You have a choice between a $75 fee which allows multiple entries over a 90 day period from neighbouring countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil) or a $150 fee which allows multiple entries from any point of origin for five years.
If you are from Taiwan, Kosovo, Taiwan, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, you will need to use a Travel Certificate issued by Argentina instead of a passport to enter the country.
Bolivia
If you are a citizen of one of the following countries, you will not need a visa for a 90 day tourist stay in Bolivia:
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vatican City, and Venezuela.
Americans will need to obtain a visa at the border and are required to pay a $135 fee. You will need to submit a visa application form, a copy of your passport, a copy of your yellow fever vaccination certificate, a copy of your ongoing tickets leaving Bolivia, evidence of having enough funds to support yourself, proof of a hotel reservation or written invitation and a 4cmX4cm passport photo of yourself.
The fee must be paid in pristine American bills – any old or torn bills are likely to not be accepted.
If you are from Canada, you will not need a visa to enter Bolivia but you will only be granted a 30 day stay when you first enter the country. You will need to visit the Immigration Office in Bolivia to request an extension.
For more information, click here.
Brazil
Brazil is absolutely massive – the largest country in South America and the fifth largest in the world – so make sure that you leave plenty of time to get across it! It is known for it’s passionate love of football, it’s bright and colourful Carnival and it’s laid back and energetic culture. It is also home to the amazing wilderness of the Amazon rainforest and the famous Iguacu Falls.
When it comes to visas, Brazil plays it tit-for-tat. That is, whatever fees and restrictions a Brazilian person is faced with when visiting your country, you will have to pay the same.
If you are are from one of the following countries, you will not need a visa in order to stay for up to 90 days:
Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Rep., Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR passport, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Singapore (30 days), Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom (Including British National (Overseas) passport holders), Uruguay, Venezuela (60 days) and Vatican City.
Citizens from all other countries do require a visa to enter Brazil. You may have to pay a fee to enter the country. For example, Canadians must pay a fee of at least $81.25 plus processing and handling fees to enter the country, which is valid for 5 years. Citizens of the USA must pay $160 for a tourist visa and it is valid for up to 10 years.
If you need to extend your visa in Brazil, you can do so at the office of the Policia Federal. You can only extend the tourist visa once, for a maximum of 90 days.
You are required to produce your outbound ticket upon entry by law. However, most of the time you will not be asked for it and if you don’t have one, it is usually acceptable to explain that you will be taking the bus to Argentina and couldn’t buy the ticket before you arrived.
Chile
Chile, the long and narrow country that stretches along the West Coast of South America between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, has a European feel to it and relatively high standards of living. It is far from a budget destination, however it offers the excellent culture, museums, art galleries and restaurants of Santiago and the world-famous wild terrain of Patagonia.
If you are a resident of the following countries, you will not need a visa to enter Chile for up to 90 days:
Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mauricio, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela
If you are from Peru, Indonesia, Greece or Grenada, you can enter for up to 60 days without a visa. Citizens of Bolivia, Belize, Jamaica, Malaysia and Singapore can enter for 30 days without a visa and citizens of Dominica can enter for up to 21 days. If you are from India, you will need to apply for a tourist visa in advance at your Chilean consulate and you will be required to provide proof of solvency and hotel reservations.
However, if you are from the USA, Canada, Australia or Mexico you must pay the “Reciprocity Fee”when you first enter Chile. Similar to the other fees, it is equal to the amount that a Chilean would need to pay when visiting your country.
Americans: Must pay a fee of $160.
Canadians: Must pay a fee of $132.
Australians: Must pay a free of $95.
Mexicans: Must pay a fee of $23.
These fees are payable in US dollars or via credit card at the counters just before you pass through immigration. For more information, visit the website of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
Here is some detailed info about crossing the border from Argentina to Chile.
Colombia
Colombia is quickly becoming one of the hottest current backpacker destinations – and for good reason. It offers an amazing diversity of landscapes including plains, snow-capped volcanoes, lush forests, beaches and alpine lakes. Bogota is a beautiful, intellectual, cultural and historic capital city, with plenty of book stores, salsa bars and a lively Carnival.
Many people associate Colombia with drug cartels and political violence, but this perception is out of date. The violence and danger has subsided and now many travellers are coming to Colombia from all over the world. Sweep your old stereotypes aside and discover this great travel destination – before everyone else does!
If you are a citizen of the following countries, you will be able to enter Colombia without a visa and stay between 30-90 days:
Most European countries, all South American nations, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Bhutan, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
Irish citizens used to have to apply for a visa at a Colombian embassy, but they no longer need to do this and now have the same process and treatment as the other visa-free countries above.
Here is a great post to read if you want to stay longer in Colombia and a walk through of extending your tourist visa in Medellin.
Ecuador
Ecuador is home to the world’s highest active volcano, the historic capital of Quito, the beautiful wetlands and lakes of Yasuni and a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so there is plenty here for the curious backpacker to explore.
As of 2008, citizens of any nationality can enter Ecuador without a visa and can stay for a period of 90 days. This initiative was designed to strengthen relations between Ecuador and other countries and to promote tourism.
That makes it easy, doesn’t it?
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are located 300 miles off the coast of southern South America and they are a popular destination in the summer months between October and March, when visitors come to enjoy the abundant wildlife and rare birds and marine species – including many different varieties of penguin, seal, duck, hawk and albatross.
The Falkland Islands are a United Kingdom Overseas Territory and an associated territory of the European Union. They have been claimed by Argentina (called the Islas Malvinas) for more than 180 years and they were the subject of a major conflict between the UK and Argentina in 1982.
Unless you are entering on a cruise and will not be spending the night on the land, you must show that you have a return ticket, accommodation and sufficient funds to cover your expenses while on the islands. You can use your credit card as a proof of funds.
A visa is usually required to enter the Falkland Islands. However, if you have a passport from one of the following countries you will not need a visa:
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea (Republic), Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (Republic of China), United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City.
French Guiana
This tropical hot and humid country is a French department in the Amazonia region of South America, located between Brazil and Suriname. There are plenty of great travel experiences to discover here, from canoeing along the calm rivers to checking out the museums of the capital city Cayenne and visiting the Amerindian villages in Haut-Maroni and Haut-Oyapoc.
Citizens of Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the EU, and the USA can enter French Guiana without a visa, as long as they have a passport that is valid for at least three months after the period of stay. All other nationalities are recommended to contact their embassy to check the visa requirements. You must show a yellow fever vaccination certificate when entering French Guiana.
Nationalities who do require a visa must enter on a Schengen visa which is marked “Department D’Outre Mer” and is specific to French Guiana. The cost of the short stay visa for 90 days is €60 and the long say visa for more than 90 days is €99.
Guyana
This small country between Venezuela and Suriname with an Atlantic Coastline has a name that means “Land of Many Waters” in Arawak Wayana. Its culture is more similar to the English-speaking Caribbean than South America and its blend of East Indian and African cultures makes it feel more like Trinidad. The food, festivities, music and sports here are similar to the islands in the West Indies, more than other parts of the Americas.
If you are a citizen of the following countries, you will not need a visa to visit Guyana:
Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Canada, Dominica, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Luxembourg, Montserrat, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States.
If you do need to apply for a visa, you will need to have a passport that is valid for at least 6 months, three passport sized photos and proof that you have enough funds to cover your trip to Guyana. The tourist visa costs $30 and a multiple entry three month visa costs $50. If you need to extend your visa, you can do that at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Georgetown.
Paraguay
This landlocked county can be found between Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia and is one of the poorest countries in South America. It is very cheap to travel in and offers many great attractions, including water sports on Lago Ypacarai, the art galleries of Aregua and the ruins and churches of Encarnacion.
When entering Paraguay, most citizens of the EU will not need a visa to visit for up to 90 days. However, citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Taiwan and the USA will need visas. You can apply for this visa when you arrive, but only at the International Airport in the city of Asunción. The fee will be between $100 and $160, depending on your nationality. This visa will allow you to stay in the country for up to 90 days.
Peru
Peru has a lot to discover, from Colca Canyon (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) to the wonders of Machu Picchu to the fascinating Sacred Valley of the Incas and much more. We’ve just spent 7 weeks there and it’s quickly become one of my favourite places in the world.
If you are from North America, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, the European Union and many other, you will receive a visa when you enter the country for up to 183 days. When you pass through the immigration office, you will get a stamp in your passport stating the number of says that you are allowed to stay- which is usually 183. If you want to stay longer, it’s easy to cross the border to a neighbouring country and then return the next day to obtain another 183 days.
After you enter, don’t lose the little slip of paper that is to be kept in your passport, you will need to show it when you get your exit stamp upon leaving the country.
Suriname
This small country in Northern South America is the smallest independent nation on the continent, with a tropical climate, rolling hills, lush rainforest and so much more. You can visit the stunning Galibi Nature Reserve, the bustling city of Paramaribo, and the ruins of the first Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere in Joden Savanne.
If you are a citizen of one of the following countries, you will not need to have a visa to enter Suriname:
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica (for holders of diplomatic and official passports only), Colombia (for holders of diplomatic and official passports only), Cuba (for holders of diplomatic and official passports only), Dominica, Philippines, Gambia, Guyana, Grenada, Hong Kong, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela (for holders of diplomatic and official passports only).
If you are not a citizen of one of these countries, you will need to apply for a visa by contacting the Suriname Consulate in your home country. In most cases, you will need a single-entry visa although you might want to have a multiple entry visa if you will be going back and forth between other neighbouring countries. The fee for a single entry visa is $45 and a multiple entry is $50 for EU citizens.
Citizens of Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, France, Germany, Paraguay, Peru, USA, UK, Venezuela and Uruguay can obtain a single entry tourist card for $25 at the Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport.
After you arrive in Suriname you are required to go to the foreigner’s registration office in the “Nieuwe Haven” within a week after you arrive.
Uruguay
The name “Uruguay” means “River of the Colourful Birds” and this beautiful country with a South Atlantic coastline is known for being a summer beach destination for Argentinians and Brazilians. Uruguayans are passionate about great steak and watching football, so make sure that you enjoy both while you are in the country.
If you are from one of the following countries, you will be able to enter Uruguay without a visa:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, South Korea, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Seychelles, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela.
If you are from any other country, you should check with the local consular section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you are from India you must apply for a tourist visa, which is free of charge. However, from all accounts the border of Uruguay is relatively easy to cross.
Venezuela
Venezuela is located along the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, bordering Columbia to the West, Guyana to the East and Brazil to the South. It is home to the majestic Angel Falls – the highest waterfall in the world.
If you are a citizen of the following countries, you will not require a visa to visit Venezuela for up to 90 days as a tourist:
Andorra, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominica, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iran (max. 15 days), Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Nevis, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Spain, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Uruguay.
When you arrive on a flight to Caracas, you will pass through immigration before going to baggage claim. An officer will check your passport and ask you questions – if they ask the purpose of your visit you should say “tourism”. You will then go to baggage claim and will be required to match the baggage sticker to the bar code before you hand over your tax form to customs officials.
This has been our ultimate guide to travel visas in South America. If you have any questions or extra information that you feel would be valuable to travellers, or if you want to share your stories about crossing South American borders – please feel free to leave a comment!Comments about the weight of Health Minister Sarah Hoffman show sexism is still an issue for women in Alberta politics, a gender studies lecturer says.
Interim Progressive Conservative Leader Ric McIver said Monday he will investigate remarks made on Facebook by Jordan Lien, the party's vice-president in charge of southern Alberta.
Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman came under attack after announcing a ban on menthol tobacco Sunday. (Travis McEwan/CBC) Lien called Hoffman "our morbidly obese health minister" while questioning the NDP government's decision to ban the sale of menthol tobacco.
Cristina Stasia, a gender studies instructor at the University of Alberta who ran for the Alberta Party in the last election, called Lien's insult "disgusting."
Stasia said past male health ministers who weren't in the best physical shape were never criticized about their weight.
"Usually when men are insulted, if it's a gender insult, we target their masculinity, less so than their appearance," Stasia said.
"But targeting women's appearance is popular because that's what we think will hurt or undermine them the most, because that's what we're taught to value best about women."
Lien's comment prompted PC party member Warren Mitchell to say he was ripping up his membership card in disgust.
"I'm done with this sh--ty party," he said on Twitter.
Lien apologized Monday afternoon after the comments came to light.
"I recognize I made a dumb comment," Lien said on Twitter. "I apologize to Sarah Hoffman and all who read it for my insensitive remark. Once again, I'm sorry."
However, Stasia isn't impressed with Lien's apology.
"I think that perhaps if he replaced "dumb" with sexist and irrelevant it would be a better step towards an apology because this was a gender insult," she said. "It was targeted at her in that way."
A spokesman for Hoffman declined to comment on the remarks.
Hoffman has also been the target of similar attacks by political commentator Ezra Levant and others using anonymous accounts on Twitter.An uncontroverisal, mild Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill may die on Monday, despite passing 410-0 in the House earlier this year, and with a similar bipartisan vote expected in the Senate. The bill had already been stripped of its most substantive provisions that government agencies objected to, but on Thursday, Democractic Senator Jay Rockefeller—who is set to retire at the end of the year—unilaterally placed a hold on the bill, apparently doing the bidding of federal agencies who don't want any more of their communications subject to public scrutiny. (Senate rules allow a single Senator to hold up votes on bills in certain situations.)
After refusing to answer questions about the hold for a day, Sen. Rockefeller issued a statement late Friday night that, as Cory Doctorow aptly described, "offered vague, bullshitty excuses...citing nonspecific issues with privacy that don't bear even cursory scrutiny."
Worse, Rockefeller's shameful hold has been met with almost complete silence from the nation's leading news organizations, many of whom have the most to gain from the passage of the bill, given they file countless FOIA requests every year. As many have documented, the Obama administration, despite promising to be the most transparent administration ever, has constantly abused FOIA exemptions and delayed countless requests, leading many comprehensive studies to conclude the Obama administration has an even worse FOIA record than the notoriously-secret Bush adminstration.
There is little chance Rockefeller would continue his hold if there were an op-ed in every major newspaper excoriating him as the hypocrite that he is, given how he is likely worried about his legacy as he exits the Senate for the final time in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, a cursory Google News search shows only a handful of articles and op-eds, and most of those are from smaller, independent outlets.
To make up for the silence of news organizations, we urge everyone reading this to contact Rockefeller's office to make your voice heard. Journalist Alex Howard, one of the few reporters who has been extensively covering Rockefeller's obstruction of the FOIA bill, has detailed how you can reach out to both Rockefeller's offices in both DC and his home state of West Virginia:They don't like antivirus products. I don't know why, they're so friendly, they take care of our computers, protect our data and identity, but they still don't like antivirus products.
Cyber criminals wage a war against them and these are some of the ways they do it:
This Trojan is a really nice piece of work. It was not easy to analyze and although it’s not that complex, it is interesting to see how intricate an attackers mind can get in order to reach his goal.
The Trojan starts by dropping 3 components at which we will look closer below.
The antivirus killer
(killdll.dll):
– is saved in %windir%system32, gets loaded first and contains two encrypted drivers. It is deleted after 15 seconds.
1.1. The first is used to disable the following services belonging to security products vendors:
avp.exe
DrUpdate.exe
QQDoctorRtp.exe
KWatch.exe
Uplive.exe
udaterui.exe
McTray.exe
SHSTAT.exe
ccSvcHst.exe
xcommsvr.exe
vsserv.exe
livesrv.exe
bdagent.exe
mcinsupd.exe
mcshell.exe
FrameworkService.exe
vstskmgr.exe
mcagent.exe
mcnasvc.exe
mcmscsvc.exe
mcsysmon.exe
mfevtps.exe
mcupdmgr.exe
vptray.exe
ccapp.exe
rtvscan.exe
defwatch.exe
ccEvtMgr.exe
ccSetMgr.exe
KVSrvXP.exe
KPFW32.exe
engineserver.exe
KavStart.exe
kmailmon.exe
KPfwSvc.exe
KISSvc.exe
MPSVC3.exe
MPSVC.exe
MpfSrv.exe
naPrdMgr.exe
rsnetsvr.exe
mcshield.exe
McProxy.exe
QQDoctor.exe
Rav.exe
ScanFrm.exe
RsTray.exe
RavStub.exe
CCenter.exe
RavTask.exe
RavMonD.exe
RavMon.exe
egui.exe
mfeann.exe
RsAgent.exe
ekrn.exe
antiarp.exe
360tray.exe
360Safebox.exe
safeboxTray.exe
To achieve this, the driver is saved under %windir%system32driversAsyncMac.sys, replacing the original driver with the same name which was a Microsoft Remote Access Network Serial driver.
Then it will disable the system start feature of these services so they will not be loaded again after restart. When it’s done the driver file will be unloaded and deleted.
1.2. The second driver is saved under %windir%system32driversaec.sys, replacing the original driver as well, which used to be a Microsoft Acoustic Echo Canceler. This component deactivates commonly used proactive detection techniques by undoing the changes made by antivirus software to the kernel memory. After it has finished it is unloaded and deleted.
The downloader ([random_value]_xeex.exe):
– is saved in %windir% after killdll.dll has finished its job. Upon execution this component check first where it has been started from. If it is injected in userinit.exe then it will first execute explorer.exe (default userini.exe behavior) so the user doesn’t notice the infection. Then it will continue with its own routine. If it’s not userinit.exe it will continue with its own routine
without starting explorer.exe.
It will send the MAC address, operating system version and the file version (probably provided by the creation date) to the following script: http://[removed]518js.com/30330/count.asp
It will download and execute about 30 files specified by an online text file located at: http://[removed]518js.com/30330/newfz.txt If the downloader version provided above is outdated the list will contain a new version of the Trojan as well in order to update itself, the rest of the files belong to the OnlineGames password stealers family.
It will register the parent executable image to start with system startup using the windows registry key HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun, with the following key name: RsTray.
The overwriter (pcidump.sys):
– is saved in %windir
|
electronic stability and traction control, hill-start assistance, hill-descent control, as well as a cruise control with a speed limiter function.
The Forward Camera Pack extra allows for lane departure warning, forward collision warning as well as traffic sign recognition.
Like most utes, there is the issue of lean on corners, making rolling a possibility. However, it still has good balance and precise control overall.
4. Renault Clio Hatchback
Image: Bentley Smith
The Renault Clio hatchback is big, bold, stylish, affordable, and is a popular choice among supermini buyers, who might also be looking at models like the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, or Skoda Fabia. The Clio is a five-door hatchback, and comes with a wide range of engine options.
These options include the 1.2-litre 75bhp petrol, a three-cylinder turbocharged 0.9-litre TCe petrol, a 1.5-litre dCi, a 1.2-litre petrol TCe unit, as well as a 1.6-litre turbocharged 197bhp unit.
Renault understands the importance of safety, especially for family buyers. The Clio received a five-star rating in Euro NCAP tests, and includes safety equipment like ESC, ASR and Brake Assist. However, it only comes with four airbags. Options include rear parking sensors as well as a reversing camera.
Renault hasn't always had a reputation being reliable, but is starting to work its way back up the ranks here in 2014. It also has an 89% adult occupant protection score, as well as a 99% score in the safety assist category.
The Clio has a responsive engine, offers great suspension and comfort, and features precise handling. On the downside, the ride can be a bit bouncy.
5. Hyundai Santa Fe SUV
The Hyundai Santa Fe ute is spacious and comfortable, has great fuel economy, and rivals with the likes of the Kia Sorento, Land Rover Freelancer, as well as the Honda CR-V. It would make for a great off-roader and tow car, though it is quite expensive considering its competition.
The Santa Fe has quite a bit of body lean and has light steering. A relatively relaxed driver shouldn't have too much issue with that, however.
The car achieved the full five-star rating with the Euro NCAP. It has driver and front passenger airbags, side and curtain airbags (seven in total), electronic stability control as well as seatbelt pretensioners. The five-year warranty is nothing to sneeze at either. The Santa Fe also scored 96% for adult protection.
The Santa Fe is only offered with a single engine model, which is the 194bhp 2.2-litre CRDi unit. Despite how big the car is, the engine helps it to run surprisingly fast.
Conclusion
In addition to the cars mentioned here, the Ford Kuga SUV, the Audi A3 hatchback, the Mitsubishi Outlander SUV and the Subaru Forester SUV are also cited as being reliable and safe. Nevertheless, multiple Volvo and BMW models tend to dominate most lists.
It is difficult to say whether or not safety will become trendier in the future, but more automakers are beginning to utilize technology for the sake of a car's overall safety.
Can you think of any other cars that have a reputation of being safe? When you are looking for a safe car, what features do you look for?
Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section.How Much More Does Taking The Subway Cost Today?
It runs 24 hours a day — a rarity, anywhere in the world — and it moves 1.6 billion riders a year across the five boroughs of New York City. And on Friday (update: the new fare will be going into effect Sunday, March 3), it will become more expensive. After a fare hike five years ago, the base fare of taking the subway (that is with no discounts) will rise a quarter to $2.50 a pop. And although some of the service cuts enacted in 2010 have since been restored, this hike is not attached to any improvements in service — alas. As with other mandated fare hikes, this one was met with a resigned outrage, a sense that, boy, wouldn’t it be great if there was not going to be a hike even though we’re powerless to stop it?
This is a natural opportunity to ask the question, as we have concerning other elements of getting from one place to another in the big city: taking inflation into account, does it cost more today to take the subway that it has historically, or are we just a bunch of bellyachers?
***
The NYC subway is not the oldest (London!) or even the oldest in America (Boston!), but it definitely the predominate subway of the imagination, New Yorker or not, from Billy Strayhorn’s jazz standard to the The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, the system run by the Metropolitan Transit Authority is synonymous with ‘subway.’ Of course, this ubiquity is not necessarily positive, as the subways popularized by the aforementioned movie along with other gritty 70s movies set in New York City (and “The Warriors,” of course) was a grungy, overcrowded, vandalized commuting torture machine. Back in the pre-Giuliani Metropolis, the subways were emblematic of everything that made the city a place that the rest of the country think of it as a dangerous place: crime and litter, municipal dysfunction, impenetrable accents.
The subways did bounce back. Currently, they are largely clean, run largely on time. If not actually pleasant, they are largely tolerable, save on the random days of a “sick passenger” or “police investigation” (which are codes for “dead customer” and “suicide by train,” by the way) when you’re stuck on an unmoving train, or worse, an overcrowded platform, trying to remember how to forestall an incipient panic attack. It’s a big, complex system that’s more than a hundred years old, and Americans have the habit of being as bad at maintaining infrastructure as they are good at building it in the first place. Without the subway, the city is unmanageable.
And of course we in New York had the opportunity to see what a week without subways would be like, in days following the landfall of Sandy. Virtually every sub-river tunnel was flooded to the roof, with salt water, corrosive to the wiring and electrics. Somehow the MTA managed to restore rudimentary subway service in four days, and eighty percent of service in seven, by the beginning of the following work week. The period without service, it was what I’d imagine life was like before the subways, with residents sticking to walking, and inter-neighborhood transit being an extraordinary circumstance. The subways are how the city can manage as an entity with 468 square miles of surface area.
Which is why we love the subway even as we hate it.
Cable car, December 1867. (Via.)
Of course, it’s not like the birth of the subway system (October 27, 1904) was the birth of train transit in the city. Before that a number of elevated steam trains ran throughout the city — up and down Second, Third, Six and Ninth Avenues in Manhattan, and over streets in Brooklyn and the Bronx, starting in the 1870s and 1880s. And before that an elevated cable car ran over Greenwich Street in the 1860s. The project of moving urban people rapidly from one point to another, without interfering in street traffic, is one that dates back to the Civil War era. The Third Avenue El actually stood long enough to be live in current memory, until 1955. And there actually was a subway in New York that precedes this one: a 312-foot tunnel that ran under Broadway in lower Manhattan in from 1870 to 1873. It operated via a giant fan. Pneumatically is the proper way to think of it, but it more fun to think of the train being blown back and forth.
Ground was broken (amidst “felicitations and speeches”) for the first subway in 1900. A beautiful paragraph from the New York Times account of the day:
Tunnel day was a greater day to the people, for it marked a beginning of a system of tunnels in future years and for future generations which will have wide extensions not only in Manhattan but eventually will go down under the waters of the East and North Rivers, and whose ramifications will find lodgment in Brooklyn and Jersey City, and possibly even Staten Island before this town is a very great many years older. Tunnel transit. moreover, means that Harlem, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, will be reached in thirteen minutes, says Chief Engineer Parsons, who has worked it out to a mathematical certainty. and points beyond with proportionate celerity. Therefore the people rejoiced, for they have been promised great things.
This subway was to become the Interborough Rapid Transit, or the IRT. In fact, the early history of the subway system was an alphabet soup of acronyms. The IRT was first, and not long behind was the BMT, or the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (which acquired the original iteration, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, or BRT). These were private companies and not city agencies, operating under leases from the city, whereby the city retained ownership of the line and facilities, and the company got the right to operate them. There were joined by the IND, the Independent Rapid Transit Railroad. As no private company could be found to run this system, the Sixth and Eighth Avenues lines, the City Board of Transportation created the IND to do so, making it the first city-run subway line, in 1932. They had the same fares (in fact mandated by contract from the city), but they used different gauges of track, so the trains of the BMT and the IND cannot fit into the tunnels of the IRT. This is also why transferring from one line to another can sometimes be a daunting moment of confusion. In fact, there was no free transfer between the systems at the time, only between lines of the same system.
A 1905 subway accident, at 9th Avenue and 53rd Street. (Via.)
An IRT Third Avenue Line car in the 50s. (Via.)
However, this all ended in 1940. The IRT was bankrupt, and the BMT, while solvent, was not doing so hot. The contracts that gave the companies the right to operate the subways also guaranteed a five-cent fare. This was initially thought to be a boon to the companies, until the inflation that accompanied the Great Depression turned that nickel from a tidy little profit to a less than sustaining fare. Negotiations began in the late 30s for a unification, with all three systems under municipal control. This was completed in 1940, when the IRT and the BMT turned over their contracts to the city. The entire system became under common control of the New York City Board of Transportation, and future expansions would include free inter-system transfer points.
This is basically the subway system as we now know it. There have been permutations over which jurisdiction controls the subways, with the city creating the New York City Transit Authority in 1953, as a separate, public corporation to insulate the system somewhat from city politics, and then the state created its own public company, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to have oversight over NYC Transit and other mass transit services in the state. (For more on this history, I heartily recommend the website NYCSubway, which is exhaustive and meticulous.)
***
Currently the MTA is expanding the system for the first time in years, expanding the 7 line to service the soon-to-be real estate boom neighborhood of the Hudson Yards and the Javits Center, on the west side, and the completion of the Second Avenue line. The Second Avenue line was a long time coming, first planned in expansions that were derailed by World War II, and then revived in the 70s. In fact, construction had started and some tunnels were near completion when the fiscal crisis the city experienced in the mid 70s (i.e., FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD) nipped that if not in the bud then definitely well before the full bloom. It will be useful, as the entirety of the Upper East Side is serviced only by the 4/5/6 (formerly IRT). And the 7 line extension is the result of a mayor who’s never met a luxury condo development project that he would not kiss right on the mouth.
And so, even with Friday’s hike, the system is actually expanding, and it did recover admirably after Sandy gave everyone a week off. The MTA’s explanation of the need to increase rider cost is that the costs of the system — maintenance, fuel, repairs, equipment, etc. — has been rising while public financing has dropped, and meanwhile the debt service payments, from the bonds the MTA employs to raise capital for huge projects, ahs also grown. They need more revenue. And while fares only provide the MTA with less than forty percent of its operating budget, it’s the one revenue source they can control directly. And actually, these explanations mirror the complaints of opponents.
There are those (like #NoFareHikes) who will argue that the actual reason for the rate hikes, and the increasing frequency thereof, is the result of the MTA debt service and interest. Specifically, that the MTA got hosed over some interest rate swaps that were supposed to protect the MTA from market volatility, but instead anchored them to a fixed interest rate at the time, during the past five years, that the Fed’s interest rates have been at all time lows. So that when the MTA talks about increasing debt service expenses, what they mean is that they’re going to take more from riders in order to further line the pockets of The Banks.
And public interest groups the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Straphangers Campaign, Pratt Center for Community Development, and Transportation Alternative have said, in a public statement released in opposition to the fare hikes, that a cause of the hikes is the fact that Albany has been starving the MTA of revenue, by reallocating $143 million of the taxes earmarked to pay for transit to non-transit purposes in 2009. This starvation was exacerbated by the realities of the Great Recession, reducing the collected amount of transit taxes that remained, and further aggravated by Governor Cuomo’s 2013 executive budget, which snatches another $20 million from the MTA budget. Again, the MTA would respond, “Yup, sure.”
The MTA remains a public corporation, ostensibly independent from the government. However, it is governed by a Board of Directors, who are apportioned off as appointees of the governor, the mayor and the various county executives of the counties in the Greater Metropolitan Area. So any deviance from the current plan to address budget shortcomings, which consist of a fare hike every two years for as far as the budgets currently go, will actually be a question of political will.
It is also important to note that the municipal union, the TWU, has been working without a contract for a year. The last contract was hammered out after the TWU actually struck for three weekdays in December of 2005. This was similar to the lost week of Sandy, except for the fact that there was no hurricane to obviate the need to go anywhere. It was a mess. And now the TWU is faced with the prospect of negotiating with an employer already complaining of being cash-strapped.
It’s going to be a turbulent couple of years, unless the same sort of boom years cause the MTA to experience surpluses, as they did in the mid-2000s.
***
So let’s see if this is going to be as big a hit to commuters as is feared. Now, there are a number of discount plans that have been offered over the years (a certain percentage off if you buy fares in bulk, unlimited ridership cards, that sort of thing), but for our purposes, we are going with the base fare. This was once the amount you would pay if you went up to a fare booth (or currently, an awkward robot kiosk with the credit card reader on the lower-left side, as the average New Yorker is four foot three and left-handed) and bought a single ride, but now is the amount that is deducted off the Metrocard for each trip. (The price to buy a single ride is going up to $2.75 from $2.50).
Here is the rundown of fares over the years, with the adjusted fare (2012, courtesy of the — the BLS Inflation Calculator) in parentheses. And note that the Inflation Calculator only goes back to 1914, so we’re adding that date even though there was no fare hike then. And since the fare was not first raised until 44 years after the introduction of the service, we’ll add 1924 and 1934 to give a clearer picture:
1904: $.05 (N/A)
1914: $.05 ($1.15)
1924: $.05 ($.67)
1934: $.05 ($.86)
1948: $.10 ($.95)
1953: $.15 ($1.29)
1966: $.20 ($1.42)
1970: $.30 ($1.78)
1972: $.35 ($1.92)
1976: $.50 ($2.02)
1980: $.60 ($1.67)
1981: $.75 ($1.89)
1984: $.90 ($1.99)
1986: $1.00 ($2.09)
1990: $1.15 ($2.02)
1992: $1.25 ($2.05)
1995: $1.50 ($2.26)
2003: $2.00 ($2.50)
2009: $2.25 ($2.41)
2013: $2.50
The answer is pretty plain: the adjusted cost for a subway ride in New York City is at an all-time high, more than double than the cost of a subway ride in the early 20th Century. For the first fifty years of the system’s existence, the cost hovered around a dollar, then rose to twice that around the time of the fiscal crisis of the 70s, and then tacked on another fifty cents since then.
However, even as the cost of the subway has increased steadily over the decades, for the past fifteen or twenty years that increase has leveled off. So while, yes, it costs more now, it doesn’t necessarily cost more than it did ten years ago.
And here’s a fun thing we can do. We wrote about the comparative increase in taxis fares last July, in which we calculated the adjusted for inflation (pre-tip) cost of a cab ride from Port Authority to the World Trade Center (or what would’ve been the WTC pre-1972). So let’s take that number, put the then-current (but adjusted) cost of a one-way subway fare next to it, and calculate how much cheaper a subway ride was/is as compared to a motor vehicle trip with someone else driving:
Year Subway Taxi Price difference (percentage) 1948 $.95 $8.58 903% 1952 $.87 $10.41 1196% 1964 $1.11 $9.64 868% 1968 $1.32 $10.24 776% 1971 $1.70 $14.19 835% 1974 $1.63 $13.75 844% 1977 $1.89 $12.70 671% 1979 $1.58 $11.08 701% 1980 $1.67 $12.55 751% 1984 $1.99 $10.17 511% 1987 $2.02 $11.43 565% 1996 $2.19 $11.28 515% 1999 $2.07 $11.58 559% 2004 $2.43 $13.02 535% 2006 $2.28 $13.11 575% 2012 $2.25 $13.60 604%
Of course it’s impossible to expect for a cab ride and a subway ride to be equivalent. It’s part of the reason we have subways in the first place: traveling by automobile is expensive and, after a certain point, inconvenient, trying to navigate clogged roads. However, it’s pretty plain that the comparative costs between the two are getting closer to each other. Sixty years ago, the ride in the hack was ten times more expensive than the strap-hanging, and more recently it’s only five or six times more expensive.
Though keep in mind that this is a proscribed and not very lengthy route. Taxis are metered for distance, and subways are not. Which is pretty remarkable, if you think about it. 230 route miles of track, ranging from Coney Island all the way up to Riverdale. It is a sprawling monster of a mass transit system, and one fare can get you from anywhere on that system to anywhere else, whether it’s a couple blocks or twenty miles. And while riding the subway can be a drag (because people are, well, people), it’s also an opportunity to do things that one cannot do while driving a car — reading, writing, playing Angry Birds, watching “Game of Thrones.”
Subway fares may well be creeping up, and it’s certainly bad news for wide swaths of the city, especially for people whose budgets are already stretched. But the subway is a nifty bit of public work, regardless.
Previously: How Much More Does Getting Heartburn Cost Today?
Brent Cox is all over the Internet. P=Top photo by Mo Riza.BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s apparent oil demand grew a strong 7 percent in August from a year earlier, as energy firms made a last month of massive imports to bolster stocks for the Olympics, even as domestic demand started to flag.
The sun sets behind Isla refinery in Willemstad at the island of Curacao June 16, 2008.REUTERS/Jorge Silva
Oil traders and analysts said they were looking beyond the August data, because it masks weak consumption and brimming inventories that together give a far bleaker outlook for demand from the world’s number two oil consumer.
Fuel piped into storage tanks in China shows up as implied demand because the government does not report stock levels. This year’s record shipments, much of which are languishing in tanks, has fed straight through into the apparent consumption figures.
“There is a lot of inventory to consume,” said Victor Shum at Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
“We are likely to be seeing oil demand growth slowdown in China for the remainder of the year.”
China’s economy is feeling the whiplash of the global credit crunch and although it is faring better than most industrialized nations, growth in manufacturing and export industries is flagging, dragging down oil consumption.
Top importer Sinopec has already wrapped up a summer oil-product buying spree, and stocks are so high it plans to cut both crude purchases and refining rates for the rest of the year, a company official said last week.
Several big new refineries coming on-stream this year, including a first for offshore specialist CNOOC, are also cutting the need for transport fuel imports.
RECORD INVENTORIES
Driven by patriotism, government pressure and tax breaks, Sinopec (SNP.N)(0386.HK) and rival PetroChina (PTR.N)(0857.HK) made record fuel imports this summer to guarantee smooth supplies during the Olympics after months of sporadic shortages.
In late July, diesel inventories held by the country’s two biggest oil firms were nearly double levels a year earlier and up more than a quarter from June, a state-owned newsletter said.
The stockbuilding has given an injection to apparent demand growth, which in July soared to a two year high even as oil hit a record above $149 a barrel and China’s drivers wrestled with a surprise rise in state-set fuel prices.
In the year through August, implied demand — net imports plus refinery output, but excluding inventory changes — rose 6.1 percent to 7.39 million barrels per day, the figures showed.An acquaintance tried to shoot a Schiller Park man in the head after tying him up in his home but gave up and stabbed the victim repeatedly when the gun wouldn't fire, later leaving him for dead, prosecutors said Saturday.
Tirnell Williams, 38, was ordered held without bail in Cook County Bond Court after prosecutors said he left the Schiller Park victim in serious condition and in need of 300 stitches.
“This defendant is a danger to himself and society,” said Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.
Williams had known the victim for a few weeks and stopped by his Schiller Park home in the 9400 block of Irving Park Road for a drink on Tuesday, prosecutors said. He and another person allegedly forced the victim into a bedroom and tied him up with an extension cord.
Williams held a gun to the victim’s jaw and tried to fire, but the gun would not go off, prosecutors said.
Williams then slashed the victim’s head, face, neck, abdomen, chest and left arm, according to court records.
The victim identified Williams in a lineup, and witnesses reported seeing Williams, covered in blood, fleeing the victim’s home after the attack, prosecutors said.
Schiller Park police arrested Williams on Saturday. He admitted being at the victim’s home on the day of the attack, prosecutors said. Police found blood stains and dried blood in his car.
Police still are looking for another person who helped Williams carry out the attack.
Williams, of the 6100 block of South Justine Street, who also goes by names including Ternell Williams, is on parole in a 2011 case in which he was found guilty of receiving or possession a stolen vehicle. In the past, he has served prison time for burglary, robbery, theft, drug possession and earlier stolen vehicle cases, according to Illinois Department of Corrections and court records.
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Twitter @GenevieveBookA Gadget Too Far
a feature by David Langford Author's note First published in New Worlds 2, 1992. I later based an sf convention speech on parts of this critical article, and it's the speech rather than this more sober original that appears in my mostly nonfictional collection The Silence of the Langford (NESFA Press, 1996). A slight cut made for New Worlds has been restored, and a couple of clarifying phrases added. T he general public regards sf as a wonderland of amazing gadgets and special effects in titanic collision -- where, by implication, all problems and conflicts are artificial because the author (or the movie producer) can always dispose of a superscientific threat by dreaming up a hyperscientific counter-attack. What a superficial and unfair view -- or is it? By and by we shall examine the technological clutter of some recent and popular books. Let me creep up furtively on the subject matter. There is an official myth about science which persists in spite of regular debunking (see Stephen Jay Gould or Sir Peter Medawar) -- the myth that all scientists dispassionately collect data, turn a cold eye on the resulting array of facts, and then for the very first time permit themselves to think. Induction takes place; a theory is born. The funny thing is that although creative scientists almost invariably work the other way around, beginning with a perhaps half-intuitive speculation and testing this by experiment, most of them solemnly pretend to follow this mythical pattern. The often-cited myth of sf has a similarly austere and unlikely flavour. Following the tradition of H.G.Wells, sf writers are or were supposed to permit themselves a single innovation, a solitary change in the world. 'Suppose... suppose that chemical fertilizers made people grow 36 feet tall. What then?' The rest of the story must follow with iron logic and implacable extrapolation. Like the science myth, this version of things tries for an appearance of intellectual rigour at the expense of such airy-fairy trimmings as, well, creativity.... Actually Wells himself found it necessary not so much to extrapolate as to avoid too much extrapolation. Think of Cavorite in The First Men in the Moon. This is a mere device for getting our heroes to the Moon by cutting off the tiresome pull of gravity -- but it does rather tend to overthrow a great deal of existing physics. As described in the book, a slab of Cavorite instantly infuses any object immediately above it with the full gravitic potential energy required to shift said object to infinity. Energy from nowhere! First-order perpetual motion machines! No wonder the luckless inventor Cavor had to be disposed of by ravening Selenites, along with his formula. (He was a rotten scientist anyway, remarking among other things that a small, bolted-down square of Cavorite could rapidly squirt away the Earth's entire atmosphere. The student is invited to estimate what percentage of our planet's mass would be gravitationally screened off from the viewpoint of an oxygen molecule two miles up. But I digress.) Gravity insulators, space warpers, time machines, matter transmitters, faster-than-light travel, even the humble instantaneous communicator: let any of them into the story and a great deal of extrapolation has to be rigorously avoided. Otherwise, cracks begin to radiate from the big hole you've just kicked in physics, and the entire structure wobbles tremulously. To save the day it may even be necessary to invoke a race of enigmatic aliens whose science does not know our puny human limitations. (L.Ron Hubbard's Psychlos went so far as to use a different periodic table, full of unfamiliar elements.) Thus the 'farcaster' or instantaneous matter transmitter of Dan Simmons's entertaining Hyperion (1989) and The Fall of Hyperion (1990) is the gift of exceedingly clever AIs who, by generously not telling humanity how it works, permit our own scientific knowledge to remain intact and self-consistent even if presumably wrong. In fact there's a great deal more in Simmons's two-part space opera -- or space grand opera, as one critic put it -- including some very good inset stories. Gadgetry proliferates; no Wellsian he. The cumulative developments don't half get cosmic... for example, the story's major, all-purpose plot device the Shrike appears to be an invincible killer machine with control over space and time, whose hobby is carrying people off to eternal torment on its Tree of Pain. This unfriendly practice is eventually explained as quite logical and practical, being the baiting of an empathic trap for the ultimate, autonomous principle of compassion, i.e. one aspect of God. (That is, of one God. Real space opera doesn't stop at just one.) Gasp, boggle. Unfortunately, having finally grasped that this is what the Shrike is up to, one does begin to wonder at its habit of buzzing helpfully about almost every subplot, smoothing transitions, precipitating climaxes and generally doing things unrelated to its supposed purpose. Surely some hidden guiding force must lie behind this behaviour, some ultimate Author? I wondered if Simmons might be getting a trifle carried away when after vast amounts of physical and metaphysical exposition he revealed that his other major gadget the 'fatline' (instantaneous radiophone of unlimited range) operated on the private wavelength of God. Eventually, displeased at being made a vehicle for military communications and obscene chatlines rather than prayer, God concludes the book by announcing the withdrawal of this facility until further notice. Which is all very mind-wrenching, although I noticed that His prose style has deteriorated badly since the King James Bible; one can only be grateful that He didn't cancel other misused privileges like electromagnetism or the strong nuclear force. T his way lies pure fantasy, or perhaps not so pure when we recall Arthur C.Clarke's Third Law: 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device.' Does it make that much difference whether Jack Chalker, as is his wont, transforms unfortunate female characters in grotesque and humiliating ways by scientifically rewriting the reality equations (his 'Well World' series) or magically pronouncing spells (his 'Soul Rider' series)? Either way, it appears to sell depressingly well. The best fantasy avoids the looseness of 'anything goes' plotting by invoking rigid magical and/or moral laws. Alas, the erstwhile sf master Roger Zelazny seems to have wandered a long way off these narrow paths of restraint. His second series of 'Amber' novels (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 et seq) must set some kind of record for the sheer quantity of magic gadgetry which the hero carts around an ever more convoluted multiverse, with no end in sight. As an Awful Warning, I feel that I should summarize the story so far -- noting also that all these fantasy props and gimmicks could be all too effortlessly translated into sf. Merle or Merlin (no relation) is the son of Corwin, whose adventures filled five earlier books of seething complexity, labyrinthine family trees and an increasing dead weight of flashbacks and explanation. Merlin is a Lord of Amber (the good guys). He has walked the maze-like Pattern of Amber, gaining various powers such as pedestrian travel between worlds. (When you can't find the basic and practically unique Pattern to hand, there's always the subaquatic anti-Pattern, the alternate Pattern in the sky, and a whole slew of more real, less real, metaphorical or broken Patterns.) Owing to mixed parentage he is also a Lord of Chaos (formerly and perhaps still the bad guys). This provides innate gifts of shapeshifting and other handy magic: 'My Concerto for Cuisinart and Microwave spell would have minced him and parboiled him in an instant'. Some of these interesting attributes we don't learn about until the second book, where a nasty Lurker at the Threshold explains rather too smugly that none but a shapeshifting Lord of Chaos can pass this particular dread portal, and shortly afterwards adds: 'Shit.' As well as the Pattern, Merlin has mastered its Chaos equivalent the Logrus, conferring added powers of tactical nuclear weaponry, remote handling and magical apportation (useful and indeed much used for summoning beer and pizza). He also possesses Amber's inevitable pack of Trumps (occult teleportation and cellphone service). Plus a sentient, self-propelled and chatty strangling wire, and some arcane blue stones whose properties escape my memory. Furthermore he has constructed Ghostwheel, a vast, innovative, magic-powered computer complex (I kid you not) which is semi-omnipotent in his service whenever it happens not to be sulking. I gave up at the end of the fourth volume -- which strangely fails to be called Forever Amber -- when, obviously feeling the lad Merlin to be lacking in worldly resources, Zelazny issues him with an enchanted ring controlling immense new powers and offensive weaponry. Just what he needed! I forgot to mention the Jewel of Judgement, or the Corridor of Mirrors, or the add-on pack of nonstandard Trumps, or the extremely special swords Grayswandir and Werewindle, or... one could go on and on, and Zelazny does. It seems rather difficult to provide this guy Merlin with any credible opposition, especially since he also has many sorcerous pals, sisters, cousins and aunts of awesome talent to help him out of tight spots. Even though the writing is inoffensive and even amusing, enlivened by the odd wisecrack, one's lack of interest in Merlin's perils is relentlessly fanned into a blaze of apathy by this wretched plethora of plot devices. The reader is warned. B ack in the real world, the strict Wellsian rule is not altogether viable. Writers plotting their way more than a few years into the future can no longer assume that a realistic background will remain technologically (let alone politically) stable in everything except their one 'permitted' addition, the amazing Doubletalk Ray or whatever. Information technology and genetic engineering are not going to stand still, and neither, unfortunately, will global resources. In David Brin's Earth (1990), for example, there are whole thickets of perfectly legitimate extrapolative material which we can take on board as a mere part of concensus future number 12, subtype IV: eco-doom, UV hazards, extinctions, pollution overload, data-net hacking, clunky writing, and the like. Along with this come the unexpected developments which are so much to be expected (if only as happy confirmation that those bland,'surprise-free' scenarios beloved of futurologists are particularly unlikely to come true) -- strange quirks like a bloody war fought in the name of Freedom of Information against Switzerland's too-secretive bankers. I wonder which side the British government was on? Against this quite reasonably teeming background, our author duly slips in the one real Wellsian innovation, which would appear to be a glibly plausible extension of gravitational physics as we know it. Microscopic black holes, rather than suffering the quantum-thermodynamic decay predicted by dear old Stephen Hawking, can here be 'knotted' into a kind of stability and thus last long enough to threaten the Earth by nibbling at its core. On top of this is piled a (to say the least) highly unlikely theory of gravity lasers, whereby the hungry singularities can be manipulated by surface-mounted detectors or probes, with all manner of weird anti-gravitic side effects -- such as portions of the landscape bounding into orbit with an accompaniment of visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic. This particular plot-line devolves into a sort of global ping-pong game as the good guys try to nudge the unpleasantness out into space while others, many of them anonymous, prefer to keep it in there for their own nefarious purposes. All right. The story is indeed good clean fun, exciting to read. But meanwhile, in another part of the hypertext, a more familiar computer-net war is being fought. Here the climactic action comes when a revered ecological prophetess and Nobel laureate, hard pressed by both viral assault programs and gravitic mayhem, manages with her dying keypunches to download her entire personality (a thing never apparently done before) into... well, I have neglected to mention that those orbiting singularities within the Earth had been leaving funny tracks behind them in the planetary mantle. From the book's description it's hard to believe that these could have anything like the connective complexity of an ordinary, dumb, personal computer, but nevertheless our lady of the Green (and/or just possibly the whole of the world data net) is electronically translated into them, becomes the formerly hypothetical Gaia, and assumes control over gravitational physics -- being able by unexplained means to exercise veto power over whether or not the gravity-laser effect works. This includes using it to literally rip to shreds 'a few hundred' persons judged as Evil (no trial; no hope of
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way but dig command provides more advanced options.
Diagnose Network Latency Using traceroute Command
The traceroute command is one of the most useful Linux network commands. It is used to show the pathway to your target and where the delay comes from. This command helps basically in:
Providing the names and the identity of every device on the path.
Reporting network latency and identify at which device the latency comes from.
$ traceroute google.com
The output will provide the specified host, the size of the packet that will be used, the IP address, and the maximum number of hops required. You can see the hostname, IP address, the hop number, and packet travel times.
To avoid reverse DNS lookup, use the -n option.
$ traceroute -n google.com
By using traceroute command, you can identify network bottlenecks. The asterisks shown here means there is a potential problem in routing to that host, as the asterisks indicate packet loss or dropped packets.
The traceroute command sends a UDP packet, traceroute can send UDP, TCP, and ICMP.
If you need to send ICMP packet, you can send it like this:
$ sudo traceroute -I google.com
To use a TCP variation, it can be used like this:
$ sudo traceroute -T google.com
This is because some servers block UDP requests, so you can use this method.
In this case, you can send UDP, ICMP, or TCP to bypass these issues.
mtr Command (Realtime Tracing)
This command is an alternative to traceroute command.
$ mtr google.com
The best thing about mtr command is that it displays real-time data unlike traceroute.
Furthermore, you can use the mtr command with –report option, this command sends 10 packets to each hop found on its way like this:
$ mtr --report google.com
This command gives a huge amount of details better than traceroute.
If this command doesn’t run using a normal user account, you should use root, since some distros adjust the permission of this binary for root users only.
Checking Connection Performance Using ss Command
The socket statistics command ss is a replacement for netstat, it’s faster than netstat and gives more information.
The ss command gets its information directly from the kernel instead of relying on /proc directory like netstat command.
$ ss | less
This command outputs all TCP, UDP, and UNIX socket connections and pipes the result to the less command for better display.
You can combine this command with either the -t to show TCP sockets or -u to show UDP or -x to show UNIX sockets. And you should use -a option combined with any of these options to show the connected and listening sockets.
$ ss -ta
To list all established TCP sockets for IPV4, use the following command:
$ ss -t4 state established
To list all closed TCP states:
$ ss -t4 state closed
You can use the ss command to show all connected ports from a specific IP:
$ ss dst XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
And you can filter by a specific port like this:
$ ss dst XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:22
Install and Use iftop Command For Traffic Monitoring
iftop utility or iftop command is used to monitor the traffic and display real-time results.
You can download the tool like this:
$ wget http://www.ex-parrot.com/pdw/iftop/download/iftop-0.17.tar.gz
Then extract it:
$ tar zxvf iftop-0.17.tar.gz
Then compile it:
$ cd iftop-0.17 $./configure $ make $ make install 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 $ cd iftop - 0.17 $. / configure $ make $ make install
If you got any errors about libpcap, you can install it like this:
$ yum install libpcap-dev
And you can run the tool as a root user like this:
$ sudo iftop -I <interface>
And you will see this table with real-time data about your traffic.
add –P option with iftop to show ports.
$ sudo iftop -P
You can use the -B option to display the output in bytes instead of bits which is shown by default.
$ iftop -B
There a lot of options, you can check them man iftop.
arp Command
Systems keep a table of IP addresses and their corresponding MAC addresses, this table is called ARP lookup table. If you try to connect to an IP address, your router will check for your MAC address. If it’s cached, ARP table is not used.
To view the arp table, use the arp command:
$ arp
By default, arp command shows the hostnames, you can show IP addresses instead like this:
$ arp -n
You can delete entries from the arp table like this:
$ arp -d HWADDR
Packet Analysis with tcpdump
One of the most important Linux network commands is The tcpdump command. tcpdump command is used to capture the traffic that is passing through your network interface.
This kind of access to the packets which is the deepest level of the network can be vital when troubleshooting the network.
$ tcpdump -i <network_device>
You can also specify a protocol (TCP, UDP, ICMP and others) like this:
$ tcpdump -i <network_device> tcp
Also, you can specify the port:
$ tcpdump -i <network_device> port 80
tcpdump will keep running until the request is canceled; it is better to use the -c option in order to capture a pre-determined number of events like this:
$ tcpdump -c 20 -i <network_device>
You can also specify the IP to capture from using src option or going to using dst option.
$ tcpdump -c 20 -i <network_device> src XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
You can obtain the device names like this:
$ ifconfig
You can save the traffic captured from tcpdump to a file and read it later with -w option.
$ tcpdump -w /path/ -i <network_device>
And to read that file:
$ tcpdump -r /path
I hope that Linux network commands we’ve discussed in this post could help you troubleshoot some of your network problems and take the right decision.
Thank you.First came a ban on plastic bags, now there's a ban on disposable dishes and cutlery: How France is an impressive leader in the battle against plastic pollution.
France has taken a stance against disposable plastic products in a way that no other nation has been able to do. The country has made two key decisions in recent months that will undoubtedly transform the way French people think about trash and the long-term environmental footprint of their purchases.
First came a ban on all plastic shopping bags.
The Local reports: “The law also currently plans to authorize ‘domestically compostable bags made in full or in part from bio-sourced materials,’ which should replace plastic fruit and vegetable packaging in January 2017.”
Now, France has banned disposable plastic dishes and cutlery.
Rather than taking the soft route of charging a minimal amount (approx. 5 cents) per bag – which is what so many other places have done, but it ultimately fails to hurt the consumer sufficiently to make them change their practices – France has opted to ban plastic bags altogether.Right now the ban covers all bags “smaller than 10 liters and with a thickness less than 50 microns” – otherwise known as the “common plastic bag.” It includes biodegradable bags and plastic bags with handles, and will extend to the super-thin bags used for fruit and vegetables and to wrap meat by January 1, 2017.
Not stopping at the relatively easy issue of bags, France has tackled something even bigger with its most recent decision to ban all single-use plastic plates, cups, and cutlery. Partyers, picnickers, coffee drinkers, and those eating on the go will need to come up with reusable alternatives.
Manufacturers and retailers have until 2020 to ensure that any disposable products they sell are made of biologically sourced materials and can be composted in a domestic composter. That last point is key, as many bio-based plastics will only break down in municipal composts, where the temperature gets higher than in home composters. (Biodegradable plastics have their fair share of problems, too, as outlined in this TreeHugger article by Melissa Breyer.)
Not surprisingly, the decision has been met with great resistance, particularly from the packaging industry that calls it an infringement on European free trade laws, and even France’s environment minister, Segolène Royal, who described it initially as “anti-social.”
Increasing numbers of people realize what a serious issue plastic pollution is in our world, as evidenced by the rise in popularity of Zero Waste living and the Break Free From Plastic campaign. We must wean ourselves off single-use plastics, no matter how convenient and cheap they are, and France’s official decisions will make it easier, in a way, for French people and visitors to take that leap. The world will be watching with curiosity to see how the transition goes, what sorts of alternatives are developed, and how people respond in general to this return to a more old-fashioned, yet environmentally advanced, way of living.
Way to go, France, for being daring enough to ban single-use plastics and for leading the fight against climate change by example.Mets infield prospectcould see time at shortstop during Spring Training, according to Sandy Alderson ( DiComo, Jan. 30 ).
Flores was among a group of seven Mets who participated in an offseason strength, conditioning and nutrition program in Michigan this winter.
"Before this offseason, I’m not sure he ever had any sort of structured, regimented conditioning program," Alderson said. "The work that they have done on speed and agility and quickness, etc., may have an impact on his ability to play certain positions."
Flores played shortstop in 2011 with Single-A St. Lucie, but later moved to third and second base.
To make the Mets, he's going to have to win a spot as a backup infielder capable of playing all four infield positions and I'm not sure he's capable of that. To Alderson's point, though, I'm basing that on what we've seen of him prior to this winter. I mean, who knows, maybe he's literally in the best shape of his life and then some? Maybe he's now got reflexes like Spiderman? We'll see...
In the end, I still think Flores will end up getting the bulk of his at bats at first and second base with Triple-A Las Vegas.Attention, people, this is important: The battle over whether it’s true that the Republican plan would “end Medicare” is about to play out in a critical way in New Hampshire.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which oversees House races for the GOP, has written a sharply-worded letter demanding that a New Hampshire TV station yank an ad making that claim. Whether the ad gets taken down could help set a precedent for whether other stations will air Dem TV ads making this argument, which is expected to be a central message for Dems in the 2012 elections.
The NRCC letter was provided to me by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is airing the ad on WMUR against GOP Rep. Charlie Bass. The letter — which calls on Comcast Boston to take down the ad and is unusually detailed and emphatic — reflects how badly Republicans want a halt to these Dem attacks. Here’s the letter’s core argument:
The Budget Resolution as approved by the U.S. House of Representatives does NOT end Medicare. In fact, the Budget Resolution makes no changes at all to Medicare for current or near retirees, as none of the Medicare-related provisions in the Budget Resolution would even take effect until 2022. This fact makes the Advertisement especially misleading, as the woman featured in the Advertisement is a current Medicare beneficiary, and would not have her Medicare benefits ended, or even changed in any way, under the Budget Resolution... Additionally, the Budget Resolution ensures that Americans aged 54 and younger will still have Medicare when they retire by implementing a new, sustainable model of Medicare. This new version of Medicare would actually REQUIRE insurance companies to GUARANTEE coverage for seniors.
The letter argues that the claim that Republicans would “end Medicare” is “blatantly and wholly false, and has been deliberately crafted to mislead and frighten voters.” It also cites a recent Politifact analysis that pronounced the assertion “highly misleading.”
But there are plenty of people making the opposite case: That the GOP plan does, in fact, end Medicare. The argument is that the GOP plan would do away with the current, single payer, government-run system that guarantees payment for your major health care costs as you move into retirement. The GOP proposal would replace this with a system in which government gives premium support — that could over time fall short of health care costs — to seniors to purchase their own private plans. In other words, the new plan does away with the program we now call “Medicare” and replaces it with a different program — and hence “ends” it.
“The plan would replace our current system, in which the government pays major health costs, with a voucher system, in which seniors would, in effect, be handed a coupon and told to go find private coverage,” Paul Krugman wrote recently. Similar cases have been made by Steve Benen, Josh Marshall, and Atrios, among others.
“There’s nothing even slightly misleading about calling this an effort to end Medicare,” Matthew Yglesias wrote recently, adding that it’s “important for all progressives on the Internet to draw a line in the sand under this one.”
The GOP demand that Comcast Boston yank may give progressives a chance to draw that line — but if the ad does get pulled it could become tougher for Dems to amplify the claim going forward. This is an important test case, and it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
UPDATE: Here’s video of the PCCC/ Democracy for America ad:
UPDATE II: Post edited slightly from original.
UPDATE III: Comcast has rebuffed the GOP demand and will continue running the ad. Still waiting on WMUR.No, the Stanley Cup Playoffs weren’t cancelled this year. They are ongoing, and the first round series between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs has been one of the more entertaining ones so far, what with the Caps barely hanging on after another President’s Trophy season and all.
During Game 4 on Wednesday night in Toronto, fans who couldn’t grab tickets gathered in their blue and white in Maple Leaf Square, just outside of Air Canada Centre. Three Capitals fans took the spotlight, though:
These three Washington Capitals fans at Maple Leaf Square are the bravest people in this city right now pic.twitter.com/1mAFlVZN0G — Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) April 20, 2017
But, a twist. As it turns out... one of these “brave Caps fans” is actually a fan of your Philadelphia Flyers. He lives in Toronto, and as a good Flyers fan, his gravitational pull was to troll his entire city.
The Washington Post has the story:
It’s unclear whether the kind Canadians in the crowd would’ve mustered so much as a curse word had they known [Suleimon] Raji is actually a Flyers fan who just happens to despise the Leafs, despite living in Toronto all his life. He said he bought the Ovechkin T-shirt at the SportChek in Maple Leaf Square a couple of weeks ago, when it was clear Philadelphia wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs. “I’m not a real Caps fan,” he admitted Thursday. “I’m a Flyers fan, but for the playoffs, I needed a team to support to watch playoff hockey, so I said, ‘Hey, let’s jump on the Washington bandwagon,’ because I know a lot about the Capitals, so that’s how I made my decision.” Raji also said he wouldn’t think of pulling a similar stunt in another city. “I live in Toronto, so I know how the people are,” he said. “I could not do this in Pittsburgh, Philly or New York. No way. Or Montreal.”
We can all debate the merits of a Flyers fan choosing the division rival Capitals as his playoff bandwagon, but... well, I don’t know. Ovi’s mostly fine when he’s not playing against the Flyers. I’m cool with this.
Also, he basically just celebrated a Flyers fan without even realizing it, which is pretty gold:Turn Your OnePlus Phone’s Front Earpiece into a Speaker (OxygenOS)
These days, smartphone OEMs are getting a lot of things right. Displays are becoming crispier and brighter, processors are faster than ever, RAM counts are getting higher, and batteries are lasting longer even if they don’t get much larger. However, one component that consistently gets placed on the back-burner is the external speaker.
If you’ve got a OnePlus smartphone running OxygenOS and want to relive the glory days of the HTC One M7 (well, in a bootleg way), a new mod from XDA Senior Member ram4ufriends and (originally from) Junior Member magura320 allows you to enable the front-facing earpiece on your device so you can use it in conjunction with the primary external speaker for a stereo audio setup.
While this method still doesn’t work as well as a proper out-of-the-box solution wtih a speaker designed to blast tunes throughout its lifespan, it’s a fairly simple mod to add to your OnePlus handset and you might enjoy the result. Audio certainly won’t be too crisp or too loud, but it’s easy to check out and decide. Ram4ufriends says that they’ve tested the mod on OxygenOS 4.5.5 on both the OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 5. The mod should work on other versions of OxygenOS as well, and users on the XDA Forums that have already tried out the mod have reported positive results.Share this...
It’s increasingly obvious that warnings of a “rapidly warming planet” are coming from another alien world, one where the climate is completely different from the one we have here on Earth.
Recently we have been seeing headlines telling us that the GLOBAL WARMING STOP has been extended yet another month, now at 17 years and 9 months, read here and here.
17 years and 9 months take us all the way back to the end of 1996, i.e. before the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. That means there hasn’t been any warming since activists and bureaucrats declared it a problem that needs to fought.
The question remains: How much longer will the period of zero-warming need to continue before scientists, activists and bureaucrats come to their senses and wake up to reality of our non-warming world?
Topic for the Geritol generation
Lord Monckton even writes at WUWT (my emphasis):
On the RSS satellite data, there has been no statistically-significant global warming for more than 26 years. None of the models predicted that, in effect, there would be no global warming for a quarter of a century.”
That means no children or young adults know what real warming is. Soon global warming will be something that only old folks will be discussing while consuming Geritol at the retirement home. By then the younger generations will only think that old folks believing in warming have all gone senile and have lost it. many of us are beginning to believe this today.
Earth to Warmworld. Earth to Warmworld…do you read me? Come in, please. Is anyone out there?Two separate national surveys gauging youth and adult participation in the arts reported yesterday that visits to art museums are declining.
A study of nearly 4,000 eighth-grade students, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, found dwindling field trips over the past decade. "The percentage of eighth-graders who reported that they visited an art museum or gallery with their classes dropped from 22 percent in 1997 to 16 percent in 2008," said Stuart Kerachsky, the acting commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the assessment.
The National Endowment for the Arts also released new data yesterday showing that fewer adults were choosing an art museum or a visual arts festival as a leisure-time destination. From 1992 to 2001, 26 percent of adults reported that they visited such attractions, but the number for 2008 dropped to 23 percent. The decrease is small, but it may portend coming declines as the most loyal part of the museum audience ages. The exception, the NEA said, was in the D.C. metropolitan area, where 40 percent of adults said they had visited a museum in 2008 -- reflecting tourism and free admission at most major museums.
In addition, the agency noted sizable declines between 1982 (when it first started documenting arts participation) and 2008 in almost every performing arts field. It reported double-digit rates of decline for classical music, jazz, opera, musical theater, ballet and dramatic plays.
The NEA survey "shows that audiences for the arts are changing," said Patrice Walker Powell, the acting NEA chairman. "While many now participate in arts activities available through electronic media, the number of American adults who are participating in live performing and visual arts events is declining. The findings underscore the need for more arts education to foster the next generation of both artists and arts enthusiasts."
The National Assessment of Educational Progress report is part of a periodic federal look at how America's students fare in various subjects. Arts education was last measured in 1997, but because of budget constraints, the survey was limited this time to music and visual arts. The schools and students were selected at random, said a spokeswoman, and the questions took various forms.
Some results were promising. Students were asked to identify the instrument in the opening solo of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." Fifty percent correctly identified the clarinet.
Other results indicated that students need improvement in basic skills. In NAEP's visual arts component, students were asked to do a self-portrait. Only 4 percent received the highest mark of "sufficient," while 57 percent received a "minimal" rating, the third-best ranking.
General accessibility to arts instruction remained constant, the NAEP report said. Music instruction was offered at least three or four times a week in 57 percent of the schools and visual arts instruction in 47 percent.
Yet there were several gaps in student scores. Whites and Asian/Pacific Islanders scored 22 to 32 points higher than black or Hispanic students. On music questions, public school eighth-graders scored 14 points lower than private school students and nine points lower than their private school counterparts in the visual arts sections.
The recession's impact on school arts programs has not been statistically evaluated, but anecdotal indicators are not encouraging.
"School budget cuts are underway, with more projected next year," said Eileen Weiser, a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, speaking of the economic climate in Michigan. David W. Gordon, the superintendent of the Sacramento County Office of Education, said California is cutting back on school buses, which would further jeopardize school trips.Por: gherrera
11/12/2017 | 17:19:37
La LIGA Bancomer MX ya conoce a su nuevo campeón; Los Tigres de la UANL ofrecieron un gran torneo y se coronaron en la Gran Final ante Rayados de Monterrey. Sin embargo, los grandes momentos de la competencia no hubieran sido posible sin el actor principal: La Afición.
A lo largo del Apertura 2017 los estadios contaron con la participación de los aficionados, que en fase regular registraron una asistencia de 3,599,447 personas. Posteriormente, las Fases Finales contaron con la visita de 498,956 aficionados, mismos que presenciaron la parte más emocionante de nuestro futbol.
De los números anteriores, El Clásico Regio de la Gran Final fue una fiesta con un total de 93,669 aficionados que vieron coronarse a los Tigres de la UANL.
Los números anteriores arrojan un total de 4,098,404 aficionados a lo largo de todo el Apertura 2017. Es así que cerramos un torneo más de la LIGA Bancomer MX con la participación de la afición y de la Familia del Futbol Mexicano.
Dirección de ComunicaciónThe first test of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) designed for the upcoming Barguzin railway based-military system was successfully carried out.
"The first launch trials were carried out at the Plesetsk cosmodrome two weeks ago," an industry source told the Interfax news agency. "They were fully successful, paving the way for further flight tests."
According to the source, more flight tests will probably be carried out in 2017. Earlier it had been reported that the first tests of the Barguzin system would take place in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, told reporters that the new railway-based missile system would be ready for deployment in early 2017.
Previously, the Soviet Union operated railway-based missile launchers in addition to its silo and road-based missile systems. The Soviets had 12 nuclear trains in total, each equipped with three missiles carrying ten nuclear warheads apiece. These systems were disposed of between 2003 and 2005. One reason for the retirement of the previous system was that the developer of the SS-24 "Scalpel" missiles was located in Ukraine.Story highlights Camps appear dismantled, but about 50 to 60 migrants remain at one
Police are trying to shift migrants from makeshift camps near Calais
The migrants don't want to leave, won't take steps to tackle a scabies outbreak, authorities say
Calais is a magnet for migrants seeking to reach Britain or claim asylum in France
Police in northern France moved in Wednesday on makeshift migrant camps near the port of Calais, prompting a standoff with the defiant residents -- many of whom have fled conflicts in Syria, Sudan and Eritrea.
By late afternoon, a CNN producer observed that the migrants' tents had all been destroyed. One activist told CNN police were responsible. About a dozen police officers remained, along with 50 to 60 migrants who didn't know where to go.
A local prefect reportedly told the migrants they can stay at the camp until Thursday. But Thursday is Ascension Day, a public holiday, so it's not clear if the migrants will be cleared out before Friday.
Hundreds of migrants had gathered in the ramshackle camps, some seeking to claim asylum in France and others hoping to find a way to reach British soil.
Mattheu Adt of international humanitarian organization Medecins du Monde, told CNN from one of the camps that police had asked the migrants to move to an undisclosed location, but that the migrants were refusing. Authorities also asked the migrants to shower and decontaminate their clothes, amid concern over an outbreak of the contagious skin condition, scabies, he said.
Migrants refused to do that, Adt said, because of concerns their tattered tents would be gone when they returned.
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"They fear they will be arrested at the showers," said Cécile Bossy, an activist with Medecins du Monde.
She said migrants were given scabies medication Tuesday night but didn't understand what it was for.
Adt said the makeshift camp where he is located housed about 600 people, roughly half of them Syrian, and between 200 and 300 Eritrean and Sudanese.
A spokesman for the charity Secours Catholique in Calais confirmed that police had arrived at about 6:30 a.m. local time at a camp and asked the migrants there to board buses to go to "decontamination" areas.
Many of the migrants refused, he said.
Earlier, police destroyed another camp -- which housed about 300 people -- with bulldozers, he said. The migrants have been involved in discussions with authorities but don't know where to go, he said.
Official: Dismantling under way
An official in Calais told CNN that authorities planned to dismantle the migrants' makeshift camps by the end of Thursday.
Roughly 550 migrants lived in those camps, said Georges Bos, the associate chief of staff of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture -- the local branch of the French government.
"By tonight there will be no possibility left to go to these camps," he said.
Bos said authorities had offered to take the migrants by bus to places where they could shower, adding that dismantling the camps was necessary to prevent further spread of scabies.
He said that the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region had told migrants their immigration status would not be checked and that no arrests would be made.
It's not the first time French authorities have sought to move on the migrants who congregate in the area around Calais, many hoping to smuggle themselves into Britain inside freight trucks going across the English Channel. A camp in Sangatte was dismantled in 2002 and another known as the Jungle was broken up in 2009.
But after each clearance effort, new makeshift camps spring up.
'Deafening silence'
Medecins du Monde is one of a number of humanitarian and rights groups that signed an open letter to French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday voicing concern over the plight of the migrants.
"The situation in Calais is worsening in a deafening silence," it said. "About 700 foreigners, for the most part of Syrian, Afghan and Eritrean origin, fleeing conflicts, violence and persecution, are installed in the town."
About 550 of those migrants are living in makeshift camps, the letter said, having claimed asylum in France or waiting to attempt the crossing to Britain. "They live in catastrophic sanitary conditions which have encouraged the development of a scabies epidemic."
The groups were "stunned" last week to learn that authorities planned to clear the camps and tackle the scabies outbreak on Wednesday, the letter said -- without coming up with any alternative place of shelter for the large majority of people concerned.
"We can anticipate the effects of this expulsion... inappropriate medical care, people wandering on the streets of Calais, daily police checks, violence, despair and the taking of growing risks to attempt a passage to the United Kingdom, which, since the start of the year, have already caused the deaths of several exiles," it said.
The groups urge the French government to come up with a plan to tackle the sanitary situation in the camps while living up to its responsibility to protect the migrants on its soil.
The letter was also sent to the French interior minister and the minister for health and social affairs.MRI brain scans reveal the way we perceive, or simply ignore, security warnings.
Companies spend nearly $100 billion on securing computers each year, yet incidents such as ransomware crippling hospitals and personal data leaking online remain common. Anthony Vance thinks that defensive measures could be more effective if we paid more attention to the hardware between our ears.
“Security professionals need to worry not only about attackers but the neurobiology of their users,” said Vance, an associate professor at Brigham Young University, this week at the Enigma security conference in Oakland, California. His lab uses functional MRI scans of people’s brains to reveal the unconscious mechanisms behind the way they perceive—or ignore—security warnings.
One of Vance’s studies led him to collaborate with Google on tests of a new approach to displaying security warnings in the Chrome Web browser that people were less likely to dismiss offhand. Vance says Google's engineers told him they plan to add the feature to an upcoming version of Chrome. Google did not respond to a request for confirmation of when it would be added.
Daniela Olivera, an associate professor at the University of Florida, says such research can help suggest ways to refine the usability of security tools and features—an area many researchers say the industry has tended to overlook. Incidents ranging from common malware infections to high-profile breaches like the DNC one that exposed John Podesta’s e-mails often involve a person making a hasty decision about a warning message or strange e-mail.
Multitasking is partly to blame. Vance’s collaboration with Google grew out of experiments that showed when people reacted to security warnings while also performing another task, brain activity in areas associated with fully engaging with a warning was significantly reduced. People were three times less likely to correctly interpret a message when they reacted to security warnings while also performing another task.
Vance’s lab teamed up with Google to test a version of Chrome modified to deliver warnings about a person’s computer possibly being infected by malware or adware only when they weren’t deeply engaged in something. For example, it would wait until someone finished watching a video, or was waiting for a file to download or upload, to pop up the message.
Brain scans reveal that we’re far more likely to ignore security warnings when we’re engaged in another task.
Testing showed that people using the interruption-sensitive version of Chrome ignored the message only about a third of the time, compared to about 80 percent of the time without it.
Other studies in Vance’s lab have shown that people very rapidly become habituated to security warnings—he’s shown how the brain’s response to a message drops significantly even on just the second time someone sees it.
The researchers also did follow-up experiments in which people were asked to download mobile apps that asked for alarming permissions (for example, “Can delete your photos”). By breaking the usual rules of software design and having the security-related messages change in appearance slightly each time—for example, with different colors—it was possible to reduce the habituation effect.
“This shows the potential to use neuroscience to understand people’s behavior and validate new user interface designs,” said Vance. “Our security UI should be designed to be compatible with the way our brains work.”Greatest Inaugural Address In U.S. History
Trump Told The Truth
Like No President Before Him
“Trump Issues Earth-Shattering Ultimatum!
Elites Don’t Know What To Do! War Of The
Titans Looms Large!”
— BIN Headline
State of the Nation
President Donald J. Trump’s inaugural speech today was like no other in the history of the American Republic.
Truly, President Trump gave an oration the likes of which has never been heard in the nation’s capital or any other capital.
His sincere and stirring speech no doubt was uttered from the depths of his soul, his heart and his entire being.
Rarely are the elites ever forced to listen to such a scathing indictment of their negligent lack of leadership and implicit criminality.
Slash & Burn
Trump “slashed and burned” all of the the main facilitators of whole bloody system, on boh sides of the aisle.
It’s not very often that the entire political establishment is forced to sit and listen to their horrible performance report while the world community of nations watched and listened.
Not only did the political elites receive the worst report card in history, but they had to grin and bear it (and squirm a LOT), again, IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
Obama and Biden, Pelosi and Schumer, Clinton and Clinton, were all there listening to what was essentially the greatest scolding of their lifetimes. Trump thrashed them with his words of truth as he trashed their empty promises and politics of betrayal.
Let is be known that Donald Trump began his term as the 45th president of the United States of America in the best possible way. He brought his wrecking ball to Inauguration Day and let it swing like a dousing rod, banging every corrupt person in power and flawed institutional policy.
Washington, D.C. has never witnessed such a public flogging. It was, at once, searing in its naked truth, dramatic in its potent delivery and determined to hit its every mark. The Donald pulled out every trump card in his deck and showed that he clearly has the winning hand.
Jesus Christ and the moneychangers
Reminiscent of Christ chasing the moneychangers out of the temple in Jerusalem, Donald Trump essentially told the criminal politicians to get out… to get our of our house. And, that if they do not get out of their own volition, they will be summarily chased out… and it ain’t gonna be pretty.
Even the stately buildings of Washington, D.C. set the backdrop similar to the imposing Second Temple of Jerusalem. Trump seemingly alone in his crusade, but really supported by millions of Trumpsters around the country, entered their politically hallowed ground and tore up the turf with one short but very powerful tirade of truth.
It’s been said that President Trump wrote the inaugural speech himself pouring his populist message into every word and punctuation. Not only was it peppered with religious language and sentiment, it was uttered as if from the mouth of The Almighty.
It’s clear that Trump would never have delivered such an incisive message unless he felt he had the backing of a Higher Power much greater than himself, and certainly greater than his many formidable opponents.
Clearly Trump is cognizant that he is going head on against the entire U.S. political and corporate establishment, as he is also threatening the status quo of the global power structure. In this very special mission he will require nothing short of the aid and support of the Supreme Being.
Trump: Part Fire Monkey, Part Silverback Gorilla
Where do we go from here?
The bookies are already taking bets for the greatest fight of the millennium. Actually, there’s never been a war quite like this one. Trump’s address today made it clear that there will be NO compromise. He’s not looking to meet anyone in the middle.
Already the talking heads have gone apoplectic about how the speech did nothing to bring the nation together. Trump knows that the divisions sewn by Obama’s 2 catastrophic terms cannot ever be bridged. He knows in his heart that the Obamanation needs to be knocked down with his wrecking ball. And so he will.
In the execution of this sacred mission, Trump has called upon his alpha male qualities and type A personality characteristics. He already walks the stage of Washington like the silverback gorilla no one wants to, or knows how to, fight.
Of course, the same Trump previously assumed the profile of the Red Fire Monkey burning down everything in sight during the campaign season and post-election transition. In this way he took full advantage of the current Year of the Fire Monkey which officially ends on January 27, 2017.
Intuitively Trump knows that it all comes down to timing. If he’s in the right place at the right time performing righteous actions for We the People, he knows that nothing can stop him. As long as he stays true to his core mission above all else, nothing can harm him.
He made crystal clear what his core mission is: to give the U.S. Federal Government back to the American people. And to take it from those who have stolen it. In this specific regard, there is only room for one silverback in the jungle of Beltway politics.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Special Note:
The
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Rich St. John tells KULR-8. According to police, the suspect fired shots in the store and at officers. Chief St. John says he was shooting multiple rounds of different caliber weapons.
St. John says at one point, they believed the man was coming out the store, but he retreated back inside. Police say he then pointed a rifle at officers.
UPDATE: Law enforcement has entered the building. Police tell us a press conference will be happening within the next 30 minutes.
UPDATE: Police say the suspect is contained. They say they hope to have the situation resolved peacefully soon.
Our reporter on the scene says police have sent a robot inside the store. We'll have the latest information as we receive it.
UPDATE: According to Capt. Iffland, additional shots have been fired. Our crew on scene is reporting about 10 shots have been fired. It is unknown whether the shots came from the suspect or police.
Police say they believe they know who the suspect is, but have not confirmed. Police say the suspect has access to ammunition, but they don't know if he's using it.
UPDATE: Police are currently negotiating with the shooting suspect at Big Bear. Police say there are no hostages inside the building.
An active shooter situation is underway at Big Bear Sports Center in Billings.
Captain Kevin Iffland with the Billings Police Department tells us a person used a vehicle to break into the front doors of Big Bear.
Capt. Iffland says that person has fired shots toward officers out of the building. Officers are attempting to negotiate with that individual, but have had minimal contact from them.
Capt. Iffland confirms they did use a flashbang to help contain the situation.
He says right now they do not have a visual on the suspect. At this time police does not know of anyone else in the building.
They are trying to minimize as many shots coming out of the building as possible by parking their B.E.A.R. vehicle and other large vehicles in front of the doors.
At this time, no one has been hurt and all officers are okay right now.
Surrounding stores in the area are confirmed to be closed by Capt. Iffland and store employees.
Police are asking everyone to stay away from the area.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates or continue to refresh the page.Summary
The Computing for Clean Water team has discovered how water can pass through tiny carbon nanotubes much more easily than previously predicted. This groundbreaking understanding of a fundamental physical process holds potential for improving access to clean water for millions through more efficient water filtration and desalination, as well as possible applications in clean energy and medicine. This discovery has been published in Nature Nanotechnology, the world's most prestigious nanotechnology journal.
Our team has discovered a phenomenon which forms an important step forward on the path to making clean water available to those who need it most. Clean water is fundamental to life, and yet nearly a billion people worldwide lack access to it. This isn't just a matter of convenience: over a million people die every year from diseases caused by unclean water. With population growth and climate change, the problem is expected to get worse. Existing water filter technologies are often expensive, and the people who need them most are least able to afford them. The Computing for Clean Water research that you powered can help change that status quo. These exciting findings were just published in Nature Nanotechnology, the world's most prestigious nanotechnology journal.
Fundamentally, our discovery is about how we can potentially use carbon nanotubes to make water filters that are more efficient and less expensive. Carbon nanotubes are made of single-atom-thick sheets of carbon atoms, called graphene, rolled up into tiny tubes, with diameters of just a few nanometers - one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. The size of the tubes allows water molecules to pass through, but blocks larger pathogens and contaminants, purifying the water. They are so small that the scientific community initially expected that water would move through them too slowly to be useful. However, earlier experiments showed that water sometimes passes through them much more easily than expected.
Representation of volunteers contributing to the study of water within carbon nanotubes
Increased flow could mean a more efficient filter, but due to lack of sufficient computing power, until now there had been a wide gap between what scientists could understand from computer simulations, and what they could actually measure in experiments. Our research efforts focused on bridging this gap. By running massive computer simulations on World Community Grid with your help, we discovered that certain kinds of natural vibrations called phonons, under specific conditions, can lead to a 300%+ increased rate of diffusion (a kind of flow) of water through carbon nanotubes, compared to previous theoretical predictions. Importantly, since these tiny vibrations occur naturally due to thermal (heat) energy inherently stored in all materials, no external energy source is required to take advantage of this phenomenon.
What does this discovery mean for future research? The immediate application is in using the new insights from our simulations to design more efficient water filters. If experiments confirm our predictions, such filters could help improve access to clean water for millions of people worldwide. Our predictions may also lead to a less expensive method for desalinating water (the process of obtaining fresh water from sea water).
Utilizing this nanoscale phenomenon, it may be possible to construct membranes and filters that can revolutionize many processes and industries that involve water or other fluids. For instance, this discovery may reveal insights on how chemicals and medicines are transported through tiny channels in the walls of living cells. With further research, it might also be possible to apply these findings to improve a process that creates clean energy when freshwater and saltwater are mixed, a process known as osmotic power.
These diverse possibilities are only imaginable because of your generosity: no other research group had ever had the necessary computing power to run sufficiently detailed simulations to be able to compare directly with the flow conditions in real filters. By partnering with World Community Grid and the 150,000 volunteers who participated in this project, we were able to simulate water flow at a level of detail never attempted before, which revealed a phenomenon that had not been detected in previous studies.
Members of the Computing for Clean Water team: Zhiping Xu, Ming Ma Quanshui Zheng and Francois Grey
This work was a result of a global collaboration between researchers from China, Switzerland, Israel, the United Kingdom and Australia. Thanks to your participation, we were able to accomplish in just a few years what would have taken 40,000 years of computing on a single computer. On behalf of the entire team, I want to say thank you to the 150,000 World Community Grid volunteers who helped us run this research. This breakthrough belongs to you as well.
Learn more and join World Community Grid to power the next scientific breakthrough:
深入挖掘纳米技术潜力，改善数百万人难以获取清洁水的现状
清水计算团队发现了使水以更简单的方式流过微型碳纳米管的新方法。这一突破性发现可用于开发更高效的水过滤和淡化技术，从而改善数百万人难以获取清洁水的现状。该发现还可用于清洁能源和医疗行业。全球最知名的纳米技术期刊《自然纳米技术》已经发表了这一研究成果。
我们团队的这一发现将推动清洁水技术的发展，从而使有迫切需求的人们获得清洁水。清洁水是生命的基础，目前全球有近 10 亿人无法获得清洁水。这不仅仅是便捷性问题：每年逾百万人死于由于水质问题引发的疾病。随着人口增长和气候变化，这一问题将愈发严重。现有的水过滤技术通常价格高昂，需要清洁水的人们大都无法承受。您所支持的清水计算研究有助于改变这一现状。全球最知名的纳米技术期刊《自然纳米技术》已经发表了这些激动人心的研究成果。
我们从根本上发现了如何将碳纳米管用于制造更高效、更低成本的滤水器。碳纳米管采用单层原子厚度的碳原子板制成，这种材料被称为石墨烯，经弯曲后形成细管状，直径仅为几纳米，相当于人的头发直径的万分之一。碳纳米管的大小足以使水分子通过，但会挡住较大的病原菌和污染物，使水得到净化。碳纳米管的直径极小，以至于科学界最初认为水通过碳纳米管的速度极慢，因此不具有实用性。但早期的实验表明，水通过碳纳米管的速度有时会大大超过预期。
水的流速加快意味着更高效的过滤，但由于缺少足够的计算能力，科学家通过计算机模拟的数据与在实验中取得的实际测量结果存在巨大差异。我们的研究工作重点是努力缩小这一差异。通过全球网格大同盟的巨大计算模拟能力，我们发现了一种称为“声子”的自然振动。在特定的条件下，这种振动能够使通过碳纳米管的水分扩散（一种水流）速度提高 300% 以上。重要的是，这些振动源于所有物体本身具有的热能，无需外部能量就能够自然发生。
这一发现对于未来研究有何意义？从模拟中获得的新发现可以立即用于设计更高效的滤水器。如果实验能够验证我们的预测，这种过滤器将可以帮助改善全球数百万人难以获取清洁水的现状。我们的预测还可能会降低海水淡化技术的成本。海水淡化技术是一种从海水中获得淡水的工艺。
我们可以利用这一纳米层面的发现制造出滤膜与过滤器，为水或其它液体相关工艺和工业带来变革。比如，这一发现可以揭示化学品和药品如何穿过活细胞壁上的小通道。通过进一步研究，这些发现还可用于改进海水盐差能工艺，即通过混合淡水与海水来生产清洁能源。
没有您的慷慨参与，这些无数可能性都将无从谈起：没有研究团队拥有如此巨大的计算能力，以运行如此精密的模拟计算，从而直接比较过滤器中的实际水流状态。通过与全球网格大同盟以及参与本项目的 15 万名志愿者合作，我们才能进行前所未有的详细水流状态模拟研究，从而揭示在此前的研究中从未被发现的现象。
这一发现是我们与中国、瑞士、以色列、英国和澳大利亚研究人员共同努力的结果。由于您的参与，我们才能够在短短几年时间里完成了一台计算机需要 40,000 年才能够完成的研究。我仅代表整个团队，感谢帮助我们开展此项研究的 15 万名全球网格大同盟志愿者。这一突破性的研究成果同样也属于你们。I’ve always been a huge seafood fan; I have it quite a few times a week. The way I cook my tuna steak is usually the same; salt, pepper, lemon juice and a few different spices. Tuna doesn’t need a lot of fancy ingredients for it to be tasty. However, I’ve always wanted to try to make a sesame seared tuna steak since I order it a lot at restaurants and was curious to see if it would taste as good (I knew it would be a far stretch for it to taste just as good as the restaurants but it was worth the try), and let me tell you – not only did it taste DELICIOUS, but it only took 10 to 15 minutes!
Ingredients:
For the Tuna:
(Serves 2)
2 pieces of tuna steaks
Honey Dijon
White and black sesame seeds. I couldn’t find an already mixture of black and white sesame seeds so I bought them separately and mixed them in a shallow bowl. If you would like, you could use either or; one color will do
Lemon juice
Olive oil
For the side salad:
Spring mix lettuce
Lengthwise cut strawberries
Avocado
For the salad dressing:
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp honey
(whisk well)
Directions:
Rinse the tuna steak with lemon juice. Then place the steaks on a cutting board, rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and honey Dijon. The more spicy you prefer it, the more I would suggest adding honey Dijon
Place the steak one at a time on top of the sesame seeds, press, coat, and flip to the other side and do the same
Cook the tuna steaks on a pan for a few minutes ro your liking (I prefer it medium rare) one each side over medium high heat. Drizzle a tablespoon of sesame oil on each steak while they are cooking
Rinse the spring mix lettuce, add a few strawberries (cut lengthwise), avocado, and add the salad dressing on top
Bon appétit! xCole proved that you can become a star at Roc Nation and still make music with meaning, yet he doesn't appear to be the blueprint for the label.
Two weeks.
Vic Mensa’s major label debut, The Autobiography, will be here in two weeks. To call the album long-awaited would be a delicate description. Most fans have anticipated Vic’s big release since the title was Traffic and promised to be the best album of 2015. A lot has changed since then—from the album's title to Vic’s artistry—but hope has remained high that he will deliver. Despite being such a highly requested project, two weeks also seems a bit premature to liberate his first full-length, major label offering. He suddenly went from coming soon to coming too soon.
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Vic’s initial signing to Roc Nation was a genuine surprise. While watching his career unfold on the blogosphere, he exuded the spirit of a rebel; an artist who desired complete control over his creative destiny. When his deal was announced two years ago, the label was riding high off the glowing success of J. Cole and likely was frustrated by the stagnancy of Jay Electronica.
Roc Nation wasn’t intended to be a house for rap. Jay’s original vision was a label focused on songwriters and pop music, not the second coming of Roc-A-Fella. Adding Mensa to the roster showed an interest in young, talented rhymers, but unlike J. Cole, his newest signee was someone with which the rap blogosphere was very well acquainted.
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Maybe you knew him through Chance, or INNANETAPE, or Kids These Days, or performing with Kanye on SNL. Regardless of how you first came into contact with his music, Vic's following in 2015—when Roc Nation announced the signing (though it's possible he had been with the label for up to a year prior)—was much larger than J. Cole in 2009, the year he inked his deal with Hov. He would be new to the mainstream, but Vic Mensa had solidified himself in hip-hop’s underground. When you dig into how each artist was presented to the world, the roads to their respective debut albums have an interesting contrast.
J. Cole and Vic Mensa both make hip-hop music, but they are completely different artists. I am comparing the two, though, because Roc Nation hasn’t released many projects by new names. You can’t compare Vic Mensa to JAY-Z or DJ Khaled or Rihanna. Their trajectories are completely different. Vic and Cole are two artists that Roc Nation can say they debuted.
“U Mad," featuring Kanye West, was Vic’s first offering to the world as a Roc Nation artist. Musically, the song departed from the soulful quirkiness of his past into a heavier, more present-tense sound. “U Mad” feels like a single that was birthed to be big but failed to make any real impact, creating a sense of skepticism instead of excitement. A tasteless Ray Rice reference was the cringe-worthy cherry atop the disappointing-yet-decent song.
In retrospect, “U Mad” is quite similar to J. Cole’s “Who Dat,” the forgettable song that was meant to be Cole’s first single off Cole World: Sideline Story. It was the first time fans of The Warm Up heard a song by Jermaine that tried to be commercial without pandering to radio. “Who Dat” came with the promise that Cole's album would be released the summer or spring of 2010, yet the album would be pushed back as the single failed to create momentum. Cole didn’t have a big feature like Vic, but he was still riding high off his “Star Is Born” verse from The Blueprint 3.
In both cases, we learned that a big single can’t simply be created with a name and clout. Returning to the drawing board is all both artists could do.
One of the most interesting lines from J. Cole’s “I Let Nas Down” is, “Hov askin' where's the record that the radio could play / And I was strikin' out for months, 9th inning, feelin' fear.” He makes it clear that Jay and Roc Nation were expecting a radio record from their first signee. Cole’s brand of hip-hop was excellent for blog enthusiasts who enjoyed storytelling and punchlines, but his best records weren’t Billboard-ready. The line brings awareness to the importance of having a single and not just a collection of good records to be released. He needed a hit.
Afterward came “Work Out,” one of his worst songs in terms of lyricism, but one of his highest-charting. "Work Out" would eventually peak at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieved 2x Platinum certification. It was the kind of single that puts you on the airwaves and extends your audience past the pages of DJBooth or Nah Right. Cole had two acclaimed mixtapes in the underground and a single picking up momentum, so it was time to push out the album.
When Vic Mensa returned from “U Mad” and the forgetful “No Chill,” it wasn’t with a corny, commercial jingle. It was with There’s Alot Going On, a short EP that is home to the powerful and political “16 Shots” and the deeply personal “There’s Alot Going On.”
The music, which was well-received but poorly promoted, once again placed Vic in the light as one of Chicago’s best. He was rhyming with passion and tenacity, raging against the police and confronting his demons. Even though “New Bae” and “Liquor Locker” felt like the closest to radio-ready songs, most of There’s Alot Going On was dipped in a seriousness that was going to stir souls instead of climb the charts. Surprisingly, “16 Shots” became There’s A Lot Going On's biggest moment and further positioned Vic as a rapper who had found his strongest political voice.
Vic had yet to overtake radio waves but he did headline his own Back with A Vengeance Tour and appeared on a handful of dates on Justin Beiber’s European tour. Staying on the road is what assisted in J. Cole building a sizable fan base throughout the years. He opened for JAY-Z’s North American Tour in 2009 and for Rihanna on 2011's LOUD Tour, two huge placements that were big for the newcomer. Keeping Cole on the road with superstars allowed him to be both a name and a face.
It was recently announced that Vic Mensa will be returning to the road with Bieber—both artists are managed by Scooter Braun—opening for him on the North American stadium run of Purpose Tour. This will allow Vic to share his new music with new fans and continue to solidify his fan base, but a spotlight this big this is something he needed before the album, not just after.
While J. Cole was groomed to slowly build a following online, through tours and eventually radio, Vic already had an internet buzz when the deal was made and had even touched the road with Wale and J. Cole in 2013. He didn’t need to be groomed, but it does raise the question of whether Roc Nation wanted Vic to follow in Cole’s footsteps? Vic isn’t a singles artist. Unless he suddenly pulls out another “Down On My Luck," trying to make a big hit isn't the direction for his artistry. But he needs something big to propel him to the next level. Dropping a stellar album and touring with Bieber could be the combo that escalates his name to a new plateau.
The biggest difference between Cole and Vic’s album rollouts is the momentum behind them. Cole had “Work Out” and “Can’t Get Enough” with Trey Songz, but there’s no big single from Vic. There was a moment where "Wolves" seemed like it would be big, but Vic's contribution wasn't even included on The Life of Pablo until a post-release edit allowed it to return. By that point, any thunder was stolen by "Ultralight Beam" and "Panda."
When Cole had moments of stagnancy, he was still on the road with bigger acts, touching fans who knew nothing about his music or artistry. While he’s been on Roc Nation we’ve seen Vic rock festivals and hit the road on his own tours. Vic was allowed to be his own artist, to be the star that didn’t have much promotion coming from co-signs. In an era where singles can make you a star, he didn’t produce a song that could go viral online or reach the radio. While Cole was developed from an artist with no following, Mensa was stuck in the middle between appealing to new fans and trying to build upon the foundation he’d cultivated since 2012.
Vic has admitted to struggling with writer's block and addiction, and it's likely that those speed bumps have hindered his progression. Isaiah Rashad went through the same thing. He had to deal with picking up the pieces, putting them back together, and trying to make the perfect portrait. Depending on whether The Autobiography will be good enough to make up for its lack of singles, Vic has a chance to allow the project to be his new beginning. I don't think he's going to have a huge first week, but he can begin to slowly collect some momentum to solidify himself with fans and introduce himself to the unaware.
After having to wait for almost three years to get this album out, Vic wants to prove he's the next torchbearer of the Roc. An incredible album is the first step.
Labels can greatly influence an artist’s artistry. They can demand a certain kind of music and shelve you for not complying. When Jay and Roc Nation wanted a commercial single from Cole, they thought it was in his best interest. “Work Out” was annoyingly catchy, but it worked for Cole.
Vic doesn’t seem to be under the same pressure to produce an undeniable hit. It appears the machine is behind what he wants to make. The machine has to adapt to a star of Vic’s caliber, someone with crossover appeal, but who hasn’t been able to reach a larger audience. With radio becoming less of a dominant force and streaming being the source of artist discovery, labels will have to adapt and find ways of presenting their latest acts. Jay hasn’t been the boss that stands beside his artists at every turn since the Roc-A-Fella days. He gave Vic a speech full of praise at the listening session for The Autobiography but I wouldn’t get accustomed to hearing Jay mention Mensa at every turn. It’s going to be on Vic and his team to find a way to break through the same way Cole and his team found a way.
Album rollouts still matter. The way an artist reaches our eyes and ears is important. I wish Vic would’ve had a better promotional push leading up to The Autobiography but it’s possible the big guns will be brought in once the album is in our hands. Signing to a label doesn’t guarantee sales or riches. Labels and the artists themselves drop the ball constantly by mishandling releases. Cole proved that you can become a star at Roc Nation and still make music with meaning, yet he doesn't appear to be the blueprint for the label.
Vic came to Roc Nation with a bigger buzz, but throughout the years he hasn't sustained that same energy that was in the air post-INNANETAPE. The Autobiography isn't a make-or-break project, but it will set the tone and momentum for his music career. I hope we don’t look back and frown at how Vic and Roc Nation failed to follow in his footsteps. The album release feels rushed but it could simply be an anxiousness to get the music out and build post-release.
I have no idea what the Roc and Vic are plotting, but we'll find out soon.
By Yoh, aka Yoh-A-Fella, aka @Yoh31A former Reynoldsburg police lieutenant falsified search warrants and skimmed up to $250,000 in cash and property seized during drug investigations in a conspiracy with another officer that spanned a decade, federal investigators said Wednesday. Shane M. Mauger, 41, of the 1800 block of Quarry Ridge Drive on the Far East Side, has agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court to one count each of federal program theft and conspiracy to deprive persons of their civil rights.
A former Reynoldsburg police lieutenant falsified search warrants and skimmed up to $250,000 in cash and property seized during drug investigations in a conspiracy with another officer that spanned a decade, federal investigators said Wednesday.
Shane M. Mauger, 41, of the 1800 block of Quarry Ridge Drive on the Far East Side, has agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court to one count each of federal program theft and conspiracy to deprive persons of their civil rights.
Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but Mauger cooperated with authorities and likely won't face that much time. He is free pending a court appearance next Wednesday.
Federal agents said Mauger and Officer Tye Downard abused the public's trust and their positions to enrich themselves.
"This conspiracy was ongoing for almost 10 years," said Benjamin C. Glassman, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. "When they would execute search warrants or consent searches, they would seize money and keep some of it for themselves."
Mauger was placed on leave on Feb. 18 after Downard, 43, was arrested on charges that he dealt drugs. Downard died four days later, after hanging himself with a bedsheet in his Delaware County jail cell.
Reynoldsburg police Chief James O'Neill said Mauger resigned on Friday. He had been with the police department for 20 years.
The pair under-reported seizures of cash and property in police reports, and Mauger also obtained search warrants by lying about having probable cause for searches, Glassman said.
The FBI began investigating Downard after an informant said Downard was providing him with drugs to sell, including some from earlier police seizures.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said three pending drug cases will be dropped because of Mauger's corruption. Prosecutors are contacting defense lawyers in 10 closed cases to disclose Mauger's involvement. O'Brien's office already dropped drug charges against 15 people whose cases hinged upon Downard's testimony.
Glassman said the federal probe will end with Mauger's plea. Reynoldsburg police had placed a third officer on leave after Downard's arrest, but O'Neill said he has been cleared.
"Now we can sort of push the reset button and get back to normal business," the chief said.
Covert drug investigations require secrecy, O'Neill said, but the police department will try to determine how rogue officers exploited that trust and operated unnoticed for so long.
"There might have been a red flag or two that we missed," he said.
[email protected]
@Theodore_DeckerThe Washington Post, in a significant retrenchment, is closing its remaining domestic bureaus around the country.
The six correspondents who work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago will be offered reassignments in Washington, while three news assistants will be let go.
The money-saving move, coming on the heels of four rounds of early-retirement buyouts and the closing or merging of several sections, is the clearest sign yet of the newspaper's shrinking horizons in an era of diminished resources.
"The fact is we can effectively cover the rest of the country from Washington," Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said Tuesday from New York, where he was delivering the news in person to the Post bureau there. "We have for years been able to cover issues around the country for our readers with a corps of traveling reporters. It's more possible than it's ever been to cover the issues that matter to our readers from a Washington perspective."
What is lost, however, is the knowledge and experience of reporters who come to understand the local issues, personalities and culture of other regions by living there.
Brauchli, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, acknowledged that "unquestionably there are advantages to having someone on the ground at times." But, he said, "We are not a national news organization of record serving a general audience. Nor are we a wire service or cable channel." Maintaining that The Post's strength is to report issues through a "Washington prism," Brauchli cited recent examples of education and economic reporters filing major dispatches from other cities to illustrate national trends.
Brauchli is under pressure to cut costs because The Post Co.'s newspaper division, which includes several smaller papers, lost $166.7 million in the first three quarters of this year.
The journalists being offered reassignment are Keith B. Richburg, Barton Gellman and Tomoeh Murakami Tse in New York; Peter Slevin in Chicago, and Karl Vick and television columnist Lisa deMoraes in Los Angeles. Over the past decade, The Post has shuttered bureaus it once maintained in Austin, Denver and Miami.London, England (CNN) -- British citizens who travel to Israel should be aware that their passport details could be captured for "improper uses," Britain's Foreign Office warned Tuesday.
It follows Britain's expulsion of an Israeli diplomat and its accusation that the Israeli government was responsible for forging British passports used in an international murder plot.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Tuesday that there are "compelling reasons" to believe Israel was behind it.
Twelve suspects in the January murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his Dubai hotel room, used British passports, the Dubai police have said.
Miliband said the passports had been copied from "genuine British passports" in a "highly sophisticated operation," indicating that a state intelligence service was responsible.
The Foreign Office changed its official travel advice Tuesday for British citizens going to Israel, to warn them about the risk of their passport details being compromised.
A British investigation "found circumstantial evidence of Israeli involvement in the fraudulent use of British passports," the advice says. "This has raised the possibility that your passport details could be captured for improper uses while your passport is out of your control. The risk applies in particular to passports without biometric security features.
"We recommend that you only hand your passport over to third parties, including Israeli officials, when absolutely necessary."
Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency concluded that the 12 British people whose passports were cloned were "wholly innocent victims of identity theft," the foreign secretary said.
Israel has a stated policy on security matters of neither confirming nor denying involvement.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the British government would be giving its report on the passports to the Australian Federal Police, who are investigating how some of their country's passports came to be used by the Dubai suspects.
In an interview Tuesday with the Australian Broadcasting Company, Smith said Australia was not taking any action yet.
"We have an investigation underfoot, and we will await the results of that investigation by the Australian Federal Police," Smith said.
He added: "We're treating this matter very seriously. Israel understands that, and when I receive the report (from the federal police), we'll make judgments which will be in Australia's national interest."
Dubai police had previously said three Australian passports were used in the murder plot, but Smith said there were four. He said there is nothing to indicate that the holders of the passports were anything but "innocent victims" in the crime.
Al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas' military wing, was found dead January 20 in his Dubai hotel room. Police believe he was killed the night before, allegedly by the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad.
A source close to the investigation said Wednesday that the total number of suspects had increased to 28, from 27, after Australia confirmed the use of a fourth passport.
Six suspects used Irish passports, four used French documents, one had German papers and four had Australian papers. There is also one Palestinian suspect, police have said.
Interpol expands search for suspects
Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai police chief, has said not all the suspects had fraudulent passports. "We know some of the names are real," he said.
Interpol, the international police agency, has issued "red notices" to help search for the suspects. The notices are not international arrest warrants, but are a way of alerting police forces around the world that the suspects are wanted by United Arab Emirates authorities.Google’s VP8 video compression format, which the company acquired from On2 Technologies, is an open standard and covered by a free patent license. That, however, didn’t stop MPEG LA, the guardians of the H.264 patent and license, from looking into creating a patent pool in 2011 and potentially suing Google for patent infringement upon its competing codec. Today, however, MPEG LA and Google announced that they have come to an agreement. MPEG LA will grant Google a license “to techniques that may be essential to VP8 and earlier-generation VPx video compression technologies under patents owned by 11 patent holders.”
The agreement allows Google to sub-license the techniques covered by the agreement to any VP8 user and also covers the next generation of the VPx codec. As part of this deal, MPEG LA is discontinuing its efforts to form a VP8 patent pool. Chances are Google had to pay for this license, but the financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We are pleased for the opportunity to facilitate agreements with Google to make VP8 widely available to users.”
MPEG LA President and CEO Larry Horn.
The relative uncertainty around VP8 definitely hindered its adoption outside of Google. Microsoft, for example, decided to keep the Google-backed WebM media file format that was built around VP8 out of its browser because of this uncertainty. The WebRTC standard, however, which most browser vendors have now adopted, is built around the VP8 codec.
“This is a significant milestone in Google’s efforts to establish VP8 as a widely deployed web video format,” said Allen Lo, Google’s deputy general counsel for patents, in a statement today.
Despite Google’s efforts, H.264 remains the de facto standard for video codecs. The fact that it is build into WebRTC (and that the standard doesn’t allow for alternative codecs) is a boon for proponents of open standards. Now that the uncertainty around VP8 is out of the way, Microsoft may even decide to adopt WebRTC for Internet Explorer instead of its own version of the standard.
For the time being, however, this virtually no support for hardware-based VP8 encoders and decoders, while virtually every video-enabled device can handle H.264 without taxing the CPU.
With both the next-gen H.265 standards and Google’s VP9 codecs already in the works, today’s agreement could mean we’ll see more competition in the video codec space in the coming months. Mostly, though, this agreement takes away the uncertainty around VP8 and will surely lead to its wider adoption.CLOSE The holidays are here and so are the gadget gifts for the entire family even your pet Jennifer Jolly
Amazon Echo (Photo11: Robert Deutsch, USAT)
Hoping to snag Amazon's Echo speaker just in time for Christmas? Forget about buying it online.
On Amazon's website, all versions of the Echo are sold out, and expected to restock after Christmas. The Echo Dot and Amazon's portable Tap speaker are back in stock on December 27.
Meanwhile, the standard Echo speaker in black isn't available until mid-January. Consumers can still purchase a version of the Echo in white, but it won't ship until December 30.
The Echo surged in popularity this year through Alexa, Amazon's voice activated digital assistant. Last month, Amazon said Cyber Monday sales of the Echo were up seven times compared to sales from the previous year. Both the Echo Dot and standard Echo were among Amazon's top-selling items during the shopping frenzy.
Other retailers including Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowe's also sell the Amazon Echo.
The popularity of Echo has boosted interest in digital voice assistants. Earlier this year, Google rolled out the Google Home speaker enabled with its Google Assistant. Apple also boasts Siri, and reports suggest the tech giant is working on its own home speaker.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2i65MS9Today on CNN, Pizzagate became a problem for Mike Pence.
The vice president-elect sat down with Jake Tapper at the top of his 4 p.m. show on CNN, and faced a grilling about the role that Michael G. Flynn—the son of Trump’s national security advisor pick, Gen. Michael Flynn—played on the president’s transition team. Flynn the Younger recently gave credence to the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory—a theory that incited one North Carolina man to walk into a D.C. pizzeria with two guns. The man discharged one of his weapons, but didn’t hurt anyone. And that near-catastrophe has many—including Tapper—wondering why one of the people pushing Pizzagate was part of the team helping prepare Donald Trump to take over the White House.
Pence had trouble explaining.
“His son was helping him a bit with scheduling and administrative items,” Pence said. “But that’s no longer the case.”
Then Tapper asked if Pence knew the transition team, which he chairs, had requested a security clearance for Flynn’s son. Pence tried not to answer. The situation with Flynn’s son was a “distraction,” he said, so the transition team made the right
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Born between 1946 and 1964, these women represent a portion of the buying public no marketer can afford to ignore. With successful careers, investments made during the “boom” years, and inheritances from parents or husbands, they are more financially empowered than any previous generation of women. – Mary Brown, Carol Orsborn, Ph.D., Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—The Baby-Boomer Woman
• Senior women age 50 and older control net worth of $19 trillion and own more than three-fourths of the nation’s financial wealth. – MassMutual Financial Group–2007
• Fifty-plus American women are the healthiest, wealthiest and most active generation of women in history. – Demographics by Mark Miller
• Of the 743 women of wealth interviewed with at least $3 million in investable assets, 61.2% accumulated their fortunes through corporate employment, their own or a family business or a professional practice. Only 38.8% of the women had married into or inherited their money. – Women of Wealth, 2004, by Russ Alan Prince and Hannah Shaw Grove
• High-net-worth women account for 39% of the country’s top wealth earners; 2.5 million of them have combined assets of $4.2 trillion. More than 1.3 million women professionals and executives earn in excess of $100,000 annually. 43% of Americans with more than $500,000 in assets are female – MassMutual Financial Group–2007
• Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion. Many Boomer women will experience a double inheritance windfall, from both parents and husband. The Boomer woman is a consumer that luxury brands want to resonate with. – Claire Behar, Senior Partner and Director, New Business Development, Fleishman-Hillard New York
• The more mature luxury consumer places the highest priority in making memories and experiences. They don’t buy things to have more things; they want the experience to go along with it. Luxury consumers expect superior quality and are extremely discerning. – Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing
• The 55 to 75 year-old female has seen her role change from homemaker to purchaser of security, convenience and luxury items. – Barbara Kleger, president of 55+ Consulting
• Wealthy boomer women are the marquee players in our country’s culture and commerce. They are educated, have a high income, and make 95 percent of the purchase decisions for their households. – Karen Vogel, The Women’s Congress and co-founder and president of New Generation Event Solutions
…and there’s more here, the list goes on and on and on… http://www.she-conomy.com/facts-on-women
Women control most the wealth!
Women control most the wealth!
Do you understand yet what’s going on?Maurice Sinet (31 December 1928 – 5 May 2016), known professionally as Siné, was a French political cartoonist. His work is noted for its anti-capitalism, anti-clericalism, anti-colonialism, anti-semitism, and anarchism.
As a young man Siné studied drawing and graphic arts, while earning a living as a cabaret singer. His first published drawing appeared in France Dimanche in 1952. Siné received the Prix de l'Humour noir [fr] in 1955 for his collection Complainte sans Paroles. His series of drawings on cats was his breakthrough. He then started working for L'Express as a political cartoonist.
Siné's anti-colonialism caused controversy during the Algerian war. He was sued a number of times, being defended by Jacques Vergès, then a lawyer for the Algerian Liberation Front.
In 1962 Siné left L'Express and published a book of his work called Siné Massacre, noted for its anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, anti-clericalism and anarchism.[citation needed]
In reviewing the book, the British satirical magazine Private Eye described Siné's cartoons as "grotesque", and criticised publisher Penguin Books for its managerial incompetence.[1]
In 1965 Siné became involved in a power struggle at Penguin Books. During an attempt by chief editor Tony Godwin and the board of directors to remove the company founder Allen Lane, Lane stole and burned the entire print run of the English edition of Siné's book Massacre, which was reportedly deeply offensive.[2]
In May 1968, together with Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Siné launched L'Enragé, a short-lived satirical journal associated with the May 1968 events in France.[citation needed]Syracuse, N.Y. — C.J. Fair, the former Syracuse University player who went undrafted in Thursday's NBA draft, has agreed to play for the Dallas Mavericks' summer league team, his agent said Friday.
Fair, a 6-foot-8 forward, will play for the Mavericks in the Las Vegas Summer League, which begins in July.
"Dallas really wanted to bring him in,'' Fair's agent, Torrel Harris, said. "I think this is a good spot for him.''
In the days leading up to the draft, Fair worked out for 16 different teams. But the Mavericks, owned second-round picks at No. 34 and No. 51, had shown the most interest in Fair, according to Harris.
"We spoke to Dallas,'' Harris said. "They told us. They wanted C.J. I knew Dallas was going to take him.''
Then Wednesday, the day before the draft, Dallas traded both of its second round picks to the New York Knicks in a trade that sent Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Mavs.
The team that Fair felt was most likely to draft him suddenly had no draft picks.
Harris still thought Fair would be drafted. Harris attended the draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn along with Fair and Fair's parents. They watched as the draft unfolded. They eventually left with four picks remaining in the second round.
"I was pretty shocked,'' Harris said. "Actually, I was completely shocked. He played well at all the workouts. He out-played a lot of guys that were drafted.''
After the draft, Harris said he heard from several NBA teams that wanted to bring in Fair to play on their summer league teams. Harris went with the team that he felt had always had the most interest in Fair.
"The Mavericks have a genuine interest in C.J.,'' Harris said. "They were going to pick him. They want him.''
Dallas has just four players currently under contract for the 2014-15 season. The Mavericks' small forwards are Shawn Marion and Jae Crowder.
Harris said Fair would report to the Mavericks on July 5. The Las Vegas Summer League runs from July 11-21.Now that's a real purl-y Queen! Royal fan, 75, spends 500 hours knitting elaborate recreation of the Jubilee river pageant
A patriotic great-grandmother has spent more than 500 hours and used over 4,500ft of yarn knitting a woolly version of the Queen’s Jubilee river pageant.
Sheila Carter cast-on every day for four and a half months to complete the Royal tribute before Her Majesty casts off for her landmark occasion next month.
The metre-long woollen creation shows the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh sitting on their thrones as their barge cruises down the Thames.
Hard work: Mrs Carter puts the finishing touches to the tribute, comprised of an estimated 1.8million stitches and about 30 different shades of wool
Incredibly, Mrs Carter completed her masterpiece despite never having visited London. Yet, even down to the final touch, she said she tried to make everyone as lifelike as possible.
She said: 'The most difficult part was probably getting the shape of the barge right, I just guessed using pictures.'
Mrs Carter is not new to woolly works of art - for the Royal Wedding she knitted a 3ft tall wedding cake with Prince William and Kate perched on top.
She's got form: Mrs Carter with her last creation, a wooly wedding cake to celebrate the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last yearThe security of hotel rooms is being scrutinized following a spate of break-ins at hotels in Texas.
A 27-year-old man has been charged as a suspect for a hotel room robbery at a Hyatt-run franchise hotel in Houston, according to a report in Forbes written by Andy Greenberg and published this week.
The story links the hotel break-in to a widely publicized hacking demonstration earlier this year.
The device used to break into the room is believed to employ the same technology demonstrated by a software developer at the Black Hat hacker conference in July.
Mozilla software developer Cody Brocious, 24, found a “glaring security vulnerability” in a popular model of a keycard lock developed by electronic lock manufacturer Onity. At the Black Hat conference, Brocious demonstrated how he could program a homemade device to open the keycard lock instantaneously.
In addition to the robbery at the Houston hotel, the Forbes article says a string of break-ins may also be attributed to Brocious’ hacking technology, which has since been refined by other hackers.
The story raises questions of accountability. Is the lockmaker at fault? Should Brocious be blamed for revealing a security vulnerability at a public conference before alerting the lock's manufacturer?
The cost of correcting the security risk in the locks is formidable. According to the article, Onity has been asking hotels to help shoulder the cost of hardware replacements.
Approximately 400 million hotel rooms around the world use the model of keycard lock hacked by Brocious.
More on CNN: The secret confessions of hotel employeesColin Cortbus, who has written here twice before about free speech issues in Germany, returns to discuss recent German censorship measures.
Angela Merkel‘s German government has decided to crush digital freedom of speech to silence opposing voices ahead of an election. The measures taken by the German government have chilling consequences for digital freedom worldwide – and Vladimir Putin‘s regime has already began to copy them.
After over 11 years in power, Germany‘s tired Chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition partners appear to have panicked that they might underperform in the crucial, upcoming federal election in September.
It is not hard to see why. The circulations of mainstream newspapers, which traditionally mollycuddle the Germany‘s political establishment, have been uniformly falling. The only nationwide papers to make gains in sales at all in the last year were Der Freitag, an outspoken, left-liberal newspaper focused on opinion pieces, and Junge Freiheit, a national-conservative outlet strongly critical of the government. The Junge Freiheit‘s adversarial, if at times deeply disagreeable, reporting has long been a thorn in the side of Germany‘s political elite. Unspurprisingly, the newspaper was unconstitutionally targetted by the state‘s domestic intelligence agencies until 2007. To this day, the taxpayer-funded Federal Agency for Political Education warns the voting public that the paper represents a “key outlet of a radical nationalist opposition, which seeks a fundamental change in the social, political and cultural conditions in Germany“. That is an entirely fair, opinionated criticism of the paper‘s percieved mission if you are a private citizen. But it can hardly be deemed to be an ethically acceptable intervention into the debate when it comes from a publically-funded government agency with a legal duty to maintain “balance and distance pursuant to the rule of law“.
But even such Orwellian methods can‘t put a stop to the fact that increasingly, ordinary people are expressing scepticism towards the Government‘s official narratives – preferably via social media, where they can network more easily with like-minded people, often under the saving cover of anonymity. This makes old-style, brute force legal thuggery quite redundant. The government‘s inquisitorial hirelings might potentially be able to intimidate one or two frightened citizens into silence by threating to take vague, and constitutionally bogus measures; For example, police reportedly opened a “criminal investigation“ for “defamation“ against a speaker at an opposition party campaign rally in December who criticised Angela Merkel as „criminal and insane“. But against an ever-growing, often anonymous, sometimes out-of-control crowd of outspoken netizens, these crude, resource-intensive, individualised tactics are but a bureaucratic drop on the hot stone of popular discontent.
Absent of an easy route to get at the netizens themselves, what the government really needed was a quick way to force social media firms to make their platforms inhospitable environments for critical, dissident expression; But taking action against social media networks did not turn out to be all that easy.
In 2016, prosecutors had to humiliatingly drop a pointless, four month-long investigation into a German Facebook executive. The manager had been bizarrely accused in a citizen‘s criminal complaint of abetting racist incitement by puportedly not deleting hateful comments quickly enough – even though his personal role within the social media company did not actually have anything to do with content control.
But coercively targetting social media companies remained an attractive option for the German government. Outsourcing censorship to privately-owned social media firms presents a neat way to circumvene the high bar of constitutional scrutiny that would apply to the state if it tried to enact such censorship directly.
In this context, a tiny number of largely hard-line pro-Government legislators convened in an almost empty parliamentary chamber, just before the end of the last key pre-election Bundestag sitting, late in June. Without all too much ado, they quickly rubberstamped an ominous sounding law; the Netzwerkdurchstetztungsgesetz, or Network Enforcement Act in English.
On paper, the Network Enforcement Act is supposed to combat the purported dangers of “fake news“ and “hate crime“ on social media, in light of events related to the US presidential election.
But this is a poor, figleaf excuse for one of most Machiavellian anti-free speech laws in the Western world.
Surprisingly, the Network Enforcement Act itself does not create any new speech offences designed to better deal with the incitement of violent racial hatred or the glorification of terrorism. In fact it does not even confine itself improving the technical means to clamp down on such specific speech.
Far rather, it weaponises Germany‘s already wildly overbroad and repressive anti-insult and criminal libel laws, which have been previously highlighted on this website. Under these pre-existing, but often ineffectively or inconsistently enforced laws, truth is no absolute defence and even criticism of long-deceased historical figures can be criminalised.
Pursuant to the Network Enforcement Act, social media companies now face substantial fines of up to 50 million Euros if they fail to delete content that is “obviously illegal“ under these laws within 24 hours of recieving a complaint. The same fines apply if not-so-obviously illegal content is not deleted within one week. Moreover, social media companies are also obliged to respond to requests (possibly for data about allegedly criminal users) from state prosecutors within 48 hours – a fraction of the time it would take a good lawyer to write a letter disputing or refusing any mala fide requests.
German courts take months or years to decide whether or not certain speech counts as criminal libel or insult – and even then they often cannot agree. Social media companies cannot possibly accomplish the same in 7 days, much less 24 hours – and the Network Enforcement Law does not even attempt to define what is meant by an „obviously illegal“ posting that has to be deleted in 24 hours. As a result, social media companies will simply feel forced delete all and any disputed content, amid a flurry of malicious complaints from censorious politicians and businessmen who are keen to stifle criticism and inconvenient election campaigning. No wonder, given that experts estimate the fines and costs in case of non-compliance might set social media providers back by up to 530 million euros in total, annually.
Merkel‘s government knows all this full well. Legal experts have voiced strong criticisms of the Network Enforcement Act at parliamentary hearings. The government has been advised by its very own parliamentary research service that the law is in breach of European Union rules. Experts acting for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which Germany is a member, have voiced concern that the law fails to strike an adequate balance when it comes to freedom of expression. David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur for free expression, has pointed out that the „ obligation placed upon private companies to regulate and take down content raises concern with respect to freedom of expression… A prohibition on the dissemination of information based on vague and ambiguous criteria, such as ‘insult‘ or ‘defamation‘ is incompatible with article 19 of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights“. Moreover, the UN special rapporteur noted that he was “also concerned at the provisions that mandate the storage and documentation of data concerning violative content and user information related to such content, especially since the judiciary can order that data be revealed. This could undermine the right [of] individuals enjoy to anonymous expression..“.
When a government is desperate to win an easy election and vindictively crush popular dissent, such fine matters of international human rights law are scarely of any relevance. Merkel and her ministers have not even taken window-dressing steps to ensure the law would eventually withstand legal challenges once it comes into force– or for that matter that compliance would be affordable for social media companies. Even the government‘s official justification for the law – to prevent ‘fake news‘ or ‘hate speech‘ from impacting election campaigns, as purportedly occured in the US, is a dishonest non-sequitor; Although the government has had a rock solid parliamentary majority for years, it only passed this law at a point in time so close to the election that technically, the Network Enforcement Act is extremely unlikely to come into force until a few weeks after the election.
What the law says, and what happens when or if it ever comes into force technically is actually quite arcanely insignificant. The law already achieves its objectives by merely existing as a future prospect; The potential of the government even contemplating enacting the costly, repressive, vastly overbroad act is entirely sufficent for bringing in the sweeping and lawless regime of state-mandated, privately enforced mass digital censorship that the government appears to crave so strongly.
In an effort to avoid endless legal battles, vast administrative efforts and hundreds of millions of euros in administrative costs, social media firms will likely be cowed into deleting controversial, critical content preemptively; Right now, prior to the election or the law coming into force. After all, any profit-oriented private business would want to do everything it could to try to avoid the vastly expensive law entirely. By acting now to show the government that they can do the censorship job themselves, making clear that they are capable of acting informally and directly, that there is no actual need for this meddlesome legal regulation. After all, when the coalition government brought in the law, it explicitly stated that one reason for the purported neccessity of the law was that “too small amounts of illegal content are being deleted“ by social media providers, and that user complaints against illegal content were not being processed by social media providers “immediately and sufficiently“.
Thus, the Network Enforcement Act unleashes an immediate, informal, and ultimately lawless tsunami of content deletion; Content deletion that will be conducted kleptocratically by private businesses out of their sheer need for economic survival, far away from the prying eyes of the public, without even a facade of due process or any means of legal recourse. And as an added bonus for the government, netizens who rely on anonymity right now to freely express their thoughts are also likely to be pressured into silence. However vague, the possibility that someday in the future their user account details could be given to prosecutors in some ominous, ill-considered 48 hour express procedure will now weigh heavy on their fingers as they type.
The result will be a stolen election defined by the voices of a politically well-connected media elite, with debate taking place firmly within the government-dictated boundaries of acceptable expression.
Heated, at times hyberbolic, and yes, occasionally emotionally hurtful grassroots exchanges in the marketplace of ideas are what defines a functioning, open democracy. In Merkel‘s new Germany, free, open debate will only be discernible by its silent absence.
Naturally, Merkel‘s government desperately wants to hide this sore reality from a global public.
Very few contempory authoritarian leaders enjoy the enacting their repressive laws in the light of day. When a global swimming championship came to the Hungarian capital Budapest, wannabe-strongman Victor Orban rushed to take down neo-Soviet style propaganda posters that had previously polluted almost every street with their ugly presence. Evidently, he did not want foreign sports fans to think too much about how his regime uses tax-payer funds to promote its own party political propaganda, all while enacting cheap, nefarious pseudo-laws designed to prevent opposition movements from displaying privately funded anti-corruption messages in public. Turkey‘s dictator Erdogan also loves to distract from his systematic destruction of free speech, Kurdish human rights and religious liberty by ranting about fantastical conspiracies involving Gulenists and supposed Kurdish PKK sympathisers (who are secretly actually linked to “atheist Armenians“, according to one of Erdogan‘s right-hand men). It could just as well be Elvis Presley plotting to silence the prayer call of Ankara minarets with loud country music broadcast from his hideout on Mars via a supersonic hyperloop; Any lie will do as long as it takes the heat away from the crimes Erdogan himself is actually committing.
Germany‘s power-obsessed leadership doesn‘t just want to maintain a bog standard clean reputation. It is actively trying to establish itself on that very special moral throne Trump recently vacated because of his venality and imprudence; That of the leader of the free world. And that requires some very out of the box political reputation management.
So, just hours before the German parliament passed the Network Enforcement Act on the 30th of June, its legislators truimphantly passed a bill introducing equal marriage rights for gay people. Merkel had decided to no longer require lawmakers belonging to her centrist-conservative CDU party to vote against the measures, allowing lawmakers to freely choose how to vote as a matter of personal conscience.
Conveniently, this unexpected decision by Merkel dominated the global and domestic news cycle for days. It made the chancellor a darling of global community. Critical coverage of the Network Enforcement Act was relegated to a minor item in the packed news agenda.
But Merkel‘s decision to hold the marriage equality vote at such a time was not just a cynical attempt to abuse gay people‘s rights as cheap political cover to distract from the introduction of repressive censorship laws. It also represents more widely the hypocritical, stage-managed 'democracy' the government presides over.
Angela Merkel had over 10 years in government to find the time and space to realise that gay equal rights were an issue of conscience, not suited to partisan voting instructions.
Choosing to hold a free vote just before the election doesn‘t appear to represent a genuine change of mind on the issue.
Far-rather, it seems like a deeply utilitarian device to allow Merkel to avoid a humiliating forced concession to her political rivals a few months later; All of Merkel‘s three potential coalition partner parties had included red lines in their manifestos, pledging that they would never enter a coalition with the Merkel‘s centre-right CDU party, if she continued to refuse to introduce gay marriage. Germany‘s proportional electoral system essentially makes coalitions unavoidable. So, come what may, long-overdue marriage equality would have been on the books by the end of the year; But by introducing it this way Merkel could dishonestly soak up some of the international credit, and maybe collect some votes from gullible centre-leftists domestically as well.
And what about the government‘s lawmakers, who ceremoniously gathered together in parliament, voting in favour of gay marriage on account of their ‘conscience‘: Where was this conscience of theirs in the years before? Does it only compassion towards gay peoples‘ civil rights when it is electorally opportune to do so? Did they not think that the equal rights for gay citizens are sufficiently important to merit defying mere partisan voting instructions over?
As Germany has economically boomed under Merkel‘s leadership, social compassion and honesty in the public sphere has reached a record low. Corrupt property developers, ruthless drug dealers, and organised crime are being allowed to take over economically deprived parts of Berlin, Frankfurt, Bremen and Colonoge with impunity, while police simply watch. As Berlin‘s political-corporate elite shops in an ever-growing number of luxury all-organic supermarkets, they cheer on the financial rape of Greece and other Southern European countries by the German-led EU‘s austerity programs; Brutal regimes of cuts and privatisations have left some ordinary, hard-working people in those countries unable to afford even basic essentials such as food and medical care. The supposedly anti-racist, pro-equality mainstream media in Germany outdoes itself day-on-day in finding new, politically-useful ways to implicitly suggest to their readers that ‘lazy‘, ‘heat-dazed‘ Greeks deserve all the degrading austerity they get.
While German authorities dishonestly smear outspoken political rivals as a racist or extremist without due process to shut them up, the government‘s very own Federal Police Agency racially profilies perfectly law-abiding Turkish, Kurdish, Arab and African German citizens with glee; Flagrantly violating the Basic Law‘s protection of equal individual liberty in a desperate but sleek attempt to win over the votes of the very people the government publicly condemns when they speak out. The government that digs up every moral trope in the box to condemn racism when it happens to come from its political opponents on the (far) right is the same one that to this day has never brought to justice the murderers of Laya-Alama Conde, a black man brutally tortured to death by German Police in 2004 in the city of Bremen; A sadistic crime for which cops took 9 years to even apologise for. Evidently, the only kind of xenophobia the current government has ever cared about combatting is the variety that reduces its share of the vote.
Merkel‘s government is taking Germany, and with it the European Union, a step towards the path of Putin, Lugaskenko and Victor Orban. Building an illiberal democracy in Germany risks setting back freedom globally, and emboldens dictators.
Unsurpringly, Vladimir Putin‘s authoritarian United Russia party has already moved to replicate the Network Enforcement Act. In July, it presented an extremely similar draft social media bill in the Russian parliament, the Duma, that even goes as far as explicitly referring to the German law as its inspiration. Proving that imitation is the sincerest flattery, Russian legislators even copied the exact, expedited content deletion timeframe of 24 hours directly from the German government‘s law.
Last 5 posts by PopehatYang "Sen" Chia Cheng is a Zerg player and former Brood War player from Taiwan, who formerly played for the team Hong Kong Attitude before retirement.
Overview [ edit ]
Playstyle [ edit ]
Sen has been one of the few Zergs to have consistently strong ZvT, even during the periods of Terran dominance. Sen can play almost any way he wants, as he seems equally comfortable with any tech, timing attacks (particularly in ZvZ), and harass-based play. However, he is probably most renowned in the foreigner community for his overwhelming macro. A long time practice partner of theirs, both Day[9] and Tasteless speak very highly of Sen, who seems to always have more stuff than his opponents can manage to produce.
Perhaps more so than any other foreign Zerg, Sen is the complete package and a difficult player to predict.
Biography [ edit ]
Sen formerly played Brood War as Taiwan's top player. He played for a long time and was a strong figure in the foreign scene for a long time. After taking a hiatus, Sen returned to competitive play and competed in the 2009 Pokerstrategy.com TSL where he eventually took third place after defeating IefNaij in the third-place match 3-2. During end of May and beginning of June 2011, Blizzard invited several reporters and well known players including Sen [1] to collect feedback on a prototype of Blizzard's upcoming expansion StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
During May of 2016, Sen made the announcement to retire from the Starcraft 2 Professional scene [2].
In Beta [ edit ]
Seen as one of the strongest Zerg players in the world, Sen gained fame in the late stages of the beta during the various Asia vs Europe and Asian World Cup events.
Sen is also credited with creating the 1 Base Muta (vs. Terran) build.
Wings of Liberty [ edit ]
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Sen participated in the MLG Dallas 2010 Pro Circuit National Championships where he was knocked to the losers bracket halfway through by the eventual tournament runner-up TT1, and then lost shortly after to Socke.[1]
Sen qualified with the likes of 4 other foreigners to play in the round of 64 for the 2010 Sony Ericsson Starcraft II Open Season 3. After some excellent defensive play in the round of 64 against oGsVines he then went on to face GSL Season 2 champion NesTea and lost 0-2. Although reaching the Round of 32 would allow Sen to be eligible to compete for a Code A position in 2011, he would decline. Sen would make a return to the Korea by competing for a spot in the 2011 GSL World Championship where he would take down xiaOt 2-1 in the preliminaries. He would ultimately lose to MarineKing in the bracket stage.
GOM announced on December 14 of 2011 that Sen had been invited to Code S for the 2012 GSL Season 1 along with IdrA.[2] Sen was classified as Tier 4 (Tier 1 gets to pick Tier 4 as opponents in a group) and was placed in group A. He only flew to Korea from Taiwan for a couple of days when he was scheduled to play. He lost to jjakji and BoxeR 0-2, therefore falling into Code A. He defeated True 2-1 in the round of 48 of Code A to advance to the next round and guaranteed himself a Code A spot in the following season. In the round of 32, Sen lost to Sniper 0-2. Although Sen qualified for the Up & Down matches for a chance to obtain Code S status, he forfeited his spot due to personal reasons.[3]
From November 7 to November 8, 2011, Sen participated in the IPL 4 Pacific Qualifiers. To start off the tournament, Sen was placed in Group A. After advancing through his group with a score of 3-0, Sen advanced in to the playoffs. In the playoffs, Sen was able to defeat InCa and MC and then advanced forward to face MarineKing. He lost to MarineKing by a score of 0-2 and fell in to the 3rd/4th place match. He was able to defeat FruitDealer in the 3rd/4th place match by a score of 2-0 and grabbed third place.
Sen would be seeded into the TeamLiquid StarLeague 3 where he defeated Fenix but lost to BoxeR, 2-3 in the following round. Sen was accepted to take part in the debut season of the NASL.
Sen showed an impressive run through the first season of the NASL, emerging with a total score of 7-2, taking decisive victories over IdrA, Zenio, Tyler, PainUser, MaNa, Drewbie, and Socke, but losing to both BoxeR and ClouD.[4][5]
In the NASL Season 1 Finals he beat Zenio again 2-1 utilizing heavy roach play—Sen would be the first foreigner to defeat a South Korean in the finals, upsetting the dominance of the South Korean players thus far. Advancing to the round of eight, Sen overcame fellow Zerg player DarKFoRcE 2-1. He advanced to play against MC as the last foreigner player, but lost in an extremely close five sets with a score of 2-3. He then defeated July 3-1 to take third place.
After NASL season 1, Sen participated in the Verizon SC2 Open SoCal LAN Tournament[6] on July 23 of 2011. He finished 1st, losing to IdrA in winner's bracket, defeating Axslav in loser's bracket final, and then eventually defeating IdrA in the Grand Final.
Sen has announced that he will take part in the Taiwan eSports League when his contract with Fnatic expired on August,[7] and then eventually joined the team Gama Bears.[8]
Sen later secured first place invitation to BlizzCon 2011 in 2011 Taiwanese Battle.net Invitational. There, he beat JazBas in the first round and then fell to NaNiwa, 0-2. After falling to the lower bracket, Sen went on a killing spree, taking down Ret, KiLLeR, SeleCT and NaNiwa in a rematch. In the loser's finals, Sen faced Mvp and lost 0-2 after losing in close-by-land spawning positions on The Shattered Temple, earned him 3rd place.
On Nov. 7th of the same year, Sen participated in the IPL 4 Pacific Qualifiers, finished day 1's group stage with a 3-0(6-0) record, defeating NaNiwa. On the following day, Sen defeated MC, but lost to eventual winner MarineKing, earned 3rd place.
On June 17, 2012, Sen finished 2nd in StarsWar 7, hosted at Shanghai, China. He defeated MMA in the semifinal 2-0, but lost to MacSed in the final 1-3.
Sen helped Gama Bears to capture the StarCraft II Championship in Taiwan eSports League/2011-2012. He finished the season with a record of 61-9, with a 29 consecutive winning streak in between, later got the MVP for the season award from Taiwan eSports League. Sen also became the only person to win a match in the final of Asia StarCraft II Invitational Tournament against Monster, with the final result of 1-5, Taiwan Blue losing to MVP (team).
From June 13 to July 21, 2012, Sen participated in the World Championship Series 2012 Taiwan and was placed into Group C with Wins, Lin, and HRU. After he overcame Wins and Lin during the in his group and advanced 2-0, Sen took down Slam, Nilon, AK and then AK again in the finals with a score of 4-0.
On Oct. 14th, 2012, Sen participated in World Championship Series 2012 Asia Finals and finished at round 4, losing to HerO(jOin) in the winner's bracket and Creator in the loser's bracket.
On Nov. 11th, 2012, Sen reached the semifinals of MSI Pro Cup Worldwide: Asia Qualifier, but lost 3-2 to Seed.
On Nov. 18th, 2012, Sen became the highest placing non-Korean at the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, finishing at 4th. He defeated Grubby and KiLLeR in the group stage, quickly dispatched Curious 3-0, and narrowly defeated HerO in a comeback after losing game 2, game 3, and falling behind in game 4 early. He then lost to eventual winner PartinG, subsequently losing to Rain in the 3rd/4th place match.
Sen participated in the NASL Season 2. He finished the regular season with a 6-1 record, seeded 4th in the league. In the Season 2 Finals, he first defeated TT1, then advanced against Brat OK, but lost to HerO in the semifinal. Later, Sen did recover and took down ThorZaIN to finish 3rd for the second straight season.
Sen would also participate in NASL Season 3 as one of top seeds in Division 3, along with notable South Korean such as GanZi. On April 22 of 2012, Sen defeated ToD in a show match prepared by NASL Sunday Showdown 4:2, hosted at Irvine, CA. Later, he finished the regular season with 6-2 (13-8) record. His walk-over loss against HuK (some said he overslept) turned out to be a costly mistake, since he had to narrowly defeat Zenio to get into the playoff, then lost to Alicia 1-3 in the round of 16.
Sen participated in NASL Season 4, seeded in Division 5, along with notable players such as Stephano and MMA. He finished the season 6-2 (13-5), but lost in the round of 16.
Heart of the Swarm [ edit ]
Sen attended the 2013 MLG Winter Championship in Dallas. He went as far as the Round of 16, losing to PartinG.
Soon after, he's been invited to attend 2013 WCS Season 1 America Premier League, seeded in Group G. He reached the Round of 16 before falling to Challenger league. He later finished the season qualifying for Challenger league.
In 2013 WCS Season 2 America Challenger League, Sen defeated CranK in the bracket stage to advance to Premier league for the following season.
Back in Premier League, in 2013 WCS Season 3 America, Sen went as far as the Round of 16 before falling once again to Challenger League. Winning against MajOr 2-0, he qualified for following season's Premier League.
Sen started 2014 by winning ECL 2013 on January 7 in China.
On February 1, 2014, Sen was announced as a member of Hong Kong Attitude.[9] During August of the same year, Sen was finally able to win the Premier tournament 2014 Taiwan Open by defeating Cheetos, Bomber, Has, and HyuN. The last time a non-Korean won a Premier tournament was HomeStory Cup VI in 2012.
In 2015 WCS Season 3, Sen finally had the best finish of this year at the Round of 16.
Legacy of the Void [ edit ]
During LotV, Sen expressed his tiredness. In Starcraft League 2015, as a player loaned by yoe Flash Wolves in order to replace inactive Ian, he had an 0-4 record. He has also lost in many opportunities to participate in main events of Premier Tournaments as the best player in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.
Trivia [ edit ]
Jokingly presumed to be cursed by Day[9] to always finishing
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you and you cannot hurt him, but you can stun him and keep him down. If he’s climbing up or at his peak, you can spin on the columns to push him against the spikes.
So SBMM can be dealt with in a couple different ways, which already makes the boss that much more unique and interesting to fight against, especially for a Sonic game. Bouncing against him will keep him down, yes, but you risk bouncing into a spike.
You’ll occasionally run into walls that are nothing but spikes that increase the challenge so it’s not a simple rinse-and-repeat battle, especially since you are more likely not to risk bouncing into a spike.
So the risk is always there. Whether you’re keeping him down or he’s firing electric balls at you, there’s hardly any down time. Imagine if his giant red bumper didn’t do anything but knock you away. That would reduce its functionality and reduce the boss’ overall depth. The added functionality of keeping him down only works as a mechanic if there’s a risk involved since it doesn’t directly correlate with damaging him; in other words, it’s optional. As long as it doesn’t feel random, of course.
Spin Dashing can knock him into the spikes as well. It doesn’t hurt to have that extra method since it gives an extra option of interacting with the boss without changing the boss’ difficulty. If you want to risk it between those spike walls, why not?
Oh, and you can avoid SBMM’s attacks if you’ve survived the Act with the electric shield. That’s a real good feeling.
Press Garden Zone
Act 1 – Shiver Saw III
Shiver Saw the Third is a pretty basic mini-boss. Stand near green and gold crate, boss hits it, you hit the boss, rinse and repeat.
The introduction is worth talking about, however. When Sonic falls into the pit, Saw Man breaks his arm from one of those boxes, then proceeds to break the standard blue crates to confront you. This immediately teaches the player what to do, and in a safe environment, as I usually preach.
However, what happens once you see this? Well.. like I said before.. rinse-and-repeat. It’s a simple mechanic that can be figured out without getting directly in harm’s way, since he keeps his distance and has an obvious telegraph. So by adding that safe tutorial session, there’s no longer any ah-ha moment.
Of course, this is assuming it’s an interesting enough boss in the first place.
Act 2 – Heavy Shinobi
Heavy Shinobi is an excellent boss for a similar reason to Spider Mobile, and that is variety and a secondary approach to inflicting damage. This time, however, it’s a one-on-one battle. Timing your jumps through exploding ninja stars while trying to knock Shinobi down provides for a rewarding challenge. Sonic becomes frozen if he runs into the Shinobi, leaving Sonic to slide around trying to break out.
That alone would make for an alright boss. Decently fun, even if getting hit by those exploding ninja stars while frozen feels cheap.
Except that’s exactly what was accounted for.
While Sonic is frozen, he cannot be hit by the several thorny spikes flying about. Upon discovering this, if things get too hairy, the player can purposely jump into Shinobi and freeze, and it feels good.
Purposely freezing yourself to escape a tough situation is not only strategic, but it doesn’t negatively affect the boss’ difficulty because of the rate that ninja stars are thrown and the fact that Sonic cannot do anything productive while frozen. You’re using the boss against him, not in the asinine Sonic 3 Lava Reef boss way, but in a more roundabout, strategic way that makes the player feel good about their life decisions in that moment.
Stardust Speedway Zone
Act 1 – Hotaru Hi-Wattsup
Hotaru Hi-Wattsup is a giant Hotaru. They’re essentially lightbulb fireflies and they’re taken from Sonic CD. The first attack phase is taken directly from Sonic CD’s Hotarus that shoot beams at you right before the game’s final boss.
The rest of this mini-boss’ phases are an interesting expansion of how Sonic CD handled the Hotarus. Beyond that, it’s a waiting game. Literally a waiting game. You can stand to the side and never have to move an inch. The patterns are that straightforward and mind-numbingly easy to avoid.
Act 2 – Metal Sonic
Metal Sonic is the first multi-part boss we see in the game. But… the music. It’s the Sonic CD Stardust Speedway Bad Future Japanese Version. That’s quite the mouthful. Tee Lopes managed to take the iconic sound effect from that oldie and transform it into a more intense and overall better track.
Anyway, Metal Sonic is the first multi-part boss we see in the game. Sonic is notorious for having bosses that die easily, end too early, and overall don’t have much of the satisfaction that comes from a well-designed and well-paced boss battle.
So it’s quite refreshing to have a more drawn-out battle against Sonic’s superior.
Metal Sonic continues his tradition of battling Sonic while racing and it feels like a true rivalry battle till the end. (Although, I must admit the addition of the music definitely influences my opinion here.)
Despite Metal Sonic being his abnormally quick self, he does have clear telegraphs — both physical and sound. The stage itself has an exceptional amount of inclines that help guide the player to jump and hopefully help avoid Metal Sonic in the process. Utilizing Sonic’s drop dash definitely helps with the flow.
The last stretch of land leads to a device that Metal Sonic attaches himself to and starts shooting at you while Silver Sonics attack. Utilizing the Silver Sonics to bounce into Metal Sonic is a neat mechanic to work with and works well as a pit stop between racing that isn’t too underwhelming of a challenge. How Silver Sonic jumps into the air across the room is a clear hint at what you need to do without being too in-your-face about it.
A great moment is right after the pit stop. The place explodes and it shifts to you running at high speeds with Metal Sonic trying to take you down again. At the end, we reach a circular path. We start running around a statue of Eggman himself (obviously reminiscent of Sonic CD Stardust Speedway Bad Future), which provides a cool visual effect.
We now have to avoid a wall of spikes instead of Eggman’s laser as we battle it out with Metal Sonic. The only reliable way to damage him is to avoid his telegraphed attacks and then hit him once. Hitting more is possible, but the risk of getting hit by the spike wall is too great.
The only real challenges are learning how to manage damage and speed, and Metal Sonic’s electric balls (unless you’re Tails).
I guess Metal Sonic doesn’t need a huge machine to actually charge the electric balls as we were led to believe.
And of course, they kept the same dash he does in Sonic CD, and thus looks like a looming ghost that lost his day job.
So overall, Metal Sonic’s fight has great presentation and is one of the more pleasant bosses. Although I couldn’t help but wonder how much of a game changer it would have been if the stage was more varied and Metal Sonic’s attacks were more memorable.
Hydrocity Zone
Act 1 – I aM tHe BoSs
Hydrocity’s Act 1 boss is Sonic 3’s Doctor Robotnik’s Waterspout and Depth Charge Machine, except this time the tables are turned.
The concept of playing as the boss itself just isn’t realized enough in games. This was quite the shock of a boss to face, but it was a warm welcome. It personally reminded me of the good old days of Lord of the Rings: The Third Age — an RPG with a mode that allowed you to play as the freakin’ Wraiths.
Act 2 – The Laundry Mobile & Whirlpool Copycat
Hydrocity’s Act 2 boss is a two-parter. The first part is a new, original Sonic boss that takes place underwater. The Laundry Mobile chases Sonic down with his fan blades, although ironically enough, those same blades are pushing Sonic away. Eggman becomes closer as we run into blocks and other objects. We hit bombs to knock them into Eggman while making sure he lines up with the bomb’s trajectory. If we don’t, we drown.
So this boss has that sense of urgency from potential drowning while maneuvering through the underwater dangers. It’s also interesting how one of the bombs forces you to hit blocks that bring Eggman closer. It’s as if the game is trying to force that progression of danger, which is a dangerous hand to play for three reasons:
The player isn’t going to want to go for the bomb since the risk is obvious and it reeks “don’t go for it”, especially since it looks like Eggman will hit you if you do go for it. If the player doesn’t go for the bomb, then the game essentially says, “Screw it, you’re gonna drown.” I managed a bubble right when the drowning music stopped. If the player is forced to commit such dangerous actions, it doesn’t necessarily feel rewarding, especially since missing said action could be unknowingly devastating. It just becomes trial and error at that point.
The second part is taken directly from Sonic 3 — the Whirlpool Machine. If they were going to take any boss from the previous games, why this one? Because of the nostalgia of spinning around helplessly while waiting to continue the boss battle?
So yes, it’s playing the waiting game. On top of that, the window for actually jumping over Eggman when he charges at you is unreliable — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The only reliable method would be to dash up the wall and jump off, but there’s no possible way of knowing which direction Eggman is going to come down. Luckily enough, it is quite easy to spin dash out of harm’s way.
Mirage Saloon Zone
Act 1 – The Hungry Little Caterkiller
The Uber Caterkiller jumps around as Sonic struggles to make even the slightest contact. The timing has to be spot-on. If you can’t get the timing down… well… the Caterkiller occasionally jumps from left to right and right to left which gives a clear shot of its head.
That’s it. Caterkiller is overall a very simple, waiting-game type of mini-boss that can drag on for too long if the player can’t seem to get that difficult timing down.
Well… unless you happen to get so lucky that the Caterkiller does nothing but jump back and forth, but then it becomes a waste of time.
Knuckles’ miniboss is the Caterkiller on the ground. It throws itself at you in a simple pattern that never varies. It’s quite obvious this was thrown together quickly for Knuckles’ only special stage.
Act 2 – Heavy Magician
The Heavy Magician uses illusions to take the form of Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear. Each form is fan service that utilizes a single, simple attack that presents minimal challenge and lasts for two hits. The boss survives 8 hits, meaning Fang the Sniper gets recycled, which is just lazy.
This is a fight that could have benefited from a second phase since it’s a pretty bare bones fight.
Oil Ocean Zone
Act 1 – Meter Droid
C-3PO throws his wrenches and turns his valves. The wrenches are a simple dodge fest. The green platforms rise when Meter Droid turns the release valve and lead to two safe spots and four spikes. The lack of spike visibility is an obvious design flaw which spoils the entire boss since Droid Man is overall that simple and unintriguing.
Act 2 – Mega Octus
Mega Octus is a combination of Sonic 3’s Lava Reef Zone’s Heat Arms mini-boss and Sonic 2’s Submarine Eggman, down to the T. The pointed tip snake flying over the platform, the laser cannon firing very slowly and three times while scorching the ground, and the tentacles firing at the player. While the combination is unique, the nostalgia hits hard and the boss itself is cumbersome.
The main fault is the oil for three reasons:
Once Sonic is down there, and you have to be down there if you want to get some hits in, then he’s down there. Getting back up onto solid ground is by chance. The oil slows Sonic down more so than his usual sluggish acceleration speed, meaning you become an easy target to the shooting Heat Arms, especially since you have to jump constantly if you don’t want to sink and die instantly. If you lose rings, you can’t recollect them since they fall straight through the oil.
Lava Reef Zone
Act 1 – Driller Droid
The Driller Droid isn’t a challenge, but a puzzle. It will follow a reticule on top of Sonic until it falls and digs into the rock, but it can’t be damaged yet. Three times and easy kill. But if the Driller Coid falls onto a spot already drilled, oh man, a spike ball falls from above on a predesignated spot unknown to the player! It’ll either break a wooden platform or bounce right into you. If it bounces, then it’s essentially a penalty almost certain to hit. So it’s a game show mini-boss, just like Egg Dealer!
Act 2 – Heavy Rider
The Heavy Rider is by far the worst designed main boss in the game. Sonic can stand still and the boss jumps over him. All Sonic has to do is wait until Heavy Rider charges and then time his jump — a painful waiting game.
Sonic could jump when Heavy Rider jumps hoping to hit her without running into the swinging spike ball, but that’s messy and unreliable.
Not to mention half of the stage isn’t even available since there’s not enough time to react if the fire spurts itself from above.
Act 2 – Heavy King
Knuckles’ boss isn’t Heavy Rider, thank goodness. A repeat of the Master Emerald incident from Sonic 3 occurs but with the Heavy King instead of Eggman.
The Heavy King charges himself per two attacks via Mecha Sonic’s Master Emerald method. He utilizes the extreme balance of movesets, where one attack is from below, one from above, and one is an all-around, direct approach.
Each attack is telegraphed with a distinct sound effect, since he’ll be off-screen part of the match. The attack from above is an idea centered around hiding underneath the Emeralds, although it proves to be unreliable and trial-and-error based.
The all-around, direct approach is an attack that, at first, proved to be a real challenge as the Heavy King came stomping from Emerald to Emerald and firing his energy balls. However, it ended up proving to be a satisfactory challenge that felt rewarding to successfully dodge, albeit Sonic controls have always been floaty and hard to design good bosses around.
Also, unskippable cutscenes have been a problem fixed long ago, especially if you’re designing a boss with a particular attack that takes practice to dodge but feels rewarding to do so. There’s really no excuse.
Metallic Madness Zone
Act 1 – Piston.. Madness?
We end up fighting Eggman in Act 1: the crushing piston final boss from Sonic 1, except this time there are 5 pistons instead of 4. The concept has always been a good one — Eggman has finally realized he can just crush Sonic.
While the energy balls take unnecessarily forever to charge and thus prove to be a nostalgic annoyance more than anything, the boss itself actually proves to be a well-designed throwback, especially because of the new second phase to the boss.
The second phase is where the pistons crush everything constantly and the energy balls no longer form. The pistons crush one at a time and prove to be a fun challenge where death feels fair.
Act 2 – Gashapandora
The Gashapon machine is nostalgia in a bottle that isn’t even blended. I know I frequently use that term, but I mean, come on, look at that: Sonic 1’s Marble Zone boss, Sonic 2’s first boss, and… Amy?!
You can make these miniatures pop out at whatever rate you please. The miniatures themselves provide no variety and a trivial challenge. After they’re all dead, Eggman flies down slowly, shooting bullets that I didn’t even realize existed when I first beat him, while Sonic pops him right out. Of course, that’s a nice touch, but the boss itself takes an interesting idea and only half-bakes it.
Titanic Monarch Zone
Act 1 – Crimson Tie
Crimson Rye is the same mini-boss as Red Eye from Sonic 3 (second phase changed).
The first phase requires Sonic to watch his footing as he hits the Eye. The rotating orbs move vertically and expand in an attempt to keep Sonic away. It feels fair since standing at the edges guarantees safety.
The second phase is when Crimson Eye breaks out of its cage. This is where the setting really shines — the elevator goes nuts, knocks Eye around, and affects Sonic’s gravity.
Elevator rising? Sonic can’t hit it and must time a jump when the gravity isn’t bearing upon him.
Elevator falling? Sonic can hit it but must watch out as it falls on top of him.
So there’s a balance between both elevator directions that capitalizes on the pros and cons of gravity. Unlike Red Eye, who wasn’t a challenge to avoid.
Crimson Thigh has that feeling of, “Oh crap this elevator shouldn’t be doing this we’re gonna die.” But you won’t. You’re safe in the arms of Sonic.
Act 2 – Heavy Man
Believe it or not, there’s not much to say about the Phantom Egg. It makes him look fat. Nothing new.
Phantom Egg is a waiting game. There’s nothing to do but run around as he bounces and electrifies cords that can be avoided by counting to three. What is interesting, however, is how he teleports you to different Heavies that require you to dodge, albeit poorly executed.
Rocket Man shoots rockets and you can knock a few back that are flying across the screen, but damaging Heavies does nothing in this boss so it’s an illusion.
Shuriken Man spins around and shoots his Sonic CD final boss blades. Stand in the middle and watch the extending arms try to reach you. This is one of those segments that feels like trial and error since you can’t know what he does before he starts rumbling you, especially since you’re placed in a spot where Shuriken Man can whack you if you don’t know what to do.
Magician Woman is plain unfair. Even if you know which hat she’s hiding in (which isn’t difficult), there’s not enough time to move underneath the correct one since Sonic’s acceleration is slow.
Motorcycle Woman is a series of jumps that otherwise stab you. Except that there’s no indication whatsoever of what’s going to happen, so it’s yet another unfair “mini-game”.
The developers have clearly never played WarioWare.
Egg Reverie Zone
With how epic this final spar for the Phantom Ruby is supposed to be, it turned out surprisingly dull and boring. The Heavy King turns into the Phantom King who surrounds himself with energy balls that bounce Sonic back and then fires them one at a time.
Alright, fair, but what isn’t is how absolutely ridiculous Eggman’s machine looks. Eggman obviously stopped trying long ago.
He shoots some kind of laser as well but it’s not even worth mentioning since this boss is so ridiculously easy that he never has the chance to even charge any laser he may or may not have.
Each of the two bosses has 8 hits and can only be hit once before swapping out, so this boss lasts longer than it should. It gets to the point where I’m wondering, “When is this going to end?”
And that’s all she wrote. Or.. I wrote.
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I want to thank our $10 plus Patrons: Michael ‘YaBoiLaurentius’. Every Patron helps us continue what we do as we strive to improve our content. Patrons receive Sneak Peeks, Behind the Scenes, Scripts/Notes, and access to our Discord.Brexit has divided us. It has divided our government almost as much as it has divided our nation. Yet for all their differences, Britain’s political class do share one very important thing in common regarding Brexit: they are both peddling the fantasy that Britain is in control of its destiny. It is not.
Now to be sure, Britain’s politicians must do this. After all, that is what the people of Britain voted for in the referendum: to “take back control.” And of course, after decades of self-serving anti-EU propaganda premised on how Brussels was robbing us of our sovereignty by the Conservative party and the large section of the press who backs them, it would not sit well with the public to admit that by voting to leave the EU we have painted ourselves into a corner where we have less control over our destiny than at any time since the Spanish Armada.
Nor could any prime minister ever admit to events being beyond their control. We have adopted a rather perverse cult of political leadership in our political culture which means that any prime minister who fails to shout constantly about how they are in complete control of the situation has basically tendered their resignation. And that is not just for the Conservatives or the government.
So Theresa May is stuck dishing out one drab mantra after another, “Brexit means Brexit,” “red white and blue Brexit” and all the rest of it, in the hope that this will distract the public from the obvious fact that the events are out of her hands. Boris Johnson, for his part, keeps serving carefully measured portions of fluffy verbiage in the hope that people will fail to notice that we cannot have our cake and eat it after all. And the Conservative party keep fighting a civil war in the press over the direction of Brexit as if they matter. They do not. This is all an empty political performance.
The EU project is in real trouble from populist insurgencies like our Brexit vote, and Europe’s leaders would never jeopardize it any further by rewarding this kind of rebellious behavior Dr. Azeem Ibrahim
The facts of Brexit are simple: either we stay in the Common Market which means that Britain will have a very similar relationship with the EU except it will not have any input in the decision processes in Brussels, even as we will continue to have to pay into the EU budget similarly large contributions and we will continue to accept full freedom of movement for people. This is something that Theresa May has already ruled out. Or, we will be cut out of any significant relationship with Europe and cast adrift into the Atlantic, easy pray for foreign corporations and the Chinese to plunder.
There is no middle way. Nobody in Europe has a net incentive to give us a mixed deal where we can have some of the advantages of belonging to the single market without paying for all of its costs. And the reason for this should be bleedingly obvious: the EU project is in real trouble from populist insurgencies like our Brexit vote, and Europe’s leaders would never jeopardize it any further by rewarding this kind of rebellious behaviour. They know that the moment that they give any undue concessions to the UK, everyone will want their own special arrangements and the EU will crumble within a decade.
All the arguments over a hard or soft Brexit are purely for domestic consumption. Our politicians are merely positioning themselves to appeal either to Eurosceptics or pro-Europeans in future elections. Brexit is going to be a hard Brexit. That has already been decided in Brussels, Berlin and Paris. London has lost all control.
________________
Azeem Ibrahim is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Policy and Adj Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. He completed his PhD from the University of Cambridge and served as an International Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a World Fellow at Yale. Over the years he has met and advised numerous world leaders on policy development and was ranked as a Top 100 Global Thinker by the European Social Think Tank in 2010 and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He tweets @AzeemIbrahim
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Last Update: Saturday, 17 December 2016 KSA 09:02 - GMT 06:02Muscle March (マッスル行進曲, Massuru Kōshinkyoku ) is a video game by Namco Bandai Games for WiiWare. It was released in Japan on May 26, 2009, in North America on January 18, 2010 and the PAL region on March 19, 2010. [1]
Each of the game's three levels involves players chasing after a thief, who has stolen their bodybuilding friends' tub of protein powder, through a number of environments. The premise is similar to Hole in the Wall in which players follow the thief as they crash through walls, leaving holes in the form of bodybuilding poses, which the player must make their character squeeze through by gesturing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to match the pose. At the end of the level, players must shake the controllers to catch up and tackle the thief.
Players can choose from a number of flamboyant characters including an American boxer, a British female bodybuilder, a top hat wearing Spaniard, a Norwegian polar bear, a Ghanaian bodybuilder with an afro and a rubber ducky on top, a Russian bodybuilder with a mohawk and headphones, and a Japanese bodybuilder with goofy goggles and a topknot. The game features the standard arcade mode and a time attack mode that sees players trying to survive for as long as possible against increasingly faster speeds.[2]Introduction
Euclid’s Elements form one of the most beautiful and influential works of science in the history of humankind. Its beauty lies in its logical development of geometry and other branches of mathematics. It has influenced all branches of science but none so much as mathematics and the exact sciences. The Elements have been studied 24 centuries in many languages starting, of course, in the original Greek, then in Arabic, Latin, and many modern languages.
I'm creating this version of Euclid’s Elements for a couple of reasons. The main one is to rekindle an interest in the Elements, and the web is a great way to do that. Another reason is to show how Java applets can be used to illustrate geometry. That also helps to bring the Elements alive.
The text of all 13 Books is complete, and all of the figures are illustrated using the Geometry Applet, even those in the last three books on solid geometry that are three-dimensional. I still have a lot to write in the guide sections and that will keep me busy for quite a while.
This edition of Euclid’s Elements uses a Java applet called the Geometry Applet to illustrate the diagrams. If you enable Java on your browser, then you’ll be able to dynamically change the diagrams. In order to see how, please read Using the Geometry Applet before moving on to the Table of Contents.By Kate E Lore
Photo: Cosplayers Phoenix Kasai (Rogue) and Nataniel Grauwelman (Gambit); photo credit: Scott D. M. Simmons
My overeager feet nearly trip themselves. The parking lot at the Nutter Center feels like a vast ocean and I am anxious to reach the horizon. Charging forward, the air is abuzz with excitement. I pass a guy with green hair smoking a cigarette casually talking to a zombie. Through the doors, the volume is turned up several notches. I am immediately in line. In front of me there is a man in his 50s having a very serious debate over “Batman Year One” with his pre-teen son. Behind me is Wonder Woman who’s stoked about the guest list. Suddenly, a very tall and threatening Darth Vader walks past me. He is followed by four Storm Troopers in military formation. Here I can geek out with excitement and have no fear of judgment. For I am amongst my people, and my people are totally awesome.
Gem City Comic Con (GCCC) is Dayton, Ohio’s largest comic book convention. This year, the action will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 23 and 24. For the first time, the 2013 GCCC will be held this year at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in Fairborn. In years past, GCCC had been held directly on the Wright State University campus. This move to a larger venue speaks for the growth of the event.
Daytonians have been known to travel thousands of miles to attend comic book conventions, spending hours on end to create the perfect costume and stand in line for ages with the dedication of only the most extreme devotees. But, surprisingly, a lot of these local people do not know about Gem City Comic Con. This convention, which is held right here in our backyard, has been steadily growing year by year.
Nine years ago, Jesse Noble had been like any other local comic book enthusiast. He was tired of having to travel so far to get to the nearest comic book convention. One day, on a whim, Noble bought a huge collection of comics – this was a good deal for the money, but it was also an absurdly large amount. Having more comics than he needed, Noble decided to get rid of that stash the fun way: he decided to run a convention. Already working for Wright State University, he had access to the perfect venue and thus Gem City Comic Con was born.
Noble had been to comic book conventions before. From this he was able to see and learn from the mistakes of others. “I wanted the con to be about comics first,” said Noble. He intentionally steered away from big-named guests who tend to steal the focus at these events. Anyone who comes to GCCC as a guest is always working in comics somehow and they are not presented as the main focus of the convention. Some of the more noted guests might get their own panel for questions from fans, but out on the promotional floor all tables are created equal. It’s up to the individuals to present themselves and their work.
For the last eight years, GCCC had been held on the Wright State campus using the Student Union. This is made up of several large banquet halls and a few smaller rooms. For one weekend a year, here you could find comics for sale from both local vendors and outside collectors. There were artists displaying their work and trying to get word out about their projects. They had card tournaments and celebrity artists signing autographs. In the side rooms you’d find discussion panels about different art techniques, Q & A sessions or maybe lectures about breaking into the biz. All around this would flow eager fans, many of them dressed in full costume. These dedicated comic book supporters are the driving force behind the growth of this con.
The coolest thing about GCCC is that the fans themselves lead the direction of the convention. “This is the fans’ show, I’m just a custodian,” laughed Noble. It is the fans who push for certain artists and series. These fans are the ones who determine which events are more popular than others. It’s about what the fans want … and the fans want more.
“We have doubled our sellers, quadrupled our artists and we add about two new guests every year,” said Noble. Within these years, they’ve extended the card tournament, filled up both the selling room and the artists’ alley, as well as added more panels, including Comic Book Jeopardy. “I’d say we’ve increased a thousand percent compared to that very first year,” Noble estimated.
There are some big and exciting changes in store for this year’s convention, which will be taking place on the first floor of the Nutter Center. “The Student Union worked well, except we outgrew it,” Noble said. “The new move was always our goal. This jump to the Nutter Center is part of the natural evolution. It’s been a slow but steady growth.”
This year, with the new, larger location, GCCC will be hosting its first ever costume contest. “People have been showing up in costumes every year since it started, but this is the first year where we actually had the space to host a contest,” said Noble. There will be a contest for adults on Saturday and one for children on Sunday. Both of these will be judged by the professional costumer Phoenix Kasai.
This new location has also allowed space for 50 new exhibitors who are selling top-notch work cheaply while trying to get exposure. The Nutter Center has allowed for double the amount of panels from previous years. Some of these panels, “give you the unique opportunity to sit in a semi-intimate environment where you can ask questions to your favorite creators,” said Noble. “On Saturday, about half of the panels will be devoted to ‘Learning With Pictures’ which is a teacher-operated program that aims to help children learn through graphic art.”
The very popular “Magic The Gathering” card tournament, hosted by Bell, Book and Comic, has added one-third more seating thanks to this new location. This year promises to have upped the quality of the prizes as well. “[Wizards of the Coast, who publish ‘Magic The Gathering’] are officially supporting the tournament,” said Noble. This should mean some seriously cool prizes for tournament winners. There will be several “Magic the Gathering” competitions running consistently throughout Saturday starting at 11 a.m. For Sunday, there will be some alternative games such as “Heroclix” and “Fantasy Flight-Star Wars” at 1 p.m., followed by Yu-Gi-Oh at 2 p.m.
Considering all this, it’s fair to say that what had started as an attempt to sell some comics has turned into quite the undertaking. With all the organizing, work and stress, why keep doing it? What makes it all worth it?
“My Dad always works the door for me. Every year he says that we didn’t advertise so nobody will come … But then every year we find a line of people waiting for the doors to open.” People who are eager, excited and grateful for a comic book convention in Dayton, Ohio. Noble also enjoys seeing the people in costumes, which had not been expected at first, as there had never been an official costume contest prior to this year. “The enthusiasm of the fans is what really keeps it going,” Noble said.
There has also been some success from exposure for artists who had started with displaying at GCCC early in their careers. “It’s extremely rewarding when people come back after they’ve made it, like artist Sean Foley. He’s a professional illustrator who started independent, but now works for Marvel. Seeing him reap the rewards of his hard work and the fact that he comes back every year is gratifying,” said Noble.
As you might imagine, one of the benefits of running a convention is that you get to hang out with the guests behind the scenes. “Over dinner Saturday, we all get together to eat and talk about books, etc. You get an idea of the behind-the-scenes workings, which is really cool. Some of the older guests can talk about the legends from the heyday of Marvel who they knew and worked with,” said Noble. “Chris Claremont came one year and told a story about talking to Stan Lee about a new adding a new character to ‘X-Men.’ That character became Wolverine.”
Something that is extra special to Noble is the Hero’s Initiative auction. This will be a live charity auction Saturday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. It will be hosted by Frank Raynor and Bill Gladman in Berry Room 2 at the Nutter Center as part of the event. “Artists have donated original artwork for the cause and it’s run by official members of the organization,” explained Noble. Hero’s Initiative aims to help creators in need. “They assist retired artists and writers who have no health care, as well as current creators [who fall into trouble],” said Noble. Josh Meters, one of Noble’s friends from Columbus, had been an up-and-comer getting published for Top Cow books when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. “Hero’s Initiative helped Josh financially and even assisted him in finding work when his health began to improve. He got a gig with Death Dealer thanks to them,” said Noble. With the rate of growth for this convention it is fair to be worried that it might eventually outgrow our city altogether. I’ve seen that happen before with other conventions that ultimately ended up in bigger cities. Noble assured me, “This is Dayton’s convention. We are technically outside of the city right now but we have no intention of ever leaving the Miami Valley.” So rest assured, Gem City Comic Con is all ours and it’s not going anywhere.
This is a convention for my people, the people of Dayton. We demanded, we deserved and every year it grows larger. I asked Noble about his hopes for the future of this convention. “To be consistently better,” he said. “Few more guests, more attendee pop culture fans.”
I’ll openly admit to being a geek and I’ll also let loose that I’ve been to more than my share of conventions. I fully understand Noble’s frustration nine years ago at Dayton’s complete lack of comic book conventions. I respect his ambition at starting a convention himself and I admire his success thus far. Jesse Noble has done something Dayton had only dreamed of for so long. “This convention competes with Columbus, Pittsburgh and Chicago,” Noble said. “Here we are front and center, Dayton, Ohio.”
Gem City Comic Con takes place March 23-24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ervin J. Nutter Center, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway in Fairborn. Admission is $15 for the full weekend or $8 for a one-day pass. For more information, visit gemcitycomiccon.com.In a Baltimore trial courtroom on Monday, a local judge threatened to hold a police detective in contempt of court for refusing to disclose how police located a 16-year-old robbery suspect’s phone. Once the Baltimore Police were able to locate Shemar Taylor’s phone, they then searched his house and found a gun as well.
But rather than disclose the possible use of a stingray, also known as a cell site simulator, Detective John L. Haley cited a non-disclosure agreement, likely with a federal law enforcement agency (such as the FBI) and/or the Harris Corporation, since the company is one of the dominant manufacturers of such devices. Stingrays can be used to determine a phone’s location, and they can also intercept calls and text messages.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams retorted, "You don't have a nondisclosure agreement with the court," according to the Baltimore Sun.
The prosecution then withdrew the evidence of the phone and gun but said it would still pursue the case. Neither Assistant State's Attorney Patrick R. Seidel nor defense attorney Joshua Insley immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment. Angelita Plemmer Williams, a spokeswoman for the State of Maryland Judiciary, told Ars that Judge Williams was prohibited under court rules from speaking to the press “on pending cases that may still be appealed.”
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Cultural Revolution. They grew up during the chaotic social movements which gave their films a distinct perspective. Although the time of fifth generation film-makers were considered to have partially ended before the 1990s (after Tienanmen Square protests of 1989), some of these film-makers’ greatest works were made in the early 1990s, The sixth and post-sixth generation directors too followed their predecessors’ way of making films outside the Chinese film system (often engaged in confrontations with censors). Among the fifth generation film-makers, Zhang Yimou is a very popular name among the international art-house movie-lovers. His oeuvre could be easily distinguished between the works made before and after 1994. Yimou’s early films like “Red Sorghum” (1987), “Ju Dou” (1990) criticized both the absurd old, traditional values as well as the oppressive, contemporary social system. His early works were often disapproved by Chinese critics and censors, blaming him for confirming the Western image of China (as poor and backward). Nevertheless, Zhang Yimou’s portrayal of the Chinese society never relied on caricatures; it often shines with humanism and hope.
In 1994, Zhang Yimou adapted novelist Yu Hua 1992 novel titled To Live aka “Huo zhe”. It is a significant movie for brooding on a politically sensitive topic and also happens to be the last film before Zhang Yimou made a transition in his film-making style. Upon its release, To Live was immediately banned. Although it won the year’s Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, the film was never released officially in China. Later, Zhang wasn’t allowed to receive foreign funds for the production of his movies. He then opted to make conventional, non-politicized films like “Shanghai Triad”, “The Road Home”, “Happy Times”, etc (To Live was the last of Zhang’s movie to be banned in China). Two of the critically and commercially successful ventures – “Hero” (2002) and “House of Flying Daggers” (2004) – brought him back the international fame. His refined cinematic language added dazzling quality to those martial arts films. The trailer of his upcoming CGI extravaganza “The Great Wall” simply introduces Zhang Yimou as a ‘visionary’. I do love the sumptuous visual treat he has offered in the past decade or so, but I mostly prefer Zhang Ymou, the preeminent, sociopolitical film-maker.
“To Live” chronicles the hardships faced by a family for more than three decades, from the Chinese Civil War to Cultural Revolution. Yimou makes a sweeping & sharp examination of the Chinese revolution through the life experiences of the ordinary people. The melodramatic contrivances in the plot and the light-hearted take on the source novel were generally criticized. But after plenty of repeated viewings, I must say that To Live has never ceased to amaze me, providing one of the most touching and thought-provoking movie experiences. The film often takes a melodramatic turn without being wholly dramatic or insipid. The way Zhang Yimou contextualizes the country’s sociopolitical history through the eyes of these ‘salt of the earth’ people is a wonder to behold. Neither the characters are reduced into hero/villain categories nor do they serve only as a mouth-piece for director to spew his ideologies. Apart from being a human drama and a critique on Mao’s regime, To Live also possesses existential themes. What does the phrase ‘to live’ means to these ordinary people, whose greatest joys comes in very little doses, encompassed inside the never-ending day-to-day struggle.
The film is set in Yimou’s favorite small town setting. He is a genius when it comes to adding copious amount of little details to life of people, habituating in small towns. The movie opens on a narrow stone street, riddled with traditionally built mansions, taking us back to the waning days of Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China (after the end of World War II). Xu Fugui (Ge You) is a landlord who leads a debauched life, spending whole night in a local gambling house. After a long night of gambling, he is carried by a female servant. Fugui’s compulsive gambling had led him run up a vast ledger of debts. At home, he scowls at his wife Jianzhen’s (Gong Li) protests. Fugui’s parents are too old to control their son. One day the gambling debts run up to a point, which forces Fugui to sell-off their ancestral home. As he is tossed into the street, his pregnant wife leaves him, taking along their little daughter. Fugui’s father dies, unable to cope with his son’s vile, self-indulgent behavior. When Fugui becomes a changed man and starts to work on the streets (as a puppeteer), his wife returns back with their little son Youqing and daughter Fengxia. Nevertheless, tragedy follows him as he is forcefully drafted into military (first forced to serve under National Revolutionary Army and later under Communist Red Army) during the 1949 Chinese civil war. When the war is over, Fugui returns to his family to begin a new life under the new people’s government.
Ever-smiling, little Fengxia has lost her voice to a high fever. But, their life is far better and looks promising. The new government has given Jianzhen the job to deliver water and the local communist party leader of the region is a genial man. The focused, energetic local bunch are working towards the party’s goal of communal happiness. Fugui witnesses the execution of the man who has newly occupied their family’s ancestral home. The guy was killed publicly for being a landlord and disapproving the communist regime. Panic-stricken Fugui returns to home and tells his wife that they are now lucky to be part of poor, working class. He also frames the certificate he received from the Red Army to totally discard their landlord past. The narrative then shifts to two vital time frame under Mao’s rule: The Great Leap Forward (between 1958 and 1961); and Cultural Revolution (commenced in 1966). Fugui’s family faced little joys and countless tragedies during that totalitarian era, when the rulers annihilated the existence of private space and individual happiness. Even though, Fugui and Jianzhen are repeatedly caught in the storm, stirred by sociopolitical changes, their innocent souls withhold hope for the future. The sense of being together as a family gives them the need ‘to live’ than the alleged ideological framework proposed by their non-personified oppressors.
Most of Zhang’s movies from the late 1980s and early 1990s present traditional Chinese elements (related to its culture). The old shadow-puppet play is used in “To Live” to track down each of the transition period in Fugui’s life. From the earlier days, he plays puppets for fun to the day it all are burnt, the puppets serves as the passive elements, bridging his past to the present. The puppets reinvigorate Fugui’s purpose in life at different times. The aesthetic sensibilities of Zhang makes us a participant (may be passive) than being a disconnected observer. Zhang’s examination may not be original or less subtle, but there’s honesty in the way he presents his characters and contextualizes their joy and pain. Despite grounding the characters and events in a realistic environment, Zhang’s narrative does embrace few melodramatic ideas. Even in those circumstances, he immerses us deep into the characters’ viewpoint (the credit also goes to these great performers) that we can’t do anything but react to their struggles. He humanizes the on-screen melodrama to a point that it looks like an unforced drama, flowing with humanity. His art form is so unforgettable and smoothly flows through which allows him the space to perfectly incorporate his personal idealism. To Live isn’t the darkest drama the censor officials thought it was. Director Zhang diffuses his frames and narrative with many subtle elements. There are a lot of comedic moments, like when Fugui rushes to his wife after the execution of a landlord or when precocious kid Yongqing teaches a lesson the bullies. The imagery of Mao and the red color increasingly permeates throughout the narrative as the difference between private and public space keeps on blurring.
Perceiving “To Live” only as a sentimental drama, set in the era of Chinese communism, would stop us from connecting with many of its subtleties, metaphors and acute ironies. I have personally experienced or found something new every time I watch the existential quandaries of Fugui family. It is true that Zhang’s film isn’t as scathing or subtle as the examination of the same era by fellow fifth-generation film-makers Tian Zhuangzhuang (in“Blue Kite”) and Chen Kaige (in the Palme d’Or award winning “Farewell, My Concubine”) – both these masterpieces released a year prior to To Live. Nevertheless, Zhang’s brand of humanistic film-making has struck me deeply. Contrary to the Censor’s opinion, To Live isn’t an anti-communist film. Zhang takes a neutral approach to showcase what it means to live in that period. The camaraderie of the townspeople, the citizens trusting their leaders and the leaders respecting the common people are some positivity of the ideology that was later pervaded with paranoia and fear. Everyone’s work and achievement are recognized in those periods when Mao called up for the “The Great Leap Forward”. On the other hand, we see how the ideology’s amalgamation of private sphere into the public sphere affects individual’s decisions. The prioritization of individual thoughts over the alleged collective goodness intermingles with every affair that confounds Fugui and his family. There’s a sense of irony in how Fugui’s lucky turn to be a part of the proletarians (by gambling away all his properties) brings tragedies to him at every turn. In fact, the oppressive regime plays an indirect hand in the two key decisions (that shapes the eventual fate of his son and daughter) taken by Fugui. This blurring of private and public space under Communist regime also makes me think how much of the decisions we make (in our democratic, capitalist system) is influenced by pressure from public sphere (are we really free to decide, unlike those by-gone era’s Chinese people?).
To Live isn’t a story of staunch revolutionaries believing in everything the new authority put forth on them. Even the loyal follower of Mao, Wan Erxi (Fugui’s son-in-law) behaves in a practical, humane manner when a problem arises. The basic reason behind people struggling together as a commune is not because they have learned Communism overnight. Fugui and others are totally clueless about their allegiance to this new ideology. They approach it with hindsight and with a hope that it will better their lives. This particular approach to the characters makes us easily relate with them. We might be fascinated by a rulers’ rhetoric or a government’s policy, but in the end all the individuals and communities (with conflicting opinions) desire is a promise for good life. Apart from the propaganda speech uttered by the good-hearted Mr. Niu, the common people didn’t cook and slept with their families on streets for crusading against Western Capitalism. They believed it will eradicate the sufferings, at least for their children and children’s children. Zhang Yimou pays tribute to the great sacrifice of these people (without taking guns to the borderlands). There’s something commendable about those Chinese people who believed in the togetherness of family and community, never reaching out for blind ideological or religious support. Zhang beautifully symbolizes the failed desires of the uprooted young through simple things like ‘dumplings’ & ‘photographs’. In the final scene, when Fugui talks to his grand-kid Little Bun, the director uses chickens to symbolize the hope for future generations, built on the strenuous effort of previous generations. Even those who aren’t aware of Chinese history or not interested in its political message can relate it with the struggles faced by predecessors to provide a stepping-stone for the future generations (not just exclusive to Chinese people).
Ge You deserved the Best Actor Award he won in the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. This film marks the sixth creative collaboration between Zhang and Gong Li (their personal relationship waned after “Shanghai Triad” (1995)). Both the actors are stunningly naturalistic. The narrative offers us brief snapshots of the family’s 30 year life, but you could witness the amazing weight they bring to their characters, as if we have lived closer to them, sharing those 30 years of hardships and joys. Gong Li’s performances in Zhang’s films are a sheer wonder to behold. It’s a big challenge hold back the tears in the scene (every time I watch) when she breaks down in the hospital, holding her daughter in the hands. The three actors who play innocent Fengxia at different life stages are perfect choices. Perhaps, the greatest aspect of To Live is Zhang and his magnificent ensemble’s expert skill to make us fully perceive the reality faced by the on-screen characters.
In my humble opinion, To Live aka ‘Huo zhe’ (132 minutes) is one of the greatest & wisest family dramas ever made. The vital historical context and the overt as well as subtle sociopolitical messages are well balanced with rich and intricate human drama.
★★★★1/2
Huo zhe — The Film Sufi
Huo zhe — Politics and FilmAmidst all the fear surrounding the Zika virus outbreak, there is an egregious bit of misinformation being circulated that the outbreak could somehow be the result of genetically modified mosquitoes that were being tested to control mosquito populations.
According to a report in Business Insider which was the first to refute the story, the theory of seems to have originated on the social media site Reddit (under the subcategory ‘conspiracy’). Subsequently, an article titled “GMO mosquitoes could be cause of Zika outbreak, critics say,” appeared on the website of Russia Today (a government funded news network that is known to promote conspiracy theories). A day later, the UK tabloid Daily Mail published a similar piece with the title “Are scientists to blame for Zika virus? Researchers released genetically modified mosquitos into Brazil three years ago.” Worryingly, more articles are appearing on smaller news outlets and being shared on other social media sites as well.
The idea carries no scientific weight or credibility, and such news reports also highlight the same kind of poor reporting that undermined legitimate communication efforts during the Ebola outbreak last year, threatening to move focus away from what is important — making sure that people receive the most up to date and accurate information possible.
Oxitec, the company behind the trials, are attempting to reduce the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes which are the major vectors for carrying mosquito borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya and Zika by creating genetically engineering sterile males. The trials that have been conducted in the past few years have proved so successful that the city of Piracicaba recently entered into an agreement with Oxitec to expand its efforts and build a larger facility. (See this GLP article from last week for a detailed look at how the mosquito works).
You don’t have to look too far beneath the surface to see that the recent claims of modified mosquitoes causing Zika have no merits. There is no evidence presented and the chief ‘critical’ quote is taken from a 2012 comment made by Helen Wallace, head of the anti-GMO group GeneWatch in response Oxitec’s mosquito trials conducted that year. For a thorough debunking of the claims in the Zika conspiracy theory, see this blog by The Mad Virologist which breaks down several conspiracies surrounding the Zika outbreak (Update: Christie Wilcox at Discover Magazine similar thoughts on the conspiracy and media reporting of it). Lydia Ramsey of Business Insider also makes several pertinent points as to why no one should believe the conspiracy. And when she actually interviewed an expert, this is what he said:
When we chatted with Alex Perkins, a Notre Dame biological sciences professor, about the Zika mosquito conspiracy, he told us nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, “It could very well be the case that genetically modified mosquitos could end up being one of the most important tools that we have to combat Zika,” Perkins said. “If anything, we should potentially be looking into using these more.”
The world will always have conspiracy theorists. But my ire in this case, is not directed at them. Instead it is more at reporters and editors who think it is appropriate to publish unfounded claims with no supporting information whatsoever. The Daily Mail is not known for its quality of reporting but it is a newspaper with a very large readership, both in print and online. Mail Online, the website of the Daily Mail has over 11.4 million daily visitors, and by all measures Russia Today is widely viewed as well, given that the article has been shared close to 15,000 times on Facebook. Achieving such a large reader base comes a degree of responsibility which increases greatly during a time of crisis, when the need for information is extremely high. Giving conspiracy theories a platform legitimizes them, creating fear and panic which is the last thing that is needed in a crisis.
The 2014 Ebola outbreak was a watershed moment for health reporting that we can look back to see how misinformation changed the outlook of the epidemic. Social media in retrospect had made things better and worse — better in that it easier to get the right word out about what people can and should do in a health emergency, but worse in that it is harder to control the spread of misinformation. As Victor Luckerson wrote in TIME during the Ebola crisis:
Trying to stem the spread of bad information online actually shares many similarities with containing a real-world virus. Infected Internet users, who may have picked up bogus info from an inaccurate media report, another person on social media or word-of-mouth, proceed to “infect” others with each false tweet or Facebook post. …. Moments of crisis, when there’s a vacuum of accurate information, only exacerbate this. “Fear has a role,” says Emilio Ferrara, a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University’s Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research. “If I read something that leverages my fears, my judgement would be obfuscated, and I could be more prone to spread facts that are obviously wrong under the pressure of these feelings.”
He also quoted the role of the CDC in making accurate information available, saying “Quick, accurate information disseminated as widely as possible, experts say, is the only way to combat the spread of falsities.”
We are fighting a pandemic that has health officials around the world scrambling for solutions. And we are doing so with a very limited set of tools. The Oxitec mosquitoes has proved to be safe and successful on a small scale and it will be many more years of testing and field trials before we will know whether it can be used safely and efficiently on a large scale. However, spreading misinformation about its use only serves to promote fear and could potentially delay its course — a dangerous outcome, given that this is unlikely to be the last mosquito borne epidemic we will see.
In a recent panel discussion conducted by the DC Science Writers Association about reporting during the Ebola crisis, Joel Achenbach, a reporter for the Washington Post talked about the responsibility of the journalists, saying, “our challenge at the Post was to be a good filter of the news so that we would not feed the hysteria.” We are yet again faced with a similar situation ripe for the spread of hysteria. Let’s hope we do better this time.
Arvind Suresh is a science media liaison at the Genetic Expert News Service. He is also a science communicator and a former laboratory biologist. Follow him @suresh_arvind.Mass. State Police Sgt. Sean Murphy Relieved of Duty
The status of his duty will be reviewed next week.
Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Sean Murphy has been relieved of duty, just a few hours after the 25-year veteran of the Massachusetts State Police gave Boston magazine hundreds of photographs that he took from behind the scenes of the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Though he’s been relieved of duty, Murphy has not been fired. The status of his duty is to be reviewed next week.
Two lieutenants in an unmarked cruiser and a sergeant in a marked cruiser arrived at Murphy’s home about 7:40 tonight and, during about 20 minutes at his home, took the following: his gun, badge, ammunition, handcuffs, baton, bulletproof vest, cameras, police ID, license to fire arms, pepper spray, cellphone and computer. Murphy was also ordered not to speak to the press or discuss the capture of Tsarnaev with anyone else.
Murphy turned over the images to us because he was upset with the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, which he feels glamorizes Tsarnaev. He wanted people to see what he feels is more accurate portrait of a terrorist.
“As a professional law-enforcement officer of 25 years, I believe that the image that was portrayed by Rolling Stone magazine was an insult to any person who has every worn a uniform of any color or any police organization or military branch, and the family members who have ever lost a loved one serving in the line of duty,” he said. “The truth is that glamorizing the face of terror is not just insulting to the family members of those killed in the line of duty, it also could be an incentive to those who may be unstable to do something to get their face on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
“I hope that the people who see these images will know that this was real. It was as real as it gets. This may have played out as a television show, but this was not a television show. Officer Dick Donohue almost gave his life. Officer Sean Collier did give his life. These were real people, with real lives, with real families. And to have this cover dropped into Boston was hurtful to their memories and their families. I know from first-hand conversations that this Rolling Stone cover has kept many of them up—again. It’s irritated the wounds that will never heal—again. There is nothing glamorous in bringing more pain to a grieving family.”[quote=“Sunny King, post:93, topic:1778”]v0.4 released.
Source code:
GitHub peercoin/peercoin Peercoin Official Development Tree. Contribute to peercoin/peercoin development by creating an account on GitHub.
Official builds for linux and windows
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ppcoin/files/0.4.0/
Gitian signatures of release builds
GitHub peercoin/peercoin.gitian.sigs Gitian signatures of peercoin release builds. Contribute to peercoin/peercoin.gitian.sigs development by creating an account on GitHub.
Cheers :)[/quote]
Thanks for that, Sunny.
(separate note)
Some of the folks where talking about a walk-thru for putting in the new wallet. I can’t seem to find the original thread, but this should be closely related enough.
Did anyone ever have a chance to create a ‘this is up you setup your new wallet over your old wallet’ walk-thru? Or is this something that we should considering doing now before the cutoff is fully realized?From CTV:
A day after his landslide re-election, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall hinted at a new battle with union leaders. “We’re not going to be looking for arguments, but if there’s opportunities to increase accountability and transparency for union members, we’re going to pursue those,” Wall said Tuesday. Wall, who has butted heads with union leaders since his Saskatchewan Party came to power in 2007, mused during the election campaign about requiring unions to reveal how they spend their members’ money. On Tuesday, he said that could mean legislation as early as this fall, although he wouldn’t provide details. “We know there’s a certain amount of publication of union finances that happens now, but maybe it should be even more forthright,” he said.
I see, so more harassment of unions. Excellent. I particularly like this quote:
“We’re not going to worry as much about the relationship with union leadership that made it quite clear … that they’re not entirely interested in working with the government or the truth of the record of the government of Saskatchewan.”
Now that’s just rich. “Truth”? What nonsense. Here’s reality: it’s Brad Wall and his government who are “not entirely interested” in working with union leadership. Example: the Wall government swooped into power and immediately introduced anti-union legislation which Wall and his government brought in without any consultation with unions.
Not a surprise: the Sask Party certainly seem to be on friendly terms with the business groups that push for anti-union laws, and they seem far cozier with said business groups then the Sask. NDP has been to labour groups in the past three decades.
Yes, labour unions have historically supported the NDP, though often grudgingly and not without some big falling-outs. And yes, labour has mistrusted the Saskatchewan Party since the party was founded. But Brad Wall and co. proved that mistrust founded with their actions after they won the 2007 election (and let’s not forget Wall agreeing that “going to war with unions” would be an accurate description of his labour policy before he was even elected premier).
It is baloney for Wall to pretend that his government has been unfairly treated by union leadership. He came to power, threw a bunch of punches and now labour’s leadership doesn’t like him and he’s threatening to use that as an excuse to further the attack? Good grief.
Wall shouldn’t be so full of himself. He just won a landslide because 1.) the economy’s great 2.) many voters — and a lot of NDP supporters — loathed Lingenfelter, and 3.) voters aren’t yet paying close attention to the Sask Party (see point one).
Well, Lingenfelter’s gone and points one and three can and will change.
Brad Wall has a good gig here and a possible huuuge future in federal politics. He would be wise not to mess it up by waging elective wars with people whose he’s already pushed to the, er, Wall.Westvleteren's Quiet Way Previous | Next
Having one of your beers judged as the best in the world is an honour most breweries would give their eye teeth for. But for one brewery it was not such good news.
When a leading internet beer site bestowed the honour on Westvleteren’s Abt, the subsequent media and consumer attention it generated created serious problems for the poor, unassuming Belgian monks that brew it.
The Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren was founded in 1831, when a handful of brothers from the nearby abbey of Catsberg broke away and set up their own fraternity in an area of flat fields and woodland in West Flanders.
Despite the tragedies of two world wars that have raged through their backyard, the abbey has grown and flourished.
Brewing has been part and parcel of life here since the early days, offering nourishment in times of fasting and, as at the other Trappist monasteries that brew, also providing financial input, a revenue stream that helps keep the abbey ship-shape and supports worthy local causes.
In Its Place
But, more than at any other Trappist monastery, the brewery at Westvleteren is kept well and truly in its place. Indeed, in the 1940s, Abbot Dom Gerardus Deleye decided to cut back production. The tail was not going to wag this dog.
For a number of years, Saint Sixtus beers were also brewed under licence by the St Bernardus brewery, a few miles away, but the agreement drew to a close in 1992 and now – although St Bernardus’s own abbey beers make excellent substitutes – the monks’ own beer is only brewed at the monastery itself.
A new brewhouse was added at the turn of the 1990s but the output is still capped at 4,800 hectolitres (just under 3,000 imperial barrels) a year. It’s no good asking for more, they won’t brew any. What’s more, they don’t distribute the beers either.
If you want to buy some, you have to telephone the abbey at a given time (and no other: consult the schedule of what’s available, and when, on the abbey’s website) and – assuming you actually get through – place an order.
You will then be given a small allowance, if you’re lucky and if you promise to keep it for personal consumption and not sell it commercially.
The alternative is to do what I did – make your way to Westvleteren and call into the abbey’s own café, just across the road. Here you can drink the beer on site, or pick up a bottle or two to take away, but again you won’t be able to fill the boot of your car.
In Peace
Café ‘In de Vrede’ (‘In Peace’) is not what you’d expect to find at a hallowed religious establishment. It looks a bit like a modern church from the outside but inside it’s airy and barn-like. It was constructed in 1999 to replace an older one that the monks considered too noisy and disruptive for their lifestyle.
The style is open-plan cafeteria – so don’t expect closeted charm – seating 250 people inside and another 200 in the open air. Attached to the eating and drinking area is a small museum of abbey life, accessible free of charge.
Just because the bar is effectively the brewery tap doesn’t mean it can abuse its position when it comes to doling out the precious beers. Manager Philip De Backer (pictured left) – who is not himself a monk – is given an annual allowance of Westvleteren products and has to use it wisely.
Priority is given to sales for consumption in the café itself, and this means that, while the shop often has bottles to take away, it doesn’t always. ‘I have to make sure I don’t run out beer,’ he says, ‘which has happened’.
So what is it about the beers that makes them so craved after by beer nuts? No doubt their rarity counts for a lot. You always want what you can’t get. But that would be to overlook the quality of the beers themselves.
These are brewed only from pale malts. The dark colour seen in two of the beers is the result of the addition of dark candy sugar. The hops are the Northern Brewer strain and yeast used comes from fellow Trappist brewery Westmalle.
On my visit to In de Vrede (pictured below), I settled down with a glass of the beer simply known as 8 – a throwback to the old way of declaring approximate strength – which was beautifully served in a branded chalice with a downy duvet of foam.
It was sweet and warming to taste, yet with a robust bitterness, too. Malt and brown sugar flavours led the way, with spicy, earthy notes emerging, alongside winey, raisin fruitiness. Sugary the finish may have been, but it was also drying and robustly bitter at the same time, leaving a sappy hop character.
I also managed to try the relatively new Blonde. This was only introduced when the new café was built and it replaced a brown number 6. The monks had brewed a blonde for their own consumption previously, but at a mere 4%.
They upped their game to create this 5.8% replacement and now no longer brew a weaker beer for private consumption. Unlike the darker Westvleteren beers, which are designed to improve with bottle conditioning and years of maturity, the Blonde is meant to be drunk young and fresh.
The taste is bitter and herbal but with enough honeyed sweetness for balance and with traces of Ovaltine in the malt. Soft, full, honeyed malt flavours linger in the slowly drying, herbal, increasingly bitter, warming finish. It’s not, by any means, your typical sugary continental blond.
Top of the Range
It was the top of the range product known simply as Abt (‘Abbot’), or by the number 12, that set the internet buzzing a few years ago and caused such a commotion for the peace-loving brotherhood.
Abt packs plenty of punch at 10.2% ABV and, in many ways, it’s the archetypal nightcap beer, one to sip at leisure, allowing the alcohol to loosen your tensions and free up the mind for reflection.
Like all great beers, it keeps you interested at all times, from the tart, fruity, malty nose to the bittersweet, malty finish with herbal hops. In between, strange herbal flavours wash over full malt with its creamy, nutty notes. There’s also a spicy, peppery character, some dried fruits and a rummy sweetness.
The packaging – as for all the Westvleteren beers – is minimalist. As there is no marketing of the product, there is little call for labels on the bottles. All the information is crammed onto the bottle cap.
Having flipped that cap and taken full advantage of the contents, I can confirm that the internet judges were right. Westvleteren Abt is indeed a great beer.
If you see it on sale, don’t miss it, but please don’t hassle the monks. They lead a quiet life and that’s how they want it to stay.
Note: Check the In de Vrede website for up-to-date opening hours. It is generally closed every Friday throughout the year and also every Thursday, except in July and August. It may also close for long periods at other times of the year.
When a leading internet beer site bestowed the honour on Westvleteren’s Abt, the subsequent media and consumer attention it generated created serious problems for the poor, unassuming Belgian monks that brew it.The Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren was founded in 1831, when a handful of brothers from the nearby abbey of Catsberg broke away and set up their own fraternity in an area of flat fields and woodland in West Flanders.Despite the tragedies of two world wars that have raged through their backyard, the abbey has grown and flourished.Brewing has been part and parcel of life here since the early days, offering nourishment in times of fasting and, as at the other Trappist monasteries that brew, also providing financial input, a revenue stream that helps keep the abbey ship-shape and supports worthy local causes.But, more than at any other Trappist monastery, the brewery at Westvleteren is kept well and truly in its place. Indeed, in the 1940s, Abbot Dom Gerardus Deleye decided to cut back production. The tail was not going to wag this dog.For a number of years, Saint Sixtus beers were also brewed under licence by the St Bernardus brewery, a few miles away, but the agreement drew to a close in 1992 and now – although St Bernardus’s own abbey beers make excellent substitutes – the monks’ own beer is only brewed at the monastery itself.A new brewhouse was added at the turn of the 1990s but the output is still capped at 4,800 hectolitres (just under 3,000 imperial barrels) a year. It’s no good asking for more, they won’t brew any. What’s more, they don’t distribute the beers either.If you want to buy some, you have to telephone the abbey at a given time (and no other: consult the schedule of what’s available, and when, on the abbey’s website) and – assuming you actually get through – place an order.You will then be given a small allowance, if you’re lucky and if you promise to keep it for personal consumption and not sell it commercially.The alternative is to do what I did – make your way to Westvleteren and call into the abbey’s own café, just across the road. Here you can drink the beer on site, or pick up a bottle or two to take away, but again you won’t be able to fill the boot of your car.Café ‘In de Vrede’ (‘In Peace’) is not what you’d expect to find at a hallowed religious establishment. It looks a bit like a modern church from the outside but inside it’s airy and barn-like. It was constructed in 1999 to replace an older one that the monks considered too noisy and disruptive for their lifestyle.The style is open-plan cafeteria – so don’t expect closeted charm – seating 250 people inside and another 200 in the open air. Attached to the eating and drinking area is a small museum of abbey life, accessible free of charge.Just because the bar is effectively the brewery tap doesn’t mean it can abuse its position when it comes to doling out the precious beers. Manager Philip De Backer (pictured left) – who is not himself a monk – is given an annual allowance of Westvleteren products and has to use it wisely.Priority is given to sales for consumption in the café itself, and this means that, while the shop often has bottles to take away, it doesn’t always. ‘I have to make sure I don’t run out beer,’ he says, ‘which has happened’.So what is it about the beers that makes them so craved after by beer nuts? No doubt their rarity counts for a lot. You always want what you can’t get. But that would be to overlook the quality of the beers themselves.These are brewed only from pale malts. The dark colour seen in two of the beers is the result of the addition of dark candy sugar. The hops are the Northern Brewer strain and yeast used comes from fellow Trappist brewery Westmalle.On my visit to In de Vrede (pictured below), I settled down with a glass of the beer simply known as 8 – a throwback to the old way of declaring approximate strength – which was beautifully served in a branded chalice with a downy duvet of foam.It was sweet and warming to taste, yet with a robust bitterness, too. Malt and brown sugar flavours led the way, with spicy, earthy notes emerging, alongside winey, raisin fruitiness. Sugary the finish may have been, but it was also drying and robustly bitter at the same time, leaving a sappy hop character.I also managed to try the relatively new Blonde. This was only introduced when the new café was built and it replaced a brown number 6. The monks had brewed a blonde for their own consumption previously, but at a mere 4%.They upped their game to create this 5.8% replacement and now no longer brew a weaker beer for private consumption. Unlike the darker Westvleteren beers, which are designed to improve with bottle conditioning and years of maturity, the Blonde is meant to be drunk young and fresh.The taste is bitter and herbal but with enough honeyed sweetness for balance and with traces of Ovaltine in the malt. Soft, full, honeyed malt flavours linger in the slowly drying, herbal, increasingly bitter, warming finish
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the nice shots you see in Sports Illustrated, nor is it easy to see that pigskin as the light fades, as it was doing while the storm rolled in. Still, with the Sony A77 set to ISO 800, I was able to capture one good sequence as the runner successfully sheds a determined defender.
12 fps. These three shots give you an idea of how well you can pick your moment at a sporting event. Here are links to the full-res images: YDSC00857.JPG, YDSC00858.JPG, YDSC00859.JPG
Focus starts a little soft on the runner's face in the first shot, perhaps because of motion on my part, but the other two are pretty crisp. I enjoy the determined expression on the runner's face. It's good detail for ISO 800.
I also caught a field goal kick for another example of 12 fps in action, which you can see in the Gallery. When the camera goes off it sounds really cool, but doesn't draw a lot of attention thanks to the lack of a mechanical mirror and the electronic first curtain. It's a very different sound from what you've heard on other cameras, and really serves up the images. You get a very brief preview of each image as it's captured, allowing you to track the subject well enough. As I saw the action in the game interrupted by a player or person on the sidelines I was able to ease off the shutter release, shooting short bursts that allowed me to follow longer plays reasonably well. At one point I did find myself running up against the buffer by the time the player reached the end zone, so celebratory touchdown shots were unavailable. Ultimately, you only have about a second of 12 fps if you just hold that shutter down, so you do have to learn to fire in short bursts. Perhaps they could program in a 3-shot burst mode, as are available in some machine guns for better buffer allocation.
Detail. The last 24-megapixel camera I reviewed was the Sony A900, and I took it to World of Coke in Atlanta, a museum to the sugary beverage's history. It's positioned in a location that offers a great view of the Atlanta skyline, right across from the Georgia Aquarium. Sony representatives more than once said that they thought the image quality from this new sensor rivaled that of full frame, so I made the same shot -- as close as I could -- within weeks of when I made the original shot (August 13, 2011 vs. August 31, 2008). The weather is remarkably similar, even if the lighting and time of day is different (note that the dates and times stamped into the A77's files are incorrect). It's very nearly a draw. Look at the crops below and see for yourself. At times the edge goes to the full-frame Sony A900, at times to the A77. At the outer edges of the frame, the 16-50mm lens shows a little softening, which you can see in the last crop below, but it's truly remarkable performance from a lens that effectively costs $600 when purchased as a kit, while the full-frame 24-70mm Carl Zeiss lens sells for around $1,750. See our Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM review on SLRgear.com.
Sony A77 with 16-50mm f/2.8 Sony A900 with Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8
Panorama. Surely people thought I was nuts holding an SLR while running the motor drive in a panning motion. A few even looked to see what action I might be following, but of course I was making a panorama, something I've done with other cameras at this site, but usually in a slower, more methodical way, capturing one shot at a time. Sony's Sweep Panorama makes it easy. I took several dozen sweeps at different times that afternoon, and you can see the best in the gallery. Ultimately I chose the one I made at sunset and cropped it. To get a good panorama with any camera, its best to shoot straight at the horizon line, something made easier thanks to the level function in the viewfinder and on the LCD. At sunset, that meant I captured a huge swath of lawn, darkened by the shade from the structures behind me. But it's such a large image that I was able to crop it down to just what I wanted.
I stepped back to get the cloud in this shot, but didn't want all the shaded grass up front. But I had a plan.
Back at the computer I cropped most of the grass and sweetened the colors a bit for a nice panorama.
Click on either image for a larger look.
AF tracking. Because the main purpose of the translucent mirror is full-time autofocus, we tested it as we have with other Sony SLT cameras, with a car driving at the camera at 30 miles per hour. Where results with the prototype model were a little spotty, our production sample delivered just exceptional focus accuracy and tracking: Virtually every frame was in sharp focus, even up to 40 mph, and the car as close as about 15 feet from the camera. This is just an exceptional level of AF tracking performance, the Sony A77 should have no trouble at with typical fast-breaking sports action. Video, though, was a rather difference experience, see the Sony A77 video page for details on what we found there.
Sony A77 Technical Info
by Mike Tomkins and Dave Etchells
Sensor and processor. At the heart of the Sony SLT-A77 is an impressively high-resolution 24.3 megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS image sensor, whose output is handled by the latest version of the company's proprietary Bionz image processing engine. Total pixel count is some 24.7 megapixels, and the sensor's dimensions are 23.5 x 15.6mm, yielding a 1.5x focal length crop when compared with 35mm lenses. The SLT-A77's sensor has a standard RGB Bayer color filter.
With a 3:2 aspect ratio, the SLT-A77 can provide maximum image dimensions of 6,000 x 4,000 pixels at full resolution. Two further 3:2 aspect ratio resolutions are available: 4,240 x 2,832 pixels, or 3,008 x 2,000 pixels. The SLT-A77 also provides a choice of three 16:9 aspect ratio shooting modes, each of which has the same pixel width as its 3:2 aspect counterpart, but with heights of 3,376, 2,400 or 1,688 pixels respectively.
The Sony SLT-A77 offers a wide sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 16,000 equivalents, and the lower end of the range can be extended to ISO 50 equivalent. By default, sensitivities between 100 and 1,600 equivalents are also available through an Auto ISO setting, and this can be adjusted to encompass a range as wide as ISO 100 to 12,800 equivalents. High ISO noise reduction cannot be disabled altogether for JPEGs, but provides three adjustable operating strengths: High, Normal, or Low. Using the Multi-frame Noise Reduction function, you can specify the ISO sensitivity manually within an expanded range of ISO 100 to 25,600 equivalents, and the camera will average multiple exposures to create a single image with reduced noise levels.
Optics. The Sony A77 retains the same Alpha lens mount and translucent mirror design seen in the previous A33, A35, and A55 models. The company currently offers a selection of 33 Alpha mount interchangeable lenses, all compatible with the A77, and the camera will also accept historic Minolta or Konica Minolta Maxxum lenses.
The defining feature of the Sony SLT-series cameras, the translucent (or pellicle) mirror, allows most light to pass through to the imaging surface beneath, while a small portion is reflected for use by the camera's phase-detect autofocus sensor. This unusual design brings three main advantages over a traditional SLR: full-time phase detection autofocusing (even during video capture), improved burst shooting performance, and a modest reduction in camera body size.
The translucent mirror design has two main drawbacks, both related to its fixed transmission / reflection ratio. It requires use of an electronic viewfinder, since only 30% of incoming light is reflected by the mirror, and so a true optical viewfinder would be unusably dim. Also, with only 70% of incoming light received by the image sensor, Sony's SLT-series cameras aren't able to offer equal sensitivity / noise performance characteristics of a traditional SLR using the same sensor and image processing.
For photographers seeking high burst speeds or the ability to use phase detection AF during video capture, this is likely a trade-off they'll be willing to make, however. Some photographers may also consider the electronic viewfinder, which provides the ability to preview not only framing, but also functions such as white balance and creative effects, to be a positive as compared to an optical viewfinder.
Stabilization. As with its predecessors, the Sony A77 includes the company's SteadyShot sensor-shift image stabilization system. The current iteration of the system is now said to be good for a 2.5 - 4.5 stop correction, and is available with any mounted lens, regardless of focal length. (Some competitors rely on in-lens stabilization, which can provide better results at longer focal lengths, but which also potentially adds to the cost and size / weight of each lens purchased.)
Lens correction. When shooting in JPEG mode, the Sony SLT-A77 includes the ability to automatically correct lens shading (vignetting), lateral chromatic aberration, and distortion in-camera, as images are captured. At release, this feature was only available for four specific lens models: the SAL1650, SAL1855, SAL55200-2, and SAL18250, although Sony has since added support for additional 16 lens models via firmware updates.
Electronic viewfinder. Long time IR readers know that we've always been a little lukewarm toward electronic viewfinders (EVFs). To date, the tonal range, clarity, brightness, resolution, and update lag/refresh rates of EVFs have generally made them poor substitutes for the tried and true optical versions.
As technology continues to advance, though, many limitations of earlier EVFs are being addressed, and the OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology used in the "TruFinder" found in Sony's latest Alpha and NEX models makes another large step in the right direction.
There's really more to say about the A77's OLED viewfinder than would fit here in this overview, so we've put a more complete discussion on its own page. A few quick notes are clearly in order here, though, as the viewfinder is such a large part of the Sony A77 experience.
Rich Information. The Sony A77's OLED "TruFinder" makes good use of its ample area. This is the view showing the most information; you can choose from a variety of displays, including one with no overlays on the image area.
Big, Sharp, Accurate. The first thing that strikes you about the A77's viewfinder is how big it is. If you're used to shooting with normal subframe SLRs, you're in for a pleasant surprise the first time you look through the A77's EVF. It's really more a size you'd expect to see on a high-end full-frame SLR selling for thousands of dollars more. It's also incredibly sharp; the first EVF we've seen with XGA (1,024 x 768) resolution; a staggering 2.4 million RGB dots. It also shows 100% of the frame area that the camera will capture; another feature more commonly associated with very high-end professional cameras.
Other Improvements, a couple of gripes. One of our biggest EVF gripes has been poor handling of highlight detail: It's often impossible to see what's going on with sky detail if you're shooting a landscape. The A77's TruFinder has some of the best highlight handling we've seen to date, but unfortunately gets into trouble at the other end of the tonal scale, with a tendency to plug dark areas of the image badly. Also, even at maximum brightness, the TruFinder isn't nearly as bright as a sunny day, so we found that our eyes sometimes took a few moments to adapt when we first looked through it when the surroundings were very bright.
We did feel that the TruFinder's update lag and refresh rate were considerably better than we saw on last year's A33 and A55, although it's still not quite up to the zero millisecond lag provided by an optical finder.
Finally, of course there are the things no optical viewfinder can do: For one, provide a true preview of the shot you're about to capture (including white balance and exposure), and for another offer an incredibly rich information display.
Bottom line, while we still like the visual experience of looking through an optical viewfinder, the Sony A77's TruFinder addresses a number of traditional EVF issues, and brings such a host of other benefits that we'd be happy to make the optical/EVF switch with it.
As noted, the foregoing is only a brief discussion of all the pros and cons of Sony's new OLED TruFinder; check out our A77 viewfinder page for all the details.
Displays. Like the A33 and A55 before it, the Sony SLT-A77 includes an articulated TFT LCD panel, but the articulation mechanism has been completely redesigned. Previously, the tilt/swivel mechanism was mounted at the bottom of the camera, meaning that although the LCD could be turned to face forwards, it wasn't visible from in front of the camera if shooting on a tripod or with the camera placed on a convenient flat surface. For a camera aimed at consumer and enthusiast use, we'd imagine that self-portraits and group shots in which the photographer is a participant are not an uncommon use case. The SLT-A77 corrects this oversight, with a tilt-swivel mechanism that now allows viewing from in front of the camera, as long as you're not using the popup flash or or a hot-shoe mounted external strobe.
The new mechanism has two separate hinges. The first of these folds the LCD downwards, and also includes a swivel mechanism, in much the same style as in the earlier cameras. However, instead of being fixed to the camera body, this assembly is affixed to a structure that's hinged halfway up the camera body, allowing the LCD and first hinge / swivel to fold upwards, presenting the panel at the top of the camera while providing just enough clearance for the viewfinder eyepiece. While it's definitely more versatile than the earlier mechanism, it's unfortunately still blocked for shots with on-camera flash, and we do wonder about its long-term durability, given the added complexity of the articulation mechanism. Hence we'd still consider the more traditional side-mounted tilt/swivel screens found on some competitors to be slightly preferable.
As for the panel itself, the basic specifications are also unchanged, with a three-inch diagonal, and a total resolution of 307,200 pixels (921,600 dots). The design includes Sony's TruBlack anti-glare technology, which couples a reinforced glass cover plate with anti-reflective film, and a resin filling that removes the air gap beneath the cover plate, thus improving contrast and reducing glare under harsh sunlight. There's also still an automatic brightness control with five-step manual override.
As well as its built-in color LCD panel, the Sony SLT-A77 also features a small monochrome LCD info panel on its top deck, providing quick confirmation of camera setup. It's also compatible with the company's optional CLM-V55 LCD panel accessory, a five-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display that attaches via the HDMI port, and includes a detachable hood to improve daylight visibility.
Focusing. The Sony A77 features a new 19-point CCD phase detection autofocus sensor, upgraded from the 15-point sensor used in its predecessors. The new chip greatly expands the number of cross-type focus points to eleven, up from three in earlier models. The A77's autofocus system has a working range of EV -1 to 18 at ISO 100 equivalent, with an f/2.8 lens attached.
As mentioned previously, one of the main advantages of Sony's Translucent Mirror cameras -- including the A77 -- is that this sensor can be used at all times, even during video capture. (Traditional DSLRs must switch to the slower contrast detection autofocus method during live view and video capture, or must interrupt the video feed to flip mirrors for a phase detect operation. Contrast detection is also used by all compact system cameras, with the exception of Sony's own NEX-series models when using Alpha-mount lenses with the optional LA-EA2 mount adapter.)
The SLT-A77 provides single-servo and continuous-servo autofocus operation, as well as an Automatic AF mode which switches between single and continuous types as the camera deems necessary, depending upon the subject. There's also both AF tracking and predictive control, and an AF microadjustment function that allows AF to be tweaked separately for 30 different lens types. A built-in LED autofocus illuminator helps the SLT-A77 to achieve a focus lock on nearby subjects in low ambient lighting conditions. The A77 also provides the ability to start autofocus operation instantly that you bring your eye to the electronic viewfinder, potentially reducing the time taken to achieve a focus lock
As you'd expect, it's also possible to focus manually with the Sony SLT-A77, either after an autofocus operation has been performed (Direct Manual Focus, in Sony parlance), or without any prior autofocus operation. When focusing manually, Sony offers two Focus Magnifier zoom levels to aid in determining the precise point of focus, either 5.9x or 11.7x. Also included is the "focus peaking" display which was introduced in the NEX-C3. This makes it easier to identify the point of focus by highlighting the areas of strongest image contrast. When enabled, three highlight colors are available (white, red, or yellow), and the peaking function can operate at one of three sensitivity levels (high, mid, or low.)
Performance. As well as allowing full-time AF during live view and movie capture, the translucent mirror design of the Sony SLT cameras brings another important advantage. During burst shooting with continuous autofocus, a traditional SLR has to drop its mirror between each frame, wait just long enough for any mirror vibration to settle, perform the AF measurement, and then raise the mirror again so that the next frame can be captured. Using a pellicle mirror, there's no reflex mirror to raise, and so the only delay required is to wait for the lens aperture to open after the exposure has been completed. For even swifter burst shooting, the aperture can be locked at either f/3.5, or the maximum aperture of the lens, whichever is smaller, removing the delay required to set and reset the aperture to allow focusing between shots.
Last year's SLT-A55 was already quite swift, especially with the aperture locked, but the SLT-A77 makes another significant step forwards in shooting speed. Indeed, Sony is claiming the SLT-A77 to be the world's fastest APS-C interchangeable-lens camera, as of August 2011. The standard Continuous Advance drive mode provides two burst-shooting speeds, the higher of which is manufacturer-rated at eight frames per second, up from six frames per second in the A55. (The lower-speed Continuous Advance mode is fixed at three frames per second, slightly faster than the 2.5 fps offered in the A55.) If you're willing to lock the aperture as noted previously by switching to Continuous Priority AE mode, though, you can shoot at a stunning twelve full-resolution frames per second, according to Sony. Again, that's a full two frames per second faster than the A55's spec, despite an increase in resolution from 16.2 to 24.3 megapixels.
Maximum burst depth in the Continuous Hi and Continuous Priority AE modes is rated by Sony as 13 raw or Extra Fine JPEG images, or 11 raw+JPEG frames. The Continuous Hi mode offers one more frame than is available for Continuous Priority AE mode when shooting Fine or Standard-compression JPEGs, achieving 18 frames with either compression level in Continuous Hi, and 17 frames in Continuous Priority AE according to the manufacturer spec.
The SLT-A77 also offers a prefocused shutter release lag of just 0.05 seconds, and although that doesn't quite match the 0.02 second release lag of the latest NEX-series compact system cameras in this area, that's again an exceptionally swift performance.
Visit the A77 Performance page for our timing and performance test results.
Dust reduction. Like the rest of Sony's SLT-series cameras, the Sony A77 includes a two-pronged dust abatement and removal system. First, a charge-protection coating on the low-pass filter aims to prevent dust adhering in the first place. Second, the sensor shift mechanism that's used to provide SteadyShot image stabilization also doubles as a shake mechanism to try and free stubborn dust particles that settle on the low-pass filter, although at much lower frequencies than the vibration induced by cameras using a piezoelectric element. From what we can tell, there is no strategy for keeping dust off the translucent mirror, except to blow the surface gently with air; it should never be touched. A fingerprint would likely require replacement at a service center. The mirror can be flipped up manually so that the sensor can be cleaned, though, just like any DSLR.
The SLT-A77's dust reduction system operates when the camera is switched off, which helps to reduce the startup time, while not relying entirely on the user remembering to manually trigger a dust reduction cycle. It is, however, possible to perform a cycle manually through the menu, if desired.
Environmental sealing. The Sony SLT-A77 includes dust and moisture-resistant seals throughout, including all the main buttons and dials, plus double-layered seals on the card slot, battery compartment, and terminals. The environmental sealing extends not only to the camera body itself, but also to the optional VG-C77AM vertical grip, HVL-F43AM external flash strobe, and the DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM standard zoom lens, allowing a completely weather-sealed system. The weather sealing doesn't extend to other lenses in Sony's current lineup, however.
Exposure. The Sony SLT-A77 offers a choice of twelve basic operating modes, unchanged from the A55: AUTO, AUTO Advanced (AUTO+), Programmed AE, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, Manual, Memory Register (MR), Scene Selection, Sweep Panorama, 3D Sweep Panorama, Continuous Advance Priority AE, and Movie. Scene Selection will automatically set the camera up for one of eight common scene types, as selected by the photographer. Available scene modes are Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports Action, Sunset, Night Portrait, Night View, and Hand-held Twilight.
As in Sony's recent cameras, the Hand-held Twilight mode captures six sequential frames with higher sensitivity / shutter speeds to prevent blurring, and then combines them in-camera to yield a single frame with reduced noise levels. The Sweep Panorama modes each capture a burst of images for as long as the shutter button is held down, then automatically stitch them into a panorama. (The 3D mode generates a single image with separate left-eye and right-eye views of the scene, as the subject passes across the field of view). Memory Register mode allows three sets of shooting settings to be saved for later recall.
As with all Sony's Translucent Mirror cameras, the SLT-A77's performs exposure metering using its image sensor. The metering system in the SLT-A77 assesses the metered scene as 1,200 separate zones, and has a working range of EV -2 - 17 at ISO 100 equivalent, with an f/1.4 lens attached. Available metering modes include Multi-segment, Center-weighted, and Spot. As well as locking the metered exposure along with the focus when using multi-segment metering, there's also a dedicated Auto Exposure Lock button.. Exposure compensation is available within a range of 5.0 EV on either side of the metered exposure, in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps, a much wider range than the +/- 2.0 EV available on earlier models. Additionally, the SLT-A77 can perform three-frame bracketed exposures with a step size of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 2, or 3 EV between shots, and five-frame bracketed exposures with 1/2, 1/2, or 2/3 EV between shots.
The Sony SLT-A77 offers a generous selection of thirteen white balance modes, including Auto, nine presets (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, Day White Fluorescent, Daylight Fluorescent, and Flash), a direct color temperature setting (2,500 to 9,900 Kelvin), a color filter setting (15-steps of green to magenta bias, and 15-steps of blue to amber bias), plus a Custom white balance mode. There's also a white balance fine adjustment function available.
Available drive modes include Single-shot, Continuous Hi, Continuous Lo, Self-timer (with a delay of two or ten seconds), Continuous Bracketing, Single Bracketing, White Balance Bracketing, DRO Bracketing, and Remote Control (for use with the optional RM-DSLR1 infrared remote control unit). The aforementioned 12-frames-per-second Continuous Priority AE mode gets it own dial position.
Shutter speeds from 1/8,000 to 30 seconds are possible, and the SLT-A77 also offers a bulb shutter function that will hold the shutter open for as long as the shutter button is depressed. Flash sync is at 1/250 second. An optional long-exposure noise reduction function is available for exposures shot with shutter speeds longer than 1 second.
Sony tells us that the A77's shutter is now rated for a life of 150,000 cycles. This is very welcome; with its top continuous-exposure rate of 12 frames/second, those 150,000 cycles will go by faster than you might expect. (Just under three and a half hours of full-tilt 12fps continuous action.) The 150,000 cycle shutter life is on par with cameras like the Canon 7D and Nikon D7000 that the A77 is designed to compete with.
The most noticeable change in the A77's exposure system is its use of an "electronic first curtain." This improves performance while reducing noise and vibration, and is another very welcome addition.
Electronic First Curtain: Fast and quiet. A key technology in all Sony's August 2011 Alpha and NEX announcements is the "electronic first curtain" exposure capability. This greatly speeds the shutter release on live-view cameras, and significantly reduces shutter-generated vibration as well. A little explanation is perhaps in order.
In a conventional SLR, the focal-plane shutter is composed of two leaves or "curtains" that work together to control the exposure time. Think of your camera's sensor as a window with two windowshades; one rolling up from the bottom, the other rolling down from the top. The first curtain starts the exposure by dropping down to uncover the sensor. The second curtain ends the exposure by dropping down to cover it again. After each exposure, the shutter curtains are returned to their original positions in preparation for the next shot. Very short exposures are made by having the two curtains move together, moving a small slit across the focal plane.
To help you visualize, here are a couple of animations showing the action described above, one for a short exposure, the other for a longer one; once the graphic loads, click the button to see the shutter animation. (These animations are from Photocourse.com; check out their excellent Textbook of Digital Photography.)
In a live-view camera, the shutter curtains are initially open, so light can reach the sensor to create the live viewfinder display. In live view mode with a conventional mechanical shutter, the bottom curtain has to be raised first, before the exposure can begin. This of course takes time, increasing the shutter lag before the exposure can begin. The closing of the first curtain can also introduce additional vibration, affecting image sharpness at some shutter speeds. (See our detailed discussion of the blur anomaly in the original Olympus E-P1 for an example. The same issue exists to a greater or lesser degree in most mirrorless cameras, though it's all but invisible in some.)
What's new in this latest crop of Sony cameras is that the "first curtain" function is performed electronically. Rather than having to raise the shutter curtain before the exposure, the A77, A65, NEX-7, and NEX-5N all begin the exposure electronically, manipulating voltage levels on the sensor array to enable light-gathering in a progressive wave, sweeping down the sensor's surface.
The most noticeable result of this is that shutter lag in live view mode is very brief: Sony claims only 50 milliseconds (0.05 second), a number closely matching the 53.5 milliseconds we measured electro-optically in our lab. The reduced curtain movement also reduces shutter-induced camera vibration, and makes for a much quieter shutter release as well: The A77's shutter sound is unusually quiet. The electronic first-curtain capability is also likely part of how the A77 achieves its remarkable 12 frames/second continuous burst rate.
This isn't the first time we've seen an electronic first-curtain on an SLR: The Canon 40D introduced the concept back in August of 2007, and as far as we know, Canon live-view-capable SLRs still employ the technology. There's a significant difference in what we call prefocused release lag, though, with Canon's SLRs in Live View mode measuring in the range of 80-90ms, vs the 53.5ms of the Sony A77. In fact, the Sony A77's prefocused lag is very much on par with the fastest conventional SLRs, regardless of price range. Sampling a range of high-performance SLRs, we find shutter release times of 43ms for the Nikon D3s, 49ms for the Canon 1DmkIV, and 53ms for the Nikon D300s. While the Sony A77 doesn't have the absolute shortest release lag, it's very clearly in the top tier, regardless of price.
Tilt level. The Sony A77 includes a dual-axis level gauge, which helps ensure level horizons and prevent converging verticals in photos. The gauge is displayed in a style reminiscent of an aircraft attitude indicator, but with a separation of the roll and pitch indicators. When the camera is perfectly level, the pitch indicators and markings at the end of the roll indicator are illuminated in green.
Built-in GPS. Another less common feature of the Sony SLT-A77 is its built-in GPS receiver, which allows both images and movies to be tagged with information regarding capture location, such as latitude, longitude, altitude, etc. Tagged images can be displayed on a map showing their capture locations, either on a PC using the bundled Picture Motion Browser software, or on the Photo Map function of compatible Sony Bravia TVs. Of course, you can always use third-party software such as Adobe Lightroom or Picasa.
Face detection. Even among SLRs, face detection during live view is a fairly common feature these days. The Sony SLT-A77 goes a step further, though, in offering the ability to register the faces of eight specific individuals, who will then be automatically recognized and prioritized over other faces when determining focus, exposure, and flash output, as well as during post-exposure image processing. The SLT-A77 is capable of simultaneously detecting and accounting for up to eight faces in any given scene, and also includes a Smile Shutter function with three-step sensitivity, which will automatically capture an image when your subject is smiling. Of course, face detection can be disabled, should you wish.
Flash. The Sony SLT-A77 includes an auto-popup flash strobe, slightly improved from that in the A55. The guide number is now 12 meters (39.4 feet) at ISO 100, coverage is rated at 16mm, and the recycle time is rated at three seconds, as compared to the A55's guide number of 10 meters (32.8 feet) at ISO 100, 18mm coverage, and four-second recycle.
Available built-in flash modes include Off, Auto, Fill, Rear-sync, and Slow-sync, and an optional red-eye reduction function is available. Flash metering modes include ADI and pre-flash TTL, as well as manual output control being available (1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16 power). +/-3 EV of flash exposure compensation is available, in 1/3 EV steps, and flash exposures can also be bracketed, with five frames varying by 1/3, 1/2 or 2/3 EV, or three frames varying by 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 2, or 3 EV.
The A77's popup flash can also serve as a wireless controller. Some external strobes including the HVL-F36AM, HVL-F42AM, HVL-F56AM, and HVL-F58AM support high-speed sync and wireless shooting.
As with the earlier SLT-series cameras, the A77 also includes a proprietary flash hot shoe, but the pro-oriented SLT-A77 adds a standard PC sync terminal for connecting studio strobes. PC sync voltage supported is up to 400 volts.
Creative. The Sony SLT-A77 includes quite a range of creative controls to help photographers get the look they're after, with a minimum of time spent in the digital darkroom. A selection of eleven Picture Effect modes are available, five of them new since the SLT-A33 (with one mode having been removed.) The new modes include Soft High-key (which replaces the A33's High-key mode), plus Soft Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-tone Monochrome, and Miniature. The Posterization (color or black & white), Pop Color, Retro Photo, Partial Color (red, green, blue, or yellow), High Contrast Mono, and Toy Camera modes are all held over from the earlier camera. (The A55 and A35 also have the same Picture Effect modes as the A33 in current firmware, but didn't ship with this feature at launch.)
In addition, the SLT-A77 provides an enlarged selection of Creative Style choices as compared to the A55, each of which offers +/- three-step control over contrast, saturation, and sharpness. New Creative Style modes include Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, and Sepia, in addition to the existing Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, and Black & White modes from the A55.
A Dynamic Range Optimizer function aims to open up the shadows while maintaining highlight detail, and can be left under automatic control, or set to one of five preset levels. There are also several multi-shot modes, including Hand-held Twilight (which allows faster shutter speeds with reduced image noise), and an Auto HDR mode. This last creates a single high dynamic range image from three sequential shots, whose exposure level varies anywhere from 1 - 6 EV in 1 EV steps, controlled automatically or manually.
The SLT-A77 also offers an in-camera Sweep Panorama function, which captures and stitches together multiple images as you sweep your lens across a panoramic scene. When set to Wide mode, Sweep Panorama can create a horizontal scene with a resolution of 12,416 x 1,856 pixels, or a vertical scene with a resolution of 2,160 x 5,536 pixels. In standard mode, the horizontal dimensions are 8,192 x 1,856 pixels, while vertical panoramas occupy 2,160 x 3,872 pixels.
3D Imaging. In addition to the standard Sweep Panorama function, the SLT-A77 includes a 3D Sweep Panorama mode. Since it only has objective lens, the stereo effect is created using some clever mathematics to reconstruct a 3D image as the subject passes across the lens' field of view. The result is saved as a single multi-picture object file that contains two separate JPEG images, one for each eye, allowing it to be viewed on 3D-capable Sony Bravia displays In Wide mode, 3D Sweep Panoramas occupy 7,152 x 1,080 pixels, while in Standard mode the resolution is 4,912 x 1,080 pixels. There's also a 16:9 mode, which saves a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel panorama suitable for full-screen HDTV viewing.
Video. The Sony SLT-A77 also offers Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) video capture capabilities, and according to Sony, is the world's first interchangeable-lens camera (along with other Sony models simultaneously announced) able to record Full HD off the sensor at 60 frames per second. (We've seen cameras previously which recorded 60 interlaced fields per second at Full HD resolution, but these either clocked the data off the sensor at 30 frames per second and then split each frame across two interlaced fields, or they clocked the data at 60 frames per second but discarded alternating fields, to be compliant with the original AVCHD 1080 60i specification.)
The SLT-A77's Full HD video is recorded using AVCHD Version 2.0 compression, with Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio, and a wide range of progressive-scan and interlaced frame rates are available. When set to NTSC mode, the available progressive-scan rate are 60 fps (28Mbps) or 24 fps (24 Mbps or 17 Mbps), and you can also opt for an interlaced 60 fps (24 Mbps or 17 Mbps). If you switch to PAL mode, the options are the same, except that the 60 fps rates are replaced by 50 fps equivalents, and the 24 fps rates by 25 fps ones.
It's also possible to record at a high-def resolution of 1,440 x 1,080 pixels (12 Mbps), or a standard-definition VGA (640 x 480 pixel, 3Mbps) resolution. These are all available at 30 fps in NTSC mode, or 25 fps in PAL mode, and are captured using MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) compression with MPEG-4 AAC-LC audio. Note that no 720p recording mode is available on the SLT-A77.
The most unusual capability of the Sony A77's video mode is enabled by its translucent mirror. The Sony A77 can continue to use phase detection autofocusing during movie recording, allowing swift adjustments to focus as your subject moves. Since standard Alpha-mount lenses are used, this focusing action is accompanied by significant levels of autofocus drive noise, although Sony notes that it has included a new noise reduction algorithm intended to suppress this AF drive noise.
|
bi Chalomish also had a substantial store of drugs, cocaine, and cash at his home address."
Officers found forms which showed that the apartment was rented from the firm Premier Apartments in Abbas's name.
Mr Goldwater said officers discovered evidence of a "substantial drug supply operation".
Drug paraphernalia found in the bedroom included a glass tray with 3g (0.1oz) of cocaine on it and a silver spoon, a bowl containing more than 3g (0.1oz) of cocaine, rolled up notes for snorting the drug and credit cards used for chopping the drug into lines.
Mr Goldwater said the purity of the cocaine varied in strength from 29 per cent to 82 per cent.
Cutting agents to dilute the drug were also discovered, along with around £2,400 in cash, he said.
Similar paraphernalia, and quantities of cocaine, were also found at Chalomish's home, mainly in a rear bedroom, along with £15,345 in cash.
Mr Goldwater said the jury may find it "significant" that the purity of the cocaine was higher than average.
He suggested it could have been cut with legal substances to achieve the average purity level of 28 per cent for cocaine sold in the UK.
Mr Goldwater also told the jury that police seized a mobile phone containing a text message from Abbas to an unknown recipient.
He said: "That's a drug dealer's message and we say that was sent by Abbas from his phone to somebody who has not been identified and is essentially a statement of account with reference to grams and money and setting out who owed who what."
The jury heard that when interviewed by police Abbas said he knew the rabbi as "Shell" and rented the apartment on his behalf and received money from him for the rent.
Mr Goldwater said: "He said Shell wanted to relax and have a party at the flat.
"He said there had been a lot of people come through the flat in the last 10 days, most of them girls. He mentioned one particular girl, called Emma from Stockport, who stayed for seven days.
"She was the only one allowed to go into that bedroom apart from Shell."
Abbas told detectives his role was to keep the flat tidy and said that although Shell did not sell drugs, he did not mind if others wanted to consume them and that he liked to impress girls.
Mr Goldwater continued: "He said he had seen Shell putting white powder in a glass dish and mixing it with another substance, and anyone visiting was free to help themselves."
Abbas also claimed that he and Chalomish were planning to open a restaurant together, funded by the rabbi.
Mr Goldwater told the jury that Abbas had a previous conviction for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in March 1996.
The jury heard that the rabbi gave "no comment" interviews to police until his final interview, where he admitted he was a wealthy man who liked to assist less fortunate people.
Chalomish said he bought large quantities of cocaine for his own personal use and often used it when he could not sleep.
Mr Goldwater said: "The prosecution case is these two men were concerned in a commercial drug supply operation.
"We don't completely exclude the possibility that there might be some truth in what Abbas told the police, that some of the drugs were given to young women who came to the flat and that one or more of those young women may have provided sexual services.
"We do say that it was essentially a commercial operation. We say their roles were different. Nasir Abbas had the know-how, knew the drugs business, had the contacts, he would know where to obtain the drugs, how much to pay and how to find customers.
"Rabbi Chalomish would not have necessarily had the knowledge, we say Chalomish was the financier, he put up the money.
"We've been informed that Chalomish is a wealthy man, we've got no reason to doubt that. Nor do we have any reason to believe that his wealth was not achieved perfectly legitimately.
"How he got in the drugs business is unclear. He may have got into the drugs business as a drugs user but may have realised there were substantial profits to be made.
"A supply on this scale would need a source of capital for financing the purchase of the drugs and rental of the flat so dealing could go on off the street and not at his address."
The case was adjourned until 10.30am tomorrow at Manchester Crown Court.
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Post your predictions and tune in to the PREMIERE Monday, 2/21 @ 7/6c!Road salt is stored near the Hudson River at a facility off First St. on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, in Troy, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union) Road salt is stored near the Hudson River at a facility off First St. on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, in Troy, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union) Photo: Will Waldron Buy photo Photo: Will Waldron Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Rensselaer County responding to Troy residents' salt pile concerns 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
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The Rensselaer County Health Department is investigating the possible health impacts a large salt pile on the Hudson River may have on two city neighborhoods.
The county Health Department's Environmental Division is asking residents in the Riverside and Washington Park neighborhoods to complete questionnaires about health complaints.
"The county Health Department has been speaking with some people to start off an investigation of this situation," said Chris Meyer, a spokesman for County Executive Kathleen Jimino.
Residents of the two neighborhoods have complained about salt blowing off the pile with negative impacts on their health and homes.
American Rock Salt leases the site where the salt pile is located from C.D. Perry. It's been there for 18 years selling rock salt to be spread on roads during winter storms.
A spokesman for American Rock Salt did not respond Friday to a request for comment.
The company has permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to operate its salt storage and distribution operations. The pile is situated between the Hudson River and First Street with the northern boundary being Adams Street and the southern boundary the Poesten Kill.
"We have been in contact with state Health to look for guidance on this issue," Meyer said.
The Riverside Neighborhood has named a committee to deal with the salt pile issue. It's chaired by Keith Kansu, who called attention to the potential problems caused by the salt blowing around the blocks adjacent to the pile.
Kansu has contacted the state DEC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Also serving on the committee are residents Bernice Bornt Ledgeboer, Danyelle Brownlee, Councilwoman Lynn Kopka, Community Service Officer David Buckley as a liaison with the city, and Derrick Conyers from the staff of Assemblyman John T. McDonald III, D-Cohoes. Representatives of C.D. Perry and American Rock Salt are being asked to participate.
Forms for residents to report health complaints may be obtained by calling 270-2664.
[email protected] • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCroweThis article describes the undergraduate dorms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a focus on student culture and dormitory life (including meal options). All undergrad MIT dorms are officially coed and reserved for unmarried students, except McCormick Hall, which remains women-only. Because living conditions are strongly affected by architecture, there is some coverage of that topic here. For a more aesthetic architectural focus, see the article Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dining halls [ edit ]
The MIT administration has emphasized incorporation of shared dining facilities into several larger undergraduate dormitories, as places where daily informal social interactions can occur. After discontinuation of "mandatory commons" in 1970, required meal plans were reinstituted in fall 2011 for residents of several dormitories, despite the vigorous objections of some students.[1][2][3] As of 2015, the MIT meal plans offer a mix of choices, required for residents of some dorms, and optional for all other undergraduates and all grad students.[4]
Five MIT undergrad dorms have dining halls, and require a "mandatory house dining meal plan program" for all undergraduate residents. However, upperclassmen living in these dorms have the option to sign up for fewer meals on a plan (at reduced cost), giving them more flexibility in arranging for some of their own meals.[5]
The mandatory meal plan dorms are:
Baker House
Maseeh Hall (the only meal plan hall which is also open for lunch)
McCormick Hall
Next House
Simmons Hall
The other dorms are designated as "cook-for-yourself" communities, and have kitchens on each floor, or in each suite of apartments. Residents of these dorms may also opt to sign up for a meal plan at another dorm with dining facilities, or may eat at any dining hall on a "cash" basis. Groceries and prepared food can be bought on-campus or at nearby stores, and free shuttle service is available to selected grocery stores further off campus. In addition, there is a fresh produce market on campus open one day per week throughout most of the calendar year.[6]
Baker House [ edit ]
Front Facade of Baker House
Baker House,[7] located at 362 Memorial Drive, is a co-ed dormitory at MIT designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in 1947–1948 and built in 1949. Its distinctive design has an undulating shape which allows most rooms a view of the Charles River, and gives many of the rooms a wedge-shaped layout. The dining hall features a "moon garden" roof that is also very distinctive. Aalto also designed custom furniture for the rooms. Baker House was renovated for its fiftieth anniversary in 1999, modernizing the plumbing, telecommunications, and electrical systems and removing some of the interior changes made over the years that were not in Aalto's original design.
The dorm was named after Everett Moore Baker, an MIT Dean of Students, who died in a plane crash in India in 1949.[8][9] The dormitory houses 318 undergraduates in single, double, triple, and quadruple rooms. Baker's dining halls are open to all MIT students every day of the week.
Dropping an old worn-out piano from the roof was started by former Baker resident Charles Bruno '74 in 1972 and was resumed as an annual tradition in 2005. The piano is dropped on drop day—the last day MIT students can drop a class with no penalty.[10]
Notable Baker House alumni include Kenneth Olsen (Electrical Engineering, 1950), co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation; Amar Bose (Electrical Engineering, 1951), founder of the Bose Corporation and inventor of numerous audio technologies; Alan Guth (Physics, 1968), astrophysicist and professor of physics at MIT; Timothy Carney (1966), former U.S. Ambassador to Sudan and Haiti; Gerald Sussman (Mathematics, 1968), professor of computer science at MIT; Geoffrey A. Landis (physics, Electrical Engineering, 1980), NASA scientist and science fiction writer; Cady Coleman (1983), NASA Astronaut; Wes Bush (1983), former Chairman and CEO, Northrop Grumman; Warren Madden (1985), Weather Channel meteorologist; Jonathan Gruber, healthcare economist and political advisor (Economics, 1987); Charles Korsmo (Physics, 2000), actor in movies such as Hook and Can't Hardly Wait; Ed Miller (Physics and Electrical Engineering, 2000), noted poker authority; and Katy Croff Bell (Ocean Engineering, 2000), National Geographic ocean explorer.
In the summer of 2009, Baker House alumni held a reunion to celebrate Baker's 60th Anniversary, which received a Great Dome award from the MIT Association of Alumni and Alumnae.[11] Another such reunion is planned for 2019.
Bexley Hall [ edit ]
Bexley Hall, located at 46-52 Massachusetts Avenue, was an early twentieth century brick building, consisting of four four-story walkups surrounding a central courtyard. It was almost directly across the street from MIT's Building 7—old MIT official directories described it as being "just a stone's throw from the Institute's front door".[12] As former apartments which were renovated in the 1970s, Bexley suites had full kitchens and bathrooms. The soundproof walls of Bexley were extensively painted by students and were plastered with murals and graffiti, some of which dated back to the 1960s.
Long known for its alternative culture, Bexley was among the first MIT dormitories to officially become coed, housing 120 undergrads. It was also one of the first MIT dorms to be co-species, as residents used to let their cats roam free around the building decades before MIT officially adopted a cat-friendly policy in 2008.
Well known alumni of Bexley Hall include Dan Bricklin, co-inventor of the computerized spreadsheet, and Jeff Sagarin, a sports computerized ratings guru who first became known through his ranking and odds (betting) lines in USA Today, but who later was hired by the NCAA to help with computerizing the basketball tournament selection process. Also among best-recognized former Bexley residents were Institute Professor Jerome Lettvin and his wife Maggie who were Bexley "houseparents" in the 1970s and early 1980s.[13]
The dorm had a tightly-knit community where people shared their suites' halls with the rest of the Bexley residents to form a network of rooms and living spaces. The main lounges (all, except for the "lounge" at the front desk, created in the 1990s) included the "FU$K" lounge located on the third floor on the north side of the building next to the 305 suite. There was also the Coke lounge located on the south side on the fourth floor. In addition to its alternative culture and anti-rush ideas, Bexley was also notorious for alleged LSD manufacturing in the infamous BEXMENT in the 1970s.[14]
Sometime in the early 1970s, following leads in the phone hacking case of Cap'n Crunch, the FBI paid a visit to Bexley. Twenty to thirty Bexleyites filled a living room on the first floor of 46 Mass. Ave. and were "interviewed" by two FBI agents. "We shared popcorn, and asked them more questions than they asked us; the spirit was boisterous."[15]
A graffito on the inside of a closet door at 50 MassAve said, simply, "2.361". To an MIT student the decimal notation could only identify a course number—in this case, for a Mechanical Engineering course (Course 2). "A perusal of the current (1970s) catalog showed no such course. At the time, I worked in the stacks at MIT's library. They had old course catalogs, so I looked in one from the '60s, and, sure enough, there it was: 2.361 Friction and Lubrication."[16]
The May 1970 Grateful Dead concerts at MIT[17] were sponsored by Bexley's housemaster.
On May 7, 2013, MIT announced that Bexley Hall would be closed for up to three years, due to significant water damage inside the building's exterior walls that rendered the dormitory unsafe to live in.[18] Bexley residents and others expressed considerable concern about the sudden disruption of student housing plans, and possible loss of the unique student culture that had evolved over the years.[19][20][21]
On October 17, 2013, MIT's Department of Facilities recommended that Bexley be demolished. It was considered too expensive to repair and bring up to modern building code.[22] As of October 2015, the building has been completely removed, and a small park has been established in its place.
Burton-Conner House [ edit ]
The three "Burton" wings of Burton-Conner House, viewed from Memorial Drive
Burton-Conner House,[23] (shortened to Burton-Conner or BC), is located at 410 Memorial Drive, on the north bank of the Charles River. At maximum uncrowded capacity, Burton-Conner officially holds 344 students. The building is five stories high, plus a ground floor.
Burton-Conner is a combination of two major sections of the former "Riverside" hotel and apartment building, which MIT acquired and reopened as a dormitory in 1950. "Burton House" consists of the 3 western-most wings, while "Conner Hall" comprises the remaining 2 wings of the extended E-shaped structure. The two sections of the building are physically separated by a firewall above the ground floor; to pass from Conner 4 to Burton 4, a resident must first descend to the ground floor (or first floor through the Porter Room, if it is open). In the 1960s, a dining hall was added at the rear of Burton-Conner, on the side away from the river. Some years later, the dining hall was shut down, and the space was renamed the Porter Room,[citation needed][when?] a shared meeting and student event space. (As of September 2015, the kitchen remains, though unused.) The entire building underwent a complete restructuring during 1970–1971, when the internal layout was changed from a floor orientation (with floor-wide bathrooms and gang showers) to a suite orientation (introducing kitchens, suite lounges, and semi-private bathrooms).
In the dorm, nine floors (2 through 5 on the Conner side and 1 through 5 on the Burton side) are used for student housing. On Conner 1 are the housemaster's apartment, a library with Athena-network computers, a study area, and the Residential Life Associate's apartment. On the ground floor, notable features include an electronics lab and darkroom (unused for over 10 years), music rooms, a game room, weight and exercise rooms, and a lounge with a snack bar.
Most residents name their floor by their section name followed by a cardinal number denoting their floor, such as "Burton 2"; however, Burton Third is the only floor that is often named by an ordinal number. Burton 2 has a large Jewish population because of the presence of two Kosher suites (a men's and a women's suite, both with designated Kosher kitchens). A group of Hillel students gather on Burton 2 after Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath) services and sit around a table to sing lively z'mirot (Jewish songs) in an event they know as "Tisch" every Friday evening.
In January 2011, current and former residents celebrated the 60th anniversary of Burton-Conner with a reunion gathering in the Porter Room. A special commemorative history[24] was compiled for the occasion, along with enhancement of an ongoing website for residents and alumni.[25]
East Campus Alumni Memorial Housing (Buildings 62 and 64) [ edit ]
Aerial view of the two parallels of East Campus Alumni Memorial Housing (northerly ends are at left of photo).
Variously known as East Campus, Fred the Dorm, and East Campus Alumni Memorial Houses,[26] East Campus is MIT's second oldest dormitory after Senior House. Located at 3 Ames Street, it is an undergraduate dorm formed from six "houses", each named after an alumnus of MIT:
Goodale (Charles W. Goodale, '75)
Bemis (Albert Farwell Bemis, '93, member of the MIT Corporation from 1914 to 1936)
Walcott (William W. Walcott, '01)
Munroe (James P. Munroe, '82, Secretary of the MIT Corporation from 1907 to 1929)
Hayden (Charles Hayden, '90, member of the MIT Corporation from 1907 to 1929)
Wood (Kenneth F. Wood, '94)
East Campus is arranged in two long north-south buildings, the east parallel (one house built in 1924, extended to full parallel in 1928) and the west parallel (built in 1931). Each is divided into three houses, which are connected by floor. There are 5 floors, plus a basement, in each parallel. The houses are architectural entities, but the social organization is by floor: students can more easily walk to other rooms on the floor than go up or down stairs to another floor. Students typically think of themselves as residents of Fourth East (fourth floor, east parallel) rather than as residents of Bemis House. Floors with distinctive cultures often have additional names such as "Ground Zero" (First East), "Beast" (Second East), "Tetazoo" (Third East), "Slugfest" (Fourth East), "Jack Florey" (Fifth East), "Stickman" (First West), "Putz" (Second West), "Floor Pi" (Third West), "41 West" (Fourth West) and "Hell West" (Fifth West).
The dorm celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2014. Due to the dorm's age, sturdiness, and tradition, the 354 undergrads living there are allowed to paint and alter rooms and floor common spaces, up to the limits of what the Cambridge fire code will allow. Students frequently use technology to customize their rooms, building projects such as an Emergency Pizza Button to have Domino's deliver a cheese pizza,[27] a disco dance floor,[28] and an automatic door-unlocking system.[29]
Notable alumni of East Campus include NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress and George Smoot, co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.
MacGregor House [ edit ]
MacGregor House, viewed from Briggs Field, looking towards the Charles River (not visible)
MacGregor House,[30] located at 450 Memorial Drive, was designed by Pietro Belluschi and built in 1970 and is named for Frank S. MacGregor. It consists of a 16-story high-rise tower surrounded by a four-story low-rise. Both parts consist of suites grouped into "entries" of three to four floors each. The entries are named by letter: A, B, C, D, and E entries are located in the tower and F, G, H, and J entries are located in the low-rise. There is no I-entry, because (in true MIT style) i is imaginary.[31]
Each suite in MacGregor houses six to eight people, usually coed; the entire dorm houses 326 undergrads. Almost all rooms in MacGregor are singles; the three doubles in F entry are an architectural anomaly. Each suite comes equipped with a bathroom and a kitchen area with a stove-top; in addition, one suite in an entry also has an oven.[31]
MacGregor features various amenities, including a music room, game room, and weight room. A convenience store (MacCon) was located inside MacGregor on the first floor, but closed in 2017.[31]
Maseeh Hall [ edit ]
The building at 305 Memorial Drive, since 2010 named after Fariborz Maseeh (ScD 1990, Civil Engineering), predates MIT's move to Cambridge in 1916. It is located at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Massachusetts Avenue, across the Avenue from MIT's Building 1. It was originally operated as the "Riverbank Court Hotel" from 1901–1937. In 1938, MIT reopened it as "Graduate House", later renaming it "Ashdown House" after its first faculty housemaster, Avery Allen Ashdown. By the beginning of the 21st century, the building had become run-down and in need of renovation. Graduate students were moved out, to a new Ashdown House (NW35) located much further away, a controversial decision justified by a desire to house all undergrads as close as possible to MIT's central campus.[32][33]
The exterior of the emptied building was immediately repaired to stop water leaks and further deterioration, but there was no funding to renovate the interior of the structure. In 2010, Maseeh donated $24 million for the purpose of increasing MIT's undergraduate enrollment by 270 students (an increase of 6%).[34][35] To enable this, the number of undergraduate dormitory beds needed to be increased, since MIT now requires all undergraduate students to live in dormitories on campus for at least their first year. Upon its re-opening, Maseeh Hall was the largest undergrad dormitory on campus, with 462 beds; in 2013, Maseeh's occupancy was further increased to 490.
The Phoenix Group, named for the mythical phoenix bird and its ability to rise from ashes, was a group of 50 undergraduates who lived in NW35 for three years prior to Maseeh's opening.[36] They influenced decisions made about Maseeh's furniture, student government and culture, and shaped the undergraduate community that was to occupy Maseeh Hall. Maseeh Hall's mascot is the phoenix.
Maseeh Hall was first opened to undergrad residents in August 2011.[37] As of 2014, housemasters are Jack Carroll and Susanne Flynn (a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy).
The lobby of Maseeh Hall is architecturally notable for its spacious vaulting and mosaic decorations made of Guastavino tile.
McCormick Hall [ edit ]
McCormick Hall, viewed from Memorial Drive
McCormick Hall,[38] located at 320 Memorial Drive, is a women-only dormitory housing 237 undergrads. It consists of two 8-floor towers (the east tower and the west tower) and an annex.[vague] The three sections are connected on the ground floor. Each tower has a penthouse on the top floor that looks out on the Boston skyline. The funds for building McCormick Hall came from Katharine Dexter McCormick (SB 1904, Biology), a leading biologist, suffragist, and philanthropist in the early twentieth century.[39]
New House [ edit ]
New House, as seen from Memorial Drive
New House,[40] sometimes referred to as New West Campus Houses, houses 291 undergraduates at 471—476 Memorial Drive. The dormitory is a series of six joined five-story buildings arranged in a zig-zag fashion, each (like East Campus's sections) named after alumni. A main hallway on the first floor (known as "The Arcade") connects all the houses, and pairwise upper-floor connections also exist between houses 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. (All of the smaller buildings comprising New House are also referred to as "houses.") There are kitchens and common areas scattered throughout the dormitory. There is a tunnel connecting New House and neighboring MacGregor House, so that residents can have easy access to MacGregor's convenience store.
Instead of having elevators, as in other newer dorms, air conditioning is available in the rooms of New House (limited funding forced a choice to be made between those two options).[citation needed] This feature becomes quite useful at the near-summer beginnings of fall terms and ends of spring terms, when local temperatures can reach up to 95° Fahrenheit. New House's facilities include a weight room, an Athena Cluster, a newly renovated study lounge, and a game room.
New House is made up of nine strong communities: iHouse, Chocolate City, House 2, House 3, La Casa (Spanish House), House 4, De5mond, French House, and German House. More information on the House at large can be found on the New House Website.
Next House [ edit ]
Next House, as seen from Amherst Alley
Next House,[41] located at 500 Memorial Drive, is five stories tall and houses about 350 people. Patterned after the success of Baker House, it opened in September 1981. The "Next House" designation was unofficial and thought to be temporary until a sufficient donation had been received to name the dorm. As a result, the Institute has nearly always referred to the building as 500 Memorial Drive, while students have always called the dorm "Next House."
The dorm is divided into east and west wings which are connected at the center, and similar to East Campus locations are referred to by "(ordinal number) (wing)" when spoken, or "(cardinal number) (wing initial)" when written, such as "5 west" or "5W". When Next House first opened, the hallway directly ahead of the elevator opening was referred to as "central," so one could live on "4th Central" (aka Epsilon Lambda) as well; however, the lounge is now considered part of the west side[citation needed]. Its second name is a cheeky satirical shot at frats across campus and the letters EL reference elevator lounge, another common name for central lounges by the elevators. Each floor contains a large main lounge that faces the river, along with several smaller lounges, colloquially named in accordance to their location (e.g. "elevator lounge" or "deep lounge"), or nicknamed by their residents (ex. the far 4W lounge was dubbed "The Shire" for the 2012-13 year). Each wing also tends to nickname itself (ex. 3W is nicknamed SafetyThird). The 5th floor also features skylights placed in various areas.
The first level is home to the "TFL" (Tastefully Furnished Lounge, also the site of the annual "Next Act" theatrical production), along with music practice rooms, Next Dining (open everyday to all MIT students for breakfast and dinner), Athena cluster, and workout rooms. The TFL was so named at the first Next House governance meeting, ironically when this space still contained very few furnishings, after a sarcastic suggestion was offered by a group of upperclassmen who had moved from MacGregor House, which contains its own Tastefully Furnished Lounge (that was actually furnished at the time); the TFL nowadays contains a number of armchairs and sofas as well as a piano. The basement level offers a laundry room, game area, and the Country Kitchen, where students are often seen cooking up various meals.
Random Hall [ edit ]
Random Hall, viewed from Massachusetts Avenue
Random Hall[42] located at 290 Massachusetts Avenue, was created by the joining of two old, identical buildings, a process known to some residents as "siamization." Random Hall is not actually named after anybody, but the fictional benefactor "J. Arthur Random" has been adopted by the residents.
Originally built in 1894 and converted to a dormitory in 1968, Random Hall is the oldest building owned by MIT, and lacks elevators. The four physical floors of the building are divided by the firewall which runs down its middle, with openings between the sides on the first and third floors, creating eight logical floors which each have distinct personalities and names. The two sides of Random Hall are known as the "290 side" and the "282 side", after the street addresses of the two entries. From first to fourth floor, the 282 side consists of Destiny, Loop, Clam, and Bonfire; while the 290 side consists of Foo, Black Hole, BMF, and Pecker.[43]
Random Hall is the smallest of the MIT dorms, housing only about 93 undergraduates, and is located about a block past the northern border of the main campus. Random Hall is known for its bathroom and laundry machine online servers,[44][45] which allow people to determine remotely whether bathrooms and washers or dryers are in use.
Senior House [ edit ]
Senior House entrance on Amherst Street
Senior House[46] is the oldest dormitory at MIT. Since its construction in 1916, it has served as the Institute's first dormitory and on-campus fraternity, a mixed undergraduate and graduate dorm, an all-graduate facility, a seniors' dormitory, and military housing during World War II. It is currently a co-ed residence housing 100 graduate students. The building is an L-shaped building directly adjacent to the residence of the President of MIT. A tower at the center of the North side features neo-classical columns that reflect the architecture of the original MIT Cambridge campus. After major renovations, Senior House was one of two MIT undergrad dorms with air conditioning (May through September).
The building's street address is 4 Ames Street, but the mailing address is 70 Amherst Street, because the main entry was moved to what originally was the back of the building. Before implementation of the current single-entry system (ostensibly for security reasons), Senior House had six entries, named for people from MIT history:
Each entry has four floors, except for Runkle, which has six. The entries are arranged in an L-shape around a central courtyard. Each leg of the L is referred to by the initials of the three entries it contains: "WAR" and "HNC". The fifth and sixth floors (existing only in Runkle) are collectively referred to as "Towers". Floors with a particularly strong student culture are often given unofficial names, such as: "Freshman Ghetto" (1WAR), "3 qWARe" (3WAR), "State School" (3HNC), "WW4" (4WAR) and the "Oval Orifice" (suite 433).
Senior House alumni include Lawrence Summers (Economics, 1975), former president of Harvard University and formerly Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton Administration; Bruce Morrison (Chemistry, 1965), United States Representative for the 3rd Congressional District of Connecticut, 1983–1991; Moshe Arens (Mechanical Engineering, 1947), former member of the Israeli Knesset, defense minister, and ambassador to the United States; Gordon S. Brown (Electrical Engineering, 1931), former Dean of Engineering at MIT and a pioneer in the development of automatic-feedback systems and numerically controlled machine tools.
On June 12, 2017, news reached the MIT community that Senior House, as it had previously existed, would be replaced with "Pilot 2021".[47] This move was seen as a response to what the administration described as failures relating to a previous 2016-2017 turnaround program. This turnaround period, claimed to be in response to a low graduation rate and possible drug-related problems in Senior House, included the banning of new first-year students that term, and the implementation of other changes related to mental health and supervision.[48][49] The Pilot 2021 program was to house first-years and a small number of students in other years, and was described as being "founded on three principles: career exploration, food and cooking, and mind&body wellness". It would no longer allow cats, murals, or other elements connected with "East-side" dorm culture. Many members of the East-side MIT community viewed the erasing of Senior House culture as a possible attack from the administration on their community values, and some current students and alumni of the Haus were organizing to withhold donations from the Institute.[50] The continuing controversy received coverage well beyond the campus, including articles in the business magazine Forbes, the commentary magazine The Atlantic, and the student edition of the French newspaper Le Figaro.[51][52][53][54]
On July 7, an MIT administrator abruptly announced that the building was to be completely emptied of undergraduates, and repurposed as a grad student dorm.[55] This announcement triggered a new round of controversy and discussion among the MIT community.[56][57][58]
Simmons Hall [ edit ]
"Simmons Hall" redirects here. For dormitory at Simmons College, see Simmons College (Massachusetts)
Simmons Hall, viewed from Briggs' Field
Simmons Hall[59] located at 229 Vassar Street, was designed by architect Steven Holl and dedicated in 2002.[60] At the cost of $78.5 million, it is MIT's most expensive dormitory built on campus since Baker House.
The building is 382 feet (116 m) long and 10 stories tall, housing 344 undergraduates, plus faculty housemasters, visiting scholars, and graduate resident tutors (GRTs, MIT's equivalent of an RA). The structure is a massive reinforced concrete block, perforated with approximately 5,500 square windows each measuring 2 feet (0.61 m) on a side, plus additional larger and irregularly shaped windows. An 18-inch (460 mm) wall depth is designed to allow the winter sun to help heat the building while providing shade in summer, without air conditioning. An average single room has nine windows, each with its own small curtain.[61]
Internal design consists of one- and two-person rooms—some in suite-like settings with semi-private bathrooms—and lounges with and without kitchens, roughly arranged into three towers (the "A", "B", and "C" towers). Simmons Hall is one of the five dormitories that have dining halls; the dining facility is open for breakfast and dinner Monday through Friday and brunch/dinner on Saturday and Sunday. Simmons also has a late-nite cafe which is open Sunday through Thursday (9 pm to 1 am) to undergraduates and members of the MIT community.
The building has been nicknamed "The Sponge", because the architect consciously modeled its shape and internal structure on a sea sponge.[60][62][63] Opinions on the aesthetics of the building remain strongly divided. Simmons Hall won the 2003 American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture, and the 2004
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methodology supporting it’s conclusion that MPD failed to document and investigate over 170 allegations of sexual assault were flawed.” Indeed, the report concludes there were in fact only 5 cases which the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program, or SANE, reported to the MPD between 2008 and September 2012 that were not accounted for. This was out of a total of 480 SANE reports and a total MPD case load of over 1500 sexual assault cases handled in that time period.
The flaws cited as to this discrepancy were that many of the cases were outside of the MPD’s jurisdiction and that not every SANE examination resulted in a police report. Also, HRW focused on matching the dates and frequency of SANE examinations without taking into account that they did not have access to the names of the alleged victims, discounting the possibility that there were more than one examination on different days for the same individual.
Most disturbing is the HRW report’s dogged emphasis on only a few cases in which police were accused of misconduct and the omission of facts that would have completely reversed the readers interpretation of events in those cases. Only eight cases out of the 1500 (or less than one half of one percent) handled between 2008 and 2011 by the MPD were mentioned over 100 times in the HRW report. This leaves “the reader with the impression that the number of victims whose complaints are included in the report [are] higher than [they] actually are” according to the Crowell and Moring report.
The omission of facts in several cases borders on criminal. For instance HRW stated that a 2009 case in which a victim was handcuffed, driven to an undisclosed location and sexually assaulted was categorized only as “kidnapping.” However the sexual assault did not occur in MPD’s jurisdiction but in neighboring Prince Georges County where it was indeed classified as a sexual assault. In another case cited by the HRW report an excerpt from a complaint letter to Chief Lanier was quoted as saying that during a call from an investigator a woman’s assault was referred to as an “incident” rather than a sexual assault thus making her very upset. What the HWR report left out was that the same complainant had glowing remarks for the officer who attended to her in the hospital during her “darkest hour.” “To this day I feel indebted to his kindness” stated another omission from her letter in the report.
The most scandalous, yet most comical, instance of factual omission in the HRW report was a case involving an alleged victim accusing the department of ‘victim blaming’ by using language such as “if someone did something to her that she did not like she ‘would tell them to stop’ and ‘if she didn’t want them to do it, why didn’t she stop them.’ What follows below is an excerpt from the Crowell and Moring report that details the exclusion of important facts that pertain to this case. (caution, WTF trigger warning):
What the HRW Report Doesn’t Say: • HRW based this account on a complaint made to the Office of Police Complaints(OPC). This complaint was investigated by MPD. • The victim reported to MPD that she went to a local business for a Brazilian Bikini wax on two separate occasions. A Brazilian Bikini wax involves the removal of almost all hair from the pubic region. • The victim reported that she felt the two technician ns who applied the procedure touched her inappropriately on each separate occasion. • The female SAU detectives interviewed the owner of the business and were given a demonstration of the procedure. During the procedure a technician, wearing gloves, applies wax to the area surrounding the genitals; pressure is applied to the area being treated, and the wax is removed. The pressure is applied to reduce the amount of pain associated with the removal of the wax from the area. • MPD discussed the case with the U.S. Attorney’s office. The U.S. Attorney’s office determined that there was not sufficient criminal intent to prove that a crime had been committed. • HRW cited this 2009 Complaint three times in the report. The statements of the female SAU detectives, when placed in the context of a Brazilian Bikini wax procedure that occurred on multiple occasions, provides a complete picture which makes the detective’s questions during the course of her investigation more reasonable under the circumstances.
The Crowell and Moring report also pointed out that the number of significant changes to the MPD’s handling of sexual assault cases since 2008 which were met with great favor from local sexual assault advocacy groups such as SANE. “The HRW Report nonetheless cites numerous examples of police misconduct that predate the 2008 reforms. Specifically, HRW cited pre-reform examples of police misconduct 63 times in the Report. Moreover, HRW frequently used these negative pre-reform examples to suggest that those practices exist today” said the report.
In spite of what is plausibly a deliberately misleading critique of the MPD’s handling of sexual assault cases, the Crowell & Moring report is generous to HRW in its analysis calling it a “catalyst for positive change” in its executive summary. It also states that the report is intended to be “forward looking” rather than holding HRW accountable for what is obviously a tragically flawed report the purpose of which was, almost definitely, to impact the outcome of the debate over VAWA raging in Congress at the time.
Sources:
[1] http://www.tommywellsward6.com/Judiciary/2013-06-26%20%20Analysis%20of%20Human%20Rights%20Watch%20Report-c.pdf
[2] http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/domestic-violence-industry/vawa-mafia-in-action-d-c-police-chief-under-fire/Using Ada technologies to develop video games doesn’t sound like an an obvious choice - although it seems like there could be an argument to be made. The reverse, however, opens some more straightforward perspectives. There’s no reason why a code base developed in Ada couldn’t benefit from a game engine to support the user interface. Think of a flight simulator for example, running a mission computer in Ada.
In the past few years, a number of these have been made available to a larger audience, mostly to serve the so-called indie scene. In this blog post, we’ll concentrate on Unity, which has the advantage of using the Mono environment as scripting language. As there is no flight mission computer at AdaCore, we’ll use a slightly modified version, the SPARK/Ada example already ported to a number of environments. So that’ll be a game in Ada after all!
Setup You can get the code on AdaCore’s Github repository. It has been developed for Windows, but should be easily ported over to Linux (the directive “for Shared_Library_Prefix use "";” in the GNAT Project file may be all you need to remove - see more information in the Ada project setup). The Ada folder contains what’s necessary to build the native code, the TetrisUI contains the Unity project. You will need both GNAT and Unity for everything to work. Unity can be downloaded from https://unity3d.com/. During the installation, make sure that you select the correct version - 32 bits or 64 bits - matching your GNAT compilation environment. In particular, to date, GNAT GPL is only provided with a 32 bits code generator on Windows, and 64 bits on Linux. Once the Ada project is built, make sure to copy the resulting library under the Asset/Plugin directory of the Unity project. This will be described in more details below. Now, let’s dive into the project.
Exporting Tetris Ada to C# We’re going to skip the section describing the development of the Tetris code. There’s a full explanation available. Note that interestingly, we’re not only interfacing Ada, but actually SPARK code. This provides a good demonstration of a typical situation with Ada, where the core safety-critical functionalities are developed using a higher safety standard (here the core of the game), which can then be integrated in various environments with fewer safety constraints (here the user interface developed in Unity). As said in the introduction, Unity runs mono - an open-source version of the.Net platform - and therefore allows you to develop scripts using the C# language. So, exporting our Ada code to Unity will turn out to be interfacing Ada and C#.
Step 1 - Setting up the Build The first step is to set up a library to be loaded within Unity. We need actually several things here: the library has to be dynamic, we need it to be automatically initialized, and we need to make sure that it doesn’t have any dependency on any other libraries, in particular the GNAT libraries. This is achieved through the following settings in the GNAT Project file: for Library_Kind use "dynamic"; for Library_Standalone use "encapsulated"; for Shared_Library_Prefix use ""; We specify here the fact that the library is dynamic (for Library_Kind use "dynamic";) and that it should encapsulate all dependencies, in particular the GNAT library (for Library_Standalone use "encapsulated";). That second setting is important, otherwise our library would only work if the GNAT run-time is also provided. By default, the build system (gprbuild) will add a “lib” prefix to the library name. I’m personally working on Windows and don’t fancy having this prefix which doesn’t really look natural. This behavior is cancelled by the clause (for Shared_Library_Prefix use "";). On Linux, where you’re likely to want this prefix, you may need to remove that clause. Step 2 - Exporting to C, then C# There’s no direct way to export from Ada to C#, but as the C# Platform Invoke (PInvoke) services allow us to call native C code as often, we’re going to go through C conventions for the interfacing. As a disclaimer, to anyone that is already shaking to the idea of interfacing virtual machines and native code - fear no more. Using PInvoke is surprisingly easier than using something like the Java Native Interface for the jvm - at least for basic interfacing. In our case, for Ada, it will be nothing more than exporting proper symbols. In order to precisely control what gets exported, we’re going to wrap all calls to the Tetris package (that contains the game core) into a new package Game_Loop (see https://github.com/AdaCore/UnityAdaTetris/blob/master/Ada/src/game_loop.ads and https://github.com/AdaCore/UnityAdaTetris/blob/master/Ada/src/game_loop.adb). This package will have in particular a subprogram “Cycle” responsible for moving pieces around the board. Its interface will look as follows: procedure Cycle with Export, Convention => C, External_Name => "tetris_cycle"; I’m using Ada 2012 aspects here, as opposed to the usual “pragma Export”, but the effect is the same. This is declaring the C call convention, exporting the procedure to a C symbol “tetris_cycle”. Importing this symbol into C# is painfully easy. All we need to do is create a static function of the right profile, and then associate it to the right DllImport directive. We’ll see how to set the C# project in the next section, but here’s the code that will have to be written in the class: [DllImport("tetris")] private static extern void tetris_cycle(); And that’s it! We’ll of course need to make sure that the library is at the correct location to be loaded, but again, that’s for the next section.
One last point of importance - exceptions. The core of the game is written in SPARK and all run-time checks have been proven. So we know that when called properly (ie respecting preconditions) this code cannot raise any exception. However, there’s no such checks at the C# to Ada interface level and it’s quite possible that values passed from C# to Ada are wrong. A good example of this is board coordinates, which are constrained between 1.. X_Size and 1.. Y_Size but mapped into regular integers. Nothing prevents values in C# to be wrong, and thus to issue an exception when being passed to Ada. The resulting behavior is quite annoying as C# has no way to catch Ada exceptions - Unity will just crash. As it turns out, it happened to me quite a few times before I realized what was happening. There are ways to throw a C# exception from native code - as to translate an Ada exception into a C# one. The SWIG interface generator does it for example. However, it’s outside of the scope of this blog, so we’ll just make sure that all calls that are part of the interface have default handlers that provide default behaviors. Let’s look at another example from the interface, the code that provides the value on a cell of the board: function Get_Kind (X, Y : Integer) return Cell with Export, Convention => C, External_Name => "tetris_get_kind"; The implementation will look like: function Get_Kind (X, Y : Integer) return Cell is begin return Cur_Board (Y)(X); exception when others => return Empty; end Get_Kind; Returning the “Empty” literal is far from ideal. There’s no information passed to Unity that something wrong happened. However, this is enough to keep things going. The C# code will look like: [DllImport("tetris")] private static extern byte tetris_get_kind(int x, int y); Integer is quite logically mapped into int. I have to admit that I used implementation knowledge for the return type. I know that it’s a small enumeration that turns into an 8 bits unsigned int, hence the “byte” type. As it turns out however, this implementation knowledge is available to everyone. The -gnatceg switch from GNAT allows to generate a C interface to Ada. The resulting C header files can be directly used to develop C code or to interface with anything (like C#). And as a matter of fact, we could even have used these in the SWIG tool we mentioned before to automatically generate C# and - hey - use their interface to exception handling mechanism! Back to our work, the last piece worth mentioning here is handling of data structures. More precisely, regarding a type in the Tetris specification: type Piece is record S : Shape; D : Direction; X : PX_Coord; Y : PY_Coord; end record; We need to be able to access to this type from C#. Again, using -gnatceg we can see that the compiler generates a structure with two unsigned 8 bits integers and 2 regular integers. This is -non portable- insights on the compiler behavior. To do proper interfacing, it would probably have been better to declare this structure and all the types as being C convention. But we’re taking shortcuts here for the purpose of the demonstration. Interestingly, this type can directly be mapped to C#. C# has two main composite data structures, the “class” and the “struct”. A notable difference is that “class” is pass-by-reference and “struct” pass-by-copy. So a C# struct is very appropriate here and can be directly mapped to: private struct Piece { public byte shape; public byte direction; public int x; public int y; } So that the Ada call: function Get_Cur_Piece return Piece with Export, Convention => C, External_Name => "tetris_get_cur_piece"; Becomes: [DllImport("tetris")] private static extern Piece tetris_get_cur_piece(); One last piece of information, a number of calls are returning booleans value. Recent GNAT compilers will complain when interfacing Ada Boolean type with C - there isn’t such a type in C. Instead of just disregarding the warning we can shut it down by using our own Boolean type (with proper size clause this time): type CSharp_Bool is new Boolean with Size => 8; Used in various places in the interfacing. In summary, interfacing Ada and C# comes with a couple of hurdles, but is overall relatively painless. The code and this article take a number of shortcuts and present alternatives to the interfacing. Using this in an industrial context would require a bit more care to make sure that the interfaces are portable and safe. And even better, automatic generation of the wrappers and interface would be ideal (a bit like GNAT-AJIS for Java). The question of exception handling still needs to be worked out but for a demonstrator, that’s good enough. We now have an Ada library ready to be used from within Unity. Let’s play!
Developing the game UI in Unity Some high level information on Unity There’s many things to know about Unity and we’re not even going to begin scratching the surface. For more detail, there’s a massive amount of tutorials and books available. We’re only going to provide a high level view of the concepts we deployed in this demonstrator. In order to run the example, the one thing you will need to do is to build the Ada library (see previous section) and to copy it to the Resources asset folder described below. The first time a Unity project is open, it shows a game scene. There may be many scenes in a game, but for Tetris we’ll only need one. The objects of that scene are listed in the list on the left. These are the ones which are statically defined, but as we are also going to create a couple of objects dynamically, these objects are typed after GameObject. Unity is using an interesting component based design method, where each GameObject is itself composed of components (shape, renderer, position, scripts, etc). Clicking on the Main Camera object, we’ll get the list of these components on the right panel. In particular a Transform at the top, specifying matrix transformation for this object (position, rotation...), a Camera component for what is specific to the camera (in particular switching between orthographic and perspective projections), and at the end a script called Tetris, which will contain the behavior of the game. We decided to associate this script to the camera component, but as a matter of fact, it won’t have to interact with the camera, we could just as well have placed it anywhere. At the bottom of the screen, we have the Assets. The components and game objects used to build the scene. Two scripts - Tetris that we discussed already and Cell which we’ll see briefly in a bit. A material called “CubeMat” used to render cubes and the Main scene. There are also two directories, Resources and Plugins. In the Asset folder, developers are mostly free of organizing elements the way they want apart from a couple of special directories, these two in particular. The Plugins directory in particular is responsible for containing the dynamic libraries to be loaded by Unity. When checking the project out, it should be empty. Just drag and drop tetris.dll (or libtetris.so) here to complete the project. Resources contains objects that can be dynamically instantiated. Here, Cell is going to be one cell on the screen. Clicking on it, you’ll see that it has a position, a collider, a renderer, a material, and a filter (responsible for the shape - or mesh - of the object). It’s also associated with a script also called Cell, which implements some specific services. And that’s pretty much it. Clicking on the play button on the top, you should be able to launch the game, move bricks with the arrows or accelerate the fall with the space key. Note that stopping and relaunching the game from within the same Unity instance will not reset the board. This is because the library is actually loaded within the Unity environment itself, not in response to the play button. To reset, we can either re-launch Unity, or extend the implementation with some initialization code launched at game start.
The Tetris behavior The UI for this Tetris is very basic. It’s a 10 * 38 grid of pre-loaded cubes, that we’re going to make appear and disappear depending on the state of the core game. It’s arguably a bit of a shame to use a tool such as Unity and turn it into such a basic implementation - but it has the benefit of adhering to the core developed in Ada, which can then be ported to much more crude environments. It’s all ready to be extended though! The core script is pretty much all contained in this “Tetris.cs” script, which you can open either from the asset list or by clicking on the entry in the Main camera. You’ll see a bunch of DllImport clauses here, similar to those we described in the previous section. Next is a call to Awake(). Awake is a special function that unity calls once the object has been created and set up. It’s just recognized by Unity from its name, there’s no overriding mechanism used here (although of course C# has support for it). The first line is getting a handle on a prefab, which is one of these resources we’re going to create dynamically: prefabBlock = Resources.Load("Cell") as GameObject; The complete path to the prefab is “Assets/Resources/Cell” but the common prefix is omitted. Once this handle is obtained, I can then instantiate it through instantiate calls: Instantiate(prefabBlock) Which returns a GameObject. As seen before, this GameObject is associated to a script Cell. In Unity, all these scripts are actually descendent of the type Behavior or MonoBeharior. What’s nice about the component based model of unity is that it’s always possible to get any components of a given object from any other component. In other words, I can store this object through a reference to a GameObject or using its Cell directly. When only one component of a specific type is available, it can be accessed through the generic GetComponent<type>() call, so: cells[x, y] = Instantiate(prefabBlock).GetComponent<Cell>(); actually initializes the array cells at x,y position with the instance of the type Cell from the prefab I just initialized. Next we’re going to deactivate the cell for now, as the grid is empty by default. See that we can reference the GameObject from the Cell directly: cells[x, y].gameObject.SetActive(false); The rest of the code is pretty straightforward. Update() is another of these magic functions, this one is called at every frame. We’re calling tetris_cycle() regularly to update the game, and subsequently activating / deactivating cells depending of the status of the board. The Cell script has some other interesting elements. The first thing it does (in Awake) is to duplicate the material in order to be able to change its color independently of others. The color is then changed in the Renderer component from SetKind. Last but not least, the Explode function creates an instance of the explosion particle system to give a little something when a line is destroyed.“Act as if every day were your last” we’re told. Pretend it’s true, the thinking goes, and you’ll have a more thrilling life. In the same vein, here’s another aphorism to boost your game: “Every girl is a slut.”
It’s a truism among players, and it’s one I struggled with. Yet girls aren’t all the same – some will have sex with you at a moment’s notice, and others will tell you they’re saving it for marriage. To someone with an empirical bent, to someone who likes to understand the world as it is, you might struggle with such an absolute statement – it’s so vague it’s not even true or false per se.
Properly understood however, “every girl is a slut” is valuable because it makes your game better. It’s a tactical assumption, something that you assume to be true to improve your strategy, even if you think it will be false most of the time. For instance, if you were getting into a fight, you might assume that your opponent had a knife on him. There might only be a 20% chance that he carries a knife, but if you adopt a fighting style that’s vulnerable to an opponent with a knife, you’d be 100% fucked if he whipped one out. While the assumption will constrain your behavior, it will be a great boon to your continued success over time.
Over the past month, I slept with several new girls – girls I saw once or twice. That was it – I doubt I’ll ever get to sleep with any of them again. We had met for a date in each case, and then proceeded to have sex on the first date, or in one case, a second date. When I tried to push it beyond a second date, only a couple were interested. Angry women on the internet tell me I have a tiny penis, so maybe that was it.
One girl claimed she ‘could not commit to anything right now’ when I never claimed to want anything more than sex. Another girl was casually dating another man, and chose to stick with him. One worked too much and lived with her parents to make it a regular deal. One was interested in something more serious, but I wasn’t. One said we were going different ways. These girls were like cold beads of water coursing through my fingers – refreshing, but I’d be a fool to try and hold on to them. Better to enjoy them for the brief moment I have them laid away in my lair.
American girls are so slutty nowadays that a consistent fuck buddy is too much commitment for them. From recent personal experience… — Emmanuel Goldstein (@Goldsteineum) November 19, 2013
Even if a girl likes you, there’s no guarantee that she will see you again. Maybe she’ll end up fucking some guy on her next night out. Or her workload doubles and decides she doesn’t have time for any ‘commitments’ right now. It sounds like she is only temporarily rejecting you – after all, you had a good time together. From experience though, know you will never see her again. In the mind of a woman, sex should be effortless – if she has to overcome what she calls ‘fate,’ aka that loss of momentum and time apart, her pussy will dry up and she will lazily opt out. Especially if she’s a slut.
As a man, dating is an investment whose minimum return is sex. Other things matter, but they’re meaningless without sex – and then you’re just platonic friends. Some ‘investments’ won’t pan out – you go on a date or two with the girl yet you never fuck. And others, you’ll have sex with nothing more than a round of beers and a floor mattress. By pushing for sex early and often, your returns come in quicker, and you invest less on girls that never pan out.
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When you act as if every girl is a slut, she may assume you ‘do this with every girl.’ While that sounds counter-productive, in her mind she ‘won’t be a slut’ for sleeping with you, because so many girls have done so before her. Sheep see safety in the herd.
You will take every step to maximize the likelihood of having sex quickly. You toss out all those dating conventions – all that matters is if they help you get laid or not. Maybe you even like the girl – no matter.
Always structure dates so that you can get laid. Set the date near her house or yours, preferably yours – girls can be skittish about letting you in to their house on a first date. Do not meet in the middle.
Assume she’s already fucking other men. No attractive girl is ever truly single or alone. There are always men just a text away, and sometimes less. When you assume that she is already fucking other men, or is about to, you realize time is of the essence – as the tacky infomercials go, “You must act now!” Dawdle, and you’ll end up in the friend zone or as a dead phone number. When a girl is sleeping with someone, she becomes markedly less attentive to other men.
This dynamic is even obvious among female coworkers – when girls are openly distant in greeting me, I know it’s because she’s already fucking someone and she feels little need to talk up other eligible men. Even though she’d never consider fucking me anyway, her steady dose of dick imbues her everyday behavior and makes her distant with other men. If a girl is already sleeping with someone, you’ll have to leverage all of your pull on her to get anywhere. Even if this assumption were false, the end result is you get sex or rejection quicker – more return or less investment, a win in either case.
If she’s being flaky, she’s already fucking someone. Women crave sex. Once they start having it, they will not want to go without it for long. If she isn’t getting it from a boyfriend, she’s getting it from someone else, even as she’s going on dates with you.
Be wary of poisoning the pot. Be aware that you could turn her off if you’re too aggressive. If you proceed carefully enough, this shouldn’t be an issue. Even so, you have to ask yourself if this girl is so special that you’d be willing to put in time to get with her – if you can’t say yes to that, her rejection is a blessing – she’s keeping you from wasting more of your time and money in a failed prospect. Even so-called nice girls, who are not sluts, can be very forgiving of an aggressive man, provided you show some enduring interest in her as a person. They secretly respect men who pursue boldly. Proceed more carefully in sensitive situations, like with coworkers or girls in your social circle, until you’re sure she likes you.
You may want more than sex. But with a woman who’s got several sexual partners in her past, and dozens of suitors lining up in the present, you’re not remotely in her reality until you fuck her. She will not think twice about never talking to you again until you’ve had sex, and maybe not even then. We live in a Slut Culture where sex means nothing, an amicable date even less. Every time you see a woman, you cannot be certain you will see her again… imagine every night with her is your last.
Fortune favors the bold.
Read More: 24 Signs She’s A SlutAs underground criminals become more interested in making money from mobiles, the value of services to exploit them has become rather high. Chinese crooks are certainly aware of how to make money from people’s smartphones, as evidenced in a new Trend Micro report showing just how much illicit services are being sold for on the dark web sites used by China’s talented hackers.
The most costly service Trend found revolved apps known as “premium service abusers”, where the malicious software forces users to subscribe to things they really didn’t want to be roped into. Often, they will reply to confirmation messages on users’ behalf then delete those texts, meaning the victim is left totally unaware of the payments.
Welcome to China Town
Often rogue app makers will buy the premium numbers. Unsurprisingly, they come at a high cost. For a six-digit subscription number, the crook would have to pay out as much as $36,000 (£21,500) a year.
SMS spam is big in China too. That’s why there are a load of services offering ways to send out bulk messages. An SMS server is the most costly option, at $7,400, but this lets the user send 300 messages per minute and hijack a mobile phone in five seconds.
There are some iMessage spamming offerings, including the chance to send out 1,000 spam messages to people’s iPhones for just $16. For the same number of multimedia messages it costs $82. Or you could buy the full iMessage spamming application, which can be bought in a handily preconfigured “all you need” package at $4,900.
Text message interceptors aren’t too expensive, for anyone wanting to spy on their spouse or some other enemy. At $500, you’ll get forwarded the target’s SMS messages and can choose which ones make it to the infected device. The service promises to remain hidden from the naked eye too.
Then there’s the app ranking boosters. Want to get an app in the top 5 on the Apple App Store? It’ll cost you $9,800. For 180,000 downloads of an Android app? $106.
“Cyber criminals usually boost an app’s ranking by creating several dummy accounts to download and write good user reviews for it,” Trend notes in its report. “This is especially true for Android apps in third-party app stores in China. Doing so is, however, costly.”
If China, home to some of the world’s finest digital criminals, is this interested in mobiles, and is building up a vast underground market for smartphone exploitation, we can expect an onslaught of spam in the coming years. We can also expect a load of rogue apps designed to get people calling premium numbers, mostly doing the rounds on third party stores.
Rudimentary protections will help you here: don’t download anything from non-official stores unless you know it’s trustworthy. And don’t respond to spam. Obviously.It may come as a surprise, given that it is an art form based on the lyrical humiliation and systematic dismantling of an opponent's life and personality, but the UK battle rap scene is one that heartily embraces difference. At this current moment, there are gay battlers, disabled battlers and battlers with self-confessed mental health issues. Among this diversity, though, Marlo and Shuffle T stick out like a sore thumb, because they are, to put not too fine a point on it, really rather posh.
They may not be the first middle-class battlers in the UK scene, but where some try to keep their background very much in the background, Marlo and Shuffle's heritage have become their USP. It's something that could be cringeworthy and gimmicky, were it not for the fact that both Marlo and Shuffle T are also incredibly skilful rappers, ripping through multi-syllabic rhyme schemes at breakneck pace without sacrificing any of their lyrical impact, consummate performers and utterly hilarious too.
Their self-consciously awful "bad bars" battle against each other for the all-conquering UK league Don't Flop ("I'm so sick, I need to take a week off / you're not sick – you only fake a wee cough") has chalked up 198,000 Youtube views and was a fixture in bloggers' 2013 battle top tens the world over, with the likes of Rizzle Kicks and Ed Sheeran as celebrity fans. Yet, as Marlo (Theo Marlow, a 23-year-old film studies graduate from Reading) and Shuffle (Adam Woollard, 22, from Bracknell, who works for the not-for-profit fashion organisation We Say No) explain, it might never have happened, feeling that it wasn't a scene they could "ingratiate".
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"We weren't even thinking, 'Imagine if we did this'," says Shuffle. "It was more a case of, 'Imagine if we ever went to one of the events?' Our middle classness was the main issue, but what you don't get from the Youtube videos is that battle crowds are very accepting."
"The class thing comes up in battles," adds Marlo. "But only in a playful way. Really, the whole scene is populated by misfits of various types."
Their entire, very rapid career trajectory can be seen in microcosm in their recent Don't Flop battle against the hardened Detroit veterans Marvwon and Quest McCody. Over the course of three rounds, the Americans' veneer of cold disdain slowly crumbles, via stunned bewilderment, into guffawing at the absurdity of their opponents. Britain and the world's battle fans have been won over via much the same progression.
"I guess it's sort of a metaphor, put like that," says Shuffle. "[Marvwon and Quest McCody] came from a part of the culture where you have to maintain that rigidity, that integrity. But there's nothing more satisfying than making your opponent laugh when they're trying to do that. It also means you have a relationship of some kind with that person."
"That battle was a total mismatch," adds Marlo, "which is what makes it beautiful."
Their class, though, is not what really sets this pair apart. They bring a loose-limbed theatricality to their performances, their comic timing, facial expressions and double takes.
"It comes from the kind of comedy we consume," says Shuffle. "In Brass Eye, the little things Chris Morris does between dialogue are the most important things. It matters what one of us is doing while the other is spitting."
Simply by being an exaggeration of who they are, Shuffle and Marlo are doing the very thing that rap fans have insisted on for the last two decades, keeping it – sort of – real. "Although they may play up aspects of their character, they bring a very honest approach to battling," explains Don't Flop's co-host Joel "Bamalam" Watts. "Anybody feels they can get behind them. It makes the average Joe realise that there is no set format to battling. As long as you're being yourself – you'll be accepted."
"Some of what we do is hamming up our middle-classness," concludes Shuffle, "but the main part is just being silly. I've tried taking myself seriously in battles. It just didn't work."
Picture (article top) by Darren JohnsonDear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Over the years, I have found many parallels between feminism and Zionism. Both movements are daughters of the Enlightenment.
Through emancipation, empowerment and self-determination, both movements have revolutionized the lives of two of the world’s longest and most oppressed peoples.
Both have made remarkable and previously unimaginable strides in the 20th century, but remain unfinished into the 21st. And both have become “stained” words.Both feminism and Zionism have been so transformative in upending long established power structures and prejudices that they could not but have faced a virulent backlash.Nowhere has the backlash been more apparent than the words that denote these two revolutions. These words have become so “stained” that even those who support their underlying political purpose – whether it be equal rights and opportunities for women and men or political self-determination for the Jewish people in their ancient homeland – feel at times uncomfortable to publicly identify as a feminists or Zionists.Women, and especially women in power, face unrelenting social pressures to avoid appearing ambitious, “bossy,” or feminist. In her book, Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg describes the well-intentioned advice she received to avoid taking up the cause of women’s empowerment, lest it reflect badly on her hard-earned position in the technology world. Zionism has suffered a similar fate. Recent research conducted separately by pollsters Frank Luntz in the United States and Stanley Greenberg in France has demonstrated
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better quality displays have been gradually released over a number of years, and the term is now used for nearly all of Apple products containing a screen, including Apple Watch, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac.[8] Apple uses slightly different versions of the term for these models, including Retina HD Display for iPhone 6 and later versions,[9] and Retina 4K/5K Display for iMac.[10]
Apple's Retina displays are not an absolute standard but vary depending on the size of the display on the device, and how close the user would typically be viewing the screen. Where users view the screen at a closer distance to their eyes, as on smaller devices with smaller displays, the displays have more PPI (Pixels Per Inch), while larger devices with larger displays where the user views the screen further away use fewer PPI. Later device versions have had additional improvement, either counted by an increase in the screen size (the iPhone 6 Plus) and/or contrast ratio (the iPhone 6 Plus, and iMac with Retina 4K/5K Display), and/or more recently with PPI count (iPhone X, XR, XS, and XS Max), thus Apple using the name “Retina HD Display", "Retina 4K/5K Display", "Super Retina HD Display", or "Liquid Retina HD Display".
Rationale [ edit ]
When introducing the iPhone 4, Steve Jobs said the number of pixels needed for a Retina display is about 300 PPI for a device held 10 to 12 inches from the eye.[1] One way of expressing this as a unit is pixels-per-degree (PPD) which takes into account both the screen resolution and the distance from which the device is viewed. Based on Jobs' predicted number of 300, the threshold for a Retina display starts at the PPD value of 57 PPD. 57 PPD means that a tall skinny triangle with a height equal to the viewing distance and a top angle of one degree will have a base on the device's screen that covers 57 pixels. Any display's viewing quality (from phone displays to huge projectors) can be described with this size-independent universal parameter. Note that the PPD parameter is not an intrinsic parameter of the display itself, unlike absolute pixel resolution (e.g. 1920×1080 pixels) or relative pixel density (e.g. 401 PPI), but is dependent on the distance between the display and the eye of the person (or lens of the device) viewing the display; moving the eye closer to the display reduces the PPD, and moving away from it increases the PPD in proportion to the distance. It can be calculated by the formula
2 d r tan ( 0.5 ∘ ) {\displaystyle 2dr\tan(0.5^{\circ })}
where d {\displaystyle d} is the distance to the screen, r {\displaystyle r} is the resolution of the screen in pixels per unit length, and 1 ∘ {\displaystyle 1^{\circ }} is the aperture of a cone having the apex on focus, height d {\displaystyle d}, and the base in the eye lens —the optical correspondent to a cone inside the eye having the same base and the apex in the other focus, the fovea. That aperture, which can be measured by visual field tests, varies widely among different human subjects.
In practice, thus far Apple has converted a device's display to Retina by doubling the number of pixels in each direction, quadrupling the total resolution. This increase creates a sharper interface at the same physical dimensions. The sole exception to this has been the iPhone 6 Plus, which renders its display at triple the number of pixels in each direction, before down-sampling to a 1080p resolution.
Models [ edit ]
The displays are manufactured worldwide by different suppliers. Currently, the iPad's display comes from Samsung,[11] while the MacBook Pro, iPhone, and iPod Touch displays are made by LG Display[12] and Japan Display Inc.[13] There was a shift of display technology from twisted nematic (TN) liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) to in-plane switching (IPS) LCDs starting with the iPhone 4 models in June 2010.
Apple markets the following devices as having a Retina display, Retina HD Display, Liquid Retina HD Display, Super Retina HD Display, or Retina 4K/5K Display:
Higher resolution Retina screens are standard on the 3rd-generation MacBook Pro and new MacBook, released in 2013 and 2015, respectively.[19] The 4th-generation MacBook Pro, released in 2016, retains the same Retina display of the previous generation.
Reception [ edit ]
Reviews of Apple devices with Retina displays have generally been positive on technical grounds, with comments describing it as a considerable improvement on earlier screens and praising Apple for driving third-party application support for high-resolution displays more effectively than on Windows.[20][21][22] While high-dpi displays such as IBM's T220 and T221 had been sold in the past, they had seen little take-up due to their cost of around $8400.[23]
Reviewing the iPhone 4 in 2010, Joshua Topolsky commented:
"to our eyes, there has never been a more detailed, clear, or viewable screen on any mobile device. Not only are the colors and blacks deep and rich, but you simply cannot see pixels on the screen…webpages that would be line after line of pixelated content when zoomed out on a 3GS are completely readable on the iPhone 4, though the text is beyond microscopic."[24]
Former Microsoft employee Bill Hill, an expert on font rendering, offered similar comments:
That much resolution is stunning. To see it on a mainstream device like the iPad—rather than a $13,000 exotic monitor—is truly amazing, and something I've been waiting more than a decade to see. It will set a bar for future resolution that every other manufacturer of devices and PCs will have to jump.[25][26]
Writer John Gruber suggested that the arrival of Retina displays on computers would trigger a need to redesign interfaces and designs for the new displays:
The sort of rich, data-dense information design espoused by Edward Tufte can now not only be made on the computer screen but also enjoyed on one. Regarding font choices, you not only need not choose a font optimized for rendering on screen, but should not. Fonts optimized for screen rendering look cheap on the retina MacBook Pro—sometimes downright cheesy—in the same way they do when printed in a glossy magazine.[27]
Detractors [ edit ]
Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, has challenged Apple's claim. He says that the physiology of the human retina is such that there must be at least 477 pixels per inch in a pixelated display for the pixels to become imperceptible to the human eye at a distance of 12 inches (305 mm).[28] Astronomer and science blogger Phil Plait notes, however, that, "if you have [better than 20/20] eyesight, then at one foot away the iPhone 4S's pixels are resolved. The picture will look pixelated. If you have average eyesight [20/20 vision], the picture will look just fine... So in my opinion, what Jobs said was fine. Soneira, while technically correct, was being picky."[29] The retinal neuroscientist Bryan Jones offers a similar analysis of more detail and comes to a similar conclusion: "I'd find Apple's claims stand up to what the human eye can perceive."[30]
Apple fan website CultOfMac stated that the resolution the human eye can discern at 12 inches is 900 PPI, concluding "Apple's Retina Displays are only about 33% of the way there."[31] On the topic of 20/20 vision, they said "most research suggests that normal vision is actually much better than 20/20. In fact, people with normal vision usually won't see their eyesight degrade to 20/20 until they are 60 or 70 years of age"[31] (confirmed by vision testing experts Precision Vision).[32] CultOfMac also noted that people do not always view displays at a constant distance, and will sometimes move closer, at which point the display could no longer be classed as Retina.[31]
Competitors [ edit ]
The first smartphone following the iPhone 4 to ship with a display of a comparable pixel density was the Nokia E6, running Symbian Anna, with a resolution of 640 × 480 at a screen size of 62.5mm. This was an isolated case for the platform however, as all other Symbian^3-based devices had larger displays with lower resolutions. Some older Symbian smartphones, including the Nokia N80 and N90, featured a 2.1 inch display at 259 ppi, which was one of the crispest at the time. The first Android smartphones with the same display - Meizu M9 was launched a few months later in beginning of 2011. And in October of the same year Galaxy Nexus was announced, which had a display with a better resolution. And by 2013 the 300+ ppimark was found on midrange phones such as the Moto G.[33] From 2013–14, many flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One (M8) had 1080p (FHD) screens around 5-inches for a 400+ PPI which surpassed the Retina density on the iPhone 5. The latest major redesign of the iPhone, the iPhone 6, has a 1334 × 750 resolution on a 4.7-inch screen, while rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 have a QHD display of 2560 × 1440 resolution, close to four times the number of pixels found in the iPhone 6, giving the S6 a 577 PPI that is almost twice that of the iPhone 6's 326 PPI.[34]
The larger iPhone 6 Plus features a "Retina HD Display", which is a 5.5-inch 1080p screen with 401 PPI, which barely meets or lags behind Android phablet rivals such as the OnePlus One and Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Aside from resolution, all generations of iPhone Retina displays receive high ratings for other aspects such as brightness and color accuracy, compared to those of contemporary smartphones, while some Android devices such as the LG G3 have sacrificed screen quality and battery life for high resolution. Ars Technica suggested the "superfluousness of so many flagship phone features—the move from 720p to 1080p to 1440p and beyond...things are all nice to have, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue that any of them are essential".[33] Furthermore, developers can better optimize content for iOS due to Apple's few screen sizes in contrast to Android's wide display format variations.[34]
Many Windows-based Ultrabook models have offered 1080p (FHD) screens standard since 2012 and often QHD or QHD+ as optional upgrade displays.[citation needed] Retina screens are standard on the 3rd-generation MacBook Pro and MacBook, released in 2012 and 2015, respectively.[35][not in citation given] Apple implemented a Retina display in the third generation of its entry-level laptop line, the MacBook Air, in 2018.
See also [ edit ]Get the biggest Daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The Duke of Gloucester visited the National Memorial Arboretum to unveil a new sculpture today. It came as he also officially opened Burton's new community fire station and paid a visit to the town's Queen's Hospital.
Dedicated to children evacuated from their homes during World War Two, who were known as evacuees, the bronze sculpture is called ‘Every Which Way’.
The Duke travelled to the Alrewas arboretum, in Staffordshire on the edge of the National Forest just after midday today, Tuesday, July 25.
Crowds of people attended the event which was led by TV's Antiques Roadshow and This is Your Life presenter, Michael Aspel.
The sculpture is inscribed with the words: “To remember the evacuation of millions of British children separated from their families during WWII (1939 – 1945)”
Children were evacuated from their family homes in cities, particularly London during World War Two, as the country expected major cities to be bombed by German planes.
At the beginning of the war the government tried to empty all cities of children by evacuating them intro the countryside.
This was considered a safer place to live than in the cities during the war.
Roughly 800,000 children left their homes after the plan was put into action in September 1939.
Children would live with host families who looked after them.
Memorials like the one erected at the National Memorial Arboretum stand as a reminder to those children who lived through the upsetting and often terrifying process of being taken from their home and sent into the countryside.Facebook really wants officials in the Indian government to use Instagram.
On Thursday, it organised a workshop in New Delhi for officials from various Indian ministries to get them more familiar with various Instagram features “for better government communication and outreach on social media” according to an Indian government press release. This is the first such workshop organised by Instagram in Asia.
India’s government officials have been known to aggressively use Twitter to engage directly with citizens. The country’s foreign minister, for instance, has built a reputation by directing tweets from citizens who need immigration help directly to concerned government departments. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014 is often credited to his social media savvy.
Modi has 7.1 million followers on Instagram, but so far, no other Indian government official or department has taken to the Facebook-owned social network in a big way.
At the workshop titled “Instagram for better Government Communication”, India’s Information and Broadcasting minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, said that Instagram would be an appropriate place for the government to visually engage with citizens and other stakeholders to communicate with a new generation of digital users. “The colours of India celebrated though its festivals, cultural practices, and region-specific dresses could best be experienced though visuals,” he said.
Instagram did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ queries for comment.I have the ears of many up and coming game designers and publishers. I’m constantly asked about board game reviewers and who accepts what. So I thought I’d create a list of game reviewers for all to reference. This survey was created to capture that data. Hopefully, it’ll help you find the games you want to review and cut down on a number of unwanted solicitations you may get.
The last column of the table tells you if they will pre/review Kickstarter products and if they charge for that service. More importantly, even if they say they will do your KS review, most all of reviewers will not do it with less than a couple weeks notice (and esp. won’t do it if your campaign is live). Almost all reviewers will review a game for a cost of keeping that game. Most will not review print and play games unless that’s its final format.
If you would like to get on this card & board game reviewer list, please send me all the info through the contact link at the top of this page.
UPDATE: This list’s data is constantly being updated as I get more data. If you find errors please tell me.
NOTE: This listing below has a horizontal scroll at the bottom with more data (there are 9 columns). It may not work correctly on a mobile device. The columns are: NAME, CONTACT, WEBSITE, FOLLOWER COUNT, MEDIUM, CATEGORIES, COUNTRY, LANGUAGE, KICKSTARTER REVIEWS?
You can sort the data by clicking the up/down arrows and search the data with this search box:
NAME CONTACT WEBSITE FOLLOWERS MEDIUM CATEGORIES COUNTRY LANGUAGE KICKSTARTER? 3 Minute Board Games [email protected] youtube.com/c/3MinuteBoardGames 2000-5000 Video Any NZ English No A Pawn's Perspective [email protected] pawnsperspective.com 2000-5000 Written Any USA English Yes, Free Across The Board Games [email protected] acrosstheboardgames.net 100-499 Written 2-player, Highly-thematic, Story USA English Yes, Free Aether Tower [email protected] www.aether-tower.com 500-999 Video, Written Kickstarter Games Mexico English Yes, Free All Us Geeks [email protected] allusgeeks.com 2000-5000 Audio USA English Yes, Free An Even Weirder Move [email protected] anevenweirdermove.wordpress.com 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Angel of Dice [email protected] angelofdice.co.uk 100-499 EU English Yes, Free Angespielt [email protected] angespielt.de over 5000 Written Any DE German Sometimes Another Dungeon [email protected] anotherdungeon.com 1000-1999 AU English Yes, Free Arch Gaming Network [email protected] ArchGamingNetwork.com < 100 Video NO: RPGs, Wargames USA English Yes, Free Australian Tabletop Gaming Network [email protected] atgn.com.au 2000-5000 Written Any Australia English Yes, Free Bayard Catron [email protected] spielnacht.blogspot.com/ 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Bearded Meeple [email protected] [email protected] 100-499 Video Canada English Yes Best Dad NA [email protected] bestdadna.com 1000-1999 Written Any USA English No BGG News [email protected] boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/boardgamegeek-news 1000-1999 USA English Sometimes Blue Peg, Pink Peg bluepegpinkpeg.com bluepegpinkpeg.com 500-999 USA English Sometimes Board Game Authority [email protected] boardgameauthority.com 500-999 USA English Yes, Paid Board Game Brawl [email protected] facebook.com/boardgamebrawl 2000-5000 Video USA English Yes, Paid Board Game Closet [email protected] boardgamecloset.com 2000-5000 USA English Yes, Paid Board Game Gumbo [email protected] boardgamegumbo.com 1000-1999 Video, Written Any USA English Sometimes, Free Board Game Quest [email protected] boardgamequest.com 500-999 Written USA English Yes, Paid Board Game Resource [email protected] boardgameresource.com 500-1000 USA English Sometimes Board Game Revolution [email protected] facebook.com/boardgamerev/ 1000-1999 Video, Written USA English Yes Board Game Social [email protected] youtube.com/channel/UC9PwxN9vHTDyrncYprndnKg 100-499 Video USA English Yes, Free Board Game Stories [email protected] boardgamestories.com 2000-5000 Written Any USA/EU English Yes Board Games with Panda [email protected] boardgameswithpanda.com 500-999 Audio NO: Adult, War, Skirmish, Miniatures USA English Yes, Free Board Gaming At Home [email protected] BoardGamingAtHome.com 2000-5000 Video NO: Abstract, War Games UK English Sometimes Board to Death TV [email protected] boardtodeath.tv over 5000 Video Canada English Yes, Paid Board, Deck & Dice [email protected] youtube.com/c/BoardDeckDice 500-999 Video NO: Adult, War Games UK English Yes, Free Boardgame Corner [email protected] boardgamecorner.net 2000-5000 Video USA English Sometimes, Paid Boardgame Opinions [email protected] youtube.com/c/boardgameopinions 100-499 Video Any UK English Yes, Free Boardgameblogger [email protected] wargamer.com 500-999 USA English Sometimes Boardgames & Bourbon [email protected] youtube.com/c/BoardgamesBourbon 1000-1999 Video, Written Any USA English Yes Boardgaming FTW [email protected] 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Boards Alive Podcast [email protected] boardsalivepodcast.com 1000-1999 Audio NO: Party, Abstract, War Games Canada English Sometimes, Free BobTHJ [email protected] gamedesignerchronicles.com < 100 USA English Yes, Free BorderCon [email protected] boardgamegeek.com 100-499 Written Australia English Yes, Free Bordspeler [email protected] bordspeler.nl over 5000 EU English Sometimes Bored? Games & Co! [email protected] boredgamesco.wordpress.com 2000-5000 Written Any Canada English Yes, Free Bower's Game Corner tonythespy@gmail. com youtube.com/user/blqonXBL 1000-1999 Video USA English Yes, Paid Braetspiller [email protected] youtube.com/braetspiller 100-499 Video Any Denmark Danish/English Yes, Free Brave New Boardgames [email protected] bravenewboardgames.com.au 2000-5000 Audio/Written Any Australia English Yes Brawling Brothers [email protected] brawlingbrothers.com Over 5000 Audio/Written/Video Any USA English Yes Calandale use BGG PM boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/61422/games-receiving-the-calandale-video-treatment 100-499 Written USA English Yes, Free Cardboard Vault [email protected] CardboardVault.com 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Casual Game Revolution [email protected] casualgamerevolution.com over 5000 Written Casual, Family, Gateway, Party. No: Adult USA English Yes, Paid Centurion's Review [email protected] centurionsreview.com 100-499 Video, Written Any USA English Cloak and Meeple [email protected] cloakandmeeple.wordpress.com 2000-5000 Video NO: War Games, Sports USA English Yes, Paid Crits Happen [email protected] critshappen.com 2000-5000 USA English Yes, Paid Cyrils Brettspiele [email protected] youtube.com/c/NilsHerzmann
1000-1999 Video Cooperative, Dexterity, Strategy, Miniatures DE English/German Yes, Paid Dad's Gaming Addiction [email protected] dadsgamingaddiction.com over 5000 Less than 1 hour, 2 player USA English Yes, Paid Dan King [email protected] Gameboygeek.com over 5000 USA English Yes, Paid DeskoveHry.com [email protected] deskovehry.com 2000-5000 Any EU English/Czech Yes, Free Devetos Gaming [email protected] DevetosGaming.com 1000-1999 Written NO: RPG Canada English No Dice Hate Me [email protected] dicehateme.com 1000-1999 Audio USA English Sometimes Dice Men Cometh [email protected] DiceMenCometh.com 500-1000 Co-ops, Strategy Australia English Yes, Paid Dice Monkey [email protected] dicemonkey.net 100-499 USA English Sometimes Dice. Card. Go! [email protected] dicecardgo.com 100-499 USA English Yes, Free DM Fiat [email protected] dmfiat.com/category/reviews/ < 100 USA English Yes, Free dramaplastika [email protected] cubomagazine.com over 5000 NO: Educational, Miniatures, Party EU Spanish Yes, Free Drive Thru Review [email protected] YouTube.com/e3kmouse 2000-5000 Video USA English No Du bist dran! [email protected] lidude.net/dubistdran 100-499 Written Latin & Asian Games EU German Sometimes Edo's Game Reviews [email protected] youtube.com/user/EdoBarafu 1000-1999 Video USA English Yes, Free EndersGame [email protected] boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/37596 500-999 Written Other English Sometimes Engaged Family Gaming [email protected] Engagedfamilygaming.com 1000-1999 Any USA English Yes, Free Everything Board Games [email protected] everythingboardgames.com 2000-5000 Written NO: Adult USA English Yes, Free Expand Your Game [email protected] expandyourgame.blogspot.com 100-499 Written Any Australia English Yes, Free Father Geek [email protected] fathergeek.com over 5000 Written Any USA English Yes, Paid Fluff N' Crunch [email protected] fluffandcrunch.be 100-499 EU English Yes, Free Flying Dutchman Reviews [email protected] boardgamegeek.com < 100 Written Canada English Sometimes Foolish Panda Games [email protected] foolishpandagames.com <100 Written Any USA English Yes, Free Forensic Gameology [email protected] youtube.com/c/forensicgameology 500-999 Video Cooperative, Casual, Strategy USA English Yes, Paid Forged by Geeks [email protected] youtube.com/forgedbygeeks 100-499 Video Cooperative, Strategy, Campaign, Legacy USA English Yes, Free Fortress Ameritrash [email protected] fortressat.com 1000-1999 Written USA & EU English Sometimes Four Corners of the Board [email protected] fourcornersoftheboard.com 100-499 Canada English Yes, Free Game Centric TV [email protected] youtube.com/c/GameCentricTV 100-499 Video USA English Yes, Free Game Nite Magazine [email protected] gamenitemagazine.com over 5000 Written Abstract, Miniatures, Strategy USA English No Game State [email protected] rainmandigital.com/game-state 100-499 Audio, Written Any USA English Yes, Paid gameandacurry [email protected] gameandacurry.com 1000-1999 USA English Yes, Free GameGroup.Org [email protected] gamegroup.org/wordpress/ < 100 Any USA English No Gameosity [email protected] Gameosity.com 500-999 USA English Yes, Free GamerNode [email protected] gamernode.com over 5000 Video USA English Yes, Free Gamers Alliance [email protected] gamersalliance.com 2000-5000 Written USA English No Gamers Remorse [email protected] gamersremorse.com 1000-1999 USA English Yes, Paid GamerTell [email protected] gamertell.com over 5000 Written Miniatures, Strategy, War Games USA English Yes, Free Games in Schools and Libraries [email protected] gamesschoolslibraries.com 100-499 Audio No Adult USA English No Games Previewed [email protected] gamespreviewed.com <100 Video No Wargame, Minis USA English Yes, Paid Gaming Bits [email protected] jlnelson73.wordpress.com/ 500-999 Written NO: Party, War Games, Dexterity USA English Sometimes Gaming Nonsense Uncensored [email protected] gnupodcast.podbean.com/ 100-499 Audio USA English Yes Gaming Trend [email protected] gamingtrend.com over 5000 Written Any USA English Sometimes Gaming, Fandom, and Science [email protected] youtube.com/c/DannyCGamingFandomandScience 2000-5000 Video Any USA English Yes, Free Gaymer James gaymerjames.com gaymerjames.com 1000-1999 Video Any CA English No Geek City USA [email protected] YouTube.com/c/GeekCityUSA 1000-1999 Video Any USA English No Geek-Craft [email protected] Geek-Craft.com 100-499 Casual, Strategy, Abstract, Kids, Cooperative, Dexterity USA English Yes, Free GeekDad [email protected] GeekDad.com 5000+ Written No Adult USA English Yes, Free GeekJock / The Geek Allstars [email protected] or thegeekallstars.com thegeekallstars.com 500-999 USA English Sometimes Geeks Under Grace [email protected] geeksundergrace.com over 5000 Written NO: Adult, Party USA English Yes, Sometimes GJJ Games [email protected] georgejaros.com/GJJGames 1000-1999 NO: Adult, Party, Trivia USA English Yes, Free GoFatherhood [email protected] GoFatherhood.com over 5000 Written Any USA English Yes, Paid GoldenDragon [email protected] planszowki.polter.pl 100-499 EU English Sometimes GotGameTesters [email protected] youtube.com/user/GotGameTesters < 100 Video USA English Yes, Free GrogHeads [email protected] grogheads.com over 5000 Written War Games, Strategy, RPG USA English Yes Heavy Cardboard [email protected] heavycardboard.com over 5000 Audio, Video Strategy Games, War Games USA English Yes, Paid Heimspiele.info [email protected] heimspiele.info/HP/ 500-999 Any DE German/English Yes, free Hello Gregor [email protected] youtube.com 100-499 Video USA English Sometimes Hendrik Breuer [email protected] reich-der-spiele.de over 5000 Written Canada English No How Lou Sees It [email protected] howlouseesit.blogspot.com 500-999 Video Any USA English Yes I Teach Her, She Wins [email protected] albertoresti.com/i-teach-her-she-wins-the-international-gaming-series/ 100-499 Video Any USA/EU English/Italian Yes, Paid I Teach Her, She Wins [email protected] albertoresti.com/i-teach-her-she-wins-the-gaming-series-english/ 100-499 Video Any USA/IT English/Italian Yes, Paid ILSA [email protected] ilsa-magazine.net/ 1000-1999 EU English No Indie Cardboard [email protected] indiecardboard.com 1000-1999 USA English Yes, Free Into The Cardboard [email protected] Intothecardboard.com 100-499 USA English Yes, Free iSlaytheDragon [email protected] iSlaytheDragon.com 2000-5000 Written NO: Adult, Miniatures USA English Yes, Paid Jesta Tha Rogue [email protected] jtrpodcast.com 1000-2000 Video, Audio, Written Any UK English Yes, Free JohnBandettini [email protected] boardgamegeek.com 100-499 Written EU English Yes, Free Juega Meseros [email protected] youtube.com/juegameseros 500-999 Video Mexico English Yes, Free Juegos, juguetes y coleccionables [email protected] juegosjuguetesycoleccionables.com over 5000 Written Any Mexico Spanish/English Yes, Free Just Got Played [email protected] justgotplayed.com
1000-2000 NO: Educational, Kids USA English Yes, Free Kentucky Bored Gamer kentuckyboredgamer@gmail com kybg.blogspot.com 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Kick the Table [email protected] kickthetable.com < 100 Video Any USA English Yes, Free Kickin' It With Meg [email protected] kickingitwithmeg.wordpress.com/ 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Kostki zostały rzucone! [email protected] kostkizostalyrzucone.pl 500-999 Written Abstract, Casual, Strategy EU Polish Yes, Free League of Nonsensical Gamers [email protected] nonsensicalgamers.com 500-999 USA English Yes, Free Let's Level Up [email protected] letslevelup.net 1000-1999 Video USA English Yes, Free Life of a Board Gamer [email protected] [email protected] 100-499 Video Any Croatia English Yes, Free Life of a Board Gamer [email protected] youtube.com/c/LifeofaBoardGamer 100-499 Video Any Croatia English Yes, Free Lifeingames.com [email protected] lifeingames.com < 100 USA English Yes, Free Logan Chops Reviews [email protected] facebook.com/LoganChopsReviews 1000-1999 Video Any USA English Yes, Free Lou [email protected] howlouseesit.blogspot.com < 100 USA English Yes, Free lucyfer [email protected] lucyfer.net 1000-1999 Written DE German No Maggibot [email protected] maggibot.comm 500-999 USA English Yes, Free Man vs Meeple facebook.com/jeremyjd.salinas youtube.com/channel/UCTU7xJi9dBQIcBeUFLpWGUA over 5000 Video USA English No Mariachi Meeple [email protected] mariachimeeple.com 500-999 Audio Any MX Spanish Yes, Free Married with Board Games [email protected] marriedwithbg.com 2000-5000 NO: Abstract, Sports USA English Sometimes Masters of Boarddom [email protected] yt.vu/+masters < 100 Video Any USA English Yes, Free Meeple Like Us [email protected] meeplelikeus.co.uk 1000-1999 UK English No Moe's Game Table [email protected] moesgametable.com 2000-5000 Written Wargames, Strategy, Cooperative, Miniatures USA English Sometimes Nerdbloggers [email protected] Nerdbloggers.com 2000-5000 Written USA English Yes, Free Nerdlingmum [email protected] http8574nerdlingmum.wordpress.com 100-499 Written Family, Kids, Educational UK English Yes, Free Next Player [email protected] nextplayer.com.au 500-999 Written Any AU English Yes Noobsource [email protected] noobsource.com 100-499 USA English Yes, Free Not Just Another Gaming Podcast [email protected] njagp.com 2000-5000 Audio USA English Yes, Paid On Board Games [email protected] onboardgames.net over 5000 Audio Any USA English Yes, Free papskubber.dk [email protected] papskubber.dk 1000-1999 EU English No Peace, Love & Games [email protected] instagram.com/PeaceLoveGames over 5000 Instagram Any USA English Yes, Paid Perpetual Geek Machine [email protected] perpetualgeekmachine.net 500-999 USA English Sometimes Planszówki we dwoje [email protected] planszowki.blogspot.com 500-1000 EU Polish Sometimes, Free Play Board Games [email protected] play-board-games.com over 5000 Written USA English No Play Unplugged [email protected] playunplugged.com over 5000 Written USA English Sometimes Plumpy Thimble [email protected] youtube.com/c/plumpythimble 100-499 Video Any USA English Sometimes Polyhedron Collider [email protected] 500-999 EU English Yes, Free Pop Culture Beast [email protected] PopCultureBeast.com 1000-1999 Video, Written USA English Yes, Free (no PnP) PopWrapped [email protected] popwrapped.com over 5000 Written Any Canada English Yes, Free Pöydällä [email protected] poydalla.net 100-499 Video, Written Any FI Finnish Yes, Free Pretty Sneaky, Sis [email protected] clevergamereference.wordpress.com 500-999 USA English Yes, Free Propane Games [email protected] propanegames.com/reviews 500-999 USA English Yes, Free Pub Meeple [email protected] youtube.com/pubmeeple 100-499 Video USA English Yes, Free Purple Pawn [email protected] purplepawn.com over 5000 Written USA & EU English Yes, Free Push Your Luck Podcast [email protected] pushurluckpodcast.com 100-499 Audio USA English No Rahdo Runs Through [email protected] youtube.com/rahdo over 5000 Video EU English Yes, Free Roll to Hit Gaming [email protected] youtube.com/rolltohitgaming 100-499 Video Any USA English Sometimes, Free Rolling Dice & Taking Names [email protected] rolldicetakenames.com over 5000 Written Any USA English Yes, Free RPG.net [email protected] rpg.net/reviews 5000+ Written Cooperative, Strategy USA English Yes, Free Rukus Games [email protected] facebook.com/RukusReleases <100 Video No: War Games, Party Games, RPG. USA English Yes, Free Rules Lawyer Reviews [email protected] BGG 100-499 Written USA English Yes, Free Rundlii Gaming [email protected] youtube.com/user/T96171 <100 Video USA English Yes, Free SAHM Reviews [email protected] sahmreviews.com over 5000 Written Abstract, Cooperative USA English Sometimes Sandkasten [email protected] sandkastenspiele.blogspot.de <100 EU English Sometimes Shut Up & Sit Down - Mark [email protected] shutupandsitdown.com over 5000
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1900 and 1998, the use of electricity rose (black line) as the cost of electricity fell (purple, red, and green lines). Electricity consumption could rise because it was becoming more affordable. Rising electricity consumption allowed the economy to make more goods and services. Workers (with the use of electricity) were becoming more efficient, so wages could rise. With higher wages, workers could afford more products that used electricity, such as electric lights for their homes and radios.
If electricity prices had risen instead of fallen, it seems doubtful that this pattern of rising consumption could have taken place.
The comments in Figure 7 represent my own view. It is based on both theoretical considerations and historical relationships. Many who have studied the economy believe that energy is important for economic growth. In my view, the real need is for cheap-to-produce energy, not just any energy. If cheap energy is not really available, then adding more debt can somewhat make up for the high cost of energy production.
Debt is important because it makes goods affordable that would not otherwise be affordable. For example, having a loan for a house or a car makes a huge difference regarding whether such an item is affordable.
Even when energy products are cheap, debt seems to be needed to get oil or coal out of the ground, or to make a new device such as a wind turbine. Part of the problem is the cost of the capital equipment needed to extract the oil or coal, or the cost of the wind turbines themselves. Another part of the problem is paying for factories to make devices that use the energy product. A third problem is making it possible for users to afford the end products, such as houses and cars. It is much easier to borrow the money for a new tractor, and pay the loan off as the tractor is put to use, than it is to save money in advance, using only the funds earned when farming with simple hand-held tools.
I mentioned the need for $20 per barrel oil on Slide 7. This is a very inexpensive price. Slide 8 shows that the only time when oil prices were that low was prior to the mid-1970s. (Note that the amounts in Slide 8 have already been adjusted for inflation, so my $20 per barrel target is an inflation-adjusted amount.) The cost of oil production is now far above $20 per barrel. The sales price now is about $37 per barrel. This is below the price producers need, but still above my target price level.
Slide 9 explains where I got my $20 per barrel price target. Back prior to 1975–in other words, back when oil prices were generally low, $20 per barrel or less–the increase in debt more or less corresponded to the growth in GDP. Once prices rose above $20 per barrel, the amount of debt needed to produce a given amount of GDP growth rose dramatically.
Slide 10 shows interest rates for US debt with 10-year maturity. These interest rates often underlie mortgage rates. As interest rates fall, homeowners can afford increasingly expensive homes. If shorter-term interest rates fall as well, auto loans become cheaper too.
The value to society of a barrel of oil is determined by how many miles it can make a diesel truck go, or how far it can make an airplane fly. This value to society is more or less fixed. The only change is the small increment each year from efficiency changes, making a barrel of oil “go farther.”
In the 2000-14 period, the cost of new oil production was increasing very rapidly–by more than 10% per year, by some estimates. The rising cost of oil production occurred much more quickly than efficiency changes. The result was a falling difference between the value to society and the cost of production. When oil prices are high, oil-importing nations tend to suffer recession. When oil prices are low, oil-exporting nations find it hard to collect enough taxes to support their many programs.
The fact that we need energy for economic growth means that we somehow must obtain this energy, even if doing so costs more. The big run-up in oil prices is a major reason for the historical run-up in debt levels. China’s big build-out of homes, roads, and factories was also financed by debt.
The higher cost of oil affects many things that we don’t think are related, including the cost of building new homes, the cost of building cars, and the cost of building roads. As consumers are forced to buy increasingly expensive homes and cars, and as governments find that the building of roads is increasingly expensive, more debt is used. The terms of loans are often longer as well, to hold down monthly costs.
If we still had cheap oil, this oil by itself could provide a “lift” to the economy. An increasing amount of debt can “sort of” compensate for the absence of cheap oil.
The problem we encounter is that neither cheap energy nor the continued run-up of debt is sustainable. Cheap energy tends to change to expensive energy, because we use the cheapest sources first. The continued debt run-up becomes more and more difficult to handle, unless interest rates fall lower and lower. At some point, interest rates can’t fall enough, and the whole pile of debt tends to collapse, like a Ponzi scheme.
I gave this talk on December 15; the first increase in interest rates took place on December 16. With rising interest rates, we suddenly have “the prop” that was attempting to hold up economic growth taken away.
We need ever expanding debt–that is, debt rising faster than GDP levels–to try to keep the world economy growing, so that the whole pile of debt doesn’t fall over and collapse. If we are to have non-debt growth in the future (because we are reaching limits on debt), it needs to again come from cheap energy alone. We need to get back to something similar to the low-cost energy that fueled the economy before the debt run-up.
Most of us have heard the Peak Oil story, and assume it represents a reasonable view of where we are headed. I think it is close to 180 degrees off course.
M. King Hubbert talked about a very special situation–a situation where another cheap, abundant fuel took over, before fossil fuels began to decline. In this particular situation (and only in this particular situation), it is reasonable to assume that production will follow a symmetric “Hubbert Curve,” with half of the production coming after the peak, and half beforehand. Otherwise, the down slope is likely to be much steeper.
Many peak oilers missed this important point. We certainly are not in a situation today where another very cheap fuel has taken over.
Slide 16 represents what I see as the predominant “Peak Oil” view of the oil limits situation. Some individuals will of course have different opinions.
Peak oilers certainly did get part of the story right–at some point, the cost of oil extraction would rise. What they got wrong was how the whole scenario would play out. It turns out, it plays out pretty much the opposite of what most had supposed–that is, with stagnating wages, loss of buying power, and prices of all commodities falling because of lack of “demand.”
We seem to be hitting energy limits, right now. That is why debt is such a problem, and it is why prices of many commodities, including oil, are far too low compared to the cost of production.
Slide 18 shows the fall of commodity prices up through 2014. The fall in commodity prices has continued in 2015 as well. The story we frequently hear is about low oil prices, but there is also a problem with low natural gas prices. Coal prices are low now too, and, in fact, many coal producers are near bankruptcy. Prices of iron ore, steel, copper, and many other metals are very low, as are prices of many kinds of staple foods traded internationally.
The problem with low commodity prices is that there are many loans that have been taken out to support their production. There is a significant chance of default, if prices remain low. Also, low commodity prices affect asset prices–for example, prices of coalmines, or prices of agricultural land. As the prices of commodities fall, the price of the land used to produce those commodities falls. When this happens, it becomes difficult to repay the loans on the property.
Peak Oilers were right about the cost of production continuing to rise. What they missed was the fact that prices would at some point fall behind the cost of production because of affordability issues. Low prices would then bring the economy down, as it did in the Depression in the 1930s, and in quite a few earlier collapses.
I think of increased demand, provided by debt, as being like a rubber band. Just as a rubber band can stretch for a while, the price of oil can rise for a while, fueled by more and more debt. At some point, debt can’t rise any higher–the rate of return on investments made using debt is too low, and defaults become too frequent. Instead of continuing to rise, commodity prices fall back. Market prices of commodities fall to much lower prices than the costs of production.
In order to get oil prices up higher, the wages of factory workers, restaurant workers, and other non-elite workers need to rise, so that they can afford to buy nice cars and nice homes. Commodities of many types are used both in making homes and cars, and in operating them.
If space solar (or for that matter, any renewable energy) is to be helpful, it needs to be very cheap, so that products made using renewable energy are affordable.
If the replacement energy source is cheap enough, perhaps there will not be a huge run-up in debt to GDP ratios, to finance the new devices used to provide electricity or other energy.
We are encountering problems now, so we need a replacement now, not 20 or 50 years from now.
We cannot expect the cost of electricity production to be more than the current wholesale selling price of electricity. Thus, it needs to be four cents per kWh or less. Ideally, the price of electricity should be falling, as in Slide 6.
Another consideration is that we need to be able to operate our current vehicles using a liquid fuel, made with electricity, because of the time and materials involved in switching over to electric vehicles. This requirement likely reduces the maximum cost of electricity even below four cents per kWh.
It is possible to run into many different kinds of limits, over a period of time. In my view, the first limit we reach is an affordability limit. We can tell we are hitting this limit when high prices reverse to low prices, as they have done since 2011. The fact that prices are continuing to fall is especially worrisome.
There has been a popular myth that it is OK for energy costs to rise. We will just choose the least costly of the high-priced alternatives. This approach doesn’t really work, because wages do not rise at the same time.
Also, we have to compete with other countries. If their energy costs are cheaper, their manufacturing costs are likely to be lower.
If conditions existed that allowed oil prices to rise endlessly (in other words, rising wages of non-elite workers together with debt that could spiral ever higher, as a percentage of GDP), we wouldn’t really have a problem–we could afford increasingly expensive substitutes. Unfortunately, the story of ever-rising oil prices is simply fiction. It is a pleasant story, but not really true. I explain some of the issues further in “Why ‘supply and demand’ doesn’t work for oil.”Play or Buy Classic Games at My Retro Game Box
Do you want to play retro games but don’t know where to start? Look in your closet and in your garage storage and you might find that moldering storage box of old console games. Even if you still have those popular retro games in your house, then how do you going to play any of those treasures? Let me tell you that even if your vintage consoles like Nintendo or NES is still working, they have been built just for older televisions and will likely not work properly on modern televisions. The games will lag and might create a gulf between pressing the button on your Nintendo controller and seeing the character bounce around on the screen. Also, the images may be ruined and it could stretch out. All we know is that you can already dispose of them as there’s nothing you can do with all of these vintage consoles. We suggest buying an appropriate retro console, the one that is modern but still plays old games correctly on the modern flat screens. So, you can play all day every day. Or play at My Retro Game Box Arcade and Shop located in Tulsa. If you are local living in the city, you can visit our shop easily. Just look for our one-of-a-kind modern glass garage door. We made our shop unique and pleasant to the eyes of customers. All thanks to A1 Garage Door Service Tulsa for their exceptional workmanship.
In retro gaming, you have the ability to play all your favorite popular classics games that are those games that were produced from the 70s to the late 2000s. Today, there are lots of retro consoles that are popping out on the market but the majority of them only lets you play a select amount of games. In My Retro Game Box, our retro gaming consoles are loaded with over 5000 games and gives you the ability to easily add over WiFi or delete any other retro games you wish. And the good news is that you can play this anytime without using the Internet.
Remember that there is no retro console you can find in the market that is 100% perfect. Yes, there’s a console near to perfection but still, it’s not totally perfect. My Retro Game Box guarantees that our consoles are best among the others, with its built-in high quality and the widest selection of retro gaming that is just right for all the retro gamers out there. Although, we do not guarantee 100% perfection in our consoles, still we are the right and trusted seller that provides quality console machines. If you want a near authenticity of the console with the widest variety of classic games that can be played on a modern flat screen television with no fuss or if you are looking for a modern arcade, a place where you can bring your old good memories back while playing with other game buddies, well, then, My Retro Game Box is the perfect place for all of these options. With us, you can play classic games in our arcade shop in Tulsa or buy our high-quality consoles with over 5000 classic games installed where you can play all day in the comfort of your home.
Kindly keep on browsing for more details. Thank you for your time!First of all, we can certainly debate to what extent audiences are indeed "dissatisfied" with a movie that has raced past $934.2 million worldwide in just over two weeks of release. The Last Jedi ended its second full week of domestic play with $464.6 million in North America, which is (clears throat) exactly what I predicted even as a worst-case scenario back when everyone else was panicking about the second-weekend drop. It's almost like folks were interested in seeing Star Wars: The Last Jedi at some point during the holiday but didn't necessarily race out to see it as soon as possible.
As foretold by Yoda himself, The Last Jedi took a hit on weekend two due to Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday only to rebound on Christmas Day and snag big weekday grosses now that all the kids were out of school for the holiday. And you know what? It may just take a dip in weekend three as well since New Year's Eve is on a Sunday night while New Year's Day is on a Monday. But after that, it gets another few days of "weekdays that act like weekends" before Insidious: The Lost Key opens. No, I don't think that The Last Jedi will make more this weekend than last weekend, but a $55m third weekend (-23%) and a $520m 17-day and (with New Year's Day falling on Monday) a $545m 18-day total isn't out of the question.
So, yeah, it should end the year as the year's biggest domestic earner (above Beauty and the Beast's $504 million) and over $1 billion worldwide, just over/under (for the moment) Illumination's Despicable Me 3 ($1.03b), Universal/Comcast Corp.'s Fate of the Furious ($1.23b) and Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast ($1.26b). By the way, if this all comes to pass, then Star Wars: The Last Jedi will have earned in its first 17 days ($520m) what The Avengers had earned in its first 25 days ($523m). And it'll be pacing way ahead of Jurassic World ($500m after 17 days) to remain the second-fastest grosser of all time behind The Force Awakens ($742m). Unless it drops dead after New Year's, a $650m+ domestic total is starting to look relatively reasonable.
Point being, rumors of Star Wars's demise may be slightly exaggerated. Now, to be fair, there is a case to be made that A) plenty of folks genuinely didn't care for The Last Jedi for reasons that have nothing to do with trolls or concerns about gender/racial parity and B) that dissatisfaction may play out when Star Wars Episode IX opens in December of 2019. After all, we all have seen how a hyped-up hit that doesn't necessarily razzle-dazzle audiences does real damage to the franchise's next installment. Think Saw VI, Justice League or the third Divergent movie. But, without entirely discounting those fears, I will say that Walt Disney and Lucasfilm have arguably played it smart by emphasizing the close-ended nature of the current batch of Star Wars movies.
Yes, Disney will probably attempt to release new Star Wars movies until we are all dead, but this specific trilogy, this current adventure concerning Luke, Han, Leia, Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren, is apparently going to wrap up with the Star Wars Episode IX. After that, we'll allegedly get "Young Obi-Wan Kenobi" Star Wars Story and a new disconnected Star Wars trilogy overseen by Rian Johnson. While Star Wars may live forever, Daisy Ridley claims that Star Wars 9 will be her last time playing Rey. What this means is that even fans who were genuinely burned by The Last Jedi won't necessarily be too upset about sticking it out for one more round to see how this chunk of the saga wraps up.
Like George Lucas's prequel trilogy, the close-ended nature of Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith guaranteed that a large chunk of Star Wars fans, even those who weren't crazy about the first two prequels, stuck it out to see how it all ended. While there is potential for a Matrix Revolutions situation, we're more likely to see a comparative upswing as shown by Return of the Jedi (+28% from Empire Strikes Back) and Revenge of the Sith (+23% from Attack of the Clones). After all, the comparative plunges for Lionsgate's Divergent Series: Allegiant and Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc.'s Justice League came after two relatively disliked or divisive predecessors. Critics and audiences mostly liked Force Awakens, Rogue One and (more or less) The Last Jedi.
Moreover, to its advantage is the fact that, thanks to The Last Jedi's relatively close-ended nature (think The Dark Knight), we have absolutely no idea what will go down in the third film. If Disney's marketing can avoid pulling a Matrix Revolutions and giving away the whole movie in the last trailer, there will be (like Dark Knight Rises which withheld all of its surprises prior to release) genuine curiosity as to how the saga will end this time around. Even if The Last Jedi causes some folks to bow out, even with JJ Abrams coming back to direct third chapter (that's another factor, for better or worse), the close-ended nature of this new batch of Star Wars episodes should mute any real audience downturn.
After that who knows? Maybe interest will die down once Star Wars becomes more-or-less disconnected from the original trilogy and the Skywalker stories. If the prequel series were, well, prequels to Star Wars and the new batch of Disney Star Wars movies were straight-up sequels to Return of the Jedi, then Johnson's next would-be trilogy may well be relatively "new" sci-fi action movies with the Star Wars label slapped onto the title. I guess we may find out if Jupiter Ascending would have been a hit if it was called Star Wars: Jupiter Ascending. But no matter, The Last Jedi is technically a huge hit, and the "beginning, middle and end" nature of the new trilogy should mitigate any loss from genuinely dissatisfied consumers.
As for Solo: A Star Wars Story, I'm starting to think that the current word-of-mouth battle over The Last Jedi may actually help that movie, but that's for another day.Doomfist is the newest hero in the Overwatch mythos, a man defined primarily — but not entirely — by his fist of doom. Also known as Akande Ogundimu, he's the Nigerian heir to a cybernetics company who rose to prominence as the leader of the Talon Organization: we got to see him tangle with the Overwatch team in this excellent origin video. He's live right now on the public test server, and so players have been messing around with him for a little while now. He's even got his first nerf. We recently got a look at his skins, with some interesting looks in the mix. Let's take a look at these two, here:
Ubisoft Marketing Manager Andrien Gbingie posted a Twitter thread about the origin of the imagery with these skins, and it makes for illuminating reading for anyone looking to get into both the lore of Overwatch and how it intersects with real world myth — something it's been doing, largely successfully, since the beginning. They're based off Orishas, spirits in the Yoruba religion. Here's Gbingie's brief explanation:
Now for the positives. Gonna applaud the Overwatch team here again for doing their homework. Especially on Yoruba mythology. Orishas (familiar?) are spirits that reflect various manifestations of the supreme deity in Yoruba religion. As seen in the Legendary skins. So, Avatar and Spirit. Red orisha, like Ogun, are quick tempered and harsh. Blue orisha, like Yemoja, are cool, gentle and compassionate.
He also recommends a book to learn more about Orishas, though the lazier among us might start with Wikipedia. We see the concept also reflected in the name of one of the game's other African heroes, Orisa.
Overwatch, at times, can feel like a game about collecting skins more than anything else, and so it's cool to see Doomfist's skins coming along with such specific references to his Nigerian heritage. Blizzard knows how to do lore, and that's on full display here with this game. I'm excited not only to see what Doomfist does to gameplay as he arrives but also how his presence expands the world of the game and its story.On first glance, it looks familiar to anyone who has seen a version of the Glock 17 pistol, the sleek handgun popularized by law enforcement around the country. But behind the trigger is a multi-colored, six-digit keypad that looks more like something you’d find on a door alarm than a gun.
The keypad stands out on the otherwise black pistol, a visual cue that the SMART 2 not your ordinary handgun. It’s also the reason why, according to the weapon’s makers, it isn’t your typical "smart gun," either. While definitions vary, smart guns are generally understood to be user-authorized, meaning that only the owner of the weapon--and in some cases, individuals selected by the owner--can fire it. The goal is twofold: 1) reduce accidental shootings by making it difficult for people such as children of gun owners to gain access to firearms and contribute to the daily drumbeat of gun violence, and 2) reduce the number of guns that change hands illegally by making them less appealing to thieves (roughly 250,000 guns are reported stolen in the United States each year). In most cases, this is achieved by adding either basic "RFID" radio technology or biometric sensors to a traditional gun. Despite decades of advancements, concerns over the reliability of smart guns have plagued both approaches.
Enter the SMART 2 handgun, a pistol designed by San Diego-based Safety First Arms. With a fully-functional 3D-printed prototype, the company launched its website last week to begin the process of taking pre-orders, and says it will start shipping the weapon in two years. Based on the successful Glock 9mm platform, the SMART 2 uses a small battery that fits into the grip of the gun to power the basic keypad. A pin code set by the owner must be entered to fire the gun; after a set number of unsuccessful attempts, an alarm will sound, similar to the alarm in your car. It’s a decidedly low-tech approach when compared to competitors such as the German-made Armatix iP1 pistol, which connects to a watch-like band on the shooter’s wrist via radio frequency. “It doesn’t need to be high tech,” says cofounder Brian Weinberg. “It just needs to work.”
When not in use, Weinberg says the gun’s battery should last two years. Once the battery reaches the 25 percent level, the gun will emit a beeping sound to notify the owner that it’s time to change the battery. If the gun is actively used for target practice at a range, for example, the owner can turn off the locking function altogether. The gun will also feature an optional motion sensitive alarm to sound if someone handles it without entering the pin code. Rather than market the gun to current gun owners, Weinberg says it’s primarily aimed at people who don’t currently own one, but would consider buying one to keep at home if they felt safe doing so.
Weinberg is banking on customers who are wary of the possibility of an RFID-equipped gun being hacked or the reliability of fingerprint sensors (perhaps the biggest concern being that a biometric gun won’t work if the shooter's hands are dirty or sweaty). Buyers must also be willing to pay a premium for the protection of a personalized pin code; while new Glock 17’s typically sell for about $600, the SMART 2 will retail for more than twice that, at about $1,300. “It’s expensive; it’s not an every man’s gun,” said Lenny Magill, the CEO of GlockStore, a San Diego-based licensed gun dealer who has agreed to become the first distributor of the SMART 2. “The hardcore gun enthusiast is not going to buy this. But some people will, and that’s admirable.”
It’s unclear exactly how big the market for smart guns is. A recent survey by Johns Hopkins University found that 60 percent of Americans are willing to purchase a smart gun if they buy a new handgun. One advantage for the SMART 2 is its compatibility with Glock magazines and parts, Magill said. He estimates that Glock sells about 1 million guns in the U.S. each year. (Safety First Arms is not affiliated with Glock, and isn’t working with the company on distribution.)
With the prototype now complete, Weinberg and cofounder Bob Allan are turning their attention to securing outside investment. Weinberg estimates it will take $10 million to get the gun to market. He researched online crowdfunding portals, such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, only to find out that many prohibit guns and ammunition. “No one wants to touch it,” Weinberg says.
Despite the roadblocks, Safety First Arms aims to secure a spot in the nascent smart gun market, which received a government-funded boost earlier this year when the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the federal Department of Justice, solicited feedback on its “Gun Safety Technology Challenge.” The feedback comes on the heels of an April report, published by the DOJ along with the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense, “outlining a strategy to expedite deployment of gun safety technology.” The document detailed the more than $12 million in government grants spent on smart gun technology in the last 20 years, highlighting a challenge that Weinberg seeks to solve. “Over the past two decades, a number of promising designs have emerged, although many of these projects were suspended or cancelled before a final product could be completed,” the report concludes. “Although the reasons for terminating these projects have varied, there has been a consistent theme: the difficulty of integrating new technology into a firearm’s design without compromising its core functions.”
The threat of political pushback from the gun industry has derailed many efforts to marry modern technology with traditional firearms, and Allan's is no exception. The genesis of the SMART 2 dates back to 2002, when Allan, with the help of “more than a couple” engineers, developed a trigger locking mechanism they successfully installed on a.38 caliber revolver. While the gun fired, Allan needed to come up with a better way to secure the battery, which on early prototypes could be easily removed with a household screwdriver, rendering the locking function of the gun useless. Around the same time, smart gun initiatives led by major American gun manufacturers--most notably Smith & Wesson--imploded after blowback from gun rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association. Allan tabled the project. It remained dormant until 2012, when Allan began tinkering with new designs after learning that another of his friends had lost their adult son to suicide, the third time someone close to him had killed themselves with a gun. “A gun is so easy… and often it’s done with the household gun,” said Allan, a gun enthusiast and hunter. “I figured there’s got to be a way around this.”
Soon afterward, Allan brought on Weinberg to fine-tune the design and, later, assume the role of cofounder. Together, they say they’ve invested about $500,000 of their own money, with the current prototype the culmination of three years of intensive development work. Eventually, the pair hopes to offer the same technology in a long gun, based on the popular AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. For now, they say they aren’t worried about the political blowback that’s besieged so many other smart gun makers.
“We’re building the system to be more reliable than a (traditional) handgun,” Weinberg says, adding, “if it’s a protective weapon, what’s the good of it if it doesn’t work? The ultimate goal is to give the user more access to their firearm, but not increase the risk.”
Related coverage: "Smart Gun Makers To Silicon Valley VCs: Fund Us"Artwork by Rana Samara from her new exhibit "Intimate Space"
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A young Palestinian artist held her first exhibition in Ramallah on Tuesday, called “Intimate Space,” which explores sexuality in Palestinian societies through large-scale paintings.
Rana Samara, born in Jerusalem, focuses her work on exploring subtle expressions of Palestinian sexuality. A press release described her art pieces as initially seeming to portray “typical domestic scenes, but on closer inspection small details become large clues -- lingerie peeks out from beneath rumpled sheets, belts hang from the bedstead, a half used pack of Viagra lingers -- these telling signs provide a narrative for the foregone ‘crime’ or proscribed act.”
Artwork by Rana Samara from her new exhibit "Intimate Space."
According to the press release, “virginity, intimacy, sexual desire, gender, social norms -- these subjects are so pertinent in both the female realm and the society at large but they are often hidden, unexplored or even dismissed at an artistic level in the context of a nation still struggling under years of military occupation.” Her work primarily reflects the social reality of Palestinian woman she speaks to about their intimate lives, highlighting that these conversations “form the cornerstone” of her artwork. Her work primarily reflects the social reality of Palestinian woman she speaks to about their intimate lives, highlighting that these conversations “form the cornerstone” of her artwork.
Samara graduated in 2015 from the International Academy of Art in Ramallah and was accepted in an MA program in Fine Art and Theory at Northwestern University in Chicago. Samara graduated in 2015 from the International Academy of Art in Ramallah and was accepted in an MA program in Fine Art and Theory at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Artwork by Rana Samara from her new exhibit "Intimate Space"
Samara described her inspiration for the project after visiting the al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah: “I began wondering about the sex life of couples living in such condensed spaces that affords them almost no privacy. This privacy is especially difficult to achieve considering the large size of most Palestinian families and the cramped proximity in which neighbors and families live with each other.”Warren Buffett, Chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, attends the 2010 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, in Washington, DC. UPI/Leslie E. Kossoff/Pool | License Photo
OMAHA, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Standard and Poor's downgrade of the United States' triple-A credit rating makes no sense, said billionaire Warren Buffett.
"I don't get it," Buffett told Fox Business late Friday night. "It doesn't make sense."
Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate holding company based in Omaha, said, "In Omaha, the U.S. is still triple A. In fact, if there were a quadruple-A rating, I'd give the U.S. that."
The downgrade should have little effect on the stock market Monday, Buffett said.
"If nothing else takes place, meaning, if all other variables hold and there isn't say, a new problem in Europe, it won't make any difference."
"Think about it," Buffett said. "The U.S., to my knowledge owes no money in currency other than the U.S. dollar, which it can print at will. Now if you're talking about inflation, that's a different question."
Asked if he believed the U.S. deserved the downgrade, Buffett said, "No … remember, this is the same group that downgraded Berkshire."As Sonia Sodha argues, the political debate on universities has focused on fee levels and headline prices to the exclusion of almost everything else, including the benefits and value of a university education, and how they might be improved (“It’s time to reinvent what universities can be, Comment).
As many of the officers of the National Union of Students have commented over the past few years, universities should place much more emphasis on the quality of teaching and what is taught. A highly critical select committee report on quality and students contained the following student quote: “Contact time we have with staff is a problem. Lecturers are often informative but there is no one-to-one time. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a sausage factory rather than surrounded by some of the foremost minds in my field.”
Universities should focus more on how learning contributes to wider social functions such as active and ethical citizenship and shaping a democratic civilised and more sustainable society, which is crucial if they are to play an active and responsible role in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. An expanding population, increasing globalisation and advances in technology will bring colossal societal and ecological changes, particularly if our unsustainable practices and lifestyles prevail. This is just a taste of what a graduate’s future might look like.
Universities have a significant role to play in developing “sustainability literate” leaders and hence optimising their contribution to the future of society, the environment and the economy. A small number of UK universities have begun to respond to this agenda, notably the universities of Aberdeen, Bristol, Keele and Worcester but much more needs to be done by all our universities to prepare graduates for an uncertain future.
Professor Stephen Martin
Former chair of the Higher Education Academy
Education for Sustainable Development Advisory Group
Worcester
The rapid social and economic changes of the 21st century require perpetual innovation from our universities. Research we commissioned from Youthsight revealed that 67% of undergraduates expect the world of work to significantly change over the next 20 years and from our experience one of the chief concerns of students today is how far their degree will equip them to meet these changes.
Ensuring that degrees deliver skills that are “future-proof” requires universities to think creatively about how they are structured. Partnering with private sector companies is one option for doing so, as they can directly feed in the attitudes and aptitudes that they want to see in graduates, while helping universities to build work experience and internship opportunities into their courses. This in turn would help universities develop the next generation of graduates with the skills and experience employers need and those that our continued economic success demands.
Sarah Macdonald
Vice principal (academic quality and enhancement)
Pearson College, London
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Sonia Sodha claims that the purpose of a university degree should be directly linked to the needs of employers and the labour market. So, education and learning have no intrinsic worth, and creating cultured, educated citizens who can think for themselves and possess a variety of cognitive skills is old-fashioned nonsense, only still believed in by dinosaurs like me! Instead, universities must slavishly serve the needs of big business and the deity that is “the market”.
Is there no sphere of civil life or human activity that can be spared the philistine assumption that they have no purpose or merit unless they directly serve corporations and the pursuit of profit? Can we not have an economic system that serves society, rather than a society which exists to serve the economy?
Pete Dorey
BathSen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) had some kind words for another champion of the far right in a recent interview with Politico.
In assessing the potential field of candidates for the Republican party’s 2012 presidential nomination, DeMint said that Sarah Palin has, “done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan.”
However, despite the high praise for the half-term Alaska Governor turned conservative commentator, DeMint said he has yet to decide which candidate he’ll endorse to represent the party in 2012. DeMint, who endorsed Mitt Romney in 2008, also said that he has never actually spoken to Palin, though she “left me a nice message.”
Prospective GOP presidential candidates are already jockeying for support from influential politicians ahead of the primary elections. DeMint in particular is seen as a potentially crucial supporter due to his sway with the Tea Party. His 2010 reelection campaign received $7,500 from Palin, $5,000 from Romney, $8,000 from Sen. John Thune (R-SD), $3,000 from Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and $1,000 former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), even though DeMint faced no serious challenge from the hapless Alvin Greene.Both DeMint and Palin threw their weight behind conservative candidates and Tea Party favorites in the midterm elections, often bucking the party establishment in doing so. Notably, they both backed Christine O’Donnell in the Delaware’s Republican Senate primary election, despite her longshot chance of winning the general election; DeMint even suggested he’d rather see O’Donnell lose than see moderate Republican Mike Castle–who polls indicated would win the general election–become Delaware’s next Senator
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, the slogan of that organizing campaign -- and the civil rights marches that supported it was: "I am a Man."
Dr. King always believed that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Organizing campaigns like the Memphis sanitation workers strike bent that arc. So did the Supreme Court case that legitimated the rights of public employees to organize and provided them the ability to succeed.
It's not surprising that an organization like the CIR -- that has tried to weaken civil rights laws for decades -- wants to bend that arc back toward injustice -- to gut the ability of working people like those sanitation workers to organize to secure a decent middle class income and the dignity that accompanies it.
When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the rights of people like those sanitation workers 40 years ago, it did so unanimously. Every member of the Court -- the most conservative Justices and the most progressive Justices -- all of them certified the notion that when a majority of workers vote to form or affiliate with a union, then everyone who benefits should be asked to pay their fair share of the costs associated with increasing their pay or making them safer on the job.
Every one of them agreed with the sentiments of teachers like Reagan Duncan, a first grade teacher in Vista, California, who was quoted last week in The New York Times:
It's not right for some people to get union benefits for free while others have to pay. If I went to a grocery store, I wouldn't walk out with my groceries and not pay while the guy behind me had to pay for my groceries and his groceries.
She added: "It's corporate special interest that are backing this..."
Precisely.
And frankly. it would be shocking if the Supreme Court of the United States were to over turn a 40-year-old unanimous precedent and make it even harder for ordinary people to restore the American Middle Class.Go to the source.
This has been my philosophy on all things spiritual for many years. It is an impulse that lead me to Celtic Reconstructionism in the first place. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the Pagan Celts, from as many sources as I could. Don’t get me wrong, a thorough study of Celtic lore is invaluable, and there is plenty out there to learn. But I want a heartfelt, passionate education not just an academic one. Go to the source! What did the idea of “source” mean to pagan Celts? What does it mean to me? What did they see as the source for their emotions, cosmology, and life? What do I see as the source for my emotions, cosmology, and life? What if they differ in substantial ways? And if they do, how do I have a comprehensive spirituality without making apologies for “insulting Celtic culture”? Can I still call myself a Celtic Reconstructionist? It was as if a venerable old Druid was tapping me on the shoulder saying, “You must unlearn what you have learned”.
An experience I had a few years ago seems to be when a lot of these questions started to surface. I had hiked to the top of a pinnacle behind Pikes Peak and did some prayers to Brighid. I had been feeling a decided lack of imbas in my practice lately and wanted to re-connect. Right after the prayer was over I noticed a group of swallows flying around the pinnacle catching the bugs that were riding the thermals off the sun drenched granite. Their wings literally cut the wind and you can hear the sound of it. After loosing myself in the experience of watching the swallows, it hit me. I must approach a time like this with no expectations, and no pre-conceived notions about what is spiritual and what is not. The seed that was planted that day is coming to harvest in my life. I realize that much of my time spent as a Celtic Reconstructionist has been putting my beliefs and experiences into a “Celtic” box and a “Non-Celtic” box. As long as I do this there is no possibility of a fully integrated spirituality.
I still have a lot of respect for pagan Reconstructionist religions, but they are, in my opinion, ultimately a step in the right direction and not the journey itself. I don’t think Reconstructionism as it is currently practiced will last much longer. They came along exactly when they needed to to give a little grounding to the fluff out there. However, we must remember that the Celts of the ancient world got their beliefs and practices from their own experiences of their own time. Reconstructing those beliefs is pointless, and ultimately fruitless. We should see the lore as inspiration not as dogma. If we are really going to follow their example it would be for us to go to the source ourselves. Just like they did! This is why Faery Seership has lit a whole new fire of imbas for me. It is grounded in the lore but not ruled by it. Books like Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie are an exception to most Celtic Reconstructionist literature. Why? Because you can tell the author has worked with the system for many years.
Frankly I got tired of Celtic Reconstructionist email lists and discussions. After reading the same old argument about who the Celts were, how language is important (and trust me it is) and how personal gnosis is different from Celtic culture and lore, blah blah blah. It gets really damn old. Where’s the beef! I kept hoping we would talk about something other than what an ocaire was and start talking about how Reconstructionism was relevant to current problems. You know like the problem of climate change, human suffering, morality, personal interactions with the Tuatha Dé Dannnn, and a whole host of other issues and needs? That and the fact that you can only read chapters and essays on the “History of the Celts” so many times before you just want to scream.
Paths like Gaelic Traditionalism and even Reconstructionism now seem anachronistic to me. The world is completely different, and you can read Cattle Lords and Clansmen (great book by the way) until you have it memorized but you will never be able to re-create the economy of Ancient Ireland today no matter how much land you buy. And although I admire the Gaelic Traditionalists knowledge base and commitment to Gaelic culture, it seems to be trading one dogma for another. I don’t want to see the world the same way as my Celtic ancestors did, I want to follow their example and be inspired by them.
One of the most fascinating things that I have become aware of in the past year is that Saint Brigit (and yes she is a goddess no matter what any Catholic will try to tell you) is now a part of the Voodoo tradition. When I heard this it blew me away! How did this happen? After a little research I found that:
“Maman Brigitte, is indeed the Vodou manifestation of the Celtic goddess Brigid. During the Stuart Wars, many Scottish and Irish men and women loyal to the Stuart crown were deported to the West Indies, and that is how Brighid arrived in Haiti. Maman Brigitte will heal the sick if she is invoked for that reason. She is also a magician, and a particular friend of women and children.”
Now this is in no way traditionally Celtic, but does that mean that it is an insult to Celtic culture? Not at all, it is another expression of it. If a Celtic Reconstructionist tried to incorporate a symbol like this into a book he was writing about the Gods and Goddesses he would get roasted alive in chat rooms and email lists. This creates an atmosphere that stifles growth and personal spiritual expression. Now I am not advocating that people pass anything off as Celtic, but lets give people a chance to express their own interactions with the gods and refrain from calling them posers.
The long in short of it is that I no longer consider myself to be a Celtic Reconstructionist. I think Faery Seership draws from deep wells of Celtic Otherworld lore, and I continue to learn Gaelic and remain obsessed with anything Celtic. However, I prefer interacting with the Sídhe and the Gods and Goddesses on my own and learning directly from the source. I found that I did not feel like I had any room to breath in Reconstructionism. Faery Seership is much more forgiving in that respect. Faery Seership requires personal honesty and exploration of the self that is by no means easy, it is, however, incredibly rewarding.
AdvertisementsA mother of two teenage children who lives only 500 metres from a wind turbine at the Corkermore site where a rotor blade broke of in last week’s storm, has for the first time spoken publicly about wind farms.
On reading the comments in the Donegal News last Friday from Cllr John Boyle that their was ‘no danger’ from the sheared blade, Ms Carol Duddy contacted this paper.
She got planning permission for her home six years ago in the Corkermore area when there was no mention of erecting wind turbines.
“Cllr Boyle said the turbines were no problem for the neighbours – he wasn’t speaking for me and I live closest to one. I am not happy with the noise and the flicker effect and I am particularly concerned that a blade could brake off. What would have happened if it had hit someone or my house?
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“We have seen a turbine collapse and if one of these did it would not be far from my back door,” Ms Duddy said.
She contacted Donegal County Council after the blade broke off last week and was told it had nothing to do with them.
“I am very annoyed and they are looking to erect another four of these turbines – my house actually vibrates.
“Up until now I have said nothing as I just wanted to keep the peace but now I want to know who is answerable if something happens. I rang the windfarm operators and the Health and Safety Authority and no one has come back to me,” Ms Duddy concluded.
Homeowner pleads with Council over turbine hell Ms Duddy lives only 500 metres from a wind turbine at the Corkermore site, half way between Ardara and...
North West Garden Show – Strong roots for success in Castlefin NEXT week’s North West Garden Show in Castlefin is expected to attract in the region of 20,000 visitors as...SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter sued the federal government on Thursday to block the unmasking of an anonymous account that has posted messages critical of the Trump administration and has claimed to have ties to a government agency.
The suit sets up a potential confrontation between the Trump administration and Twitter over digital privacy, a thorny issue that has driven a wedge between the technology industry and government in the past.
Twitter disclosed in a federal court filing on Thursday that it had received a summons directing it to reveal the identity or identities of those behind @ALT_USCIS, one of several so-called alt-accounts run by people purporting to be current or former federal employees. The @ALT_USCIS account, which quickly gained tens of thousands of followers, has frequently criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies and enforcement actions.
Twitter said in its filing that it could not be compelled to disclose the identity or identities of whoever is behind the account. The company argued that the government’s directive and reasoning were unlawful, and that complying would have “a grave chilling effect” on the speech of alt-accounts that voice resistance to government policies.CLOSE A hungry bear got its own Thanksgiving dinner last week at Rideout Elementary School near Tahoe City, Calif. The bear broke into the school and feasted on red pepper and cocoa in the pantry. North Tahoe fire crews got the cub out unharmed. Provided by North Tahoe Fire Protection District,, and Placer Co. Sheriff's Office
A 350-pound black bear runs for freedom into the Sierra above Carson City on Oct. 24, 2013. Bears that grow accustomed to scavenging human food are at greater risk of being subject to the trauma of trapping or drugging and relocation. (Photo: Marilyn Newton/RGJ FILE )
We've officially arrived at the point where people need to be told taking'selfies' with bears is a bad idea.
That's according to officials with the U.S. Forest Service in charge of maintaining the popular Taylor Creek Visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe.
The creek is the site of a spectacular annual run of kokanee salmon, which also attracts hungry bears.
And lately it's also attracting lots of smart phone-wielding photographers desperate for unique social media profile photos.
"We've had mobs of people that are actually rushing toward the bears trying to get a'selfie' photo," said Lisa Herron, spokesperson for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
The problem is getting bad enough that officials are threatening to close down the area if that's what it takes to keep careless people away from dangerous wildlife.
More: It’s winter in Reno and Tahoe, so here come the bears
More: PETA honors Truckee police for bear cub rescue [with rescue video]
"It is very possible, yes," Herron said. "It is presenting a safety issue. We are afraid someone is going to get attacked."
Bear attacks on people are extremely rare. But people hassling the animals in their natural habitat increases the likelihood of danger. Herron said she heard one report of a bear charging a group. But no injuries were reported, she said.
In addition to bear selfies, Herron said people are stopping their cars along California State Route 89 and running across the highway to get a closer look at the animals. They're also charging off trails, through the forest and even over the creek to get closer to the hungry bears, she said.
"We are telling people they need to stay on the trails and they need to stay away form the bears," she said. "If a bear has a mind to it can run very fast."
People who are more interested in bear safety than bear selfies can go here to learn about how to act properly in bear country.
CLOSE A well-traveled recreation and hiking area outside of Denver is closed because people were spotted with selfie sticks trying to capture the perfect photo... with wild bears. Water department officials are now warning visitors to keep their distance. VPC
Read or Share this story: https://on.rgj.com/1wqwu65Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The London Ambulance Service has 1,784 paramedics
The number of paramedics leaving the profession in London has almost trebled in the last three years, according to a new report.
Figures from the London Health Board showed that 238 people left the London Ambulance Service (LAS) in 2013-14, compared to 80 from 2011-2012.
Thirty paramedics left in May 2014 alone, the board said.
LAS said there are currently 250 paramedic vacancies and it is continuing to recruit staff.
Living costs
The report, entitled Making the Case for London, stated that if current trends continued there could be 600 frontline vacancies across the LAS by the end of 2014.
"The most acute group is that of paramedics, in May we lost 30 and if that trend continues, even accounting for those paramedics graduating in September and joining us (which is by no means certain) this will still leave us with a shortfall," the report said.
The paper added that even with 100 graduates joining the service in September, the service could potentially lose 180 by then.
The report said that affordable housing and transport costs were some of the issues which could affect whether staff choose to stay in the role.
Paramedics leaving LAS 80 in 2011-12
181 in 2012-13
238 in 2013-14 Source: London Health Board
The LAS are calling on more to be done to tackle the cost of living for healthcare staff in cities.
LAS director of operations Jason Killens said: "The real issue for us here is the high cost of living and working in London. Not only for us but all public sector workers.
"The evidence we have submitted to the London Health Board and indeed to the national pay review body is asking them to seriously consider what more can be done to support all public sector workers with the true cost of living in our capital cities."
About 3,300 operation staff work for the LAS, including 1,784 paramedics.
Earlier this year, the LAS said it had been granted permission to recruit overseas, with the UK Border Agency approving their application to sponsor work visas for non-European paramedics.We are in a time where technology and social media's run our life. Everyone is all about getting the latest and greatest social media app. There are so many apps out there to update our friends, family members, acquaintances, and strangers on.
Being able to tell or show them what you just ate, your current location, what you are doing, who is with you and so many other things. We share the latest drama or gossip, funny videos and articles with and without controversy. Nowadays, there is not really anything we do not share.
How many times do you look around and see kids always with a device of some sort; whether it is a tablet, iPad, iPhone, etc. at the age of 8 or possibly even younger?
When kids have those devices, it allows them to use and have a social media account. When you think about whom kids or people in general and others follow on social media, who normally does everyone follow?
Everyone follows their friends, acquaintances, family members, and most likely their favorite athletes or people he or she look up to. Those athletes could be either local or professional athletes. People are so willing to put things on their social media's and open up online; now it is just a matter of what is getting put online.
The thing that seems to be a trend is to tweet, Instagram, Facebook, Snap Chat, or whatever the newest and latest form of social media is out there, about what you are doing in the gym to get better.
My question is why do athletes feel the need to post about it while it is "happening"?
Why can't athletes just get in the gym or go to the field without having to tell people about it? Now this is not to be mistaken for posting about it after the workout has been completed or someone else taking a picture/video for you.
I am talking about the ones that are getting shots up and posting videos with the shooting gun in the background or filming the shooting gun firing at them and shooting. Now how in the world are you getting better holding your phone in one hand and shooting 15 footers with the other?
That does not seem like a way to get better or even become game-like. You not only get better on the court but off the court. The weight room is a vital tool for athletes to use and take advantage in. Many times you will see people using their phones or taking pictures of themselves in the mirrors with weights in the background, or in their hands.
Taking a "selfie" while working out is just telling people that you care about the wrong things. I'm sure you look adorable in your workout clothes and your muscles look really good in the lighting; however, I do not think people really care to see what the inside of the locker room or bathroom looks like.
Put the phone down or in your pocket so your music can still play (if that is what you do) and just get better. Not for other people; for yourself and your team.
I am in total support of athletes putting in work on their respective surfaces, but I just do not understand having to tell other people about it. Whatever happened to good old fashion work, where no social media was involved, and you just did the work? I love the quote by one of the greatest coaches John Wooden, "The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching".
If you are getting better for yourself, you do not need anyone watching, or you do not need to tell people about it. If you are one of those players putting in the work and NOT telling everyone about it, good for you! Let your game do the talking and showing. If you show up improved, then no one will have to ask you about what you have been up to; he or she will just know.Sen. Rand Paul is one of few in the Tea Party to oppose the Libya intervention
Over the last couple of days, since the United States joined in establishing a United Nations no-fly zone over northern Libya, Mark Williams has been yelling at Fox News and agreeing with liberals. Why are we there? Why was the intervention kicked off by a U.N. vote and not a vote in Congress?
“Dennis Kucinich and I find ourselves in the rare position of being joined at the hip,” says Williams. “What the hell is the endgame in Libya? Is it to take Qaddafi out or not? There’s a vast gulf of difference between aiding to help an ally recover from a catastrophe, like Japan, and jumping in here to subsidize European security and the security of despotic tribesmen.”
These musings about war, peace, and presidential power are coming from a man whom liberals associate with the worst of the Tea Party. As the spokesman for the Tea Party Express in 2009 and 2010, he called President Obama an “Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug” and a bunch of other things. He left the Express after a satirical email to the NAACP offended basically everyone. He’s now a radio host and author who wonders what, exactly, is the point of a movement focused on the Constitution if it lets the president get away with launching military strikes without asking Congress for permission.
“We’ve got the Constitution of this country being absolutely ravaged,” he says. “There is no governing authority except for the people of the United States or, if it grows a set of testicles, the U.S. Congress. And it would take all the radiation coming out of Fukushima to make the members of Congress grow anything.”
In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution. It was supposed to require presidents to explain themselves to Congress within 48 hours of launching military actions and ask for some official declaration of hostility within 58 days after that.
And so, on Monday, Obama issued a presidential message to Congress explaining why he’d joined an “international effort” and “began a series of strikes against air defense systems and military airfields for the purposes of preparing a no-fly zone.”
This was the 119th message of its kind since the passage of the War Powers Resolution. It was the first since the rise of the Tea Party, the conservative movement that defines everything it does as a way to keep faith with the Constitution. So the relative lack of Tea Party angst over the no-fly zone has been surprising. There is no discussion of Libya happening at Ginni Thomas’ Liberty Central, no statement from Tea Party Patriots or the Tea Party Express.
Quite a few liberal Democrats have come out and criticized the president. There were more Democrats who criticized President George W. Bush during the run-up to Iraq, but there have been enough to generate real heat for the White House. It was Kucinich, rather than a Republican, who first floated the idea that the strikes on Libya might be grounds for impeachment; Newt Gingrich, who mused that Obama could be impeached for failing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, hasn’t gone that far. Half a dozen Republicans who identify with the Tea Party have criticized the Obama administration’s shoot-first-ask-Congress-later approach, but most Republicans haven’t.
“This is a hot debate, the debate over war powers,” says Sal Russo, the consultant behind the Tea Party Express. “One of the big components of the Tea Party is the activists who want federal government to get back to a narrow reading of what government can do. That’s in keeping with the overall idea that our founders created a limited government.”
But the question isn’t quite settled. Historians can point to the arguments that James Madison made about war powers, or the uses Thomas Jefferson made of those powers in the presidency, and come to at least two conclusions. One: The founders saw a proper role for unilateral executive military decisions in some limited cases, and presidents don’t always need to get declarations of war. (There hasn’t been an official declaration of war in the United States since 1942. *) Two: The founders may have said that, but until the Cold War era, Congress did take a role in these interventions, and presidents deferred.
For now the second argument is winning out with most Tea Party activists, largely because they’ve got their eyes trained elsewhere.
“We can’t fight every battle at the same time,” says Russo. “We’ve chosen to focus on getting America’s fiscal house in order.”
There could be more Tea Party criticism of the Libya strategy if the conflict drags on. On Monday, Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots told me that the group may poll members to determine whether they should take a stance. If CNN’s poll on Libya is right, TPP might find itself taking the pro-Obama, anti-Ron Paul line on Libya. The poll, conducted from March 18 to March 20, found 70 percent of all voters favoring a no-fly zone. Among “Tea Party supporters,” it was 73 percent. Fifty-four percent of all voters favored attacks “directly targeted at Gaddafi’s troops who are fighting the opposition forces in Libya.” That number rose to 58 percent among Tea Partiers.
There are individual Tea Party leaders, like Williams or Rand Paul, who wince at a military intervention undertaken like this. The Tea Party is libertarian in plenty of ways. But if it has one defining characteristic, it’s that it’s nationalist. If there’s a way to remove Qaddafi decades after he aided the Lockerbie bombers, then that’s more important than a debate over the deep thoughts of the founders. In a Saturday interview with Fox News, Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., one of the most popular politicians to win the support of the Tea Party, explained that his problem with the intervention was about grit, not the Constitution.
“Back two or three weeks ago,” said West, “we could have taken care of this situation if we had done the exact same thing that Ronald Reagan did back in the early ‘80s to Muammar Gaddafi, when he dropped the bomb in his back yard. Muammar Gaddafi didn’t say a word for the next 30 years.”
Qaddafi has actually remained influential and powerful since the bombing West referred to. But that’s almost beside the point. The Republicans who are more worried about Libya than the Constitution’s strictures on war powers are speaking for most of the Tea Party.
On Monday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz was in Utah, doing multiple interviews about his stance: that the president should have come to Congress. One of the people he spoke to was David Kirkham, a founding Tea Party activist in Utah. He disagreed with Chaffetz.
“I think his concern was money, among other things,” said Kirkham. “There are some good things you have to spend money on. If we’re the leaders of the free world, we cannot stand by when a tyrant kills his own civilians. Constitutionally speaking, Congress has the power to declare wars, but I don’t think the founding fathers intended us to never intervene.”
Correction, March 23, 2011: This article originally stated that the United States last declared war in 1941. The United States last officially declared war on June 5, 1942, against Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. (Return to the corrected sentence.)Greta Gerwig's solo directorial debut is 100% fresh with 165 reviews.
Major congratulations are in order for Greta Gerwig. “Lady Bird” has become the best reviewed film on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% score after 165 reviews. The previous record holder was “Toy Story 3,” which has a 100% score from 163 reviews. “Lady Bird’s” critical success has been matched at the box office, where the A24-released film has already earned over $10 million without even playing in 800 theaters yet.
Count IndieWire has one of the 165 positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Eric Kohn gave Gerwig’s solo directorial effort an A-, citing Saoirse Ronan’s lead performance as the best work of her career so far. As for Gerwig, “the film is indisputable proof of a shrewd storyteller at the top of her form. The movie may capture a woman in transition, but there’s no question that its director has come of age.”
“Lady Bird” is nominated for three Gotham Awards, including Best Actress, and four Film Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Actress and Best Feature. The film is expected to be a contender at the Oscars next year, especially now that the box office is taking off. Other films to earn a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from over 100 reviews include Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Things to Come” (128 reviews) and James Marsh’s “Man on Wire” (157 reviews).Share RuboCop rules across all of your repos
Mike Fotinakis Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 14, 2017
If you have more than one Ruby repo, this post is for you!
At Percy we use lots and lots of Ruby (and JavaScript, Python, and Go) across our stacks, both in internal repos and public repos for our client SDKs and open source projects.
Up until now, we’ve just been copying and pasting an existing RuboCop config into each new repo that comes along—unfortunate, we know. As you can imagine, this has resulted in a bunch of duplicated.rubocop.yml files that quickly become out of sync and introduce style inconsistencies.
We decided to consolidate all of these configs into a single, lightweight Ruby gem that we can use across our public and private Ruby repos to enforce our internal Ruby style guide and linting rules.
It turns out that this super simple to do nowadays using the built-in RuboCop inherit_gem directive:
inherit_gem:
percy-style:
- default.yml
There were almost no gotchas with this method, it pretty much worked as expected and we were able to merge a bunch of satisfying cleanup PRs like:Ex-WWE Star Chyna -- I'm Getting Back Into Porn
Ex-WWE Star Chyna -- I'm Getting Back Into Porn
It's been seven years sincesuperstarreleased her horrifying sex tape -- and TMZ has learned, she's making a triumphant return to the adult industry... in an EXTREMELY graphic porno.Vivid President Steve Hirsch tells TMZ, Chyna approached him months ago to breathe life into her XXX career -- demanding to work with the biggest male porn star in the business.Steve did her one better... and hooked her up with the TWO biggest male porn stars in the business --and-- and together, the threesome shot a gnarly skin flick... tentatively called "."The DVD is set for release in the near future -- and if the title is any indication, Chyna may be riding a wheelchair to the premiere party.Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainGOP lobbyists worry Trump lags in K Street fundraising Mark Kelly kicks off Senate bid: ‘A mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans’ Gabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad MORE (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday said that calls from congressional Democrats to impeach President Trump are not “rational.”
“I don’t think very many people take that very seriously,” he said Wednesday, according to The Washington Examiner.
“All I can do is judge the situation as it is. Every day, we are surprised by some other twist and turn of this issue, so I can only respond now and now I do not think that is a rational approach.”
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Rep. Al Green Alexander (Al) N. GreenThe Hill's Morning Report - Presented by the American Academy of HIV Medicine - Next 24 hours critical for stalled funding talks Democrat vows to move forward with impeachment, dividing his party Citing Virginia race scandals, Dem vows vote to impeach Trump MORE (D-Texas) called for Trump’s impeachment on the House floor Wednesday, accusing the president of obstruction of justice.
“I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America for obstruction of justice,” he said.
“There is a belief in this country that no one is above the law. And that includes the President of the United States of America.”
Democrats urging Trump’s impeachment have new energy following a bombshell report about Trump on Tuesday.
The New York Times reported that Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to stop the probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn in February.
Comey wrote in a memo shortly after the meeting that Trump told him, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” the report said.
The meeting took place on Feb. 14, one day after Flynn resigned, according to The Times, which reported that Comey’s memo was part of his effort to create a paper trail.
Comey reportedly intended the trail to document what he saw as Trump’s improper influence on the investigation.
The White House is scrambling to contain the fallout from Trump’s unexpected firing of Comey last week.
Comey’s ouster came amid the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, including possible ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign.A car dealership that could have sued and pressed charges against a young vandal instead decided to step in and help the troubled boy and his younger friend.
In October, workers at the Schulte Subaru dealership of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, asked for the public's help in finding two boys who were caught on video stomping on several cars, causing $25,000 in damage, according to The Argus Leader.
Outraged viewers on social media called the boys 'punks' and 'worthless.'
Owner Mike Schulte even offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who could identify the vandals from the dealership's grainy surveillance video, according to KELOLand.com.
However, once the youths were identified, a cop called the dealership and relayed the information that the boys were only 14 and 10-years old. Neither had been in trouble with the law before.
Scroll down for video
The two young kids (above) were caught on camera vandalizing cars at the Schulte dealership in Sioux Falls
One of the boys jumped on a car while his brother (left) filmed the vandalism with his cell phone
The boys caused at least $25,000 in damages but instead of prosecuting, the owner decided to try and turn the kids' lives around. The older 'vandal' now has a job at the dealership and is paying back the money
At this point, owner Mike Schulte realized he could press ahead with a lawsuit and criminal charges - or he could take a different approach.
The younger boy was given over to the discipline of his parents.
Then Schulte, who has a teen son himself, decided to call the teen's mother - and it was then he realized that he had a chance to make a difference.
The boy's disabled mom could not only not remotely afford to pay back the cost of the damaged cars and revealed the boys had had a tough life.
Mentor: Mike Schultz (above) decided to take a teen vandal under his wing instead of press charges against him
The boys caused at least $25,000 worth of damage - one of the cars they jumped on can be seen dented above
'It was just heartbreaking,' Schulte told the outlet.
The teen had to walk three miles to school and back every day because he had no other transportation.
The kind-hearted staff at the dealership decided to take him under their wing.
'What was going through my mind, is what if this is the moment in the life, especially the older one, if we press charges and he goes into the system and has a record - what if he decides to do some other bad things and it just spirals,' Shulte said.
Schulte and his staff eventually helped the teen and his mom relocate to better housing.
It takes a village: The staff at Schulte Subaru bought the 14-year-old boy a bus pass and a bike so he could get to school - they also found his family better housing - the staff also donated $5,000 to a local children's home
Additionally, they got the teen a bus pass and a bike so he could get to school.
'This is the moment where the kid looks back and says, 'This is when someone cared about me,' Schulte said.
Subsequently, the grateful teen asked if he could come into the dealership to help out.
The boy was set up with a job of emptying trash bins, washing cars, and doing other chores. He is receiving an hourly wage, but part of it goes towards paying back the damage he and his friend caused.
The staff say they have 'adopted' the boy as one of their own - and are proud of the accomplishment.
'You wouldn't know it's the same kid,' Schulte said. 'You can just see the difference.'Share. Time to join? Time to join?
Ubisoft has confirmed PC owners will be able to grab The Crew for free starting next week.
The Crew “will be available with all the content that we’ve been adding in the past two years,” said Ivory Tower’s Soufyane Brahimi via Ubisoft’s Facebook page.
According to Brahimi over 9 million players have played The Crew since its release back in late 2014.
Exit Theatre Mode
Ubisoft is giving away a free PC game each month until the end of the year to celebrate the publisher’s 30th anniversary. Previous free games include Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the original Splinter Cell. The current free game is Rayman Origins, but that will be replaced on September 14 with The Crew.
If you’re interested all that’s required is that you register with Ubisoft Club using your Uplay account; from there you can download the game and it'll be yours to keep.
The Crew will be available for free until October 14. The offer comes ahead of The Crew’s upcoming second expansion, Calling All Units, which is due on November 29 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.Breitbart senior editor-in-chief Joel Pollak appeared on CNN tonight to defend former site chief Steve Bannon from accusations of white nationalism and anti-Semitism.
Pollak wrote a piece for Breitbart today saying that “it defies logic” to say Bannon is anti-Semitic. “Steve is outraged by antisemitism,” he said. “If anything, he is overly sensitive about it, and often takes offense on Jews’ behalf.”
Critics have pointed to Bannon’s defense of the alt-right (as well as saying he considers Breitbart a platform for the alt-right) and headlines like “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew” as evidence, but Pollak said he knows Bannon and that he “does not have a bone of prejudice in his body.”
Don Lemon confronted him about the kind of things that Breitbart “traffics” in, joined by Evan McMullin and former Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella.
Pollak challenged Lemon to name one white nationalist piece that has appeared on Breitbart and even called him out for not doing more reading before the segment.
Lemon
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many decades now. Japan, due to its association with the US and its investments in the international space station, is regularly sending humans into space. China has successfully developed its own capabilities for human space missions a decade back in 2003 and developed expertise to undertake space walks. However, India is not anywhere close to undertake even a basic human space mission. What could be the reason behind this? Is it by design or default? It’s difficult to get a specific answer, but probably it is by both design and default. India’s interests into the human space programme were announced by Isro in 2006. However, for all these years, not much dedicated effort has been found to be made towards realizing this aspiration. Presently, there have been some indications that India has plans to undertake a human mission by 2020.
On its part, Isro should be credited that since the 2006 announcement, it has never made any ostentatious claim about the human space mission. But there has been much talk in the media, both nationally and internationally, about India’s plans for human space mission, mainly based on perceptions and at times based on the extrapolation of some of the actual experiments performed by Isro.
The first indications about India’s possible interest towards developing a human space programme became evident in 2007. It was the successful launch and return of Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1). SRE was a 550kg capsule launched into a low Earth orbit (635km), and was de-orbited and recovered successfully back after more than two weeks in space. With this experiment, Isro was able to test various technologies like navigation, guidance and control, and hypersonic thermodynamics.
The main success of the mission was the demonstration of Isro’s capability to develop the thermal shield technology for the re-entry phase. Success with such technology is essential for planning any human space mission. It may be recalled that the unfortunate death of the first Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla (2003) happened due to the failure of thermal shield functioning in the space shuttle. However, Isro has been totally silent since 2007 on developing the SRE programme further.
There could be few possible reasons why Isro has not taken any major initiative during the last six-seven years to develop the human space programme.
First, India’s space agenda has a major socio-economic bias. Maybe the techno-political leadership of the country has reached an informed decision that human space programme should not be a top priority for the country.
Secondly, India is keen to invest in robotic missions, which are easier to undertake and more profitable in terms of scientific outputs.
Thirdly, for all these years, India was not in a position to develop the heavy-lift launch capability, which is essential for a human mission. This has happened because of India’s failure with the cryogenic technology for many years. Against this backdrop, the recent announcement about the proposed testing of an uncrewed space capsule is a welcome development. This new module, developed by ISRO and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, is a bit different than SRE and more close to what is required for human flight.
In January, India has successfully demonstrated its mastering of the cryogenic technology with the launch of GSLV-D5. Now, the development of GSLV Mark III is the next step of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle programme. Isro is planning to test the first stage and strap-on motors in the near future by undertaking a sub-orbital flight.
It has been proposed to use this testing opportunity to also test the Crew Module. This module is likely to be injected into the lower orbit and then made to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. It will be guided to land in a specified spot, most likely in the Bay of Bengal. However, it would be a basic step towards the development of India’s human space programme. Isro will have to undertake testing of many other technologies before attempting a human space mission. In general, it has been observed that Isro is making some progress in developing a human space programme, but is not in a hurry, probably owing to the limited advantages of such missions. Appreciably, what is good about India’s overall approach towards a human space mission is that it is not unnecessarily getting swayed by hollow talks of nationalism or prestige or an itch to compete with China.
The author is a research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses ( IDSA), New Delhi.Two bloggers received home visits from Transportation Security Administration agents Tuesday after they published a new TSA directive that revises screening procedures and puts new restrictions on passengers in the wake of a recent bombing attempt by the so-called underwear bomber.
Special agents from the TSA's Office of Inspection interrogated two U.S. bloggers, one of them an established travel columnist, and served them each with a civil subpoena demanding information on the anonymous source that provided the TSA document.
The document, which the two bloggers published within minutes of each other Dec. 27, was sent by TSA to airlines and airports around the world and described temporary new requirements for screening passengers through Dec. 30, including conducting "pat-downs" of legs and torsos. The document, which was not classified, was posted by numerous bloggers. Information from it was also published on some airline websites.
"They're saying it's a security document but it was sent to every airport and airline," says Steven Frischling, one of the bloggers. "It was sent to Islamabad, to Riyadh and to Nigeria. So they're looking for information about a security document sent to 10,000-plus people internationally. You can't have a right to expect privacy after that."
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said in a statement that security directives "are not for public disclosure."
"TSA's Office of Inspections is currently investigating how the recent Security Directives were acquired and published by parties who should not have been privy to this information," the statement said.
Frischling, a freelance travel writer and photographer in Connecticut who writes a blog for the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, said the two agents who visited him arrived around 7 p.m. Tuesday, were armed and threatened him with a criminal search warrant if he didn't provide the name of his source. They also threatened to get him fired from his KLM job and indicated they could get him designated a security risk, which would make it difficult for him to travel and do his job.
"They were indicating there would be significant ramifications if I didn't cooperate," said Frischling, who was home alone with his three children when the agents arrived. "It's not hard to intimidate someone when they're holding a 3-year-old [child] in their hands. My wife works at night. I go to jail, and my kids are here with nobody."
Frischling, who described some of the details of the visit on his personal blog, told Threat Level that the two agents drove to his house in Connecticut from DHS offices in Massachusetts and New Jersey and didn't mention a subpoena until an hour into their visit.
"They came to the door and immediately were asking, 'Who gave you this document?, Why did you publish the document?' and 'I don't think you know how much trouble you're in.' It was very much a hardball tactic," he says.
When they pulled a subpoena from their briefcase and told him he was legally required to provide the information they requested, he said he needed to contact a lawyer. The agents said they'd sit outside his house until he gave them the information they wanted.
Frischling says he received the document anonymously from someone using a Gmail account and determined, after speaking with an attorney, that he might as well cooperate with the agents since he had little information about the source and there was no federal shield law to protect him.
The Gmail address consisted of the name "Mike," followed by random numbers and letters. Frischling had already deleted the e-mail after publishing the document but said he had learned from previous correspondence with the source that he had been hired as a screener for the TSA in 2009.
The agents searched through Frischling's BlackBerry and iPhone and questioned him about a number of phone numbers and messages in the devices. One number listed in his phone under "ICEMOM" was a quick dial to his mother, in case of emergency. The agents misunderstood the acronym and became suspicious that it was code for his anonymous source and asked if his source worked for ICE – the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The agents then said they wanted to take an image of his hard drive. Frischling said they had to go to WalMart to buy a hard drive, but when they returned were unable to get it to work. Frischling said the keyboard on his laptop was no longer working after they tried to copy his files. The agents left around 11 p.m. but came back Wednesday morning and, with Frischling's consent, seized his laptop, which they promised to return after copying the hard drive.
Frischling wrote on his blog that he decided to publish the TSA directive to clear up much of the confusion and speculation that was circulating among the public about changes that were being instituted in airport security procedures after a passenger unsuccessfully tried to ignite a bomb Dec. 25 using a syringe and explosive chemicals hidden in his underwear.
"We are a free society, knowledge is power and informing the masses allows for public conversation and collective understanding," Frischling wrote on his blog. "You can agree or disagree, but you need information to know if you want to agree or disagree. My goal is to inform and help people better understand what is happening, as well as allow them to form their own opinions."
A former federal prosecutor who asked not to be identified told Threat Level that the TSA is being heavy-handed in how it's handling the matter.
"It strikes me that someone at TSA is apoplectic that somehow there's a sense that they're not doing their job right," he told Threat level. "To go into this one reporter's house and copy his computer files and threaten him, it strikes me that they're more aggressive with this reporter than with the guy who got on this flight."
Christopher Elliott, who is based in Florida and writes a column for the Washington Post, MSNBC and others, received a visit from a TSA special agent named Robert Flaherty around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Elliott wouldn't discuss the details of the visit with Threat Level, due to pending legal issues, but he describes in his blog post how he got a knock on his door shortly after finishing dinner and putting his three young children in the bathtub.
Flaherty showed him a badge and said he wanted information about the source of the document he published. When Elliott told him he'd need to see a subpoena, Flaherty pulled one out and handed it to Elliott.
Elliott told Threat Level they talked for 10 to 20 minutes, but he refused to cooperate. Flaherty left but called Wednesday to remind Elliott that he had until the end of the business day to comply with the subpoena.
"I really don't think they thought this one through," said Elliott about the TSA tactics.
Elliott could face a fine and up to a year in jail for failure to comply, according to a statement on the subpoena.
The TSA directive was issued Christmas Day, the date of the attempted attack on Northwest Flight 253, and indicates that the directive will expire Dec. 30. The directive applies to anyone operating a scheduled or charter flight departing from a foreign location and destined for the United States.
It requires all passengers to undergo a "thorough pat-down," which should concentrate on their upper legs and torso, at the boarding gate. It also requires physical inspection of all "accessible property" accompanying passengers at the boarding gate, "with focus on syringes being transported along with powders and/or liquids." It also indicates that restrictions against liquids, aerosols and gels should be strictly adhered to. Heads of state can be exempted from the special screening.
Passengers are also required to remain seated during the last hour of flights, and cannot access carry-on baggage or have blankets, pillows or other personal belongings on their lap during this time.
Aircraft phones, internet service, TV programming and global positioning systems are to be disabled prior to boarding and during all phases of flight. Flight crews are also prohibited from making any announcements to passengers about the flight path or the plane's position over cities or landmarks.
The TSA was embarrassed earlier this month after a contract worker posted an improperly redacted sensitive screening manual on a government site.
That document revealed which passengers are more likely to be targeted for secondary screening, who is exempt from screening, TSA procedures for screening foreign dignitaries and CIA-escorted passengers, and extensive instructions for calibrating Siemens walk-through metal detectors.
Five TSA workers were put on leave pending an internal investigation into how that document got posted.A Dubliner has been crowned the first Irish champion of the Channel 4 word-game Countdown.
Bristol-based Mark Murray (36) lifted the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy today after a scintillating grand final against Londoner Andy Naylor.
Mr Murray scored 105 points in the final with words such as “squalor”, “notarise” and “solacing”.
He got off to a fast start when he opened the show with the nine-letter word “elongates”.
The Blanchardstown man became the first Countdown winner from the Republic. The competition has had two previous winners from the North.
Mr Murray, who works in credit control for UK firm Ovo Energy, excelled in nearly all rounds. He solved two of the four number games but neither contestant was able to figure the conundrum, which was “amaryllis”.
Mr Naylor, an account manager from Hendon, put up a good fight but ultimately his score of 70 fell well short on the day.
Mr Murray, a DIT graduate, impressed throughout the 70th series of the programme. The former Bank of Ireland employee consistently performed well in the words and numbers rounds.
He accumulated the season’s highest score of 120 points in mid-April and went on to notch up eight successive wins.
He was the number one seed going into the final against number three seed Mr Naylor.
“It was a great contestant I was up against as well so it’s amazing,” said Mr Murray.
His prize includes a silver trophy, a laptop and a 20-volume collection of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Mr Murray first appeared on the programme as a 20 year old in 1999 but was “trounced” by 65 points to 25.
He has been seeking to raise funds for the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland and Breakthrough Cancer Research, which he said were “very worthy causes (that) mean a lot to me”.Interactive Websites To Learn Python Online
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Google Group For Python Developers This is one of most active forums of python. You can ask questions related to python programming problems and related libraries.
Stackoverflow On Stackoverflow you can tag your question with Python and get answers. Remember to search and browse the already asked questions before asking.
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Python On Heroku Forum This is a dedicated forum for python developers who use Heroku platform for their applications.
Head First Python Forum This is forum dedicated for Head First Python book readers to ask questions and get help.
PyCon The international community for the Python programming language holds several conferences each year.
Best Free Python Mailing Lists To Ask Questions
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Python-help Mailing List This is python.org's help desk by volunteers. You can ask questions about Python related problems.
Best Free Cheat Sheets For Python
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Thinking of learning Python to make a dent in the universe? We have compiled a huge list of absolutely FREE Pythonto make your life easier.Python has taken over the programming world with a storm and has now become one of the most popular languages. You might have your doubts, but Python is growing at a rate which is faster than that of any other programming language. Being a, it provides for good coding skills along with excellent error handling. Python is now being extensively used by sites like Google, YouTube, Facebook, SuggestionBox, Quora, etc. thus making it extremely important for every sphere of business activity.You may prefer to read a few awesome books on Python if you prefer.Regardless of whether you are aor an, you can learn Python language online through the following () resources:Some interactive python tutorial for beginners can be really useful in quickly learning the language. These are some sites that have made the python learning much easier by providing more interactive interface for students.If you wish to understand Python language from scratch or simply want to add on to your existing knowledge base, you can seek help from the one of the online websites which renders free of cost services in teaching you all the nuances of the language.Online video tutorials is another way in which you can dive into the language and learn the various idioms and features, which are otherwise difficult to understand by means of reading.A Python eBook can be really handy for you to read on any online device.You will come across a lot of ebooks on Python language which can easily be downloaded for free. These ebooks provide good examples along with clean formatting and cover all basic as well as advanced concepts of this programming language.There is a large online community of python users who interact with each other by means of various web forums. You can easily gain access to these free web forums and interact with specialists.Mailing lists are good way to get help directly in your inbox. Sometimes too many emails can be bothering, however you can choose this way if you like or really need some help urgently. Remeber to browse thru mailing list archive and do web search before throwing a question into a mailing list.These cheat sheets do not function like a comprehensive book but provide for a quick overview of the language, something that you can refer to any time.Below are some blogs about python programming that can keep you updated with latest trends in python and related ecosystem.Python has become one of the most sought after languages in today’s times and if you want to kick start your career to the next level, you cannot do so without learning the language.Summer Lesson: Allison Snow Seven Days Garden launches June 22 in Japan [Update 2]
New Summer Lesson title stars blond-haired Allison Snow.
Summer Lesson: Allison Snow Seven Days Garden will launch for PlayStation VR in Japan on June 22, the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu reveals.
The virtual reality game, news of which first leaked last night, is a followup to Summer Lesson: Hikari Miyamoto Seven Days Room featuring a new character in the blond-haired Allison and setting in the garden.
Thanks, Famitsu.
Update 6:35 a.m.: New information has come in.
It will cost 2,759 yen.
A 7,704 yen DX Pack including four downloadable contents will also be available: Additional Experience: International Exchange on the Veranda Additional Experience: Singing of the Summer Sky Extra Scene: Support Chapter Extra Scene: Water Melon Cutting Chapter
The concept is a space where you can heal just by looking at it.
In the demo, Allison Snow spoke English, but it will reach the point that she speaks Japanese.
Contrary to her appearance, Allison Snow is quiet, kind, warm and snug. She is also passionate about music.
If you have save data showing good results from Summer Lesson: Hikari Miyamoto Seven Days Room, a topic item will be added in Summer Lesson: Allison Snow Seven Days Garden. If you already purchased downloadable content for Hikari Miyamoto, it will also be available for Allison Snow.
Summer Lesson will not end with Allison. Additional content is planned one after the next in the future.
Thanks, Ryokutya2089.
Update: And a few more details.
The game is set on the veranda of a Japanese house.
You play as the very same person who taught Hikari Miyamoto.
If you have the retail version of Summer Lesson: Seven Days Room or the “Cafe Chapter” downloadable content, you can access the cafe costume from the beginning of the game.
Development is 90 percent complete.
Thanks, Hachima Kikou.Unwilling, or unable, to learn the lessons that Pixels sacrificed itself to teach the world, Atari has announced that it’s partnering with a production company to make movies based on the classic arcade titles Centipede and Missile Command. The long-lived video game brand—which, according to Wikipedia, is currently focused on “LGBT, social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube”—is teaming up with Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films to make the socially conscious, poker-focused viral video adaptations these 36-year-old titles deserve.
Centipede actually seems like a pretty easy slam dunk, movie-wise: Take some attractive soldiers, shove them in a tank, give ‘em a trackball, and aim them at the giant bug. (In any case, it seems like an easier sell than Monopoly, which Emmett/Furla/Oasis is also turning into a film.) Missile Command seems trickier, though. Centered on an unseen military officer desperately trying—and inevitably failing—to keep his or her home cities from being destroyed by an endless rain of bombs, it’s one of the grimmest arcade games ever made. (It doesn’t hurt that, when the end comes, it does so in the form of an ominously flashing Game Over screen that etched itself into the nightmares of many of the Cold War-era kids who played it.)
Still, if this new team-up can pull these first two movies off—while keeping things progressive and craps-based, as per Atari’s core values—it could lead to a bunch of other old Atari games getting the movie treatment. Just imagine it: Breakout, reimagined as a prison break movie. Pong, as a classic underdog sports comedy. They could even dip into the old Atari 2600 library and make an adaptation of E.T., transforming its heart-warming, landfill-filling action into the touching pai gow poker movie it was always meant to be.
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[via Deadline]Children play in the damaged Munak canal, that supplies three-fifths of the water to Delhi, in Sonipat in the northern state of Haryana, India (February 24, 2016).
India’s ambitious plan to interlink rivers to achieve greater equity in the distribution of water in the country reached an important milestone on July 6, when water from the Godavari, its second-longest river, rushed to meet the fourth-longest, the Krishna. The two became the first of 30 rivers to be linked under the Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) program.
Touted as the world’s largest irrigation infrastructure project, the ILR program involves construction of around 15,000 km of new canals and 3,000 big and small dams and storage structures. Broadly, it has two parts: the Himalayan rivers component with 14 links and the peninsular component with 16 links, which will transport 33 and 141 trillion liters of water, respectively, per year. The Godavari-Krishna link is part of the latter.
The idea of interlinking rivers isn’t new. Even in ancient times, rulers and engineers the world over sought to divert rivers to parched lands. In 1858, when India was under colonial rule, British engineer Sir Arthur Cotton proposed interlinking India’s major rivers for inland navigation but his plan remained on the drawing board.
Variations of this project have been put up in more recent decades. But successive governments did not pursue these plans due to financial and environmental concerns. It was only with the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power in 2014 – it is a strong proponent of interlinking rivers – that the ILR program took off.
India has multiple water-related woes. Besides its enormous dependence on the erratic monsoons, its basin-wise availability of water varies greatly due to uneven rainfall and population density. According to a Ministry of Water Resources report, in 2010 the average per capita availability of water in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna system was 20,136 cubic meters per year compared to 263 cubic meters in the Sabarmati basin.
While a third of the country grapples with drought, an eighth struggles with floods.
Interlinking rivers is seen as the way to deal with these problems. According to the Ministry of Water Resources, the ILR program will not only extend irrigation to an additional 35 million hectares of land and boost hydropower capacity by around 34,000 megawatts of electricity power but also will improve management of floods and droughts.
The ILR program involves transfer of water from “surplus” river basins to “deficit” ones. On the face of it, it appears to be just about diverting water. However, it isn’t that simple. Water will have to be channeled across different terrains, topographies, and elevations. It involves very complex engineering.
And it comes with a hefty price tag. It is estimated to cost $168 billion. This being a project that will take decades to complete, serious cost overruns can be expected.
Engineering a diversion of water carries enormous human, ecological, and environmental costs too. Millions of people are likely to be displaced by the ILR’s canals and dams.
Environmentalists are drawing attention to the irreversible damage that reduced downstream flows would have on a river’s ecology and biodiversity. A change in the ecology of the River Ken on account of the Ken-Betwa link project in central India is expected to doom the already critically endangered gharial. Also, this project would submerge around 10 percent of the Panna Tiger reserve, reversing the huge gains of India’s tiger conservation project.
Experts have also challenged some of the assumptions on which the ILR is based. Questioning the concept of “surplus water,” for instance, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Shama Perveen maintain that there is no “‘surplus’ water, because every drop performs some ecological service all the time.” Others have pointed out that a river assessed to have “excess” water today may not have that “surplus” tomorrow. This is important particularly in the context of climate change impacting glacier masses and water volumes in the Himalayan rivers, argues Ashvani Gosain, professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, pointing out that if these perennial rivers “don’t retain the character of donor basins,” the ILR plan would collapse.
There is concern too that the ILR program would add to India’s already long list of festering water-related conflicts. The ILR has many opponents; key “donor” states like Bihar, Odisha, Kerala, and the Northeastern states are not on board with the plan. Odisha, for instance, dismisses claims that its Mahanadi river has “surplus” water as over the half the state’s 30 districts are drought prone. Without Odisha’s participation and the Mahanadi’s “excess” water, the peninsular component of the ILR would be weakened. The Mahanadi-Godavari link is critical to eight other downstream river links.
Even if states get on board the project now, conflicts could emerge in future between donors and recipients should the former run out of “surplus” water. Such conflicts could manifest in violence targeting each other’s populations and ILR infrastructure, as is often visible in the ongoing dispute over sharing of the River Cauvery.
While the ILR program is about linking rivers in India, its neighbors are watching how it unfolds with apprehension.
The ILR program’s Himalayan component envisages construction of reservoirs on the principal tributaries of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra in India and Nepal, and involves transfer of water from the eastern tributaries of the Ganga to the west, apart from linking the Brahmaputra to the Ganga and the Ganga to the Mahanadi.
As the Ganga and Brahmaputra are transboundary rivers, India’s proposed engineering of their waters would impact Nepal and Bhutan, where these rivers originate, and Bangladesh, the lower riparian country.
Nepal and Bhutan fear that, as in the case of other river projects in the past, India will pressure them to cooperate with the ILR through building dams and other storage infrastructure. There is “strong popular opposition to this idea” in these countries, Ashok Swain, professor of peace and conflict research at Uppsala University, Sweden, has pointed out.
Such opposition could weaken already fragile ties between India and Nepal.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, is deeply apprehensive over the diversion of water from the Ganga’s tributaries upstream, and the Brahmaputra and Teesta rivers to the Ganga, as this would reduce water flows into its territory, increasing salinity of the water, rendering the soil unfit for cultivation, and resulting in the desertification of large parts of the country.
Early this year when India and Nepal began work on the first transcountry river linking project to divert water from the Sharda River in Nepal to the Sabarmati in western India, it evoked “serious concern” in Bangladesh. Angry opinion pieces in the Bangladeshi media accused India of violating its commitments under the 1996 India-Bangladesh Treaty on sharing the Ganga’s waters and of acting unilaterally with little consideration for Bangladesh’s concerns.
The Himalayan component and the ILR program hinge on the diversion of the Brahmaputra River’s waters to the Ganga at the Farakka barrage, which would benefit Bangladesh too. This diversion is possible either through Bangladesh or via India’s Siliguri Corridor. But with Bangladesh unwilling to allow the link canal to run through its territory and the alignment via Siliguri “economically unviable” as it “involves large-scale lifting of water,” interlinking the Brahmaputra with the Ganga is not possible.
Critics of the ILR say that instead of pressing ahead with a financially unviable and environmentally unsustainable program, the government must act upon a “number of cheaper, socially and environmentally-benign options” that are already available such as “increasing irrigation and project-specific efficiency, rational cropping patterns, putting to use our existing mega infrastructure which is under-performing, using water equitably, harvesting rainwater, and managing demand better, among others.”
This would require the government to first wake up to the fact that its dream of tackling India’s water woes though the ILR plan could turn into a nightmare. Importantly, would India’s powerful big dam/water infrastructure lobby be interested in less expensive options?
Dr. Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bengaluru, India. She writes on South Asian political and security issues.Scroll down for the complete interpretation of your name numerology and birthdate numerology.
Scroll down for the complete interpretation of your name numerology and birthdate numerology.
Numerology Report
What is a Life Path Number?
The Life Path Number is derived from the birthdate. It represents a person's core character attributes. It is one of the most important numbers in a numerology profile. It is your numerological "DNA".
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What is a Destiny Number?
The Destiny Number is derived from the first, middle and last names given to a person at birth. It represents events, goals and one's ultimate mission in life. After the Life Path number, it is the second most important number in a numerology profile.
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What is a Soul Urge Number?
The Soul Urge Number or the "Desire Number", represents hidden and sub-surface desires. While less powerful and influtential than the Life Path and Destiny, these are are the things we crave and bring us inner happiness.
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What is an Inner Dream Number?
The Inner Dream Number is the least powerful and important of all the numbers in a numerology profile, but it occasionally rises to the surface and becomes important. It represents often unrealized, subconcious notions which occasionally exert influence over us.Amy Schumer is keeping a sense of humor about all the critics who feel the need to comment about her size on social media.
The 36-year-old comedian looked stunning in a cleavage-baring black jumpsuit and matching belt on Monday's Jimmy Kimmel Live -- which was taped in Brooklyn, New York -- but admitted to the late-night host that she did gain a few pounds ahead of making her Broadway debut in Steve Martin's new play, Meteor Shower.
"I had a really cool weight gain last winter," she confessed. "Has anyone had the kind of weight gain where your coats don't fit?"
WATCH: Amy Schumer Defends Her Weight -- 'I'm 160 Pounds and Can Catch a D**k Whenever I Want'
Schumer then sarcastically addressed the comments made about her body on the web. "We're so blessed with the internet that people give you constant feedback on your looks," she quipped. "[It's] such a cool time. Thank each and every one of you for all your feedback on my face and body."
The Snatched star went on to reference a negative comment that actually made her hungry. "The other day, somebody tweeted about me, 'Amy Schumer's body looks like a bag of mashed potatoes,'" she recalled. "I was like, 'OK, now I need mashed potatoes.'"
WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Slams Amy Schumer's 'SNL' Weight Loss Diss -- 'I'm on a Healthy Journey'
This isn't the first time Schumer has called out body shamers. In March 2016, she shared a pic of herself in a swimsuit, writing: "I hope you find some joy in your lives today in a human interaction and not just in writing unkind things to a stranger you've never met who triggers something in you that makes you feel powerless and alone."
She added: "This is how I look. I feel happy. I think I look strong and healthy and also like miss trunchbull from Matilda. Kisses!"
Check out her empowering post:
Related GalleryIn the year since President Bush announced he was changing course in Iraq with a troop "surge" and a new strategy, U.S. military and diplomatic officials have begun their own quiet policy shift. After countless unsuccessful efforts to push Iraqis toward various political, economic and security goals, they have decided to let the Iraqis figure some things out themselves.
From Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to Army privates and aid workers, officials are expressing their willingness to stand back and help Iraqis develop their own answers. "We try to come up with Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems," said Stephen Fakan, the leader of a provincial reconstruction team with U.S. troops in Fallujah.
In many cases -- particularly on the political front -- Iraqi solutions bear little resemblance to the ambitious goals for 2007 that Bush laid out in his speech to the nation last Jan. 10. "To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis," he pledged. "Iraqis plan to hold provincial elections later this year... the government will reform de-Baathification laws, and establish a fair process for considering amendments to Iraq's constitution."
Although some progress has been made and legislation in some cases has begun to slowly work its way through the parliament, none of these benchmarks has been achieved. Nor has the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki taken over security responsibility for all 18 provinces, as Bush forecast it would. Last month's transfer of Basra province by British forces brought to nine the number of provinces under Iraqi control.
In explaining the situation, U.S. officials have made a virtue of necessity and have praised Iraqi ingenuity for finding different routes toward the same goals. Iraqis have figured out a way to distribute oil revenue without laws to regulate it, Crocker has often noted, and former Baathists are getting jobs. Local and provincial governing bodies -- some elected, some not -- are up and running.
The Iraqis "are at the point where they are able to fashion their own approaches and desired outcomes," Crocker said in an interview, "and we, I think, in part recognizing that and in part reflecting on where we have been over the last almost five years, are increasingly prepared to say it's got to be done in Iraqi terms."
The U.S. military has praised the Maliki government for acknowledging it is not ready to handle security in much of Iraq, and at the same time has dismissed the ongoing violence in Basra and much of the rest of the south as an Iraqi problem. "There are innumerable challenges in the security situation in Basra," Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said late last year, "but there are Iraqi solutions emerging to some of these."
For some observers, the approach indicates a new realism in Washington, a recognition that long years of grandiose plans drawn from U.S. templates have not worked in Iraq. But others charge that the phrase "Iraqi solutions" implies a cynical U.S. willingness to turn a blind eye to sectarianism, political violence and a wealth of papered-over problems -- if that is the price of getting the United States out of Iraq.
"The new phrasing is both the dawning of reality, and the cynical use of language and common sense to camouflage past errors, hoping to avoid the audit of flawed logic that got us to this point," said a retired British general familiar with the U.S. experience in Iraq, and who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of his current position.
U.S. officials at various levels are pushing the idea for different reasons, said Sarah Sewall, director of Harvard University's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and a Clinton-era Pentagon official. While Petraeus has embraced the notion out of "realism," Sewall said, she thinks the Bush administration "has recently arrived at this formula out of desperation -- due to the failure of its past efforts."
The U.S. occupation authority initially envisioned a free-market paradise for Iraq, with flat taxes and a state-of-the-art stock exchange. Its successors lowered their expectations, seeking a Westernized, relatively corruption-free system, gently trying to wrest the economy away from state ownership. But with little progress, U.S. officials in Baghdad now are simply looking for something that works, frequently spotlighting the Iraqi government's top economic milestone -- passing a national budget and spending some of the appropriated funds.
On the military front, reliance on Iraqi solutions brought an unanticipated success. During
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was “just what we do.”
“I understand that Lou was approached,” he said. “We all understood that Lou had been approached, and that the deal, so to speak, was, you know, you maybe miss that ball, maybe allow them that wicket, and you’ll get some money.
“So I suppose you could say, he was being paid to lose. But I’ve been paid to lose; the only difference is I was being paid by the team.
“There’s nothing unusual about that. For fifteen years, they paid me – and every other Black Cap on the payroll – to lose, over and over, again and again.”
He argued that while it might seem “strange and immoral to some,” being paid to lose test matches abroad was merely a part of the New Zealand cricket experience.
“For years, that’s how we ran things, and as far as I can tell, that’s how they run things today. The Black Caps, are, essentially, an organization that pays players to travel overseas, promote the sport, promote New Zealand, and lose.”
Head of the International Cricket Council David Richardson – who is overseeing the organization’s investigation into match fixing charges – responded to Cairns’ statement this afternoon, saying that the council would take his views “into account.”
Asked if they had any merit, Richardson acknowledged that it did “seem hard to believe” that the Black Caps had been genuinely trying to win at any point in the last decade.A team of scientists led by a British academic has solved a long-standing enigma to explain how up to half the clouds in the sky are formed. And in finally cracking the problem of how planet-cooling clouds are conjured from what might seem to be thin air, the researchers found that humans play a significant role. It is a discovery that could fundamentally change our understanding of climate change, and may even mean experts have underestimated just how warm the planet will get over the next century.
The mystery was that many clouds appeared in the sky even though there were no "seeds" – often just specks of dust – that must be present for water droplets to form in the air. But, writing in the journal Nature last week, researchers from the Cern laboratory in Switzerland described for the first time how a chemical soup of gas vapours can react to form the necessary tiny particles.
To do so they had to build a chamber of "unprecedented cleanliness" at Cern in order to ensure they could work out exactly what was going on in the atmosphere.
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"This is the first time that atmospheric particle formation has been reproduced with complete knowledge of the participating molecules," said Professor Jasper Kirkby, leader of the research team. "This is an important step forward, but we still have a long way to go before we fully understand the processes of aerosol formation and their effects on clouds and climate."
The research showed that gases called amines – produced in large quantities as a result of farming cattle and other animals – can help form the seed particles when combined with sulphuric acid in the air. Breathe in air from a farm and it is likely you are getting a lungful of amines, as they come from the breakdown of proteins and can be found in animal slurry. Rotting fish gives off a particularly concentrated dose.
Professor Kirkby, originally from Manchester, stressed it was possible that clouds could be produced in a similar way with sulphuric acid but with different kinds of vapours than amines. He said this newly discovered process would have to be factored into climate change models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The lack of knowledge about aerosols – particles suspended in the atmosphere – and their effect on clouds is widely recognised as the major source of uncertainty in predictions about global warming. "We have to understand how clouds have been changed by human activity or natural activity if we are to understand climate change in the 20th century and therefore have reliable projections in the 21st century," Professor Kirkby said.
The global average temperature on land and sea rose by 0.85C from 1880 to 2012, the IPCC said in a major report last month. The fact that amines are produced by animal husbandry means that humans are responsible for a previously unknown cooling effect on the planet. So the overall man-made "forcing" of the climate – once greenhouse gases are taken into account – may actually be less than thought.
And that could be bad news because, Professor Kirkby said, it suggested "the climate may be more sensitive than previously thought". "If there's been more cooling from aerosols than thought at the moment then this temperature rise will have resulted from a smaller forcing – or change – than previously thought," he said. "That would mean the projected temperatures this century for a doubling of carbon dioxide may be bigger than current estimates."
In its report the IPCC said that temperatures could increase by between 0.6C and 4C by 2100 depending on carbon emissions. The latter figure would cause sea levels to rise substantially and increase the frequency of storms, droughts and other hazardous weather. A temperature rise of more than 2C above pre-industrial levels is seen as the point at which the effects become dangerous.
The study suggests a possible way scientists could create clouds to help cool the Earth, although such geo-engineering is controversial. Amines are also used in carbon-capture at power stations and factories, so this might be a spin-off benefit.
Gerald North, professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography at Texas A&M University in the US, welcomed the research, saying that aerosols had been "really very poorly understood". He described the idea that climate models may have been underestimating global warming over the next century as "very interesting", but also warned of the need for more research on the subject.
Professor North suggested the discovery might offer some form of hope for the planet. "We don't know if these amines are increasing the same way that carbon dioxide is increasing," he said.
"If they were increasing at the same rate, maybe everything would be fine! But we don't know."
Piers Forster, professor of physical climate change at Leeds University, said people had previously tried to work out the cloud-making process, speculating about ammonia, cosmic rays and other factors.
"If you get amines being produced in parts of the world that are very pristine, this could have a direct effect on clouds," he said. While the research would help improve climate models, he said he doubted it would alter temperature projections significantly.Retaking of Tal Afar clears militants from province where they began reign of terror in 2014
Iraq’s prime minister Haider Al Abadi declared the northern province of Nineveh fully liberated from ISIL after the district of Tal Afar was taken from extremist militants on Thursday.
"Our happiness is complete, victory has arrived and the province of Nineveh is now entirely in the hands of our forces," Mr Al Abadi said.
Our brave Armed Forces have liberated Tal Afar and the Iraqi flag is once again flying high in Nineveh province — Haider Al-Abadi (@HaiderAlAbadi) August 31, 2017
“I salute our martyrs, our injured and their families whose sacrifices have made this and other victories possible. Nineveh is liberated,” the prime minister said.
The global coalition to defeat ISIL congratulated Mr Al Abadi and Iraqi security forces on their “stunning victory” less than two weeks after entering the city of Tal Afar.
"Following their historic liberation of Mosul and now a swift and decisive victory in Tal Afar, the ISF have shown, once again, they are an increasingly capable force that can protect the Iraqi people, defeat ISIS within Iraq and secure the country's borders," said Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, the commander of US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
"This is yet another significant achievement for the Iraqi Security Forces and the government and people of Iraq,” Lt Gen Townsend said.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said Iraqi forces "overcame a fanatical enemy fighting in dense urban terrain, and overcame ISIS’s chemical munitions, suicide vests, and human shields".
"Iraqi forces and Kurdish peshmerga troops set the example for all of Iraq and proved how resilient and powerful they could be if they put their differences aside," Col Dillon said.
He also praised the effort to prevent civilian casualties.
Throughout the fight in Mosul and Tal Afar, the ISF did a remarkable job protecting civilians. — OIR Spokesman (@OIRSpox) August 31, 2017
However, "dangerous work remains to completely remove explosive devices, identify ISIL fighters in hiding and eliminate any remaining ISIL holdouts", the coalition warned.
Explore: The liberation of Mosul - a victory at a price
Under the command of Mr Al Abadi, all branches of the Iraqi Security Forces took part in the liberation of Tal Afar - the army's 9th, 15th and 16th divisions, the Counter-Terrorism Service, the Federal Police and Emergency Response Division, Iraqi local police, the Popular Mobilisation Forces militias as well as the peshmerga fighters of the Kurdish Regional Government.
Victory in the town, where the majority of the population — both Shiite and Sunni — is ethnically Turkmen, has deprived ISIL of one of its most strategically important strongholds.
The declaration of victory in Nineveh came a day after Jordan and Iraq reopened their only border crossing after a two-year closure forced by ISIL's capture of most of Anbar province. Both sides celebrated the reopening as another victory over the militant group.
The only Iraqi territory still under ISIL control is the city of Hawija, about 300 kilometres north of Baghdad, and desert areas along the border with Syria.
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Read more:
Iraq PM congratulates military for 'overwhelming victory' in Tal Afar
Jordan and Iraq reopen border crossing as security situation improves
'The State' drama series on ISIL is anything but apologetic
________________________________________Steady deterioration of water bodies is one of the most pressing problems facing the world today. In Asia, degradation of water quality and the problems it spawns are so extensive and serious that they are threatening to harm economic growth and affect the health and quality of life of billions of people.
China's high economic growth has had an adverse impact in terms of access, volume and quality of water as well as equity, management and investment requirements. While the magnitude of the water quality problem has steadily widened, planning, management and institutional capacities have not improved commensurately, and thus complicated matters further.
Water scarcity and pollution of water sources are two of the most serious problems for China. Pollution has now spread from the coastal region to inland water bodies, affecting both surface water and groundwater. More than 53 billion tons of (untreated or inadequately treated) wastewater is discharged into China's water bodies every year. And as early as 2006, water in a stretch of more than 25,000 km of rivers failed to meet the quality standards for aquatic life and about 90 percent sections of rivers in and around urban areas were seriously polluted. The World Bank estimates that water scarcity and pollution are costing China about 2.3 percent of GDP - 1.3 percent due to water scarcity and the rest as a direct impact of water pollution.Dutch troops have been stationed in Uruzgan province since 2006 Nato has assured Afghans they can rely on its support despite the uncertain future of Dutch troops there following the collapse of their government. It came after the two largest parties failed to agree over a Nato request to extend the tour of the almost 2,000-strong Dutch contingent past August. A Nato spokesman said it would provide support to Afghans whatever happened. Earlier, the governor of Uruzgan said peace and reconstruction efforts would suffer a setback if the Dutch left. Asadullah Hamdam told the BBC they were playing a vital role building roads, training the Afghan police and providing security for civilians. "If they withdraw and leave these projects incomplete, then they will leave a big vacuum," he added. The uncertainty comes as Nato, US and Afghan forces are engaged in a large military offensive against the Taliban in neighbouring Helmand. 'Clear commitment' Dutch troops have been stationed in Afghanistan since 2006. Where there is no trust, it is difficult to work together
Jan Peter Balkenende They should have returned home in 2008, but their deployment was extended by two years because no other Nato member state offered replacements. In October, the Dutch parliament voted that the deployment must definitely end by August 2010, although the government of Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende had yet to endorse that vote. Earlier this week, the finance minister and leader of the Labour Party, Wouter Bos, demanded an immediate ruling from Mr Balkenende. When they failed to reach a compromise during marathon talks that continued into the early hours of Saturday, Labour said it was pulling out of the coalition. Later, Mr Balkenende said there was no common ground and offered his cabinet's resignation to Queen Beatrix by telephone. ANALYSIS By Geraldine Coughlan
BBC News, The Hague The Defence Ministry says the future of the Dutch mission in Afghanistan depends on the new government. But a new government may prove difficult to establish. Opinion polls suggest that a handful of parties may be needed to form a coalition. They also suggest the right-wing opposition Freedom Party, which has called for an end to the Afghan mission, could be the big winner in the general election. "Where there is no trust, it is difficult to work together. There is no good path to allow this cabinet to go further," he said. Nato officials swiftly issued a message of reassurance about its operations in Afghanistan, but refused to comment on the internal politics of a member state. "We have invested a lot in Afghanistan. We will continue to invest in Afghanistan because it is an investment in our own security," Nato spokesman James Appathurai told the BBC. "Nato will stay as long as necessary. That is a very clear commitment. The Dutch decision is for the Dutch to take, and we will not interfere with that." Mr Appathurai said Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen believed the best way forward would be a new smaller Dutch mission, including a provincial reconstruction team to consolidate successes. Nato priority The launch in 2001 of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) for Afghanistan was the organisation's first and largest ground operation outside Europe. Mr Rasmussen said six months ago when he began his job that his priority was the war in Afghanistan. As of October 2009, Isaf had more than 71,000 personnel from 42 different countries including the US, Canada, European countries, Australia, Jordan and New Zealand. The US provides the bulk of foreign forces in Afghanistan, and President Barack Obama has announced an extra 30,000 American troops for Afghanistan. The Pentagon has said the next 18 months could prove crucial for the international mission in Afghanistan, after more than eight years of efforts to stabilise the country. Afghanistan remains a deadly place for foreign forces. Suicide attacks on Afghan civilians and roadside bomb strikes on international troops are common, with the Taliban strongly resurgent in many areas of the country.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionHere are the seven key points of the coalition government's spending cuts for 2010-2011, set out by Chancellor George Osborne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws. CUTS BY TYPE • £1.15bn in "discretionary" areas such as consultancy and travel costs • £95m through savings in IT spending • £1.7bn will be saved in delaying or stopping government contracts and projects • Reductions in property costs will save £170m • More than £120m expected to be found through a freeze in civil service recruitment • £600m by cutting the cost of quangos • £520m will be saved through other low-value spending CUTS BY DEPARTMENT Dept business: £836m DCLG: £780m Dept Transport: £683m Education dept: £670m Dept work pensions: £535m Chancellor's Dept: £451m Local govnt: £405m Home Office: £367m Mins of Justice: £325m Devolved admins: £704m DEFRA: £162m Dept for Energy: £85m Culture dept: £88m Cabinet Office: £79m Foreign Office: £55m Law officers' dept: £18m Since taking up their jobs at the Treasury Mr Osborne and Mr Laws have had discussions with the secretaries of state of each department. They also sought advice from officials at the Treasury and Bank of England on whether these savings are viable. It is the coalition government's first move to tackle the UK's £156bn deficit, attempting to reduce any waste in Whitehall ahead of a spending review later in 2010. There will be more details as well - including on civil service pay - in an emergency Budget on 22 June. IN MORE DETAIL: EDUCATION The education department will have to make savings of £670m but Mr Osborne said that schools' funding, the Sure Start programme and spending on education for 16-19-year-olds would be protected - something that was not in the Conservatives' manifesto. The 20,000 extra university places promised by the Labour government will be reduced to 10,000. By closing the quango British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) the government hopes to save £80m. CHILD TRUST FUNDS There will be a reduction then end to Child Trust Funds, saving £320m, with payments being stopped altogether in January 2011. From then, provisions will be made for an extra £20m to provide respite care for disabled children. CIVIL SERVICE There will be a £190m saving through a freeze on non-frontline civil service recruitment. Any salary that is higher than the prime minister's own will have to be approved by Mr Laws. HEALTH, INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND DEFENCE Frontline services in these departments will be protected. Any efficiency savings in these areas will be recycled within their own current budgets. LOCAL GOVERNMENT Local government is expected to make a contribution of £1.165bn through reductions to individual grants. Ring-fencing to end for more than £1.7bn of grants given to local authorities so they can make their own cuts. BUSINESS The biggest of all the departmental cuts will be at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, totalling £836m. TRANSPORT Spending at the Department of Transport will be reduced by £683m. By cutting grants to local authorities, the department will save £309m. Network Rail will have to find savings of £100m. In London, following discussions with Mayor Boris Johnson, £108m could be cut from Transport for London's grant. WORK AND PENSIONS The Department for Work and Pensions will make £535m of cuts. Of that, £200m will be saved through reduced IT projects and consultancy, marketing, travel and a recruitment freeze. The remaining £335m comes from measures such as winding down, then cutting altogether, the Future Jobs Fund which will save £290m. The department will also stop the £1,000 subsidy for employers to take on anyone who has been out of work for six months. GOVERNMENT MINISTERS Ministers will no longer have dedicated ministerial cars and will be expected to walk, use public transport or pooled cars where possible. DEVOLVED CUTS The savings for all three devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast will be £704m. This is a gross total, not taking into account any reinvestments or recycled savings. In each case, the three can choose to defer the cuts until the next financial year. For Wales, the cuts will total £187m. However, after £24m is reinvested into the Welsh block grant, the actual figure will be £162.5m. The savings in Scotland are £375m but this will be reduced to £332.8m once £42.2m is reinvested via the Scottish block grant. Northern Ireland's gross cut is £142m which, after £14m is reinvested through the block grant system, will actually be £128m. WHO WILL OVERSEE THE CUTS? A new board, called the Efficiency and Reform Group, is being set up to oversee departmental cuts. It will be chaired jointly by Mr Laws and Cabinet Minister Francis Maude and include civil servants from across Whitehall.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version"The Force fights with me!" ―Bastila Shan [src]
Bastila Shan was a Human female who served as a Jedi Padawan during the Jedi Civil War. Born on the planet Talravin to Helena Shan and a treasure hunter, her mother gave her up to the Jedi Order, believing that their lifestyle of travel and exertions was not suitable for her daughter. Shan was found to have an exceptional gift with a Force power known as battle meditation; which increased her allies' morale while demoralizing her enemies. Shan sided with the Jedi Council when the Jedi Knights Revan and Malak rebelled against the Council and joined the Galactic Republic in its war against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.
One year after the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars, Revan returned from the Unknown Regions as the new Dark Lord of the Sith, with Malak as his apprentice, at the head of a new Sith Empire. Two years into the Jedi Civil War, Shan was the leader of a Jedi strike team sent to capture Darth Revan and Darth Malak. When her team boarded Revan's vessel, they managed to corner the Dark Lord on the bridge. Before they could engage Revan in combat, Malak, who was separated from his Master during the battle, betrayed Revan by ordering the guns of his flagship Leviathan to fire on Revan's vessel in an attempt to destroy both the Jedi and Revan.
However, Shan survived and managed to use the Force to stabilize Revan, who was near death. This act created a bond between the two and Shan brought the comatose Revan to the Jedi Council. Both the Council and Shan came up with a plan and temporarily erased Revan's memories, reprogramming Revan with an identity of a soldier loyal to the Republic. The Council hoped that Shan, through her bond with Revan, would be able to coerce Revan into revealing the location of the Rakatan space station called the Star Forge, which was now under the new Dark Lord Darth Malak's control.
In the final year of the war, Shan's Republic warship Endar Spire was ambushed and attacked by Malak's fleet above the Outer Rim planet Taris. She managed to flee the ship aboard one of its escape pods, assisted by Republic commander Carth Onasi. Shortly after her pod reached the surface, Shan was captured by a swoop gang known as the Black Vulkars. After Revan and Onasi landed on Taris, they managed to track down and rescue Shan. She, Revan, and their companions teamed up with the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, managing to steal both the launch codes necessary to escape Taris and the Exchange crime lord Davik Kang's light freighter Ebon Hawk, killing Davik and nearly doing the same to Calo Nord, who Revan, Bastila and one of their companions would later kill on Kashyyyk. Shan and her companions escaped during the Sith's bombardment of Taris, and headed to Dantooine, where a Jedi Enclave was located.
After Shan met with the Dantooine Jedi Council, they began retraining Revan in the Jedi ways. After finding a Rakatan Star Map in the burial mounds near the Enclave, the Council tasked Shan, Revan, and their companions with finding the Star Forge. During their travels, Shan watched Revan closely to ensure that he did not fall to the dark side. Shan eventually fell in love with Revan, who, despite his past, was able to remain true to the Jedi Code. After Revan found a fourth Star Map—which was necessary to locate the Star Forge—Shan was captured by Malak and fell to the dark side after a week of torture at her new Sith Master's hands.
However, Revan eventually confronted Shan aboard the Star Forge and she was redeemed from the darkness to which she had succumbed. To prove her reclaimed faith, Shan aided the Republic in the Battle of Rakata Prime through the means of her battle meditation. Revan then vanquished Malak, and the Republic fleet successfully destroyed the Star Forge, routing the Sith forces. Sometime after this, Shan and Revan married, and started a new life together. However, within the next two years, Revan left for the Unknown Regions, seeking to eliminate a hidden Sith threat that Revan had discovered during his time as the Dark Lord. He left all whom he cared for behind, including Shan due to her pregnancy, as he did not wish to put the life of their child at risk. She went on to survive the era of strife that followed the Jedi Civil War.
Contents show]
Biography Edit
Early life Edit
"Your father loved you so. He wanted you to be just like him… he wanted to take you on his hunts, but I said they were too dangerous." ―Helena Shan, to Bastila Shan concerning her father [src]
Bastila Shan, daughter of Helena Shan and a hunter, was born on Talravin. Shan shared a loving and powerful relationship with her father. Despite this relationship, she was not on good terms with her mother, Helena, believing that her mother pushed her father into dangerous hunts so they could live in wealth.[3]
As a child, Shan was discovered to be exceptionally gifted with the Force.[5] She did not wish to leave her father behind and join the Jedi Order, but her mother felt that the life she and her family led —one full of relentless travel and fruitless exertions— was not a good life for Shan. She believed that her daughter's life would be better with the Jedi and gave her to them. Shan was separated from her family and began her training, quickly proving to be an exceptional Jedi Sentinel.[3]
Shan was discovered to be gifted with a Force power that would gain her considerable renown later in life: Battle meditation. It was a rare skill that increased the morale of her allies in battle and reduced her enemies' will to fight. This ability would make her a considerable asset in the Galactic Republic's plans to defeat the Sith Empire during the Jedi Civil War.[1]
As a young Padawan, Shan was present when Malak, on behalf of his best friend and mentor Revan, delivered a passionate speech that denounced the inaction of the Jedi High Council against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Though Shan refused to join Revan's growing rebellion, she witnessed several Jedi, including Meetra Surik, the future Jedi Exile, willingly submit to Malak and Revan's cause.[4] Later, when those same Jedi returned as Sith during the Jedi Civil War, she became one of the most active supporters of the Jedi Order.[3]
Jedi Civil War Edit
"When I used my Force powers to keep you alive on that bridge it created our bond. I convinced the Council that I could use that bond to draw out your memories and lead us to the Star Forge." ―Bastila Shan, to Revan [src]
In 3957 BBY, the Jedi Council sent Shan and a strike team to capture Darth Revan.[6] Along with at least three other Jedi, Shan managed to board his flagship and fought their way to Revan. Her team had just cornered the Sith Lord on the bridge, but before they could engage him in combat his apprentice, Darth Malak, betrayed him and fired upon the ship. Revan was left clinging to life. Shan, remembering that a Jedi seeks to preserve all life, was able to keep him alive and preserve his mind using the Force. This act resulted in a powerful Force bond between them.[5]
Shan then brought Revan to the Jedi Council. The Council then decided that they would use the Force to temporarily wipe his memory, even though this was considered an immoral use of the Force.[5] Revan was then reprogrammed with a new identity, one that was loyal to the Republic. They hoped that, with time, his submerged memories would cast some light on the many mysteries surrounding him. They were especially interested in finding the Star Forge and stopping the legions of Sith invaders that were attacking Republic affiliated planets.[3][7]
Following Revan's apparent death, Darth Malak declared himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. He knew that the Republic fleet had been saved from certain destruction by Shan's gift with battle meditation. His primary objective became either to eliminate Shan, or ideally to capture and turn her to the dark side of the Force. He would then use her skills with battle meditation to crush the Republic.[3]
Destruction of Taris Edit
"The search for Bastila is taking too long. We cannot risk her escaping Taris; destroy the entire planet." ―Darth Malak gives Admiral Saul Karath the order to destroy Taris [src]
One year later, Shan and a reprogrammed, amnesiac Revan, assumed by everyone to be a simple Republic soldier, were on board the Hammerhead-class cruiser Endar Spire over the planet of Taris. Revan had been assigned to the ship, where Shan was the commander, at the last minute so that Shan could maintain a vigilant watch over him. Without warning, part of the Sith fleet ambushed the cruiser. A small assault team of Sith soldiers and Darth Malak's apprentice, Darth Bandon, attacked the ship. Bandon's mission was to capture Shan alive, but he was prevented from doing so by Ensign Trask Ulgo.[3]
Shan, Revan, and Republic pilot Captain Carth Onasi, were forced to evacuate the ship in escape pods just before the Endar Spire was destroyed. Shan's pod crashed in the Undercity of Taris, and she was quickly captured by a Taris swoop gang known as the Black Vulkars. She later revealed that the reason she had been captured so easily by the Vulkars was due to her lightsaber being "misplaced" during the crash. She elaborated, with embarrassment, that it must have fallen from her belt and rolled under her seat in the escape pod.[3]
Without her lightsaber, Shan was able to keep her status as a Jedi a secret, and the Vulkars assumed she was a Republic officer. She was imprisoned by the gang to be used as a prize in the Tarisian Season Opener. Onasi, who had crashed in the Upper City with Revan, informed him of Shan's importance to the war effort, and the two began a search for her. The Sith were also searching for Shan on the surface of the planet, and had blockaded Taris to prevent her escape. Revan, seeking to rescue the Jedi, made an agreement with Gadon Thek, the leader of the Vulkars' rival gang, the Hidden Beks, and entered the swoop race on their behalf. He managed to win the swoop race by using a prototype accelerator designed by the Beks that he retrieved from the Vulkars' base with help from Twi'lek Mission Vao and Wookiee Zaalbar. This helped the Beks to maintain their control of the Lower City.[3]
By the end of the swoop races, the Vulkars had realized that Shan was a Jedi, and had fitted her with a neural disruptor. Unwilling to give up such a valuable prize, Brejik, the leader of the Vulkars, accused Revan of cheating and tried to keep Shan so he could make a large profit selling her on the slave market. Shan managed to free herself and, with the help of Revan, fight and kill Brejik and the nearby Vulkars. Shan was shocked to see that her rescuer was the former Sith Lord, and clashed with Onasi over the lack of a plan to escape Taris. She expressed a sense of pride that aggravated Onasi, but Revan managed to keep the peace between the two of them, and Shan apologized for her behavior. She was impressed that Onasi and Revan had managed to locate her, but was disturbed to discover that Revan was having flashbacks of his capture.[3]
Following Shan's rescue, Revan was soon contacted by Canderous Ordo, a Mandalorian mercenary in the employ of Davik Kang, a local crime lord for the Exchange. Impressed with Revan's performance, Ordo offered a proposal for getting past the Sith blockade and asked Revan and Shan to retrieve the launch codes from the local Sith base. Shan was wary of trusting the mercenary, but sensed no deceit from him. She and Revan infiltrated the base with the assistance of the droid T3-M4 Kang had commissioned from Janice Nall, and managed to steal the codes after defeating the Sith Governor that Malak had placed in charge of Taris. Ordo then took Shan and Revan to Kang's base, telling Kang that they were potential recruits. Ordo's intention was to steal Kang's ship, the Ebon Hawk, which would be able to outrun any Sith pursuers once they used the launch codes to bypass the blockade.[3]
Frustrated with his fruitless searching, Malak ordered Admiral Saul Karath to destroy the planet. If he wasn't able to find Shan and take advantage her abilities, he wanted to be sure the Republic would not have the opportunity to do so either. The urban centers of Taris were utterly obliterated in a hail of indiscriminate turbolaser fire while Shan's group was still in Kang's base. After defeating Kang, Shan, Revan and Ordo barely managed to escape with their companions aboard the Ebon Hawk before Taris was completely leveled by the bombardment.[3]
Searching for the Star Forge Edit
"They may have found something on each of the other worlds that completed this map. Maybe if we find all the pieces they will lead us to the Star Forge... and some way to destroy it." ―Bastila Shan [src]
Shan suggested they seek refuge at the Jedi Enclave located on Dantooine where they could also seek the advice of the Jedi Council located there to determine their next steps. The Council decided to re-train Revan as a Jedi. He and Shan often sparred together and he would come to Shan for advice and aid when he needed it. After only a few weeks, Revan had recovered a great deal of his former skill and power with the Force. During this time, Shan and Revan shared a dream of Revan and Malak discovering something in the nearby ruins. Shan rushed to the Jedi Council in the Enclave and discovered that she and Revan shared a very powerful Force bond that had been forged when she saved his life.[3]
Soon after, the Council sent her and Revan to the ruins that she and Revan had been receiving visions of. Inside they found a partial Rakatan Star Map, an artifact that had been discovered by Revan and Malak five years earlier. Its data, when combined with that from the four other such Maps, would reveal the location of the Star Forge—an ancient factory of immense power that was being used by Malak to build the seemingly infinite Sith fleet. The Council sent Revan on a mission to find the Star Forge and stop Malak, with Shan guiding him along the way.[3]
Calo Nord, a bounty hunter and former associate of the late Davik Kang, was hired by Darth Malak to kill Revan and the others, while bringing Shan before the Dark Lord alive, if at all possible, but was killed by Revan shortly after they found the first Star Map. While searching on Tatooine for clues about the Star Forge, Shan would be reunited with her estranged mother, Helena. She was saddened to learn that her father had been killed while hunting a canyon krayt dragon for its pearl, which he thought would provide enough credits to pay for the treatment of an unknown fatal illness that Helena suffered from. With Revan's encouragement, they were finally able to reconcile. Shan gave her mother 500 credits to pay for treatment from a doctor on Coruscant. The reconciliation brought Shan much peace, and she expressed gratitude to Revan for his help.[3]
During their quest, Shan would closely monitor Revan, searching for any possible signs that he might have been slipping back to the dark side. She still held a dislike for the man who had caused so much damage to the galaxy, yet she was also attracted to the man he had become after his mind was wiped. Instead of being the monster she imagined and feared he would be, Revan proved to be a true servant of the light side, and displayed many acts of kindness throughout their journey together.[3]
Though this may have been attributed to the programmed identity that replaced his former persona, Revan's compassionate nature may have also been caused by subconscious aspects of his former personality before his fall to the dark side. She soon found herself admiring his passion and unrivaled power and, despite her best efforts, began to slowly fall in love with him. She resisted such feelings, partly because it was forbidden for Jedi to fall in love and partly because she was unable to come to terms with whom he really was. Shan later noted that it caused her a great deal of pain and guilt. Though he was now a true Jedi and a good, honest man for whom she cared deeply, he could still return to the dark side of the Force. If that were to happen, Shan would be forced to stop him before he could rejoin Malak. Shan also worried about what would happen when he found out whom he really was. Revan tried to convince Shan that she could love him, and they even shared a kiss aboard the Ebon Hawk before Bastila swore she would not allow herself to fall in love.[3]
Malak's final apprentice Edit
"The dark side calls to you, Bastila; you hunger to taste it. Become my apprentice, and all its power can be yours!" ―Darth Malak, coaxing Shan to join the Sith [src]
During the quest to find the Star Forge, the Ebon Hawk was captured by the Leviathan, Malak's flagship. Shan, Revan and Onasi were placed in their own cells apart from the others and tortured. Saul Karath, knowing Revan cared for Shan, proceeded to make her suffer in an attempt to get Revan to tell him where the Jedi Enclave was, what they were looking for, and what their mission was. Although his will weakened upon seeing her tortured, Revan refused to tell Karath anything.[3]
After they were freed by one of their crew members, Shan, Onasi, and Revan headed to the bridge to release the tractor beam. When they reached the
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the other hand, noted historian David H. Donald: “Herndon idealized his partner. He not merely felt grateful to Lincoln; he considered him his mentor, an older man who was a friendly, safe counselor. A man of extremes – indeed, a man who sometimes fell off the edge – Herndon found a steadying influence in his relationship with Lincoln. ‘He was,’ Herndon explained, ‘the great big man of our firm and I was the little one. The little one looked naturally up to the big one.'” 16
Historian Charles Strozier noted: “One of Herndon’s important tasks in the partnership was to keep up the ‘Commonplace Book,’ or index to relevant precedents for the cases the firm handled. On one side of a large folio page Herndon listed the kinds of cases handled and then opposite it the relevant precedents and often extensive cross-referencing. “Trusts,” for example, shows six precedents and a cross-reference to “Real Estate.” The types of cases listed are remarkably specific in order to focus the precedent search, that is, “County seat removal,” or “Vagrants,” or “Burial Ground Dead.” It is not an orderly book but it was crucial to the operation of the firm, the heart and soul of the office, and it is all in Herndon’s hand. To keep it up-to-date, he spent many hours poring through texts that were kept in the office and others he read under the whale-oil lamp in the State Law Library. The “Commonplace Book” was one key to the success of Lincoln-Herndon and gave substance to the garrulous and often witty arguments Lincoln presented to juries. Herndon was the reader of the firm, it might be said, and Lincoln the thinker.” 17
Mr. Lincoln told Herndon “that he took Herndon in partnership on the supposition that he was not much of an advocate, but that he would prove to be a systematic office lawyer; but it transpired, contrary to his supposition, that Herndon was an excellent lawyer in the courts and as poor as himself in the office,” recalled Henry C. Whitney. 18 Contemporary I.M. Short wrote that Herndon “was always honest, sincere and loyal, and Lincoln never had cause to regret the business arrangement he that day went into. Lincoln took him in on equal terms with himself financially, the gains of their earnings being divided equally between them.” 19 Mr. Lincoln split the firm’s fees equally with Herndon even on those cases where it was clearly Mr. Lincoln’s prestige that had attracted the client. They even split their neglect of housekeeping. “The system of business was as slovenly as the office itself: one day, Lincoln suddenly thrust his hands deep into his pantaloons pockets, and fished up two dollars and fifty cents, which he gave to Herndon, saying: ‘Here, Billy, is your share of the fee for the suit before Squire.'” According to fellow attorney Henry Clay Whitney, “This transaction had every semblance of reality and good faith; yet I felt bound somehow to consider it as a bit of pleasantry; and accordingly I said incredulously: ‘is that the way this law firm keeps its accounts?’ ‘That’s jest the way,’ promptly replied Lincoln: ‘Billy and I never had the scratch of a pen between us; we jest divide as we go along:’ and Herndon confirmed this statement of an extraordinary occurrence by a nod.” 20
Historian Cullom Davis wrote: “Lincoln’s regular affiliation with other lawyers was much more complex and widespread than the three successive partnerships that biographies have been content to portray. Even among those partners there was an intricate division of labor that has escaped careful attention. In addition, he had active affiliations with several dozen lawyers throughout central Illinois.” Davis wrote: “The Illinois legal community was interrelated. While Illinois lawyers were not formally organized as a bar group, they were nevertheless a cohesive community in countless and complex ways: by marriage and family; by partnership and affiliation; by community and court venues; and by political parties and factions.” 21
The law also provided political as well as legal associations. Legal scholar Mark E. Steiner wrote: “Lincoln was a Whig before he was a lawyer, and his law practice paralleled his affiliation with the Whig party from the time he was first licensed to practice until 1855. Lincoln shared the Whig enthusiasm for market capitalism and endorsed Whig programs of internal improvements and tariffs that would encourage economic development.” Steiner noted: “The Whig Party attracted lawyers because of the congruence between the Whig commitment to order and tradition and the lawyers’ attachment to order and precedent.” 22 Understandably, Mr. Lincoln’s closest associates were not only lawyers but who were also Whig politicians who became Republican leaders men like William H. Herndon, David Davis, Leonard Swett, Henry Clay Whitney, Stephen T. Logan, etc. Law and politics were closely intertwined for Mr. Lincoln.
But Whig ideology did not determine Mr. Lincoln’s legal practice, noted Steiner. “Lincoln as a Whig politician favored a developmental economic agenda, but Lincoln as a Whig lawyer did not advance this agenda every time he entered a courtroom. The primary value Whig lawyers like LIncoln found in the justice system was the maintenance of order. The economics of the law office ensured that Whig lawyers were ready to represent any client because they could hardly afford to do otherwise. Lincoln, for example, believed that railroads were vitally important for economic development in the West, but he never adopted an instrumentalist agenda in railroad litigation. He was ready to sue railroads and to establish precedent that would have hindered his economic vision.” 23
Mr. Lincoln’s strongest ally was truth. Without it, he was virtually defenseless, according to fellow lawyers in Illinois. Lawyer Samuel C. Parks wrote that “at the bar when he thought he as wrong he was the weakest lawyer I ever saw.” 24 James C. Conkling recalled: “No man was stronger than he when on the right side, and no man weaker when on the opposite. A knowledge of this fact gave him additional strength before the court or a jury, when he chose to insist that he was right. He indulged in no rhetorical flourishes or mere sentimental ideas, but could illustrate a point by one of his inimitable stories, so as to carry conviction to the most common intellect.” 25 Lambert Tree said that Leonard Swett “once told me that Lincoln was not worth a cent in a case in which he did not believe. In this connection, he related an incident of Lincoln and himself being appointed by Judge David Davis to defend a man indicted for murder who was supposed to be without means to retain a lawyer. However, the prisoner had friends who were able to raise one hundred dollars for his defense. The money was turned over to Swett, who handed half of it to Lincoln. When they came to consult with the prisoner, Lincoln became convinced that he was guilty and that the only chance of saving his neck was to have him plead guilty and then appear to the court for leniency. This was opposed by attorney Leonard Swett, who was an extremely adroit criminal lawyer. The case, therefore, came to trial, but Lincoln, though present and sitting beside Swett, took no part in it further than to make an occasional suggestion to his associate in the course of the examination of witnesses. The outcome of the case, thanks to technicalities which unexpectedly appeared, and which Swett was not slow to take advantage of, was that the man was acquitted. When the jury rendered its verdict, Lincoln reached over Swett’s shoulder, with the fifty dollars in his hand, and said: ‘Here, Swett, take this money. It is yours. You earned it, not I.” 26
Fellow lawyers testified that Mr. Lincoln needed to believe in a case to be effective. Judge David Davis recalled “The framework of his mental and moral being was honesty and a wrong was poorly defended by him. The ability which some eminent lawyers possess of explaining away the bad points of a cause by ingenious sophistry, was denied him. In order to bring into full activity his great powers, it was necessary that he should be convinced, of the right and justice of the matter which he advocated. When so convinced. Whether the cause was great or small, he was usually successful. He read law books but little, except when the case in hand made it necessary, yet he was unusually self-reliant, depending on his own resources and rarely consulting his brother lawyers either on the management of his case or in the legal questions involved. Mr. Lincoln was the fairest and most accommodating of practitioners, granting all favors which he could do consistently with his duty to his client, and rarely availing himself of any unwary oversight of his adversary.” 27
Mr. Lincoln’s sense of justice seldom escaped him. Springfield resident A. F. Lord remembered being told by a client: “Mr. Lincoln was Seated at his table listening very attentively to a man who was talking earnestly in a low tone. After the would be Client had stated the facts of his case, Mr. Lincoln replied; Yes, there is no reasonable doubt but that I can gain your case for you; I can set a Whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed Mother and her six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six hundred Dollars which you seem to have a legal claim to; but which rightfully belongs, it appears to me, as much to the woman and her children as it does to you. You must remember that some things that are legally right are not morally right. I shall not take your case – but I will give you a little advice for which I will charge you nothing. You see to be a sprightly, energetic man, I would advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in some other way.” 28
Attorney Henry C. Whitney recalled: “Mr. Lincoln would advise with perfect frankness about a potential case but when it was in esse, then he wanted to win as badly as any lawyer; but unlike lawyers of a certain type he would not do anything mean, or which savored of sharp practice, or which required absolute sophistry or chicanery in order to succeed. In a clear case of dishonesty he would hedge in some way so as not himself to partake of the dishonesty. In a doubtful case of dishonesty, he would give his client the benefit of the doubt, and in an ordinary case he would try the case so far as he could like any other lawyer except that he absolutely abjured technicality and went for justice and victory denued of every integument.” 29
More fundamental than Mr. Lincoln’s devotion to the law was his devotion to integrity. One day, Englishman George Hartley “asked Mr. Lincoln what had influenced him in making the law his profession. In answering, he told me about one of his cases. A farmer had lost a cow, which was killed by a railroad train. He engaged Mr. Lincoln to represent him and sue the company for damages. Before he could do this, the company, having received private word of the farmer’s move, approached Mr. Lincoln with the proposition that if he would throw over the farmer it would renumerate him handsomely and give him legal work connected with the railroad. I well remember the look of satisfaction in Mr. Lincoln’s refusal. ‘The company had exposed its hand and I obliged it to reimburse the farmer liberally.'” 30 President Lincoln once told the Rev. Noyes W. Miner “that he would never take a case unless he thought there was merit in it.” 31
Mr. Lincoln’s caseload ranged from criminal to corporate, from the petty to the principled. Historian Cullom Davis wrote: “Lincoln had a much larger and more widely diversified general practice than generally recognized. Lincoln was an aggressive and tenacious litigator whose mastery of civil and criminal procedure surfaced frequently. Popular notions about his carelessness and homespun demeanor tend to obscure a tough streak in his pre-trial and courtroom tactics. Neither flowery nor bombastic, he nevertheless frequently sought continuances, changes of venue, and dismissals on technical grounds when it was to his client’s advantage. He could, as historian Robert Bruce aptly put it, ‘split hairs as well as rails.” 32 Historian Allen C. Guelzo wrote that “in his early years as a lawyer and politician, Lincoln developed a reputation for single-minded aggressiveness. ‘I would not compromise the case at any cost,’ he advised one client in 1845, ‘but let them sue if they will. Even if the main point of the case is against you, there will be so many little breakers in their way, as to prevent their ever getting through safely.” 33
Fellow attorney Lawrence Weldon wrote that “Mr. Lincoln was always respectful and deferential toward the court, and never forgot the professional amenities of the bar. He was a lawyer who dealt with the deep philosophy of the law, always knew the cases which might be quoted as absolute authority, but beyond that contented himself in the application and discussion of general principles. He moved cautiously, and never examined or cross-examined a witness to the detriment of his side. If the witness told the truth he was safe; but woe betide the unlucky and dishonest individual who suppressed or colored the truth against Mr. Lincoln’s side.” 34
Legal scholar Mark E. Steiner wrote: “By the 1850s, Lincoln’s clients included not only local litigants involved in land disputes or slander cases but also out-of-state business interests, The correspondence with these firms and their lawyers reveals his difficulty in adjusting to the different style of lawyering demanded by market-oriented litigation. Lincoln never fully adjusted to the quickened pace or the impersonal nature of these causes.” 35 Mr. Lincoln did not necessarily move as expeditiously or aggressively as such clients expected. Often such clients expected Mr. LIncoln to litigate where he preferred to negotiate. Steiner noted that the Illinois Central Railroad “used LIncoln because of his trial and negotiation skills and his familiarity with the supreme court and elected officials.” 36
Mr. Lincoln did not encourage legal suits but he did encourage settlement out of court. Economic historian Oliver Frayss wrote: “In fact, faithful to his principles, Lincoln discouraged pettifoggery and often proposed amicable arrangements, even if it meant losing fees. Each semester on the circuit, he was approached by a Mr. Gilliland, who claimed to have title to a piece of property and wanted to procure Lincoln’s services. Each time, Lincoln listened patiently and kindly before refusing to take the case.” 37Judge Davis recalled that “he would compromise a law suit whenever practical.” 38 Steiner noted: “Lincoln always seemed comfortable with the lawyering style demanded by purely local lawsuits. Like most lawyers in small communities, he was keenly aware that the community orientation of those disputes favored mediation and compromise, and he thus tried to serve as a mediator or peacemaker.” 39
Steiner observed that Mr. Lincoln’s “slander cases show that he often took advantage of opportunities for mediation and compromise. He was able to resolve many cases by repairing the damage to the plaintiffs’ reputation. In several cases, the defendant attested to the good reputation of the slandered plaintiff, which settled the case. In some cases, the defendant consented to a large judgment, which the plaintiff then agreed to reduce to a much smaller sum. In others, the plaintiff, after a jury had awarded damages, agreed to remit most or all of the award. Lincoln acted as a peacemaker and showed sensitivity to what was actually at stake in those cases.” 40
If mediation failed, where Mr. Lincoln excelled was in his understanding of the way juries would react to him and to the evidence. Attorney Lawrence Weldon wrote: “Mr. Lincoln’s speeches to the jury were most effective specimens of forensic oratory. He talked the vocabulary of the people, and the jury understood every point he made and every thought he uttered. He never made display for mere display, but his imagination was simple and pure in the richest gems of true eloquence. He constructed short sentences of small words, and ever wearied the mind with mazes of elaboration.” 41 In the courtroom, argued Springfield court official Thomas W. Kidd, “His stories always had a point – he used them for a purpose, and learned to use them because he could accomplish in a few minutes by one of his inimitable stories what would have exhausted hours to clear away by argumentative appliances.42 One Illinois friend recalled a story his father told him about trial in which “Practically the whole affair hinged on the testimony of a celebrated surgeon.
Lincoln refused to cross-examine any except this last witness. The surgeon had made some very extreme statements, and when he was all through Lincoln said, very slowly and impressively: “Doctor, how much money are you to receive for testifying in this case?”
And those four monosyllables were all he ever said to that jury. They won the case. 43
Bergin cited Mr. Lincoln’s conduct in a case he which he defended “a very wealthy, aristocratic Democrat, one of the chivalry, Colonel Dunlap, in an action for ten thousand dollars damage brought against him by the editor of the opposition, or as many then called it, the abolition paper, on account of a deliberate, carefully planned cowhiding administered by the colonel to the editor on a bright Saturday afternoon in the public square of the town, in the presence of hundreds of the town and country people whom the colonel desired to witness that degrading performance.” The editor’s attorney, Benjamin Edwards, brought the jury to tears, with his description of the wounds to the editor’s body and psyche. Bergin wrote:
“Before all eyes were dried, it came Lincoln’s turn to speak. He dragged his huge feet off the table on the top of which they had been calmly resting, set them on the floor; gradually lifted up and partly straightened out his great length of legs and body and took off his coat. While he was removing his coat, I, and all others noticed his eyes were intently fixed upon something on the table before him. He picked up the object, a paper, from the table. Scrutinizing it closely and without having uttered a word, he broke out into a long loud, peculiar laugh, accompanied by his most wonderfully funny facial expression – there never was anything like the laugh or the expression. A comedian might well pay thousands of dollars to learn them – it was magnetic. The whole audience grinned. He laid the paper down slowly, took off his cravat, again picked up the paper, looked at it again, and repeated the laugh. It was contagious. By that time all in the packed courtroom were tittering or trying to hold in their cachinnations. He then deliberately took off his vest, showing his one yarn suspender, took up the paper, again looked at it and again indulged in his own loud peculiar laugh. Its effect was absolutely irrepressible. The usually solemn and dignified Judge Woodson, the jury and the whole audience could hold themselves no longer, and broke out into a long, loud continued roar; all this before Lincoln had ever uttered a word. I call this acting.”
The occasion for his merriment was not very funny, but it was to the point. He apologised to the court for his seemingly rude behavior and explained that the damages as claimed was at first written $1,000. He supposed the plaintiff afterwards had taken a second look at the colonel’s pile and had thereupon concluded that the wounds to his honor were worth $10,000.
The result was to at one destroy the effect of Edwards’ tears, pathos, towering indignation, and high wrought eloquence and to render improbable a verdict for more than $1,000. 44
Historian Brian Dirck wrote: “Lincoln knew that people judged cases as much by their hearts as by their heads. Politically and personally, he believed in the power of reason over emotion. He never liked overt displays of feeling, and he felt that emotions tended to get in the way when men of good will tried to make public policy.” Dirck added that “in the courtroom he understood how to manipulate emotions in the name of (legal) reason.” 45
Thomas Kidd wrote: “Mr. Lincoln was, with his honest earnestness, at times a very eloquent lawyer, His arguments were characterized for plain, comprehensive figures, but few fancy flights. He said he seldom left the world to climb the aerial tree of his own imagination. His general style when before a jury was what you might call the careless, yet earnest style; they were talks – neighborly chats – and he would name the members of the jury, and with those he knew well would seemingly draw his conclusions from their standpoint of reasoning.” 46 Kidd noted: “While Mr. Lincoln was a lawyer of acknowledged ability as a case lawyer, and he could command the attention of judge and jurors by the power of his eloquence in its argument; he could at the same time, when inclined to a humorous train of thought, cause the most rigid judge or juror of staid ways, to relax his facial muscles in a laugh by his mirth-provoking humor.” 47
“On the circuit Lincoln cited little of authority; indeed, it seemed to me that he had not much respect for opinions of judges, except for the correct reasoning they presented,” wrote attorney Adam Bergin. “He stated the rule and gave the reason of the law as clearly, fully and logically as it appears in the writings of the masters of jurisprudence, and without having seen a decision, generally reached the same conclusion as the Supreme Courts who sat near large libraries with the help of elaborate briefs and with ample time to examine other cases.” 48
Historian Allan Nevins wrote: “Any student of Lincoln’s legal career must be struck by the immense variety of cases which he pleaded, the acquaintance his circuit practice gave him with the whole central belt of his rich State, his unvarying industry and competence, and the steadily widening fame of his talents. He appeared in all the State and Federal courts of the area. He dealt with constitutional law, admiralty law, patent law, common law actions, and bills in equity. He was at least once offered an advantageous opening in Chicago. Several State departments, a number of counties, and various towns retained his services.” 49 Mr. Lincoln was particularly active in cases before the Illinois Supreme Court and before the U.S. District Courts in Springfield and Chicago. Historian Cullom Davis wrote: “In one peak year, 1845, Lincoln and Herndon had 39 Supreme Court filings. Many of these cases came to him on referral from legal and political acquaintances in all corners of the state. This was a prodigious appellate caseload.” 50
These appellate cases probably were the most remunerative for Mr. Lincoln, but his bread and butter was always the ordinary civil cases along the Eighth Circuit. Historian Cullom Davis wrote: “The occasional criminal cases were invariably interesting and often sensation, but they comprised less than ten per cent of his trial practice. On the other hand, there has been insufficient attention to his substantial chancery or equity work. Nearly one-third of Lincoln’s caseload dealt with estate settlement, land disputes, family matters, and other equity issues. The divorce cases themselves offer a revealing picture of domestic stress in the developing West, and his many slander suits attest to the importance Americans attached to community reputation in a dynamic, egalitarian society.” 51
Journalist Walter B. Stevens observed: “Mr. Lincoln spent about half of the year attending these terms of court away from his home. He continued to attend the eighth circuit terms after other lawyers had ceased to ‘ride the circuit.’ He was present at the spring terms of the circuit in 1860, a few weeks before his nomination to be president. And after his election it was necessary to for him to visit Bloomington to make disposition of the cases in which he was retained. This peculiarly close relationship of Mr. Lincoln to the eighth circuit bore upon his political as well as upon his legal career. In the eighth circuit he won the reputation of being the best jury lawyer of Illinois. In the eighth circuit he organized the movement which led to the Republican party of Illinois. In the eighth circuit he won the influential and steadfast political friends who brought about his nomination for the presidency.” 52
Mr. Lincoln understood the law and his contemporaries. He also understood the impact of his appearance. Contemporary William H. Somers rejected criticism of Mr. Lincoln’s sloppy dress on the circuit. “I never saw him when he was not well, and even fashionably dressed. It is true he wore the proverbial linen duster, but this was for the purpose of protecting his clothes from the dust in warm, dry weather, while riding the circuit. When he came to Urbana, he sometimes wore the duster; and, if late in arriving at court, hurried to the courthouse without taking it off, but on removing it, he stood before one as a well-dressed man, generally in a broadcloth suit.” 53
There was no greater advocate for Mr. Lincoln’s talents than Judge Davis. When Judge Davis was unavailable for his judicial duties, Mr. Lincoln often took his place. And a fair job he did. Court Clerk J. W. Porter noted that “It was the habit of Judge Davis to frequently leave the bench when attacked with headache or indisposition and Call one of the principal attorneys to sit in his place for an hour or two, And he Called upon Mr Lincoln more than any one else to take this place, they being very warm and Close friends.” 54 Historian Allen Guelzo wrote: “In 1858 alone, Lincoln filled in as a judge for Davis in ninety-five cases. In between the two circuit sessions each year, he was handling an increasing number of cases in the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield, in the federal district and circuit courts in Springfield, and (after 1855) in Chicago, where he took on 431 cases. He even served as attorney of record in six U.S. Supreme Court cases between 1849 and 1861.”55
Around July 1850, Mr. Lincoln wrote some “Notes for a Law Lecture.” He began: “I am not an accomplished lawyer. I find quite as much material for a lecture, in those points wherein I have failed, as in those wherein I have been moderately successful.”
“The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man, of every calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow, which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done. When you bring a common-law suit, if you have the facts for doing so, write the declaration at once. If a law point be involved, examine the books, and note the authority you rely on, upon the declaration itself, where you are sure to find it when wanted. The same of defenses and pleas. In business not likely to be litigated – ordinary collection cases, foreclosures, partitions, and the like, make all examinations of titles, and note them, and even draft orders and decrees in advance. This course has a triple advantage; it avoids omissions and neglect, saves your labor, when once done; performs the labor out of court when you have leisure, rather than in court, when you have not. Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer’s avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business, if he cannot make a speech. And yet there is not a more fatal error to young lawyers, than relying too much on speech-making. If any one, upon his rare powers of speaking, shall claim exemption from the drudgery of the law, his case is a failure in advance.
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser – in fees, and expenses, and waste of time. As a peace-maker the lawyer has a superior opportunity [sic] of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the Register of deeds, in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession, which should drive such men out of it.
The matter of fees is important far beyond the mere question of bread and butter involved. Properly attended to fuller justice is done to both lawyer and client. An exorbitant fee should never be claimed. As a general rule, never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid before hand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client. And when you lack interest in the case, the job will very likely lack skill and diligence in the performance. Settle the amount of fee, and take a note in advance. Then you will feel that you are working for something, and you are sure to do your work faithfully and well. Never sell a fee-note at least, not before the consideration service is performed. It leads to negligence and dishonesty in refusing to refund, when you have allowed the consideration to fail.
There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence, and honors are reposed in, and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression, is common – almost universal. Let no young man, choosing the law for a calling, for a moment yield to this popular belief. Resolve to be honest at all events; and if, in your own judgment, you can not be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.” 56
Despite the closing homily on ethics, Lincoln scholar Brian Dirck noted that Mr. Lincoln spent more time writing about practical matters. Dirck wrote that “Judging by the amount of time he devoted in his notes to how a lawyer should do paperwork, research cases, and collect fees, Lincoln believed the work habits a lawyer displayed when he walked into his office very morning were at least as important as the more exalted matters of ethics and the national perception of the profession. For him there was a subtle ethical content in the ordinary nuts-and-bolts features of a law practice. A good lawyer forthrightly faced the law’s drudgery without frill or complaint.” 57
Mr. Lincoln freely imparted his advice to lawyers and would-be lawyers. When a new justice of the peace asked him for advice, Mr. Lincoln told him that “There is no mystery in this matter when you have a case between neighbors before you, listen well to all the evidence, stripping yourself of all prejudice, if any you have, and throwing away, if you can, all technical law knowledge. Hear the lawyers make their argument as patiently as you can; and after the evidence and the lawyers’ arguments are through, then stop one moment and ask yourself: what is justice in this case, and let that sense of justice be your decision. Law is nothing else but the best of wise men applied for ages to the transactions and business of mankind.”58
Cullom Davis wrote: “By 1860 Lincoln was celebrated and admired among his 2,700 Illinois peers, who deferred to him and also referred much work to him. His star standing even spread to neighboring states, where he took several consequential cases.”59 In Lincoln as a Lawyer, John P. Frank wrote: “Lincoln was gifted with extraordinary skill in the organization of materials. However, he was, not, in the legal sense, creative. He was a user of the existing structure of legal ideas rather than an innovator. The great demand on the top lawyers of the mid-nineteenth century was the development of new legal structures for expanding capitalism. Lincoln not only had nothing to do with this movement but, even in the fields of litigation and procedure, he also worked at perfecting established ways rather than at creating new ones.”60 Nevertheless, the legal work Mr. Lincoln did admirably prepared him for the political world of the presidency.
Attorney James S. Ewing wrote that Lincoln “was masterful in a legal argument before the court. His knowledge of the general principles of the law was extensive and accurate, and his mind was so clear and logical that he seldom made a mistake in their application. Courteous to the court, fair to his opponent, and modest and restrained in his assertions, he was certainly the model lawyer.” 61 Lincoln scholar John P. Frank wrote that Mr. Lincoln “may not have brought great learning to the practice of law, but Lincoln did have five qualities which were either inherent or highly developed, and these qualities together are so invaluable that the best lawyer in America might well trade all his books for them”:
“a personality which attracted clients and instilled confidence in juries.” “a striking capacity in the organization of material to come clearly to the heart of a matter. Coupled with this was his brevity.” “restrained and effective verbal expression.” “a peculiarly retentive mind.” “he worked.”62
Historian Brian Dirck wrote that “Lincoln the President tried hard to apply a lawyer’s grease to the shrill machinery of war that surrounded him. We see it in his almost desperate appeals to white Southerners for a calm appraisal of their situation, appealing to their feelings the way he would a reluctant jury (“we are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies’). We see it in his steadfast refusal to fully identify with one of the most clanging wheels of all, radical abolitionism, a movement with which he privately sympathized (‘I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist’) but that he felt compelled publicly to keep at arm’s length, lest its passions become his.”63
Lincoln scholar Frank J. Williams, himself a Rhode Island judge, wrote that Mr. Lincoln’s “twenty-four year legal-political career before assuming the presidency taught him six lessons. First, he developed and learned the need for unending energy especially when considering that Lincoln expended equal, concurrent energy in politics. Second, his legal-political career demonstrated that Lincoln had the ability to juggle effectively more than one job at the same time. Third, the study of law and his work in the legislature allowed him to develop and hone his political skills. Fourth, the law allowed him to develop his ability as a public speaker and writer. Fifth, the law also gave him time to reflect on human nature and the broader purpose of democratic life. Ultimately, Lincoln’s dual careers provided him the kind of broad background that assured him the potential for growth as a politician, which was always his ultimate goal. It would ensure that not only would he be a commander in chief or an attorney in chief but he would evolve as America’s finest political leader. Sixth, his legal casework taught him a great sense of timing, knowing when to undertake an issue directly and when to be Machiavellian.”64
Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,Volume I, p. 112, 115.(Speech to Young Men’s Lyceum, January 27, 1838). Jesse W. Weik, The Real Lincoln: A Portrait, pp. 140-141. Brian Dirck, Lincoln the Lawyer, p. 165. Brian Dirck, Lincoln the Lawyer. Michael Burlingame, editor, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln, John G. Nicolay’s Interviews and Essays, p. 37. Michael Burlingame, editor, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln, John G. Nicolay’s Interviews and Essays, p. 38. Mark E. Steiner, An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 40-41. William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik, Herndon’s Life of Lincoln, pp. 271-272. John J. Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer, p. 94. Henry Clay Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 409. Cullom Davis, Abraham Lincoln and the Gold Age of American Law, p. 8. Lawrence Weldon, Abraham Lincoln: Tributes from His Associates,(“Reminiscences of Lincoln as a Lawyer”), p. 240. Brian Dirck, Lincoln the Lawyer, p. 53. Charles B. Strozier, “The Lives of William Herndon,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Winter 1993, pp. 9-10. Brian Dirck, Lincoln the Lawyer, p. 31. David Herbert Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men” Abraham Lincoln and His Friends, p. 75. Charles B. Strozier, “The Lives of William Herndon,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Winter 1993, p. 2. Henry Clay Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 405. I. M. Short, Abraham Lincoln: Early Days in Illinois: Reminiscences of Different Persons who Became Eminent in American History, p. 57. Henry Clay Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 405. Cullom Davis, Abraham Lincoln and the Gold Age of American Law, p. 9. Mark E. Steiner, An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, p. 56. Mark E. Steiner, An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, p. 74. Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, editors, Herndon’s Informants,, p. 238 (Letter from Samuel C. Parks to William H. Herndon, March 25, 1866) Rufus Wilson Rockwell, editor, Lincoln Among His Friends, p. 107 (James C. Conkling, Chicago Bar Association, January 12, 1881). Rufus Rockwell Wilson, editor, Lincoln Among His Friends: A Sheaf of Intimate Memories, p. 126.(Lambert Tree, Century Magazine, February 1991) Rufus Rockwell Wilson, editor, Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 69.(David Davis, Address to Indianapolis Bar Association, May 19, 1865). Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, editors, Herndon’s Informants, p. 469 (A. F. Lord interview with William H. Herndon), ca. 1865-1866). Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, editors, Herndon’s Informants, p. 732 (Henry C.
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modo reported in September that the tower scrubs the pollution from more than 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour. Then, it condenses the smog into tiny “gemstones” that can be embedded in rings, necklaces, cufflinks, and much more.
Each gem stone is roughly the equivalent to cleaning 1,000 cubic meters of air.
According to Roosegaarde, when one buys a ring or a cufflink embedded with the gemstones, they “donate a thousand cubic meters of clean air to the city where the Smog Free Tower is.”
That’s something to feel good about.
After the prototype was unveiled in Rotterdam, the studio responsible for developing the air purifier launched a Kickstarter campaign. The mission was to transport the purifier to Beijing, which is notorious for its air pollution.
“It’s really weird that we accept [pollution] as something normal, and take it for granted,” Roosegaarde said.
The Smog Free Tower is slatted with louvres which protect is electronic innards. According to the designer, the process taking place inside the air purifier’s walls is powered by 1,400 watts of sustainable energy, which is comparable to a water boiler. The studio eventually hopes to integrate solar PVs into the design to power the process – which works differently than some ionic purifiers.
Roosegaarde explains:
“By charging the Smog Free Tower with a small positive current, an electrode will send positive ions into the air. These ions will attach themselves to fine dust particles. A negatively charged surface -the counter electrode- will then draw the positive ions in, together with the fine dust particles. The fine dust that would normally harm us, is collected together with the ions and stored inside of the tower. This technology manages to capture ultra-fine smog particles which regular filter systems fail to do.”
Roosegaarde and his team are ambitious to build and install similar Smog Free Towers elsewhere in the world.
What are your thoughts on this invention? Comment below and share this news!
This article (The Largest Air Purifier In The World Sucks Up Smog And Turns it Into Gemstones) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.comFrom the mid-1980s through the 1990s, most big console-game franchises were born in Japan, including Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon, Sonic the Hedgehog from Sega and Gran Turismo from Sony.
But the biggest new game franchises of the last decade have been from outside Japan, including Halo by Microsoft, and the hits from Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive.
Last year, the world’s best-selling game by far was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold 11.86 million copies in the United States, Japan and Britain, according to NPD Group, the market research company.
Global sales numbers for the entire industry are hard to come by. But Japan’s share of the world’s video game market, both hardware and software, has fallen to slightly more than 10 percent in 2009, from estimates as high as 50 percent in 2002, based on figures from the Entertainment Software Association, the Japan External Trade Organization, and the research companies DFC Intelligence and Enterbrain.
The West’s dominance was evident here at the Tokyo Game Show, which has lost much of its global clout in recent years. Despite excitement at the 2010 show over coming titles from Japanese publishers, like Ni no Kuni from Level 5 and The Last Guardian from Sony, Japan’s game developers were mainly wringing their hands.
Nintendo has been the major exception, a Japanese game company that has remained dominant. The company, based in Kyoto, reinvented the industry with its Wii home console and wandlike remote, which was introduced in 2006, luring new casual players into the market while setting an industry standard in motion control.
The Wii Sports Resort game was the world’s second-biggest game in 2009, selling 7.57 million copies. Its soon-to-be-released Nintendo 3DS, a portable console with a 3-D display that does not require special glasses, is the industry’s most anticipated hardware release in years.
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But because the best-selling games on Nintendo consoles are largely made by Nintendo, the rest of the Japanese game industry has been excluded from that action.
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Meanwhile, Japan’s domestic game market is shrinking, down by 20 percent since 2007, to 549 billion yen ($6.4 billion) in 2009, according to Enterbrain.
During that time, the market in the United States surged to a record $21.4 billion in 2008 before a recession-driven decline to $19.7 billion in 2009. But that was still a total increase of 10 percent over two years for the American market, according to NPD.
As Japanese development studios struggle with declining sales, analysts say they are falling behind their American rivals in sheer investment power. A budget for a blockbuster game in the United States can approach $50 million, a figure few Japanese developers can now match.
“Japan used to define gaming,” said Jake Kazdal, a longtime developer who has worked at Sega in Tokyo and the American game publisher Electronic Arts. “But now many developers just do the same thing over and over again.”
Part of Japan’s problem, Mr. Kazdal said, is a growing gap in tastes between players there and overseas. The most popular games in Japan are linear, with little leeway for players to wander off a defined path. In the United States, he said, video games have become more open, virtual experiences.
“Smarter developers in Japan are trying to reach out to the West,” Mr. Kazdal said. “They’re collaborating and trying to make games that have more global appeal.”
But Japanese developers have sometimes hit snags trying to tailor games to Westerners. Take Shadow of Rome, the 2005 action game Capcom made for European and American markets.
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Shadow of Rome sought to recreate the domestic success Capcom had found with Onimusha, which is set in medieval Japan. But instead of samurai swordsmen, Shadow of Rome featured hulking, oversize gladiators.
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Shadow flopped. And Capcom concluded that Westernizing a game took more than “turning eyes blue and changing the hair color,” Mr. Inafune said.
The company has had more success with its 2006 horror action game Dead Rising, which it tailored specifically to the West. Set in a zombie-infested mall in small-town America, the game gives players more freedom to improvise. Everything in the mall is at the players’ disposal. They can whack zombies with salmon, run them over with shopping carts, even pour cooking oil on the floor to make zombies slip.
Capcom is also tapping foreign talent. On Wednesday, it said it was buying Blue Castle Games of Vancouver, British Columbia. Capcom and Blue Castle Games collaborated on the sequel to Dead Rising. No financial terms of the deal have been disclosed.
Other Japanese companies are also trying overseas collaboration, but not without hiccups. Grasshopper Manufacture — the cult game developer behind critically acclaimed, if financially unrewarding, titles like Killer7 and No More Heroes — recently worked with Electronic Arts on a psychological action thriller due in stores next summer.
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Unveiling the game, Shadows of the Damned, at the Tokyo Game Show, Goichi Suda, Grasshopper’s chief executive, said the title was designed “to appeal to a global audience.”
But the creative director of the game, Shinji Mikami, who was also behind Capcom’s Resident Evil games, cited a culture clash between the Japanese design house and its partners at Electronic Arts.
“Japanese developers tend to work on inspiration, not so much on a set time schedule like the Americans,” Mr. Mikami said in an interview. “So when EA asked about the game month after month, we felt like loan sharks were coming after us.”
But there are no hard feelings, evidently. “We’re grateful to EA for being so understanding,” Mr. Mikami said.
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Meanwhile, some Japanese game developers are paying more attention to how games are localized for overseas markets, going beyond facile translations to a more in-depth recasting of games for different markets.
Gone are the days, they say, of awkward lines like “All your base are belong to us,” a notorious mistranslation from the 1991 game Zero Wing that spawned an Internet meme.
Brian Gray, a Tokyo-based freelance game translator who previously worked at the Japanese game developer, Square Enix, said he recently started working with clients to write scripts from scratch in English, rather than translating Japanese.
“Developers are saying this isn’t about translation anymore,” Mr. Gray said. “They’re asking, how can we work together to create something that works globally?”
Others are drawing from various facets of Japanese culture. The developer Level 5, for example, is collaborating on Ni no Kuni with Studio Ghibli, the film studio behind critically acclaimed animated movies like “My Neighbor Totoro.”
All the while, Japan is also racing to tap emerging game markets in China and South Korea, and a boom in casual, downloadable games on a host of new devices like iPhones.
Yoichi Wada, president of the Japanese game developer Square Enix, spoke of the challenge at the game show.
“How do you truly globalize?” Mr. Wada asked. “I think you have to work with people who grew up overseas, who grew up breathing the culture. It’s impossible otherwise.”
“The game industry is constantly changing,” he said. “Everybody’s joining the market. You just don’t know what’s coming next.”The Walt Disney Company recalled 3.4 million copies of the animated video ''The Rescuers'' yesterday, apparently because the photographic image of a nude woman was inserted into the film. The image was discovered by Disney employees after the re-release this month of the cartoon, which appeared in theaters in 1977, 1983 and 1989. A Disney spokeswoman, Claudia Peters, declined to characterize the image, other than to say that it was objectionable. But people who knew about the recall told The Associated Press that a photo of a woman's nude torso had been inserted. The image cannot be seen when the video is run at normal viewing speed. The recall is a first for Disney, although some religious groups have said that other animated features from the company have included risque words or images. The company has denied such accusations. The offending picture was inserted after the cartoon was drawn, Ms. Peters said. Asked if Disney knew who tampered with the film, Ms. Peters would say only that it was an internal matter.Kitschy design is being reproduced so much these days you can’t really tell if something is actually retro anymore. But what about the original retro homes that didn’t change with the fashion and stayed exactly the same since the day they were built when kitschy living was the future? MessyNessy did some digging on Retro Renovation– a “wonderful universe of like-minded folks who love their mid-century homes”.
Retro 1962 Home goes over 50 years without ever being lived in…
In 2009, furniture craftsman Nathan Chandler bought a brand new home… well, sort of. The house was built over 50 years ago in 1962 by the man Nathan bought it from. For personal reasons which cannot be disclosed by Retro Renovation, the owner nor anyone else ever moved in and the home was left uninhabited for over half a century.
The mid-century kitchen, never before used and in mint condition, still has the General Electric company instructions manuals and welcome pack, a few packets of courtesy dishwasher powder that’s never been opened and all the fabulously retro appliances of the past.
We’re lucky enough to see pictures of this pastel time capsule kitchen because the new owner, Nathan Chandler actually put the kitchen up for sale in 2010 so that he could craft his own vision of a mid-century kitchen (probably something less pink).
Although this rare beauty has no doubt already been snapped up, let’s just take a moment to appreciate this kitchen of yesteryear that could even teach the folks over at SMEG a thing or two about retro kitchen design….
I hope the pink kitchen went to a good home, it looks as if it was designed with love, intended for a special lady that never got the chance to use it.
Find out more about all the wonderful details of this kitchen on Retro Renovation here.
Photos from Nathan Chandler‘s Flickr Account via Retro Renovation.
P.S! Retro Renovation also has another site called Save the Pink Bathrooms, and you guessed it– it’s all about pink bathrooms!
The creator of both sites says it “grew out of concern that pink bathrooms are being ripped out of 40s 50s and 60s homes way too hastily. The reality is: Pink bathrooms are a wonderful part of our home design heritage. And there is no doubt in our minds whatsoever that they are poised for a comeback.”
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1957 Sputnik Home in Texas
This three-bedroom, 2,334 square foot house built in 1957 was recently up for sale with an asking price of $192,500. The large sputnik light fixture at the entrance was installed by the original owner when they moved in the same year the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space and began the Space Age.
The owners were selling the house complete with the original 1950s kitchen appliances (also pink) which had been replaced but kept in storage.
See more of the Sputnik house and it’s original pink kitchen appliances on Retro Renovation here.
….
1965 House of Kitsch FOR SALE! (Complete with beauty parlor)
An absolute time capsule of the kitschy design era, this 1965 house in Reading, Pennsylvania found by Retro Renovation is up for sale right now with an asking price of $164,900.
With it’s own professional beauty parlor and eye-popping bar area, it looks like something straight out of a retro film set.
Check out the wallpaper on the ceiling of the kitchen! How kitschy will you go?!
Interested in buying???! For more details on this property still up for sale, click here to go to the agency website.
Photos by Jeffrey Hogue Realtor via Retro Renovation
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1970s Glamour Den in Nashville
This house found on Retro Renovation hasn’t been updated since disco died but you can imagine it would have made quite the party house in the seventies!
Just look at that lemon bathroom with the sunken tub!
See all of the photos on this Picassa album here
…
1950s Texas Ranch House
Custom-built in 1957 for the local lumber barons Joseph & Sadie, who are still in business and a well-known name in the Glenbrook Valley where the house lies. According to Retro Renovation who spoke with the estate agent Robert Searcy, it cost just under $80,000 to complete and is one of many retro homes in Glenbrook Valley, which was officially declared a protected post WWII historic district in 2011 because of all its preserved mid-century architecture. Sounds like Glenbrook is a bit of a time capsule town in itself!
Explore this property further on Retro Renovation
The property is centered around a brick tower which also serves as a fireplace. I’m particularly intrigued by the patterned cutout partitions that seem to be a repeated feature around the house.
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Streamline Art Moderne Home, 1948
Streamline Moderne was a design movement that came after Art Deco and favored a purity in its lines and shapes. It combined curves with long horizontal lines and often ultra modern elements– which is exactly what this kitchen in Portland, Oregon does.
The movement also took the art deco style and stripped it of its ornaments as you’ll can see in the striking fireplaces of the property. Explore the house further on Retro Renovation, including photos of the unchanged art deco bathroom and classic retro entrance….
Hope you enjoyed sticking your nose into these time capsules as much as I have!
These properties were found on the wonderful Retro Renovation.com
Images thanks to Retro Renovation, TK Images and Go Beyond the Ordinary
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.A top Israeli lawyer with strong connections in the police was arrested Thursday, moments after taking possession of a suitcase filled with $150,000 in bribes that he said would be used to bribe police officers. Details of the arrest emerged after a gag order on the case was lifted Sunday.
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Ronel Fisher is believed to have used his ties to the police to pass on sensitive information to those under investigation – for a price.
Ronel Fisher with Police Commission Yohanan Danino
The chairman of the Ashdod port workers union, Alon Hassan, was responsible for the lawyer's arrest in a sting operation led by the Justice Ministry's Police Investigation Unit.
"Give me $150,000 and I will solve all your problems," Fisher allegedly told Hassan, the union boss at the center of his own corruption probe first revealed two months ago. When Hassan left the coffee house where he had Fisher, police swooped in to arrest the lawyer.
'The aforementioned is suspected of soliticing a bribe from Alon Hassan for police officials, in return for no indictment being filed against him'
During his remand hearing, prosecutors claimed Fisher had used his connections to senior police officials, some of whom he had even represented, to pass on to Hassan information regarding the investigation into port corruption, as well as making an offer to put the investigation to rest.
Prosecutors also claimed that Hassan had received advanced warning from Fisher regarding a police plan to raid the port, giving port officials time to hide potentially incriminating evidence.
Alon Hassan (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
The Police Investigation Unit claims to have evidence detailing which police investigators had received monies to end the probe into Hassan'a activities; they also claim that Fisher had very close ties with the commander of the police's anti-fraud unit – Lahav 443.
Ynet has learned that one such senior police officer from Lahav 443 even met and traveled abroad with Fisher. According to information obtained by Ynet, the officer was the chief investigator into the port scandal, and was working on the case against Hassan when he and Fisher met abroad.
Double agent
The central police suspicion in the port corruption investigation is that Hassan used his position and power to force companies operating at the port to only use Dana, a port logistics and operations company owned by his relatives.
Following his own arrest, Hassan claimed Fisher offered to use his police connections to get the charges against him dropped. The police demanded evidence and Hassan agreed to wear a wire and meet with Fisher.
Hassan knew Fisher's offer to be genuine as Fisher had previously provided him with information regarding the investigation into the port, even supplying him with exact details and warning him in advance that he would be arrested.
The police now suspect that Fisher was in fact a "double agent", giving Hassan details into the police's workings while also providing the police with information about his client.
On Thursday, Hassan set up a meeting with Fisher to which he arrived wearing a wire and carrying a suitcase containing $150,000 given to him by the police. Once investigators had Fisher on tape admitting to his connections within the police, they decided to move in and make the arrest.
The meeting took place in a coffee shop near Fisher's office and was also recorded on video. According to the recording, Fisher reiterated his offer to have the against Hassan closed in return for the money. Hassan agreed and Fisher was arrested minutes later en route to his car.
Investigators then raided Fisher's office.
In response, Fisher's lawyers claimed that their client was being targeted because of his impressive record in court, which they claimed "motivated certain people to harm him."
They further denied allegations that his office somehow enjoyed preferential treatment from police.MONTREAL - Signs proclaiming an employee’s stance on language issues should not be posted on the window of a métro station ticket booth, Montreal’s transit authority says.
The Société de transport de Montréal was responding to a complaint from a subway user who came upon a printed sign at the Villa Maria métro station Wednesday: “Au Québec c’est en français que ca se passe!” (Roughly translated: “In Quebec, we do things in French”).
STM spokesperson Marianne Rouette said it was not an official STM sign.
The ticket-taker who put up the sign “will be met and if necessary, appropriate measures will be taken,” Rouette said.
“By posting the sign, the (employee) expresses his personal political opinion, which is not acceptable to the STM.”
Jessica Rodrigues, who photographed the sign, said she found the sign insulting.
“It was very aggressive. It basically says if you don’t speak to me in French, I will not serve you.”
She said she did not speak to the employee “because I did not want to create a problem in public.”
Thursday morning, the sign was gone. But there was a report Thursday night that the sign had been put up again.
Rouette noted that, under Bill 101, the STM is not allowed to require its employees to know a language other than French.
There can be exceptions to the Bill 101 rule, in cases where “the nature of the duties requires such knowledge."
But Rouette said the STM studied the issue and “came to the conclusion that it was not necessary for drivers or booth tellers to speak a language other than French.”
“But that does not mean an employee should refuse to serve someone who does not speak French,” she said.
“He has to serve the client any which way he can find (gestures, drawings, showing maps, list showing fares, etc.) and he has to do so with respect.”
Rodrigues said she has never experienced language problems with STM workers.
“I reply in the language that they speak to me in,” she said. “I’m perfectly bilingual. I’m not pro-English or pro-French, I’m not taking sides.”
She said the STM “should accommodate customers. People are paying, they should be served in the language they want, especially for something that’s public in a city that’s very bilingual.”
Even if an employee “does not speak English, he should try to (answer questions in another way), but not be so aggressive and put up a sign.”
In June, Montreal Impact soccer player Miguel Montano alleged that when he spoke with a métro ticket-taker in English, he was told he needed to speak French and his money was refused.
In July, an STM customer filed a complaint after two métro ticket agents allegedly told him: “We don’t serve English people.”
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Twitter:@andyrigaRevisiting Ripple (not the wine) amid China’s Bitcoin clamp-down
John Wheaton Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 2, 2017
JISHOU, HUNAN — Out of curiosity yesterday, I checked up on Ripple, a cryptocurrency I honestly had not used or paid much attention lately, just to see what all the buzz about it was. I was pleasantly surprised for two reasons.
One, the value of Ripple against the dollar (well, cents, really) has more than doubled since last year. It seems Bitcoin’s inherent limitations have encouraged investors to look at altcoins — the bazillions of alternative electronic currencies to Bitcoin — resulting in sharp price spikes for several since January.
Second, it’s once again possible to buy Ripple tokens (XRP) using the Chinese shopping website, Taobao, or payment processors like Alipay. So, I gave it a try and it worked! I’ll explain why this is noteworthy later on.
Since I’ve been focusing on Bitcoin in China lately, I’ve been spending more time reading up on Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies, including Ripple. A lot has been happening there, and not just because of China’s regulation of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin and similar electronic currency tokens verify transactions using a public electronic ledger, called the blockchain. In other words, if I send you some Bitcoin, it is entered on the blockchain, as is your receiving it. Computers which collectively monitor Bitcoin transactions verify the sending and receiving. This system prevents fraud by guaranteeing there was real money backing the Bitcoin I just sent you, and not some fake computer jiggery. It also ensures no one can divert that money into their Bitcoin wallet.
Most transactions are finalized after three independent verifications; others require up to six. Before Bitcoin got to be A Thing, verification times were fairly quick, taking no more than 30 minutes. Now that there are millions of dollars of Bitcoins moving around every day worldwide, the blockchain has grown to immense size, and verifications sometimes can take an hour or more.
In other words, Bitcoin has a scaling issue.
The Bitcoin community is wrestling with the problem by proposing technical solutions to the verification lag time, but as yet there’s been no consensus on the cure.
So, investors and users are looking to other cryptocurrencies as alternatives to Bitcoin. The ones getting the most attention now include Ethereum, Dash, Monero, Zcash, and Ripple. Even an old-timer like Litecoin, which has hovered around $4 for months, suddenly spiked in value last month, rising to almost $7.
[DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: I hold small stakes in each of these.]
Each of these offers a different set of advantages in usability. Litecoin, which has often been described as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, requires less computing power for its verification system than Bitcoin, and verification often takes only minutes. Dash, Monero and Zcash offer privacy and anonymity, and faster verification times than even Litecoin.
Ripple is nearly as old as Bitcoin and Litecoin. Unlike the others I’ve mentioned, Ripple tokens were “pre-mined,” which means no more will be created. As originally conceived, Ripple was less a replacement for money — dollars or euros — and more a conduit for that money from place to place. In other words, you can’t buy things with XRP, as with Bitcoin or Litecoin, but you can send money quickly and easily across the ‘Net, using “gateways” to exchange XRP for local currency.
Several major banks are considering using the Ripple network instead of the SWIFT system for interbank transfers, so Ripple has gained some traction over its relatively short career.
Ripple tokens jumped sharply in value just a couple of weeks ago.
Well, anyway, yesterday I read that Ripple prices had more than doubled in four weeks, and seemed destined for greater gains. So, I figured I should buy some — at 4 cents per 1 XRP it’s cheap enough. I exchanged about $20 worth of Bitcoin for XRP475 on the Kraken exchange. Maybe Ripple will increase in value. If not, $20 won’t kill me.
Meanwhile, I wondered whether I could buy Ripple with Chinese yuan. I had written about using Ripple in China back in 2014, but I hadn’t given Ripple much thought after China’s regulators shut off buying Ripple vouchers on Taobao later that year.
Remember when I said regulations and restrictions in China are mutable? Wait long enough, and what is forbidden now will be possible later. And so it was with Ripple. RippleFox and RippleChina both offer XRP vouchers in Taobao, as was done in 2014. Vouchers are commonly sold online for gamers to buy in-universe currency with Chinese yuan. Ripple entrepreneurs are using that method to allow customers to indirectly buy XRP.
As a test, I bought a voucher on Taobao for 99.99 yuan (about $14.50) through RippleFox. A few minutes later, it showed up in my computer’s Ripple wallet as 100 yuan. The wallet allowed me to instantly exchange the yuan for XRP — no need to visit a gateway’s website as was necessary in 2014 — leaving me with 350 XRP.
Here’s a screenshot of my transactions yesterday. Note that I am not sharing any private information, unless someone wants to send some XRP to my wallet address top right.
This process is much easier than in 2014, when I had to visit a gateway’s website to exchange yuan for XRP. Now, the wallet does the exchange and I can then send those XRP seamlessly to another Ripple address, including exchanges where I might swap the XRP for Bitcoin or some other token.
As before, it offers another pathway for moving money across borders, though with added steps and somewhat less convenience than the Bitcoin exchanges offered until regulators clamped down on them in January. I haven’t worked out the costs involved in using Ripple to obtain Bitcoins, but I suspect it’s cheaper than buying Bitcoins off LocalBitCoins.com or BitKan, where sellers tack on a premium of 10% or more over the market price.
For anyone interested in the mechanics of exchanging yuan for XRP, I intend to write a page about it later today. It’s relatively easy, but all the instructions at RippleFox and RippleChina are in Chinese, so I’m going to offer an English language explanation.Last week the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission published his plan to dismantle Obama-era regulations protecting "net neutrality" -- the idea that all web content should be treated equally by internet service providers.
Under the FCC proposal, due to be voted on Dec. 14 by the majority-Republican commission, ISPs would have the freedom to slow down or even block websites or online services that do not serve their commercial interests. They could also charge their customers a fee to prioritize the delivery of their content through the creation of internet “fast lanes.”
Higher education groups have been united in their condemnation of the net neutrality rollback, which they say could make it more difficult for students and the public to access educational resources, and potentially impose huge costs on institutions.
Jarret Cummings, director of policy and government relations at Educause, said the FCC proposal was concerning for higher education on “multiple levels” and would likely have a significant negative impact on higher education “and the internet as a whole.”
A High Price for Higher Ed
The proposal, put forward by Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, would reverse strong rules protecting net neutrality that were established by the (then majority-Democratic) FCC in 2015. Pai, formerly a lawyer for Verizon, was nominated to lead the agency by President Trump in January. Having served as an FCC commissioner since 2012, Pai has made no secret of the fact he thinks the 2015 regulations were a mistake and an example of government overreach. His appointment was celebrated by telecom companies.
If Pai's plan is approved and ISPs are allowed to create a “tiered” system of access, which could prioritize sites willing to pay for faster speeds, higher education institutions may be forced to pay fees to ensure that their online content, particularly bandwidth-guzzling video, continues to be accessible to students and the public at workable speeds, said Cummings.
Third-party services like email, particularly those that are cloud-based and require a fast and secure internet connection, may also be forced to pay ISPs to use the “fast lane” with increased costs passed on to customers. Jon Fansmith, director of government relations at the American Council on Education, said the cost increase to higher education institutions would likely be “massive,” as “there is no part of modern higher education that doesn’t depend on the internet,” he said. He added that much of this cost would likely be passed on to students “for no appreciable benefit.”
While the impact of the changes may sound trivial -- some webpages taking longer than others to load, for instance -- Fansmith said the net effect would be substantial and detrimental. “Imagine you’re a student taking an online exam, or trying to submit work by a deadline,” he said. The ability to participate in collaborative research in real time could also be impeded, said Fansmith.
Another potential impact of the FCC proposal, though not one Fansmith says he thinks is likely, is a limitation of free speech. Internet providers could, if they wished, block access to content their users find objectionable, said Fansmith. This could have a chilling impact on research on controversial issues such as gun control or abortion, said Fansmith.
A Widening Digital Divide
Though some universities have private networks or are part of National Research and Education Networks that will not be affected by the FCC rule change, many institutions still rely on commercial internet providers to send and receive information, said Cummings. Regardless of which networks are used on campus, students accessing content off campus or on their mobile phones could still encounter issues.
Janna Anderson, professor of communications and director of the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University, said she was particularly concerned about the impact of dismantling net neutrality on distance education. She said the introduction of paid prioritization from ISPs could “crush the potential for amazing breakthroughs in education for all.”
Many online educators were experimenting with technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, which could “much more effectively carry the opportunity for a first-rate higher education to anyone, anywhere,” Anderson said. But as these technologies would require substantial bandwidth, they may no longer be accessible at usable speeds to students accessing content from home.
“Added costs and complexities that may accompany a rejection of net neutrality principles will make it difficult to develop and implement these education innovations and deliver them to the public far and wide,” said Anderson. Such a change, she warned, “will further widen the digital divide.”
Another divide could emerge between those with the resources to pay for prioritization and those without, said Jessica Sebeok, associate vice president and counsel for policy at the Association of American Universities. This consequence of the rule change would particularly affect community colleges and smaller state institutions, she said.
Kris Shaffer, an instructional technology specialist at the University of Mary Washington, said many students working from home already have slow internet, making it difficult for them to access course materials. If ISPs start charging customers more for content such as video, this issue may get worse, he said.
At Mary Washington, many students take part in an institutionwide initiative called Domain of One’s Own, in which they are encouraged to create their own websites and share the content with friends. Shaffer says the university works with small companies to provide this service to students -- companies that, he worries, wouldn’t have the cash to buy prioritization from ISPs, potentially making the websites less accessible to the public.
“The internet was invented for universities. If educational content is now going to take a back seat … it’s disheartening, to say the least,” said Shaffer.
Potential Legal Challenges
Going forward, both Cummings and Fansmith agree that it is likely the FCC will vote to roll back net neutrality regulations next month. Legal challenges from open-internet advocates are likely to follow, however. If the changes hold, it is unlikely that colleges will notice differences overnight, said Cummings, but the internet will slowly change. Tracking whether access to institutional content is being restricted or slowed will be tricky, but even if it is observed, Cummings said he thought it was unlikely that individual institutions would have the resources to take legal action to rectify it.
The FCC says that ISPs should be transparent about how they implement the rule change, and suggests that many won’t make large changes for fear of losing out to competitors. But in many areas, there is no real competition between internet providers, said Cummings. While ISPs such as Comcast have said they do not plan to introduce paid prioritization, the providers are said to be supportive of the FCC proposal.Just when you thought it was safe to slip your card in a slot ATM skimmers have gotten just a bit smarter. New devices called Shimmers can now read your card number and, in certain instances, access your card’s chip. While the technique isn’t new – Shimmers began appearing in 2015 – they are still a huge security hole and far more dangerous than standard skimmers.
Because Shimmers are so thin they can disappear inside of an ATM or card reader. The data read when the chip is activated cannot be used to create a chip-based card but because some of the magnetic data is passed during the read process you can use Shimmers to easily recreate dumb magnetic cards.
PIN and Chip cards use a system called dynamic CVV which makes them harder to crack than standard cards. However, some banks and vendors “have apparently not correctly implemented the chip card standard, known as EMV (short for Europay, Mastercard and Visa)” said Brian Krebs.
“The only way for this attack to be successful is if a [bank card] issuer neglects to check the CVV when authorizing a transaction,” wrote NCR Corp. wrote in a 2016. “All issuers MUST make these basic checks to prevent this category of fraud. Card Shimming is not a vulnerability with a chip card, nor with an ATM, and therefore it is not necessary to add protection mechanisms against this form of attack to the ATM.”
The bottom line? Always check the ATM and your surroundings for weird stuff. Sadly, simply pulling on the card reader might not work anymore because these thinner readers can slide right into the slot and hide there, waiting for your card.As India celebrates its 70th year of independence from the British on August 15, the press has been filled with retrospectives asking the usual decennial question: Has India succeeded or has it failed?
The Financial Times’ data-driven package illustrated in charts the progress India has made since 1947, but also its shortfalls. At independence, for example, the Indian economy was just 15% the size of the U.S. economy; today it’s about half as large if measured in terms of purchasing power parity. Yet, despite these gains, Indian gross domestic product (GDP) in per capita terms remains only around 10% that of the United States.
IndiaSpend.com compared India’s progress from 1960 to 2016 across several indicators with Brazil, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Pakistan. India has made great strides in GDP growth, life expectancy, infant mortality, and literacy over the decades -- yet still lags far behind Brazil, China, Malaysia and South Korea. The silver lining from an Indian perspective: It has performed better than Pakistan.
Difficult to assess
Two pieces in the international media captured, for me, the difficulty with assessing India, and the role that perspective plays.
Writing for CNN, New Delhi Bureau Chief Ravi Agrawal looked at India’s progress across several indicators: economic growth, life expectancy, toilets in schools, and electricity in schools. But he also noted less positive trends for the future: weak job creation, a skewed sex ratio, climate-related heat waves, plus rising religious polarization and its impact on India’s management of diversity.
Read more: A Conflict Between A Housemaid And Her Employers Exposes India's Dark Side
In sharp contrast, writer Pankaj Mishra’s take, in The New York Times, found that India at 70 represented the passing of an illusion. He wrote that India today -- with the decline of the Congress Party’s secularism and the rise of Hindu nationalism
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the Middle East to their own specific geopolitical needs and benefits. This has stoked the embers of conflict in various arenas — notably Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and now Libya — where this competition is playing out.
Take Turkey, for example. Ankara’s activist foreign policy raised Turkey’s profile in the region in the 2000s, but the country’s prestige has waned as a result of a series of missteps in regional hot spots. After significant financial, diplomatic, and political investment in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since the ruling Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002, the Turkish government has become a leading advocate of regime change in Syria. Unwilling to intervene in the Syrian civil war and unable to coax the United States to do so, Ankara turned a blind eye to extremist groups that used Turkish territory to take up the fight against Assad.
In Egypt, it made perfect sense that the Turks opposed now-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s July 2013 coup d’etat. Turkey has a long, unhappy history with military interventions, and then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s own worldview places a premium on Muslim solidarity in the conduct of Turkey’s foreign policy. Yet the war of words between Ankara and Cairo since then and the support that the Turkish government has extended to the Muslim Brotherhood — including the broadcast of Rabaa TV, a Brotherhood television station that has sought to delegitimize Egypt’s post-coup political process from Istanbul — has only contributed to the political polarization and instability in Egypt. Despite the Turkish public’s solidarity with the Palestinian people, Ankara’s support for Hamas during the recent conflict in Gaza has extended the conflict and contributed to Palestinian suffering, in addition to further souring Turkey’s relations with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel.
Like Turkey, Qatar has taken a populist approach to regional issues, which has veered into support for extremist groups. The Qatari leadership wants to resist Saudi pressure on Doha to fall into line with Riyadh’s regional preferences regarding Iran, Egypt, Gaza, and Syria. Saudi Arabia is now trying to offer carrots to entice Qatar into accepting its primacy, recently sending a high-level delegation to Doha, after earlier sticks — in the form of the withdrawal of Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors from the country — failed. Qatar has been less circumspect than others in its support for groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, both offering official funding to Islamist groups in Syria and allowing private contributions to groups including al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. This has helped create an environment in which groups — both violent and peaceful — seeking to overturn the regional political order can thrive.
The failure of the other contenders for power leaves the Saudis and Emiratis enjoying a moment of ascendancy. This is not to suggest that their approach to the myriad problems confronting the region is wise or that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi will be successful everywhere they seek to shape the region. Yet faced with what they perceive to be threatening versions of political Islam surrounding them, unchecked Iranian power, and an American determination to leave the region, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have responded with a coherent policy to confront these challenges. By taking matters into their own hands — sometimes even in opposition to U.S. preferences — and coupling their financial resources with like-minded agents willing to use force and coercion, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been able to shape regional events.
Yet despite the massive amount of money the Saudis and Emiratis have spread around the region, their efforts have so far only resulted in further violence across the Middle East. In Egypt, money and political support from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have given the generals in Cairo cover to engage in a wide-ranging crackdown on political dissent. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2,500 people were killed, 17,000 were injured, and 16,000 were jailed in Egypt between the July 2013 coup and last March. In Syria, disputes among Sunni Gulf nations over which groups to back have fueled incoherent leadership among the opposition and undermined attempts to depose Assad. The implicit support of Saudi Arabia and the UAE for Israel’s invasion of Gaza has contributed to even more bloodletting.
These conflicts have less to do with Iran and the Sunni-Shiite divide than widely believed. Rather, they represent a fracturing of Washington’s Sunni allies in the Middle East. Left to their own devices, the proxy wars the Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris, and Turks are waging among themselves will continue to cause mayhem. After a month of U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State and the potential for new military operations in Syria, this is clearly the lesson that the White House is learning.
It seems that by their own miscalculations and craven approach to regional problems, Washington’s allies have succeeded in doing what the Obama administration was determined not to allow — getting the United States sucked back into the Middle East. In the end, the United States is the indispensable nation after all.But cracking the phone isn't a matter of course -- the FBI's currently weighing its "legal and technical" options to get inside the unspecified device. A lot of the FBI's work here depends on what kind of iPhone they recovered, too -- the introduction of iOS 8 two years ago meant not even Apple could decrypt the contents of a locked device running that software.
"Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data," the company wrote in 2014, referring to photos, messages, contacts and more. "So it's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8."
Still, that didn't stop the FBI cracking from iPhone 5c owned by Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters who killed 14 people in late 2015. The road to that crack was a winding one -- the FBI originally pushed Apple for support to unlock the iOS 9-powered device, and got court orders compelling the company to assist. Apple resisted, but the FBI ultimately found a way to crack Farook's iPhone without Apple's assistance, a move that apparently cost the bureau a tidy sum. At the time, FBI director James Comey said he hadn't decided if the bureau would reveal that crucial backdoor to Apple out of concerns it would be closed.
While the FBI might still have that particular ace up its sleeve, the process of sifting through Adan's data might be way more difficult. Farook's iPhone 5c lacked the secure enclave that was baked into newer models with the A7 chipset and beyond. It's unclear at this point how much progress the FBI has made -- only time will tell if it'll try to force Apple to help somehow, or how Apple will response if the government comes knocking.I sure do have “specific forward looking, positive suggestions”, though what follows only applies to the wallpaper side of things.
Return to using the ‘Wallpaper contest’ naming
It’s succinct, to the point, and parseable at a glance. It instantly tells whoever comes across it that “this is a participatory thing”. It’s will also be familiar to those who’ve been using Ubuntu for a long time. I do get e-mails asking why Ubuntu doesn’t have a wallpaper contest any more…
Promote the wallpaper contest outside of the Ubuntu member channels
Pinning a topic in /r/ubuntu is useful, but go bigger and promote the contest beyond the orange bubble.
Let Linux blogs know the contest is on, when it launches, what the deadline is, but also reach out to photography blogs and groups on Google+. Get them to share the details with their members; get Ubuntu to promote it on their social media channels for greater reach.
The aim should be to promote the contest to a diverse and varied set of people, not just existing Ubuntu contributors.
And, above all else, continue to bang the drum during the contest. Many potential entrants will forget about it after the initial hype so do keep reminding them (e.g., ‘1 week left’, ‘final 24 hours’. etc
Rewrite the rules/criteria
The longer the list of bullets points, the more of a hassle it seems. The criteria has been recycled and added to since Iain was in charge. I’d condense it down into “three core rules” or something — and don’t, on a wiki page, tell people to ‘find more information’ on the wiki without linking to said wiki page. Group/merge some of the points together (e.g., resolution and file size; license and ownership, etc) to make the rules more digestible.
One thing i’ve always noticed: the wiki and photo pools often omit the deadline. That’s an important bit of information people will want to know.
Be open and transparent about the selection process.
Jane SIlber and Barton George helped to select the most recent set (!) which wasn’t known until after. It’s motivating to know who your snaps will be appealing to (especially if those people are notable/well known) are involved. It humanises the contest.
Utilise designers and their expertise
Related to the above point, but it’d be nice if designers/people with expertise in creative subjects were involved. Ubuntu still has designers. Perhaps ask if any would like to be involved in the selection process? Like ‘named’ people it lends a level of seriousness.
Announce the winners
A big participatory contest needs a big celebratory climax. A bit of public exposure for the winning artists will help them feel it was worth their time getting involved, while those who don’t take part will be still be interested to know the outcome too (and seeing people get a public thanks will make them more likely to take part next time).
Limiting the number submissions each user makes is still a good idea as it forces people to assess their own work.
The idea mentioned above about introducing categories sounds like a great suggestion. It would broaden the subject matter and, with categories like ‘technology’ and ‘space’ broaden the appeal to entrants who might otherwise thing their subject matter wouldn’t suit.WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States and Russia announced plans for a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria that would take effect on Saturday but exclude groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, a loophole Syrian rebels immediately highlighted as a problem.
Monday’s agreement, described by a U.N. spokesman as “a first step towards a more durable ceasefire,” is the fruit of intensive diplomacy between Washington and Moscow, which back opposing sides in the 5-year-old civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people.
Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin discussed the accord by phone, and the Kremlin leader said it could “radically transform the crisis situation in Syria.” The White House said it could help advance talks on bringing about political change in Syria.
To succeed, the deal will require both countries to persuade their allies on the ground to comply. Fighting and air strikes continued on Monday, according to a British-based monitoring group.
The plan allows the Syrian army and allied forces, as well as Syrian opposition fighters, to respond with “proportionate use of force” in self-defence. It leaves a significant loophole by allowing further attacks, including air strikes, against Islamic State, Nusra and other militant groups.
Bashar al-Zoubi, head of the political office of the Yarmouk Army, part of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said that would provide cover for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies to keep attacking opposition-held territory where rebel and militant factions are tightly packed.
“Russia and the regime will target the areas of the revolutionaries on the pretext of the Nusra Front’s presence, and you know how mixed those areas are, and if this happens, the truce will collapse,” he said.
‘CRITICAL ISSUE’
Since intervening with air strikes in support of Assad in September, Russia has helped pave the way for significant advances by government forces in a conflict that has drawn in a host of world and regional powers.
The Syrian army is backed by Moscow, Iran and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Ranged against them are rebels supported by the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
A U.S.-Russian statement said the two countries and others would work together to delineate the territory held by Islamic State, Nusra Front and the other militant groups excluded from the truce.
But rebel officials said it was impossible to pinpoint positions held by Nusra.
“For us, al-Nusra is a problematic point, because al-Nusra is not only present in Idlib, but also in Aleppo, in Damascus and in the south. The critical issue here is that civilians or the Free Syrian Army could be targeted under the pretext of targeting al-Nusra,” said a senior opposition figure, Khaled Khoja.
He said the cessation would be for an initial two weeks and “could be extended indefinitely if the parties commit to it.”
Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire, on condition that opposition forces he describes as terrorists did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage, and that countries backing insurgents halted support for them.
In a sign of confidence, reflecting his growing momentum on the battlefield, Assad on Monday called a parliamentary election for April 13. The timing was not a surprise as elections are held every four years and the last one was in 2012.
Residents look for survivors at a site hit by what activists said were three consecutive air strikes carried out by the Russian air force, the last which hit an ambulance, in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria January 12, 2016. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A U.N. Security Council resolution in December called for elections within 18 months under a new constitution, and administered by the United Nations.
TALKS ‘VERY SOON’
The U.S.-Russian plan got a cautious and hedged response from Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition, who said he did not expect the governments of Syria, Iran or Russia to comply with it.
Hijab said the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, of which he is president, would accept a truce if Syria and its backers halted all sieges, permitted aid deliveries, released all detainees and ended bombardments and attacks on civilians.
“The HNC is committed to the success of the international efforts dedicated to ending Syrian bloodshed... but we are also capable of addressing the regime in a language it understands,” he said, saying a formal HNC response would come later.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the U.S.-Russian announcement, which followed a failed attempt by his Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, last month to restart peace talks in Geneva.
De Mistura told Reuters the cessation accord could allow a resumption of negotiations. “We can now relaunch very soon the political process which is needed to end this conflict,” he said.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said he was “not pessimistic.”
Under the terms of the cessation, parties would indicate their agreement to the United States and Russia by noon on Friday Damascus time (1000 GMT), and the truce would take effect at midnight, the two countries said.
Syrian government and allied forces will cease attacks against armed opposition forces, and vice versa, with any weapons including rockets, mortars, anti-tank guided missiles.
The agreement does not spell out in detail how the truce will be monitored, let alone enforced. While the United States and Russia will establish a communication “hotline” and encourage others to share information about violations, they have yet to make explicit how they plan to do so.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry cited “significant challenges ahead.” He urged all sides to accept the deal, which he said could cut violence and help get aid to besieged areas.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, in a speech aboard a U.S. Navy ship visiting Israel, said: “It is difficult to see a stable ceasefire in actuality, with all players agreeing to it.”
NO LET-UP
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said fighting and air strikes continued unabated across Syria on Monday.
Islamic State attacked the Syrian government’s main supply route from Damascus to the northern city of Aleppo, a day after the group targeted Damascus and Homs in some of the bloodiest car bomb attacks of the war.
Slideshow (2 Images)
A rebel fighting government forces and Kurdish militia in the Aleppo area said there was no sign of a let-up. “The battles are in full force,” he told Reuters.
Fred Hof, a former State Department Syria specialist now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, said the proposed timetable gave Russia, Iran and Syria five more days to complete the encirclement of rebels in Aleppo.
“Indeed, success of this initiative - including widespread humanitarian relief for Syrian civilians - requires good faith and decency by three parties who have shown little or none during the duration of this crisis,” Hof said. “Let’s hope they change their spots.”Hello Backers!
Pathfinder Program Update
Our Pathfinder Program continues without major hiccups. No showstopper hardware issues have been reported thus far. In a recent survey, more than 80% of our Pathfinders stated that they no longer wanted to experience VR without the Omni or would use the Omni for most VR sessions. They reported that the level of presence, engagement, and fun in VR is higher when using the Omni than with conventional VR. See a few recent home-made Pathfinder videos below:
We will continue the Pathfinder program in the coming weeks to ensure no issues come up before we kick our production in higher gear. At that time, we will be able to communicate a production and delivery schedule. Thank you for your ongoing patience and support.
VR eSports Tournament
At CES in January we organized the first ever VR eSports tournament, with four Omnis on stage and live shout casters calling the action as players battled each other in Omni Arena. Such an Active VR first-person shooter experience is only possible with the Omni. See a fun video below of the eSports event:
We will organize another VR eSports exhibition at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco in a few weeks!
$25 Million Testing-The-Waters
Our Testing-The-Waters campaign on SeedInvest has now collected more than $25 million of indications of interest from potential investors. We are getting ready to move forward with our round and will announce the exact launch date and size of our round soon. Stay tuned!
Thank you for your continued patience and support, and as always please join us on our Forums if you’d like to discuss this update or anything VR related:
http://forum.virtuix.com
Best regards,
Jan and the Virtuix Team
Legal Disclaimer: Virtuix Holdings, Inc. (“Virtuix”) is “testing the waters” to gauge market demand from potential investors for an Offering under Tier II of Regulation A. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response, it will not be accepted. No sales of securities will be made or commitment to purchase accepted until qualification of the offering statement by the Securities and Exchange Commission and approval of any other required government or regulatory agency. An indication of interest made by a prospective investor is non-binding and involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. No offer to buy securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received without an offering statement that has been qualified by the Commission. A preliminary offering circular that forms a part of the offering statement has been filed with the commission, a copy of which may be obtained from www.seedinvest.com/virtuix.Rare Human Syndrome May Explain Why Dogs are So Friendly
Dogs and people with Williams syndrome may both owe their sociable personalities to changes in the same genes.
Nala Rogers, Staff Writer
(Inside Science) -- When it comes to sheer friendliness, few humans can match the average dog. But people with Williams syndrome may come close, their unusual genetics granting them a puppyish zeal for social interaction. Now, scientists have found that extreme friendliness in both species may share common genetic roots.
A friendly condition
Williams syndrome, also known as Williams-Beuren syndrome, occurs when people are missing of a chunk of DNA containing about 27 genes. The syndrome affects about one in 10,000 people, and it is associated with a suite of mental and physical traits, including bubbly, extroverted personalities, a broad forehead, full cheeks, heart defects, intellectual disability and an affinity for music.
The first hint of a link between dogs and Williams syndrome came in 2010, when evolutionary biologist Bridgett vonHoldt and her colleagues examined DNA from 225 wolves and 912 dogs from 85 breeds. They were looking for parts of the genome that have been shaped by selection since dogs diverged from wolves.
One gene that popped out was WBSCR17, suggesting that it or other genes near it were important in dog evolution. This region of the genome is similar in dogs and humans, and the human version of WBSCR17 is located near the sequence that is deleted in people with Williams syndrome.
Doggie DNA
In the new study, vonHoldt, now an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University in New Jersey, and her colleagues took a closer look at the region surrounding WBSCR17. First, they tested the friendliness of 18 dogs and 10 wolves, all raised with regular attention from human caretakers. They measured how much time each dog or wolf spent within a 1-meter radius of a human, as well as how hard the animal worked to solve a puzzle box.
As expected, wolves spent less time near humans, and most worked equally hard to solve their puzzle box regardless of whether a human was present. In contrast, dogs tended to look at the human instead of the puzzle box, focusing on the puzzle only when left alone.
While dogs were more sociable than wolves on average, individuals varied, with some wolves acting more friendly and some dogs acting more aloof. When the researchers analyzed DNA from 16 of the dogs and eight of the wolves, the behavioral differences turned out to be correlated with variations in three genes -- the WBSCR17 gene highlighted in the 2010 study, and two additional genes from within the canine equivalent of the Williams syndrome region.
For each of these three genes, the researchers found multiple variants that differed in structural ways, such as whether or not they contained an extra sequence of DNA. Some gene variants were found mostly in the friendly dogs and wolves, while others were found more often in unfriendly animals.
While personality traits like friendliness are probably shaped by hundreds or thousands of genes, these three genes appeared to play a surprisingly large role in controlling social behavior, said vonHoldt.
"Some of these structural variants could explain a huge shift in a behavioral profile -- that you go from being a wolf-like, aloof creature, to something that's obsessed with a human," she said.
When the researchers examined those same three genes in 201 dogs from 13 breeds, they found similar patterns of genetic variation between breeds traditionally associated with friendly behavior, and breeds generally considered to be more standoffish.
More on dogs from Inside Science:
Same genes, different species
Two of the genes, GTF2I and GTF2IRD1, had previously been linked to social behavior in mice as well as in people with Williams syndrome. In 2009, Uta Francke and her colleagues at Stanford University in California found that mice were unusually eager to socialize when they were missing those two genes. But until Francke saw the new study, she had no idea that the genes she had studied might help explain the behavior of her own dog, a Bernese mountain dog named Minna.
"She walks up to strangers and wants interaction with everybody, just like the Williams kids," said Francke, who has worked with people with Williams syndrome in her career as a medical geneticist. "To think that this is because of the involvement of these genes in some way -- I find that extremely exciting."
The connection between dogs and Williams syndrome will likely ring true for people within the Williams syndrome community as well, said Jocelyn Krebs, a biomedical researcher at the University of Alaska Anchorage who has studied Williams syndrome and was not involved in the new study. Krebs has a son with Williams syndrome, and she sits on the Williams syndrome Association board of trustees, so she knows how friendly people with the condition can be.
"If they had tails, they would wag them," she said.
Roots of domestication
The findings are consistent with current theories of dog domestication. Once, researchers assumed that ancient humans domesticated dogs on purpose, adopting wolf pups and breeding them for useful traits. Biologists Ray and Lorna Coppinger have pioneered a different view, seeing early dogs as scavengers on human trash. According to this theory, shy wolves continued to hunt in the forest, while bolder wolves that could tolerate humans took up residence at village rubbish heaps.
Ray Coppinger himself avoids words like "friendly" when referring to these ancestral dogs. But according to Clive Wynne, a behavioral scientist at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and one of the new study's authors, sociability could have been a key trait that helped early dogs get access to human scraps. The new study suggests that dogs achieved that friendliness in part through changes to the genes that are equivalent to those affected in people with Williams syndrome.
"Outside of, like, Disney movies, animals all just making friends with each other and being lovey-dovey out in the forest is pretty much a catastrophe," said Wynne. But, he said, "If you have a mutation that makes you more willing to make friends, well then, you're going to get a lot more out of the trash dump."
Wynne can’t say for sure whether the domestication process happened at multiple villages at different times, or if it happened just once, as indicated by another recent study that looked at DNA from ancient dog fossils.
It's too soon to know just how important the genes identified in the study were in dog domestication, cautioned Ray Coppinger, during an interview with Inside Science. But it's possible that they played a pivotal role, not just for dogs, but for other species as well, said Carlos Driscoll, a geneticist who studies cat domestication at the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland. The next step, said Driscoll, is to test other domestic species, and see whether the same three genes may contribute to tame temperaments in everything from cats to goats.
"The only thing that's common among all domesticates is that they're sociable -- that they get along with people," said Driscoll. "This very strongly suggests that this region and these genes are important in domestication."We live in a country of equivocation. “I’m a vegetarian — but I eat chicken.” “I’ve been completely faithful — except for that one weekend in Vegas.” Or, “I am pro-life — except in cases of rape or incest.” Okay, see — then no, you’re not, and no, you haven’t, and no, you aren’t.
If you had asked me two years ago about rape and pregnancy, I would have looked away uncomfortably, shifted my weight back and forth, and become suddenly engrossed in my fingernail polish. I’ve always considered myself pro-life, but come on. Rape?! “How can we expect any woman to carry the memory of such horror?,” is what I thought, like so many others. Even many of our staunchest pro-life religious and political leaders make this exception. We’re talking about “rape babies,” as they say, and it’s best if we just allow it.
But that was two years ago. And things change....
He was very tall, young looking, and strong. He wasn’t there until suddenly he was everywhere. I fought until I couldn’t. As I became a statistic, I remember thinking how, for the rest of my life, time would be split: before this moment / after this moment. And in the “after this moment,” I became someone else — someone better, more honest, and stronger than I ever thought possible.
While pregnant, I researched other stories, and reached out to Rebecca with Save The 1, who said:
“I think a lot of people would be really blessed by your story. Would you consider sharing it?”
“Oh..., I don’t know....”
“Just as much as you’re comfortable with — the commitment you’ve had since the beginning to love this baby, especially your husband’s love for you and for this child he’s loved as his own. You’re married and it’s not the typical testimony.” Hmm, unconditional love. No — it isn’t typical.
I thought of women like me — women who felt alone and unsure and terrified; women who wanted to keep their babies after being raped but are under that pressure to abort; women who didn’t yet know what they were capable of and the courage they had. What if they read about me? As different as our circumstances might be, maybe it would encourage them to know that they’re not alone? And what about men – husbands and boyfriends of pregnant rape victims? They could see that it’s possible to fall in love with that child regardless of origin or DNA. They could witness a husband who recognized the innocence and beauty of God’s creation and saw only a baby that’s a part of his beloved wife, and therefore his.
The decision was easy then. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Keep up with the latest pro-life news and information on Twitter. Follow @LifeNewsHQ
“Raped on a business trip” was originally published in December, 2014. I prayed that it would touch people. I prayed whoever read it would be reminded of how God can bring good out of the worst evil. I prayed that women raising children from or pregnant by rape would feel encouraged. And I prayed for the ones who originally thought I should have aborted — that they might see the value down the path I took. It was a simple retelling of my story. Or so I thought....
My story ended up being shared nearly a million times, through various outlets, reaching many who were not at all uplifted by the simple retelling of my story:
“I’m not sure why you bothered to share. Or why you’re parading yourself around as some great, moral person. This isn’t just about YOU. You had a child who will know he came from rape. He may be okay with that, he may not. Congratulations. (Sound horrible? So does your attitude about other survivors who make different choices than you.)”
“I hope she keeps in mind when the kid turns into the same as the man who infected her with a rape child and turns into a rapist, that is partially on her.”
“... there was no rational reason to allow this animal’s spawn to walk the earth.”
“Maybe when he punched her in the face there was some brain damage.”
“People with this mentality feel free to get the f*** off my planet! Coat hanger that walnut sized rapist DNA deposit.”
“What kind of ‘man’ would raise another man’s rape baby?? These people are f***ed in the head. I hate sharing the world with f***ing idiots.”
“What a whack-job. Her husband’s a coward and she’s a freakin psycho. I would terminate the s**t out of that raper spawn of Satan. What a sick and twisted family.”
“That baby has the same genes as the man who attacked you and gave you what you call a blessing. That child is not from God but from Satan.”
“So getting pregnant from rape is a gift from God? By religious logic men should rape more women. These people are crazy.”
“This whole article is tooth achingly smugly self righteous”
“That little boy should have died because he did not belong to your husband. What hell does God have in store for you and your bastard?”
Then there were the accusations that I was lying – that either I was covering up an affair or the whole story was a concocted pro-life/Christian propaganda fairy tale missing only a fairy godmother.
So let me clarify: Not once did I mention other pregnant rape survivors. Anyone who read judgment in my words was already determined to find it. Nowhere did I call myself a great or moral person. I’m a sinner like everyone else. I did not say it was God’s plan to have me raped. That’s insane!
Human beings make their own decisions, good and evil, and we all live with the consequences of those every day. I don’t believe the “rape pregnancy” was a gift. I believe my son was — not BECAUSE he was conceived in rape, but in spite of it.
I wrote without condemnation or anger, yet I struck a giant collective nerve. This was not my intention, but I make no apologies. I will not be bullied into silence. No amount of mud slung or baseless accusation levied is going to stop me from sharing the truth.
Ask me if I condemn a woman who aborts after rape — I do not. Do I believe she is damaging her heart and soul irrevocably by her choice? Absolutely, I do. Do I believe that abortion helps some women “forget” sexual assault? That carrying a “rape baby” to term is torture? That letting “rapist DNA” survive is detrimental to society? No. No. And no!
These are the lies women are seduced by. At their most broken and vulnerable they are told, “You can forget.” There is no forgetting. Any woman who has been through the nightmare of rape needs unwavering emotional support. I have only love in my heart for fellow survivors. I pray for complete healing for us all.
After publication of my story, I was also taken to task for failing to mention being offered Plan B, what I did for a living, how we knew the baby wasn’t my husband’s, the race of the man who assaulted me (really?), and the longer wait-time for HIV test results. My account of the rape and the immediate aftermath wasn’t comprehensive — that’s true. I didn’t intend it to be. I was concerned that the very point of my story could get lost in the details. Still, choosing to fixate on what was lacking provided a convenient way to deliberately misunderstand my intent.
Would it have made a difference if I’d explained that trips away were rare? That I’d worked five cruises in a twenty year career? If I had specified that my husband previously had a vasectomy, the rapid HIV testing, and my personal issues with Plan B, would it really have mattered? Had I decided to abort my baby and the entire article had been about exercising my right to terminate, would any of these people have taken issue? Would they have still called me an adulteress? No need to respond — that was rhetorical.
I’m often asked what we’ll tell our son, if we’ll tell him, and when we’ll tell him. Among the thousands of comments I’ve read, one stood out to me. I say it in my head every night when I tuck in my little one at bedtime. “Everyone was yelling at us that you shouldn’t be here. But your life is proof of the strength of our love. We loved you louder.”
I won’t lie and say this has been an easy road. The rape took a serious toll – emotionally and physically. Seizures have been increasing in both frequency and severity. They were originally attributed to pregnancy-induced hypertension, and so, were expected to disappear after giving birth. But the seizures were later diagnosed as post-traumatic epilepsy from having been beaten during the rape – a diagnosis which really turned our world inside out.
How could I be left alone with an infant, or any of our young children? Or left alone at ALL? I’m unable to predict when a seizure will grip me. I can’t predict if I’ll open my eyes safely — albeit disoriented in a pile of pillows on my bed, or on the bathroom floor in a pool of blood, head throbbing from where I’d caught the sink on the way down. Would I ever be allowed to drive again or be stable enough to work? Eighteen months after giving birth, there are still more questions than answers as I sit here with a patchwork of bruises and cuts, recovering from my most recent seizure.
I can hear you — some of you — the ones who say not aborting my baby has brought all this hardship upon our family. There’s tremendous financial hardship with my husband having to be at home with me when my children head off to school. There’s my possibly abbreviated lifespan because of the trauma from the rape. There’s less of everything and more of us with needs. Am I right? I am. But you’re wrong.
We are infinitely richer for this child being in the world. Our children have learned more about patience and sacrifice and what it means to be a family in the past two years than in their entire lifetimes until now. We’ve all learned just a little bit more about the world we live in. The good is much brighter than we realized, and the evil, so much darker. We know that one voice, speaking in honesty, with bravery, can make a difference, and that honoring God is always the right thing to do, even if it feels like you’re the only one doing it.
For my fellow mothers who became pregnant by rape, let me encourage you, my sisters, you who are more than conquerors, you who are survivors: be the voice! Be the voice who speaks on behalf of your child – for these children who even some of the “pro-life” make exceptions for. Be the voice to end the ignorance about so-called “rape babies.” It’s incomprehensible to me now that this is somehow acceptable discrimination. So be the voice for your child, for my child, for the least of these. “Do not be overcome by evil. But overcome evil with good.”
The world can be a better place for our babies. The world can be a better place BY our babies.
To the thousands around the world who have sent words of love and prayers and healing: you will never know how much it has meant. You are precious to us and we covet your ongoing prayers!
To the thousands around the world who have sent words of vitriol and curses and malicious intent: you have strengthened us as well as opened our eyes to the blackness which can reside in one’s soul. My family and I will continue to pray for you.
My baby boy:
When people said we shouldn’t have you,
We loved you louder.
When people say you’re a mistake,
We LOVE you louder.
When you will wonder if they’re right,
We will love you the loudest.
LifeNews Note: Jennifer Christie is a wife and mother of 5, and a blogger for www.savethe1.com. She’s using her middle name in lieu of her surname in order to protect the identity of her family. If you’d like to reach out to Jennifer to encourage or assist her family, please do so HERE.For the American shipping and timber magnate, see Louis J. Simpson
Louis Aston Marantz Simpson (March 27, 1923 – September 14, 2012)[1] was an American poet born in Jamaica. He won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work At the End of the Open Road.
Life and career [ edit ]
Simpson was born in Jamaica, the son of Rosalind (née Marantz) and Aston Simpson, a lawyer. His father was of Scottish and African ancestry. His mother was born in Russia (Simp
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Columbia 1945 Track Listing
A Broken Promise Means A Broken Heart Don't Take Your Spite Out On Me
At Mail Call Today I'll Be Back
Don't Hang Around Me Anymore Address Unknown
I Want To Be Sure Don't Live A Lie
A Face I See At Evening Sycamore Lane
Cowboy Blues Gallivantin' Galveston Gal
Good Old Fashioned Hoedown Silver Spurs (On The Golden Stairs)
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You Someday You'll Want Me To Want You
I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine You Only Want Me When You're Lonely
I'll Be Back At Mail Call Today
I'll Never Let You Go That Little Kid Sister Of Mine
Wave To Me, My Lady Over And Over Again
You Laughed And I Cried Ages And Ages Ago
An Old-Fashioned Tree Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane)
Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane) An Old-Fashioned Tree
Kentucky Babe Missouri Waltz (Hush-A-Bye, Ma Baby)
Play Fair Lone Star Moon
Play Fair 2:19 Lone Star Moon
Pretty Mary Dixie Cannon Ball
The Last Mile The Leaf Of Love
The One Rose (That's Left In My Heart) I Hate To Say Goodbye To the Prairie
When The Snowbirds Cross The Rockies The Angel Song
You're Not My Darlin' Anymore Here's To The Ladies
They Warned Me About You Rolling Along
Blue Shadows On The Trail A Boy From Texas, A Girl From Tennessee
Can't Shake The Sands Of Texas From My Shoes Buttons And Bows
Serenade Of The Bells Loaded Pistol And Loaded Dice
The Last Letter If Today Were The End Of The World
Buttons And Bows / Blue Shadows On The Trail ( 2 Versions ) Regal Zonophone 1949 Track Listing
Buttons And Bows Blue Shadows On The Trail
Ellie Mae Sunflower
If It Doesn't Snow On Christmas Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
My Empty Heart I Wish I Had Stayed Over Yonder
Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer If It Doesn't Snow On Christmas
Santa, Santa, Santa He's A Chubby-Little Fellow
Stampede Part 1 Stampede Part 2 Stampede Part 3 Stampede Part 4
Stampede Slugger At The Bat
The Bible On The Table I Lost My Little Darlin'
Whirlwind When The Silver Colorado Turns To Gold
A Cowboy's Christmas Story (The Story Of The Nativity) ( 3 Versions ) Columbia 1950 Track Listing
A Cowboy's Christmas Story (The Story Of The Nativity) — Third Part A Cowboy's Christmas Story (The Story Of The Nativity) — Conclusion
A Cowboy's Serenade Mule Train
Barney The Bashful Bullfrog Little Peter Punkin Eater
Blue Canadian Rockies Onteora (Great Land In The Sky)
Champion (The Horse No Man Could Ride) Tiger (A "Bring `Em Back Alive" Story)
Frosty The Snow Man When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
I Love You Because The Last Straw
Merry Christmas with Gene Autry ( 3 Versions ) Columbia 1950 Track Listing
Frosty The Snowman When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter He's A Chubby Little Fellow An Old-Fashioned Tree Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer Santa, Santa, Santa If It Doesn't Snow On Christmas Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane)
My Heart Cries For You / Teardrops From My Eyes ( 2 Versions ) Columbia 1950 Track Listing
My Heart Cries For You Teardrops From My Eyes
Peter Cottontail The Funny Little Bunny
Poison Ivy A New Star Is Shining In Heaven
Poppy The Puppy He'll Be Coming Down The Chimney (Like He Always Did Before)
Slipping Around Can't Shake The Sand Of Texas From My Shoes
The Old Rugged Cross In The Garden
The Roses I Picked For Our Wedding Roses
The Statue In The Bay The Place Where I Worship (Is The Wide Open Spaces)
The Story Of Little Champ ( 3 Versions ) Columbia 1950 Track Listing
The Story Of The Nativity - Part 1 The Story Of The Nativity - Part 2 The Story Of The Nativity - Part 3 The Story Of The Nativity - Part 4
(Hardrock, Coco And Joe) The Three Little Dwarfs Thirty-Two Feet - Eight Little Tails
Bunny Round-Up Time 2:28 Sonny The Bunny 2:38
Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves Stop Your Gambling
Gold Can Buy Anything Crime Will Never Pay
He'll Be Coming Down The Chimney (Like He Always Did Before) Poppy The Puppy
How Long Is Forever Mister And Mississippi
I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire 2:48 When It's Springtime In The Rockies 2:36
Little Johnny Pilgrim Guffy The Goofy Gobbler
Old Soldiers Never Die God Bless America
Rusty, The Rocking Horse Bucky, The Bucking Bronco
Sonny The Bunny Bunny Round-Up Time
Thirty-Two Feet - Eight Little Tails (Hardrock, Coco And Joe) The Three Little Dwarfs
I Was Just Walkin' Out The Door Am I Just A Pastime
I'm Learning To Live Without You A Heartsick Soldier On Hearbreak Ridge
I've Lived A Lifetime For You Story Book Of Love
Love Is So Misleadin' Don't Send Your Love (To Me By Mail)
Merry Texas Christmas, You All! The Night Before Christmas (in Texas, That Is)
Stop Your Gambling Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves
Teardrops From My Eyes / Too Young ( 3 Versions ) Columbia 1952 Track Listing
Teardrops From My Eyes Too Young
The Night Before Christmas Song Look Out The Window (The Winter Song)
I Wish My Mom Would Marry Santa Claus Sleigh Bells
Let Me Cry On Your Shoulder Rose-Colored Memories
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town Up On The Housetop (Ho! Ho! Ho!)
Where Did My Snowman Go? Freddie, The Little Tree
Bimbo Roly Poly
When He Grows Tired Of You It Just Don't Seem Like Home When You're Gone
Easter Mornin' The Horse With The Easter BonnetThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened the doors to the Provo City Center Temple on January 15 for public tours, and the coordinator of the open house is encouraging individuals to come, with or without tickets (although tickets are preferred).
Due to long standby lines at previous temple open houses, the Church did not originally announce any standby lines.
“When we announced the dedication, we didn’t announce the standby lines because we were hoping that we would be able to manage it just through online ticketing,” explained Steve Lund, coordinator of the Provo City Center Temple open house, dedication and cultural celebration. “We have plenty of room to accommodate anyone who decides to randomly show up to the temple.”
Having seen 15,000 people attend the open house in one day, Lund told LDS.net that they haven’t even pressed the capacity limit yet. He explained that the open house can support hundreds more people per hour than are currently showing up, especially between the hours of 7am and 5 or 6pm on weekdays. Evenings and Saturdays, however, are very busy for the open house as many people have fewer obligations during those times.
Lund said that they have yet to see the standby line reach beyond a five minute wait. He encourages individuals who have tickets reserved for closer to March 5, the end of the open house, to come now, without tickets, and then come again at their scheduled time.
When you go through the temple, you’re going to want to come back because you just cannot see it all. Every glance in this temple has a surprise—it is just so beautifully executed. So if you’ve got time, come now and come later. You’ll like that.
It’s speculated that when the Church first released the open house tickets online, people reserved as many as they could as quickly as they could at a time they assumed would work for their group. Due to conflicts in their schedules, these groups end up attending the open house with half the number of people, meaning many tickets are going unused during the work week.
Although standby wait time may vary from minute to minute, The Church has set up a website that they update frequently for individuals to see how long the wait time is at that current moment. Tours begin every day at 7am. The last tour of the day starts at 6:30pm on Monday and 9pm Tuesday through Saturday. No public tours are given on Sunday.
The Provo City Center Temple cultural celebration will take place on Saturday, March 19, followed by the dedication on Sunday, March 20.TORFone - voice add-on for TorChat
This product is produced independently from the Tor® anonymity software and carries no guarantee from The Tor Project.
The fundamental right to privacy, guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution, protects against unwarranted invasions of privacy by federal or state entities, or arms thereof.
Internet telephony is now an important part of people communications and should be protected from intruders, collecting information about you. I had an idea to use the old PGPFone designed by Philip Zimmermann for these purposes by adding the possibility to use The Onion Router anonymizer to ensure anonymity of callers. I did some tests to adopt VoIP transport to TOR tunnels and eventually made acceptable alpha release. Now the beta version is available which includes an improved cryptography, new voice codecs and lot of other new features.
As a result, the TORFone was designed to communicate voice via Internet (make phone calls to the addressee) similarly to Skype but with the following differences:
1. TORFone is an open source project, therefore it indicates no "backdoors" and allows quick fixing of potential vulnerabilities.
2. TORFone is fully portable (it can be run from a flash carrier or virtual TrueCrypt-disk and leaves no residue in the system) and works with all versions of Win32 from Windows 98, has very low system requirements (above PI 233 MHz 32M RAM). It saves bandwidth (required from only 2 kbit/s each side using low-bitrates codecs).
3. TORFone is decentralized, i.e. it does not use an external server and does not require pre-registration number.
4. TORFone provides full confidentiality (by using DH-4096 to match the session key, AES-256-OCB to encrypt the voice traffic and PKDF2+HMAC for autentification). The attacker who mirrors the traffic is unable to listen to the conversation and is not able to decode it later even if he gains access to the computers of participants.
5. Caller and callee are completely anonymous to each other and to outside observers (a call is made on Tor hidden service user).
6. Calls using TORFone are hidden to the outside observer because the TORFone can use the Tor network as a transport layer. Since Tor can simulate usual HTTPS-connections using Tor bridges, the same level of indistinguishability may be provied also for TORFone traffic. If TORFone is used without anonymity by making direct connection thorugh Internet, it still may be resistant against some type of DPI because TORFone uses its own protocol (not RTP/ZRTP), which can work over both TCP and UDP connection.
I think now that TORFone is one of the most anonymous and confidential tools for the Internet telephony. The payment for anonymity is voice latency up to 2-4 seconds (because traffic goes through a chain of few nodes located around the world). If anonymity is not required TORFone can work as a direct connection "point to point" using IP-adress / domain name which fully keeps the privacy. Can be used a direct TCP or UDP connection. Furthermore, first Tor may be used as SIP-server to connect to the hidden service of subscriber, and then for NAT traversal and installation secure UDP direct connection. TORFone also provides subscriber voice authentication to avoid attack "man in the middle" and authenticated using a preset phrases with the silent notification under pressure. Also TORFne can be used to exc3ange by personal data (such as files or short text7messaging) safely.Look at a primate or a Neanderthal skull and compare it with a modern human's. Notice anything missing?
We have one feature that primates, Neanderthals, archaic humans--any species, for that matter--don't possess: a chin.
"In some way, it seems trivial, but a reason why chins are so interesting is we're the only ones who have them," says Nathan Holton, who studies craniofacial features and mechanics at the University of Iowa. "It's unique to us."
New research led by Holton and colleagues at the UI posits that our chins don't come from mechanical forces such as chewing, but instead results from an evolutionary adaptation involving face size and shape--possibly linked to changes in hormone levels as we became more societally domesticated.
The finding, if true, may help settle a debate that's gone on intermittently for more than a century why modern humans have chins and how they came to be.
Using advanced facial and cranial biomechanical analyses with nearly 40 people whose measurements were plotted from toddlers to adults, the UI team concludes mechanical forces, including chewing, appear incapable of producing the resistance needed for new bone to be created in the lower mandible, or jaw area. Rather, they write in a paper published online in the Journal of Anatomy, it appears the chin's emergence in modern humans arose from simple geometry: As our faces became smaller in our evolution from archaic humans to today--in fact, our faces are roughly 15 percent shorter than Neanderthals'--the chin became a bony prominence, the adapted, pointy emblem at the bottom of our face.
"In short, we do not find any evidence that chins are tied to mechanical function and in some cases we find that chins are worse at resisting mechanical forces as we grow," says Holton, assistant professor and anthropologist in the Department of Orthodontics at the UI College of Dentistry. "Overall, this suggests that chins are unlikely related to the need to dissipate stresses and strains and that other explanations are more likely to be correct."
More intriguing, UI anthropologists led by Robert Franciscus think the human chin is a secondary consequence of our lifestyle change, starting about 80,000 years ago and picking up great steam with modern humans' migration from Africa about 20,000 years later. What happened was this: Modern humans evolved from hunter-gatherer groups that were rather isolated from each other to increasingly cooperative groups that formed social networks across the landscape. These more connected groups appear to have enhanced the degree to which they expressed themselves in art and other symbolic mediums.
Males in particular became more tranquil during this period, less likely to fight over territory and belongings, and more willing to make alliances, evidenced by exchanging goods and ideas, that benefited each and all.
The change in attitude was tied to reduced hormone levels, namely testosterone, resulting in noticeable changes to the male craniofacial region: One big shift was the face became smaller--retrenching in effect--a physiological departure that created a natural opportunity for the human chin to emerge.
"What we're arguing is that modern humans had an advantage at some point to have a well-connected social network, they can exchange information, and mates, more readily, there's innovation," saysFranciscus, who was on the team that first laid out the theory in a paper published last August in the journal Current Anthropology and is a contributing author on the current paper, "and for that to happen, males have to tolerate each other. There had to be more curiosity and inquisitiveness than aggression, and the evidence of that lies in facial architecture."
The new study buttresses that argument, in that it seems to rule out the chin arose from mechanical exertion, such as chewing.
The researchers examined how the jaw region generally reacted to two forces--vertical bending and wishboning. In wishboning, one side of the jaw is pulled outward, resulting in compression in the outer part of the chin. In vertical bending, the ramus--the posterior more or less vertical part on each side of the lower jaw--splays outward, tensing the chin area. In both instances, the thinking went, the chin area is being mechanically stressed; on a microscopic level, new bone is being created, much like lifting weights creates little tears that allows new muscle to be created. Thus, arose the theory that mechanical forces, such as chewing, led to our chins.
But in examinations from periodic measurements of participants' heads from 3 years of age to more than 20 years old, the UI researchers found no evidence that these imperceptible mechanical forces led to new bone in the chin region. Instead, they found nearly the opposite: Individuals with the most mechanical resistance had chins most similar to a 3 -or 4-year-old--meaning they didn't have much of a chin at all.
What the researchers did notice is chin "growth" has more to do with how each feature in our face adapts as our head size increases, much like you'd fit individual pieces together in an expanding, shape-shifting, three-dimensional puzzle.
Children, for example, have flat, nearly imperceptible chins, much like what's seen in Neanderthals. That bony prominence only becomes visible as our heads and faces grow into adulthood.
"Our study suggests that chin prominence is unrelated to function," Holton says, "and probably has more to do with spatial dynamics during development."
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Contributing authors, all from the UI, include: Laura Bonner, Jill Scott, Steven Marshall and Thomas Southard. The study was funded by the Department of Orthodontics, in the UI College of Dentistry.Hoping to end The Hunger Games-like competition among provinces seeking movie productions, British Columbia is pleading with Ontario to harmonize its film tax credits to save both provinces a bundle. “Calling these things ‘tax credits’ is a bit misleading... they are subsidized incentives,” B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong told the Star on Tuesday.
Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa met with his B.C. counterpart Mike de Jong Tuesday to discuss the harmonization of film tax credits. ( Aaron Vincent Elkaim / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
“They’re playing the taxpayers off one against the other,” de Jong said after a meeting with Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa in Toronto. “The first step is to stop being whipsawed for one another because that’s just crazy.” It’s expected to cost B.C. around $330 million this year to help bankroll film production in the province; the tab for Ontario’s industry could ultimately be three times that when all factors are considered.
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While Sousa said he had “a great session” with de Jong and confirmed the government would likely re-examine the system, nothing radical is imminent. “I am not at this point looking at changing our investment tax credits for the film industry,” the treasurer said at Queen’s Park. “Ontario has become very attractive for the film industry because of the investment tax credits we’ve provided.” Sousa is tabling his first budget as finance minister next month. But with roughly a third of the minority Liberal government’s seats in Toronto, home to the lion’s share of Ontario film production, it would be politically imprudent to reduce tax credits. Since being elected in 2003, the Liberals have continually enriched tax credits to match or undercut other jurisdictions, such as Quebec and numerous American states.
Read more about:Image caption Emergency services were called to Pretoria Road in Etruria
A six-year-old girl is undergoing surgery after being attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier, police have said.
The girl, who suffered "extensive dog bite wounds to her face" in the attack in Stoke-on-Trent, is being treated at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Her condition is "serious" but not thought to be life-threatening. Her family remain at her bedside.
Staffordshire Police said the dog had been taken to specialist kennels.
Emergency services were called to Pretoria Road in Etruria at 10:20 BST.
'Nasty wounds'
Officers said they understood the attack took place in the garden of the property.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said the girl was airlifted for "emergency care and surgery".
Image copyright Google Image caption The girl is in a serious condition in Birmingham Children's Hospital
"The girl, who was understandably upset, was given pain relief to help ease her discomfort before ambulance staff assessed her nasty wounds and applied dressings."
"Her condition was said to be serious but stable," the ambulance service said.District Councillor Paul Zimmerman, local resident Moran Zukerman and Julie Leung from environmental organisation Plastic Free Seas took medical waste collected over two months to the government on Tuesday, urging them to take action and find the source.
Outside the Central Government Offices, they displayed medical waste that Zukerman had been collecting since May on Sam Pak Wan. Among the trash were syringes, glass, plastic containers, vials and IV bags. Some syringes still had needles attached.
A press release published by Designing Hong Kong said that the “medical waste collected were for human and veterinarian use (antibiotics and preventative medicine), and many are hazardous and potentially poisonous.”
Zimmerman told reporters on Tuesday that medical waste from Guangdong province may have ended up on Hong Kong’s shores after being illegally dumped into the sea. He urged the government to take action.
“What needs to be done is that the government needs to collect this kind of waste and investigate, try to identify the source,” he told HKFP on Wednesday. “There are labels, there are brands on it, there are dates on it, there are code numbers on the packaging, so this can be traced… but the government needs to do the investigation first… If you just put it in a black bag and dump it, it disappears.” He also said that because this is a “practical” issue, it would not be difficult to get mainland authorities to cooperate.
Zukerman said the display was only part of what he had collected and that he dares not eat fish for fear of attracting germs. He said many of the waste items contain fish bites, meaning that fish were exposed to the items.An Iranian was shot dead during a banned opposition rally in Tehran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, blaming opposition supporters for the shooting.
"One person was shot dead and several were wounded by seditionists (opposition supporters) who staged a rally in Tehran," Fars said, without giving further details.
Anti-government protests in Tehran, Iran on February 14, 2011. AFP
Iranian security forces clashed with supporters of the opposition in the central city of Isfahan on Monday and arrested dozens of protesters at a banned rally backing uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, a witness said.
"There were clashes between security forces and protesters in Isfahan and dozens of people were arrested," the witness told Reuters by telephone.
Iranian security forces fired tear gas to scatter thousands of people marching on a Tehran square. "There are thousands of people marching... not chanting slogans... Security forces fired tear gas to disperse them near Imam Hossein square," said the witness.
The march was a test of strength for the reformist opposition, which had not taken to the streets since Dec. 2009, when eight people were killed. But Iranian security forces are still unlikely to hesitate to use any means to stop protests.
Large numbers of police and security forces wearing riot gear were stationed around the main squares of the capital and traveling in pairs on motorbikes around the city. There were minor clashes at some points across the sprawling capital city of some 12 million people, witnesses said. Mobile telephone connections were down in the area of the protests.
"There were thousands of people walking towards Azadi Square. There were some scuffles. I saw smoke, but I am not sure if it was tear gas or not," said another witness.
The demonstrators marched down Enghelab and Azadi (Freedom) streets, leading to Azadi Square, a traditional rallying point for protests in central Tehran dominated by a huge white marble arch. Hundreds of marchers also gathered in the cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, witnesses said.
But security forces surrounded the houses of opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi preventing them and Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard from joining the march, their websites said.
"Mirhossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard are still trying to leave their house and join the protests... but security forces are preventing them. Security forces have even threatened Mousavi's guards to not allow them to leave the house by any means," the Mousavi's Kalame website said.
Mousavi and Karroubi took advantage of official Iranian backing for the huge street protests in Egypt and Tunisia to call their own demonstrations in solidarity, but authorities refused their request.
The opposition nevertheless renewed the call for the rally. Iranian authorities have warned the opposition to avoid creating a "security crisis" by reviving protests that erupted after the vote, the biggest unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution.
Iran protests in 2009. APDear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni received a call from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s office over the weekend telling the former justice minister she is being considered for the position of under secretary-general.
Livni’s associates called it a “preliminary check” and stressed that no offer had been made.
Livni met with Guterres two weeks ago at his office in New York. She firmly denied at the time that she and Guterres spoke about a posting.Her associates continued to deny on Sunday that there were any personal issues regarding the employment for Livni discussed or hinted at in their talk two weeks ago.US ambassador to UN Haley objects to ex Palestinian Authority PM Fayyad leading UN mission to LibyaLivni’s associates joined Guterres’s spokesman in denying any connection between the possible job for Livni and the question of whether former Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad would be appointed the UN’s envoy to Libya.“Reports of Tzipi and Fayyad being part of a deal are nonsense,” said a source close to Livni.Sources also said Livni’s potential nomination would not require official approval from the Israeli government or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike UN envoys, who requires the confirmation of the Security Council.Speaking during the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu addressed the possible nomination of Fayyad by calling for the UN to be more even-handed.“Several days ago, I was informed of the possibility of the appointment of Salaam Fayyad to a UN position,” he said. “I said that the time has come for reciprocity in the UN’s relations with Israel, and free gifts cannot be constantly given to the Palestinian side.”Netanyahu went on to say: “The time has come for positions and appointments to be made to the Israeli side as well. Should there be an appropriate appointment, we will consider it.”At the cabinet meeting, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev (Likud) questioned whether Livni was fit for the post.But Deputy Minister Michael Oren (Kulanu) said that even though he does not agree with Livni on everything, her diplomatic experience made her fit for the position. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi).Bayit Yehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich, and Transportation Minister Israel Katz (Likud) all spoke in favor of her receiving the post.The United States on Friday blocked Guterres’s choice of Fayyad as the body’s representative to Libya.“The United States was disappointed to see a letter indicating the intention to appoint the former Palestinian Authority prime minister to lead the UN Mission in Libya,” Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the UN, said in a statement.“For too long, the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel,” she said.Haley added that the United States “does not currently recognize a Palestinian state or support the signal this appointment would send within the United Nations.”The PLO released a statement condemning Haley for the move, calling it “blatant discrimination on the basis of national identity.”“It defies logic that the appointment of the most qualified candidate is blocked because it is perceived as detrimental to Israel. It constitutes a blanket license for the exclusion of Palestinians everywhere.”The statement also expressed hope that the US would “take back” the decision and instead work to “block petty acts of bigotry and vindictiveness and the further victimization of the Palestinian people for the mere fact of their existence.”The US envoy said Washington encourages Israel and the Palestinians “to come together directly on a solution” to end their conflict.Reuters contributed to this report.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>OnePlus is young brand in the field of smartphones but it has got a tremendous success for its three devices in markets across many countries. OnePlus fans are waiting for the next ‘flagship killer’ phone for a long time. Now, the company is expected to launch its fourth device the OnePlus 3 flagship this June. OnePlus 3 Specs are leaked on Antutu. The OnePlus 3 model name would be OnePlus A3000.
Oneplus 3 Specs, Release Date and Price
Here, you can find all speculations about OnePlus 3 including specs, release date and price.
OnePlus 3 Release Date:
The OnePlus 3 is expected to launch at the end of the second quarter of this year. Most probably it will be launched in June 2016.
OnePlus 3 Design:
OnePlus co-founder, Carl Pei said that the new phone will feature a new design, which implies a departure from the traditional design from its predecessor, the OnePlus 2.
OnePlus 3 is slimmer than its predecessors and has a large speaker grille on the top above the front camera. It is rumored that the OnePlus 3 gets USB Type-C and a power/lock slider button. OnePlus 3 will get a Full HD 5.5-inches screen with 1080p display.
OnePlus 3 RAM and Storage:
OnePlus 3 will be available in two versions with respect to memory and storage. 32GB storage version will have 4GB RAM while 64GB storage version will be equipped with 6GM RAM.
OnePlus 3 CPU and OS:
The new flagship killer OnePlus 3 would be equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset and Dual-core 2.15 GHz Kryo CPU, which will offer much faster multi-tasking experiences and an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. The phone will be pre-installed customized Oxygen OS based on Marshmallow Android 6.0.
OnePlus 3 Camera:
OnePlus 3 will have 16MP rear camera with a dedicated camera button at the edge and 8MP front camera.
OnePlus 3 Battery:
It is rumored that OnePlus 3 will be equipped with non-removable 4000 mAh battery which is higher than its all predecessors.
OnePlus 3 Price:
With such enhanced features, OnePlus 3 price might be little higher than its predecessor OnePlus 2. Price may vary and depending on the amount of memory option you choose. The most rumored price for OnePlus 3 is US $450.The more things change the more they stay the same.
Let’s begin with a specific Sunday. October 21, 1973.
The three tier headline of The New York Times, all in capital letters, covered the entire top of the paper in true banner style. It read as follows:
NIXON DISCHARGES COX FOR DEFIANCE; ABOLISHES WATERGATE TASK FORCE; RICHARDSON AND RUCKELSHAUS OUT
The previous night, a Saturday night, President Richard Nixon had finally had enough of the Special Prosecutor assigned by his own Attorney General Elliot Richardson to investigate the blossoming “Watergate scandal.” A scandal that had begun in June of 1972 when a handful of men with ties to Nixon’s “Committee to Re-Elect the President” were caught burglarizing the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex. (Quickly dubbed in the press as “CREEP”).
Nixon had won an overwhelming re-election that November of 1972, but by 1973 allegations of a presidential cover-up — run by the president himself — had launched a Senate investigation and demands for a special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department. A Justice Department run by Nixon’s appointed attorney general, Richardson, and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus. Richardson had complied with the appointment of his old friend, Harvard Law professor Archibald Cox — Cox, as Nixon well knew, also a longtime ally of Nixon’s legendary archenemies the Kennedys.
During the Senate Watergate Committee hearings it had come to light that Nixon (like his predecessors Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt) had installed a taping system in the Oval Office. Now Cox had issued a subpoena for Nixon’s tapes — and Nixon was refusing. Angered, Nixon — on a fine October Saturday — abruptly ordered Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused — and resigned. Ditto Ruckelshaus. It fell to the number three official at Justice, Solicitor General Robert Bork - to do the deed. (Bork, of course, later gaining fame as a Reagan Supreme Court nominee rejected by the Senate in a controversial and bitter confirmation battle.) To say the least, a media firestorm erupted.
As of that Sunday morning, the press, led by the Times and its fellow liberals at The Washington Post and the broadcast networks (the birth of cable news was seven years away) were headlining their outrage. The idea of a corrupt White House trying to corrupt the Justice Department had sent the Times and the rest into a frenzy.
So too had the Times and its liberal media colleagues earlier zeroed in on then-Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray, with Gray resigning in April of 1973 after revealing that he had destroyed documents relevant to the FBI’s Watergate investigation.
How the world changes.
Today we have an Attorney General who meets in secret with the ex-President husband of a subject of an FBI investigation who also happens to be the soon-to-be Democratic nominee for president. The Director of the FBI — who made a terribly bad decision that effectively granted favored status to Hillary Clinton for her mis-handling of classified information, a status denied a number of military officials ranging from ex-Generals David Petraeus and James Cartwright (the latter of who is facing a possible five years in prison and a $250,000 fine) to those of lesser rank who made some version of the same mistake — has now changed course.
After, it should be noted, there were reports of an uproar among FBI agents who felt their Director had involved the agency in politics instead of enforcing the law equally for all.
And where now is The New York Times as the issue of corruption in the Justice Department and the White House arises yet again? Where is the paper now that news from those James O’Keefe Project Veritas videos that the husband of a member of Congress, listed as visiting the White House hundreds of times, is caught on camera boasting of ties to the Clinton campaign and the White House as it set about trying to instigate violence at Trump rallies?
Here’s a sample from this week as the news of Comey’s reversal exploded into public view. On the front page the Times reports: “Justice Dept. Strongly Discouraged Comey on Move in Clinton Email Case.”
The paper’s story began:
WASHINGTON — The day before the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, sent a letter to Congress announcing that new evidence had been discovered that might be related to the completed Hillary Clinton email investigation, the Justice Department strongly discouraged the step and told him that he would be breaking with longstanding policy, three law enforcement officials said on Saturday. Senior Justice Department officials did not move to stop him from sending the letter, officials said, but they did everything short of it, pointing to policies against talking about current criminal investigations or being seen as meddling in elections. That Mr. Comey moved ahead despite those protestations underscores the unusual nature of Friday’s revelations, which added a dramatic twist to the final days of the presidential campaign. His action reignited a firestorm that Mrs. Clinton believed she had put behind her when the F.B.I. decided in July not to charge anyone in the investigation into the handling of classified information on her private email server.
Got that? Just as Richard Nixon pressured his own Justice Department to fire the Watergate Special Prosecutor — which Richardson to his everlasting credit refused to do — so now comes the news that this time around it was the Obama Justice Department trying to pressure Comey into not sending his letter to Congress revealing the FBI’s new discoveries involving the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal. Outrage from the Times? Zero. Zip.
Now move ahead to the 21st century and the world of Social Media. Take a look at this headline from the Zero Hedge web site: "Social Media Blackout? FBI Emails Are Not 'Trending' On Twitter, Facebook, Buzzfeed, Or Snapchat"
Reports the site:
In the 24 hours since FBI Director Comey dropped perhaps the biggest bombshell of the entire Presidential campaign, sending Democrats (and media) scrambling headless-chicken-like for answers (and blame-scaping), does anyone else find it odd that 'FBI Emails' does not appear to be a hot topic, trending, big deal on any social media?
In other words? In other words, sites who have owners or editors allied with the liberal world or Hillary Clinton specifically seem mysteriously to find that the hottest topic of the moment - the renewed FBI look at the e-mails tied in to its sexting investigation of Huma Abedin soon-to-be ex-hubby Anthony Weiner — is not “trending.” Really? In a social media world which has a legendarily hair-trigger response to any story that explodes into hot public view (a Trump tape, a divorce action from Brad and Angelina to name but two examples) — and there is no reaction to the news of Director Comey’s latest decision on Hillary’s e-mail scandal? Mere days before the election.
Huh.
As noted, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It was OK with The New York Times when there was a scent of corruption from the Nixon White House and its attempt to meddle with the Justice Department. That meant
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released a statement late Thursday evening imploring the family to allow the hospital to openly discuss Jahi’s case. Hospital officials have repeatedly cited state and federal medical privacy laws in declining to comment.
“We implore the family to allow the hospital to openly discuss what has occurred and to give us the necessary legal permission — which it has been withholding — that would bring clarity, and we believe, some measure of closure and deeper understanding of this medical case,” Chief of Pediatrics David Durand said in the statement.
Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, fought through tears as she spoke to reporters after the meeting Thursday evening.
“Can’t we have her for Christmas?” Jahi’s mother said to doctors. “I told them, ‘You better not take my child off that machine. You do not have my permission.'”
Dolan and family members met with hospital officials Thursday evening to request that Jahi be kept on the ventilator at least until after the holidays, a request administrators would not agree to honor. Jahi was declared brain dead on Dec. 12, after complications from a Dec. 9 tonsil surgery.
Family members also said that they had asked the hospital for permission to bring their own doctors in to examine the girl; administrators denied that request, saying again that the girl was dead, and there would be no reason to do so.
“They keep saying she is ‘dead, dead, dead’ and I am hoping the courts will say ‘no, no, no,'” Dolan said in a Thursday night news conference. “We just saw her; she is a beautiful young lady. She responds to her mother’s touch. She is warm.”
When asked why Dolan thought the hospital was insistent on taking Jahi off the ventilator, he answered, “I don’t think they like all (the reporters) out here.”
On Thursday, Dolan again repeated a family demand that they be given full access to Jahi’s medical records. Hospital officials said Wednesday that the girl’s family had the right to see her records at any time but that the entire record would not be released to them until the hospitalization ends.
Dolan also noted that the family is very grateful for the efforts of hospital staff, and that they are angry only with the decisions being made by top hospital administrators.
“It is important (the family) conveys that they know there are very good people in that hospital right now who are caring for Jahi, bathing her, feeding her,” Dolan said. “This is not a condemnation of those who are keeping her alive.
“They are deeply angered that people in administration are trying to end her life because to them she is no longer alive.”
Jahi had tonsil surgery to help her with sleep apnea, weight gain and other health problems and began bleeding from her nose and mouth and experienced cardiac arrest later that night.
The family, however, is hoping for “divine intervention” and is asking the world to pray for the girl.
“Their faith is strong, and they need time to allow prayer to take place and to, hopefully, work to heal Jahi,” Dolan said earlier.
He added that he has been contacted by doctors who claim there are differing definitions of “brain dead”; the family wants to keep her on life support in hopes that her massive brain swelling will lessen and brain activity tests can be repeated.
Dolan said the family understands the hospital’s position that Jahi is dead and that there is no medical benefit from treating a dead person. However, they disagree with the hospital’s concept and determination of death, and say they have been inspired by accounts of patients who had been deemed “beyond hope” only to recover completely.
The family has requested that all life support and sustaining efforts to be undertaken including nutrition, hydration, skin care, medicinal management, oxygen and prophylactic antibiotics as needed.
The meeting between the family and hospital officials was their second meeting this week; the two sides met on Monday.
Contact Kristin J. Bender at [email protected]. Contact David Debolt at [email protected]. Contact Katie Nelson at [email protected].
hospital statement
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Jahi McMath. This is a tragic situation.
We want the public to know that the family has not permitted us to discuss the medical situation. We are unable — without the family’s permission — to talk about the medical procedure, background or any of the details that are a part of this tragedy. Details that would provide transparency, openness and provide answers to the public about this situation.
We implore the family to allow the hospital to openly discuss what has occurred and to give us the necessary legal permission — which it has been withholding — that would bring clarity, and we believe, some measure of closure and deeper understanding of this medical case.
Many of the statements made by the family and its attorney must be taken in the context that they will not allow CHO to discuss the case and provide the information necessary for there to be a fuller understanding.”
David Durand, M.D.
Chief of Pediatrics
Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland"Kurt Russell, such an honor to work with... P.s. One from set..." -- This pic provides our first look at Kurt Russell, the new recruit to the "Fast & Furious" series. We recently discussed how the star of "Death Proof" and "Escape From New York" was a perfect fit for the action franchise, though this pic comes as a surprise, since he, Diesel and series vet Paul Walker are dressed in suits. Maybe they just came from Hans' funeral? Things didn't look well for Hans at the end of "Furious 6" as he was seemingly blown sky high in his own car, courtesy of Jason Statham's Ian Shaw. There seems to be a lot of earnest intimacy going on in this pic... is Russell playing someone's father? We just hope he gets to drive at some point.After signing a three-year entry-level deal with the Detroit Red Wings last Thursday, Dylan Larkin scored back-to-back goals with the Grand Rapids Griffins in just his second professional game.
The Big 10 Conference Freshman of the Year followed up his first and only season at the University of Michigan with a bronze medal with Team USA at the World Championships.
Larkin was ranked 16th on ESPN Insider’s list of the Top 50 NHL Prospects, where Anthony Mantha (#28), Joe Hicketts (#31) and Axel Holmstrom (#34) were three other listed Red Wings.
Poking at Pulkkinen
With only nine AHL players ahead of him on the scoring list, Teemu Pulkkinen still lead the league in goals with 34 in just 46 games. The nine players ahead of him averaged 70 games each, with 63 played as the fewest of the nine.
Yet, Pulkkinen was not present on ESPN’s Top 50 list. It is possible that Pulkkinen is no longer labeled as a prospect having played 31 games for the Red Wings this year.
I’ll never forget this game, though.
It is believed that Red Wings GM Ken Holland has told teams league-wide that Mantha and Larkin are untouchable. It seems even Holland enjoys leaving the name Teemu Pulkkinen off of lists as well.
Even as Teemu Pulkkinen is leading the Calder Cup Playoffs with 14 goals and tied for the lead with 18 points in 12 games, he still may not be in Detroit’s plans.
With Pulkkinen becoming a restricted free agent at the end of the AHL playoffs, he will either be a Red Wing next season or be traded. The Red Wings’ won’t make the same mistake as they did with Andrej Nestrasil this past year, when he was picked up by Carolina on waivers.
The Depth “Problem”
With just eight points (5G, 3A) in his 31 games with Detroit, he hasn’t provided the Wings with enough upside to be a lock on the 2015-16 roster. Mainly due to the fact of the competition he faces within the organization and the depth chart.
Red Wings Forward Depth Chart
Henrik Zetterberg – Pavel Datsyuk – Tomas Tatar
Gustav Nyquist – Riley Sheahan – (Johan Franzen)
Tomas Jurco – Darren Helm – Justin Abdelkader
Drew Miller – Luke Glendening – Stephen Weiss
Teemu Pulkkinen – Joakim Andersson – Landon Ferraro
With Franzen’s status currently up in the air, this depth chart is pending full health of each named player.
While Nyquist, Jurco, Andersson, Ferraro and Pulkkinen are all restricted free agents, it should be expected that each of them will be extended qualifying offers from the Red Wings. A qualifying offer to Pulkkinen and Ferraro would force them to become ineligible to be freely sent down without waivers.
The bottom-line is Teemu Pulkkinen won’t make the team unless it’s in a top-six scoring role. He doesn’t provide enough size, physicality or grit to kill penalties or play the grinding role of a bottom-six forward.
So What Happens Then?
Teemu Pulkkinen gets traded.
With Mantha and Larkin labeled as untouchable, nearly every other team in the NHL would still have some interest in Teemu Pulkkinen who led the AHL in goals and was 10th for points in such little time played compared to the league.
I don’t like to speculate what team’s can get in return for players because trades come in all shapes and sizes with many different thoughts during the process. With that said, the Wings should look to move Pulkkinen for strong defensive depth or perhaps sweeten the deal with another prospect or draft pick(s) for a number two or three d-man.
To me, there are three things that could keep Pulkkinen around, his knack for scoring goals, the fact that he is a right-handed shooter and the possibility of Franzen not being ready to go by the start of the season. If Franzen isn’t ready and the Wings still have Pulkkinen, he could potentially fill Franzen’s top-six spot.
The X-Factor
The x-factor is Dylan Larkin. With all due respect to Mantha, Larkin could make
the team above both Mantha and Pulkkinen due to all he has become within the last year at just 18-years-old.
With an underachieving season, not so much a “very, very, very disappointing” season, Mantha has taken a small step back where Larkin has pushed forward.Are we standing on the brink of a new scientific revolution that will radically change our views on space, time, and gravity?
In most circumstances, the theories of Einstein and Newton adequately describe gravity, but on cosmological scales, big questions arise, particularly surrounding the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
These questions are ushering in a revolution in theoretical physics – a completely new view on spacetime and gravity. Research in string theory and black hole physics, involving key concepts of quantum information theory, reveals a deep connection between the structure of spacetime and the origin of gravity.
This research suggests that gravity is not a fundamental force of nature, but rather an emergent phenomenon, similar to how temperature is an emergent phenomenon that arises from the movement of particles. That is, gravity is a side-effect, not a cause, of what happens in the universe.
In his October 4 public lecture at Perimeter Institute, Erik Verlinde (University of Amsterdam) explored the core ideas behind this research, and examined the implications of this fast-emerging revolution in our understanding of the universe. Watch the full talk above.This is a thought experiment.
Imagine that the tiny nation of Elbonia suffers a Zombie Virus outbreak. Luckily, the virus does not spread easily, but prolonged personal contact with an infected zombie increases the odds of transmission. Once infected, the Elbonian becomes a zombie killer. As it turns out, most people are immune to the virus. Over 99% of the public have no risk of catching it. But 1% is far too many zombie killers.
Imagine we have no way to detect this Elbonian Zombie Virus infection before symptoms occur. And let’s say that the problem started in Elbonia and so far has not gone beyond its borders. There is no cure for the Elbonian Zombie Virus. So what would world health organizations do?
For starters, they would quarantine the entire nation of Elbonia to limit the damage. This is obviously unfair to all uninfected Elbonians but it is also the only practical way to protect the rest of the world. Once the quarantine is in place, the professionals can get to work on a cure.
Now here’s the interesting part. What is the functional difference between the Elbonian Zombie Virus and radical islamic terrorism? In both cases they are spread by prolonged personal contact. In both cases you have no way to identify infected people until there are symptoms. In both cases the “virus” is deadly to both the person infected and those around them.
As we often hear from political pundits, you can’t bomb an idea. And we can see for ourselves that war doesn’t eliminate the “virus” of radical Islamic terrorism. I suggest we start treating terrorism as a medical condition – specifically, like a virus that creates a mental health problem.
In earlier times, people believed mental problems were not health problems in the same way cancer is. Today we recognize that the brain is just another body part that responds to treatment. Sometimes the treatment involves counseling, sometimes drugs, sometimes lifestyle changes. We have lots of buttons we can push to see what works.
I’m fairly certain that the idea virus of radical islamic terror can also respond to mental health treatments, once we figure out the best approach. Here I am talking about using the science of persuasion, along with the tools of the mental health profession, to cure terrorism.
Is that possible, you ask? Absolutely. Generally speaking, a professional persuader with enough time can convince almost anyone of almost anything. But we haven’t tried this approach because our government has decided that terrorism is a criminal and military problem. It isn’t. It is a mental health issue. If we reframe terrorism as a mental health emergency, that frees us to approach it with medical tools and methods more appropriate to the problem.
As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The United States has tools for war and tools for diplomacy. It has no tools for treating a massive mental health issue in a distant land. But we could build those tools.
All we need to do is change our “frame” for terrorism and start treating it as a medical problem. Trump already started that process by suggesting we quarantine the United States from all Muslim immigration – which seems terribly unfair – just to avoid contact with the 1% who might be infected with the radical islamic terror virus. Trump is approaching the problem as if it were a medical emergency. First you quarantine, then you solve.
Trump also says we need to figure out why the terrorists hate us. That tells you he sees it as a mental health problem, although he hasn’t used those words. In our country, thoughts of suicide and mass murder, along with delusions of virgins in the afterlife, would be considered a mental problem and treated as such.
I have no idea whether Trump’s impressive skills at persuasion can stop radical islamic terrorism. But I do know he has the right tools for the job. We can see that already during the campaign.
Clinton’s tool box for fighting terrorism only has weapons and diplomats in it. As president, Trump would have all of that plus persuasion.
Here I pause to tell new readers that I don’t endorse Trump. And my personal views do not line up with any of the candidates on any of the issues except by coincidence in a few places.
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If you think this blog post is ridiculous, you should see my book.
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My best tweet of the year was this one:Price Checks & Improvements
Looting bag and trade screen price checks
Great Kourend Improvements
Pets should now be much more reliable at following you out of an instanced area.
You should no longer be stuck in the teleport animation after teleporting in to a crowded location.
The Cooking skillcape perk now works when cooking chompy and jubbly meat.
The bake pie spell can now be used to cook meat pies for the servery in the Hosidius house.
You no longer need to have completed the Death Plateau quest to smith Shayzien supply armour (2).
Cooking anglerfish on a fire now uses the correct animation.
The rare trees icon near the Willow patch in Hosidius has been removed as Willow trees do not classify as a rare tree.
A pair of shears on a table in the Hosidius house have moved slightly as they were inaccessible.
Some stray blocking has been removed in a building of the Piscarilius house.
The examine option for the Quest point hood has had a missing space added.
A grammatical error in a game message relating to the Magic imbue spell has been corrected.
Karambwan are now listed in the HP skill guide.
A rogue apostrophe has been removed from dialogue in the 'Shadow of the storm' quest.
Apple pies and Wines now correctly state that they are a free to play item in the HP skill guide.
The quest journal for Underground pass has had a correction made when referring to searching the Soulless' cages.
The examine message for Horned Graahks now has a space where one was missing.
A typo has been fixed in dialogue from the 'Nature spirit' quest.
The spelling of Taverley has been corrected from 'Taverly' in several places.
The Wedge now correctly states that the elite Kandarin headgear offers unlimited teleports to Sherlock, not just 3.
Inspecting the Harmony herb patch now gives a grammatically correct message.
A typo in the 'Roving Elves' quest has been corrected.
A typo in the 'Gertrude's Cat' quest has been corrected.
The message received when your Varrock platebody allows you to smelt multiple bars at once has altered to be less misleading.
The Mos Le'Harmless monkey's talk option now has more consistent capitilisation.
A missing full stop has been added to the message stating to learn the spell from the Mage Training arena.
A typo in the HP skill guide has been corrected.
The shortcuts section of the Agility skill guide is now ordered correctly.
Arceuus is now spelled correctly in the examine message on the Dark altar and the doors in the Arceuus area.
A typo in the dialogue of the Arceuus pub has been corrected.
The examine message of the soldier in the Shayzien area now correctly spells larva.
The answer to the medium challenge scroll on Port Sarim asking how many ships are docked there has been updated to reflect Veos' ship.
A typo in Aretha's dialogue has been corrected.
A signpost on Zeah has had some directions corrected.
The 'You're stunned!' message received when attempting to pickpocket is now filtered.
The World Map has been updated.
This week we've got a couple of new ways for you to keep tab on how much you are holding in a looting bag or a trade window. We've also got a whole bunch of improvements for Great Kourend, including a big buff for blast mining and making it much more rewarding for reanimating creatures all over the map!If you've been in the wilderness, stocking up on high value loot from the wilderness bosses or taking down other players, storing the loot in your looting bag, no more do you have to wonder exactly how much you are risking. Upon opening the looting bag interface you will now see a price check appear at the bottom letting you know the Grand Exchange value of everything you have stored!In addition to a price check on the looting bag, you will now be able to see the value of what you and the person you are trading have offered during trades!We have reworked the favour interface and have given it a new home. You can open the new favour interface by clicking the purple icon in the top right of the quest tab.From here you can also toggle whether or not you would like the original overlay to appear at the top of your screen and view the full task list using the 'View tasks' button.Following your feedback we have given the rewards from blast mining a buff. The new rates for experience and gp per hour are:48k xp per hour with 49k gp per hour.58k xp per hour with 497k gp per hour.64.4k xp per hour with 619k gp per hour.69.8k xp per hour with 733k gp per hour.With this big improvement to the rewards we hope to see many more of you grabbing yourselves some dynamite and getting to work in the blast mine in the future!The prayer experience given for killing creatures reanimated using the necromancy spellbook has now been doubled and the 50% bonus when killing creatures by the dark altar has been removed. This should make necromancy more rewarding overall and will give you more opportunities to take advantage of it all over the Old School map.We have also added ensouled head drops for moss, ice and fire giants.We've made some slight improvements to the mapping of Great Kourend and you should notice a few small changes on your way around the city.Discuss this update on our forumsAncient astronauts Petroglyphs from Val Camonica, Italy. Ancient astronaut proponents believe these pictures resemble modern astronauts. Claims Intelligent extraterrestrial life visited the Earth in ancient times and affected human civilization. Related scientific disciplines Archaeology Pseudoscientific concepts
"Ancient astronauts" (or "ancient aliens") refers to the pseudoscientific[1] idea that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times.[2] Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, and religions, and even human biology. A common position is that deities from most, if not all, religions are extraterrestrial in origin, and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status by early humans.[3][4]
The idea that ancient astronauts existed is not taken seriously by most academics, and has received no credible attention in peer reviewed studies.[5] Furthermore, it is argued that some ancient astronaut proponents such as Erich von Däniken have fabricated evidence and distorted the facts of archeological research.[6]
Well-known proponents in the latter half of the 20th century who have written numerous books or appear regularly in mass media include von Däniken, Zecharia Sitchin, Robert K. G. Temple, Giorgio A. Tsoukalos and David Hatcher Childress.
Overview [ edit ]
cylinder seal. Ancient astronauts proponents suggest that aliens came to Earth long ago, citing artifacts such as this ancient Mesopotamian
Proponents of the ancient astronaut hypothesis often maintain that humans are either descendants or creations of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) who landed on Earth thousands of years ago. An associated idea is that humans evolved independently, but that much of human knowledge, religion, and culture came from extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times, in that ancient astronauts acted as a "mother culture". Some ancient astronaut proponents also believe that travelers from outer space, referred to as "astronauts" (or "spacemen") built many of the structures on Earth (such as Egyptian pyramids and the Moai stone heads of Easter Island) or aided humans in building them.[7][8]
Various terms are used to reference claims about ancient astronauts, such as ancient aliens,[9] ancient ufonauts,[10] ancient space pilots,[11] paleocontact,[12] astronaut- or alien gods,[13][14] or paleo- or Bible-SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence).[15][16]
Ancient astronauts hypothesis of creation [ edit ]
Proponents argue that the evidence for ancient astronauts comes from documentary gaps in historical and archaeological records, and they also maintain that absent or incomplete explanations of historical or archaeological data point to the existence of ancient astronauts. The evidence is argued to include archaeological artifacts that they deem anachronistic, or beyond the accepted technical capabilities of the historical cultures with which they are associated. These are sometimes referred to as "out-of-place artifacts"; and include artwork and legends which are interpreted in a modern sense as depicting extraterrestrial contact or technologies.[17]
Scholars have responded that gaps in contemporary knowledge are not evidence of the existence of ancient astronauts, and that advocates have not provided any convincing anecdotal or physical evidence of an artifact that might conceivably be the product of ETI contact. According to astrophysicist Carl Sagan, "In the long litany of 'ancient astronaut' pop archaeology, the cases of apparent interest have perfectly reasonable alternative explanations, or have been misreported, or are simple prevarications, hoaxes and distortions".[18]
Hypothesis origins and proponents [ edit ]
Paleocontact or "ancient astronaut" narratives first appeared in the early science fiction of the late 19th to early 20th century. The idea was proposed in earnest by Harold T. Wilkins in 1954; it received some consideration as a serious hypothesis during the 1960s. Critics of the theory emerged throughout the 1970s, discrediting Von Daniken's theory[clarification needed]. Ufologists separated the idea from the UFO controversy. By the early 1980s little remaining support of the theory could be found.[19]
Shklovski and Sagan [ edit ]
Dogū figurine from Japan (dated 1000–400 BCE). Ancient astronaut proponents suggest that these may represent extraterrestrial visitors.
Votive relief of the winged priest of Dudu on display at the Louvre Museum, France.
In Intelligent Life in the Universe (1966) astrophysicists I. S. Shklovski and Carl Sagan devote a chapter to the argument that scientists and historians should seriously consider the possibility that extraterrestrial contact occurred during recorded history; however, Shklovski and Sagan stressed that these ideas were speculative and unproven.[20] Shklovski and Sagan argued that sub-lightspeed interstellar travel by extraterrestrial life was a certainty when considering technologies that were established or feasible in the late 1960s;[21] that repeated instances of extraterrestrial visitation to Earth were plausible;[22] and that pre-scientific narratives can offer a potentially reliable means of describing contact with aliens.
Sagan illustrates this hypothesis by citing the 1786 expedition of French explorer Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, which made the earliest first contact between European and Tlingit cultures. The contact story was preserved as an oral tradition by the preliterate Tlingit. Over a century after its occurrence it was then recorded by anthropologist George T. Emmons. Although it is framed in a Tlingit cultural and spiritual paradigm, the story remained an accurate telling of the 1786 encounter. According to Sagan, this proved how "under certain circumstances, a brief contact with an alien civilization will be recorded in a re-constructible manner. He further states that the reconstruction will be greatly aided if 1) the account is committed to written record soon after the event; 2) a major change is effected in the contacted society; and 3) no attempt is made by the contacting civilization to disguise its exogenous nature."[23]
Additionally, Shklovski and Sagan cited tales of Oannes, a fishlike being attributed with teaching agriculture, mathematics, and the arts to early Sumerians, as deserving closer scrutiny as a possible instance of paleocontact due to its consistency and detail.[24]
In his 1979 book Broca's Brain, Sagan suggested that he and Shklovski might have inspired the wave of 1970s ancient astronaut books, expressing disapproval of "von Däniken and other uncritical writers" who seemingly built on these ideas not as guarded speculations but as "valid evidence of extraterrestrial contact."[25] Sagan argued that while many legends, artifacts, and purported out-of-place artifacts were cited in support of ancient astronaut hypotheses, "very few require more than passing mention" and could be easily explained with more conventional hypotheses. Sagan also reiterated his earlier conclusion that extraterrestrial visits to Earth were possible but unproven, and improbable.[26]
Erich von Däniken [ edit ]
Erich von Däniken was a leading proponent of this hypothesis in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gaining a large audience through the 1968 publication of his best-selling book Chariots of the Gods? and its sequels.
According to von Däniken, certain artifacts require a more sophisticated technological ability in their construction than that which was available to the ancient cultures who constructed them. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were constructed either directly by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from said visitors. These include Stonehenge, Pumapunku, the Moai of Easter Island, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and the ancient Baghdad electric batteries.
Von Däniken writes that ancient art and iconography throughout the world illustrates air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, ancient astronauts, and artifacts of an anachronistically advanced technology. Von Däniken also states that geographically separated historical cultures share artistic themes, which he argues imply a common origin. One such example is von Däniken's interpretation of the sarcophagus lid recovered from the tomb of the Classic-era Maya ruler of Palenque, Pacal the Great. Von Däniken writes that the design represented a seated astronaut. The iconography and accompanying Maya text, however, identifies it as a portrait of the ruler himself with the World Tree of Maya mythology.
The origins of many religions are interpreted by von Däniken as reactions to encounters with an alien race. According to his view, humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. Von Däniken states that the oral and written traditions of most religions contain references to alien visitors in the way of descriptions of stars and vehicular objects travelling through air and space. One such is Ezekiel's revelation in the Old Testament, which Däniken interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft (The Spaceships of Ezekiel).
Von Däniken's hypotheses became popularized in the U.S. after the NBC-TV documentary In Search Of Ancient Astronauts hosted by Rod Serling and the film Chariots of the Gods.
Critics argue that von Däniken misrepresented data, that many of his claims were unfounded, and that none of his core claims have been validated.[27] In particular the Christian creationist community is highly critical of many of von Däniken's work. Young Earth creationist author Clifford A. Wilson published Crash Go the Chariots in 1972 in which he attempted to discredit all the claims made in Chariots of the Gods.[28]
Zecharia Sitchin [ edit ]
Zecharia Sitchin's series The Earth Chronicles, beginning with The 12th Planet, revolves around Sitchin's unique interpretation of ancient Sumerian and Middle Eastern texts, megalithic sites, and artifacts from around the world.[29][30] He hypothesizes that the gods of old Mesopotamia were astronauts from the planet "Nibiru", which Sitchin states the Sumerians believed to be a remote "12th planet" (counting the Sun, Moon, and Pluto as planets) associated with the god Marduk. According to Sitchin, Nibiru continues to orbit our sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit. Modern astronomy has found no evidence to support Sitchin's ideas.[29]
Sitchin argues that there are Sumerian texts which tell the story that 50 Anunnaki, inhabitants of a planet named Nibiru, came to Earth approximately 400,000 years ago with the intent of mining raw materials, especially gold, for transport back to Nibiru. With their small numbers they soon grew tired of the task and set out to genetically engineer laborers to work the mines. After much trial and error they eventually created Homo sapiens sapiens: the "Adapa" (model man) or Adam of later mythology. Sitchin contended the Anunnaki were active in human affairs until their culture was destroyed by global catastrophes caused by the abrupt end of the last ice age some 12,000 years ago. Seeing that humans survived and all they had built was destroyed, the Anunnaki left Earth after giving humans the opportunity and means to govern themselves. Sitchin's work has not received mainstream scholarly support and has been roundly criticized by professionals that have reviewed his hypotheses. Semitic languages scholar Michael S. Heiser says that many of Sitchin's translations of Sumerian and Mesopotamian words are not consistent with Mesopotamian cuneiform bilingual dictionaries, produced by ancient Akkadian scribes.[31][32][33]
Alan F. Alford, author of Gods of the New Millennium (1996), was an adherent of the ancient astronaut hypothesis. Much of his work draws on Sitchin's hypotheses. However, he now finds fault with Sitchin's hypothesis after deeper analysis, stating that: "I am now firmly of the opinion that these gods personified the falling sky; in other words, the descent of the gods was a poetic rendition of the cataclysm myth which stood at the heart of ancient Near Eastern religions."[34]
Robert Temple [ edit ]
Robert K. G. Temple's 1976 book, The Sirius Mystery argues that the Dogon people of northwestern Mali preserved an account of extraterrestrial visitation from around 5,000 years ago. He quotes various lines of evidence, including advanced astronomical knowledge inherited by the tribe, descriptions, and comparative belief systems with ancient civilizations such as ancient Egypt and Sumer. His work draws heavily on the studies of cultural anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen.[35]
His conclusions have been criticized by scientists, who point out discrepancies within Temple's account, and suggested that the Dogon may have received some of their astronomical information recently, probably from European sources, and may have misrepresented Dogon ethnography.[36][37][38]
UFO religions [ edit ]
Various new religious movements including some branches of theosophy, Scientology, Raëlism, and Heaven's Gate believe in ancient and present-day contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Many of these faiths see both ancient scriptures and recent revelations as connected with the action of aliens from other planetary systems. Psychologists have found that UFO religions have similarities which suggest that members of these groups consciously or subliminally associate enchantment with the memes of science fiction.[39]
Evidence cited by proponents [ edit ]
Among scientists, the consensus is that the ancient astronaut hypothesis is not per se wrong, but unnecessary. The "mysteries" cited as evidence for the hypothesis can be explained without having to invoke ancient astronauts; proponents look for mysteries where none exist.[6] Since ancient astronauts are unnecessary, Occam's razor should be applied and the hypothesis rejected according to the scientific consensus.[40]
Ancient religious texts [ edit ]
Proponents cite ancient mythologies to support their viewpoints based on the idea that ancient creation myths of gods who descend from the heavens to Earth to create or instruct humanity are representations of alien visitors, whose superior technology accounts for their perception as gods. Proponents draw an analogy to occurrences in modern times when isolated cultures are exposed to Western technology, such as when, in the early 20th century, "cargo cults" were discovered in the South Pacific: cultures who believed various Western ships and their cargo to be sent from the gods as fulfillment of prophecies concerning their return.[41]
The ancient Sumerian myth of Enûma Eliš, inscribed on cuneiform tablets and part of the Library of Ashurbanipal, says humankind was created to serve gods called the "Annunaki". Hypothesis proponents believe that the Annunaki were aliens who came to earth to mine gold for their own uses. According to the Enuma Elish story, the Annunaki realized mining gold was taking a toll on their race, and then created the human race as slaves.[Cited 1]
The scholar of Christ mythicism Dorothy Murdock criticized ancient astronauts theories, asserting that they "may be prompted by the same type of motivation that produced the Bible, a chronicle largely consisting of the plagiarized myths of other cultures" refashioned as historical facts concerning purported historical characters, and may be driven by the attempt to validate Biblical mythology as historical under a new pseudo-scientific interpretation.[42]
Ramayana [ edit ]
In Hindu mythology, the gods and their avatars travel from place to place in flying vehicles (see Vimana). There are many mentions of these flying machines in the Ramayana, which used by Tamil king Ravana from Sri Lanka dates to the 5th or 4th century BCE. Below are some examples:
From Book 6, Canto CXXIII: The Magic Car:[43]
Is not the wondrous chariot mine,
Named Pushpak, wrought by hands divine.
…
This chariot, kept with utmost care,
Will waft thee through the fields of air,
And thou shalt light unwearied down
In fair Ayodhyá's royal town.
From Book 6, Canto CXXIV: The Departure:[43]
Swift through the air, as Ráma chose,
The wondrous car from earth arose.
And decked with swans and silver wings
Bore through the clouds its freight of kings.
Erich von Däniken discusses the Ramayana and the vimanas in Chapter 6 of Chariots of the Gods? suggesting that they were "space vehicles". To support his hypothesis, he offers a quotation which he says is from an 1889 translation of the Mahabharata by C. Roy: "Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm".[44][45]
Book of Genesis and Book of Enoch [ edit ]
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 6 verses 1-2 and 4, states:
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
...
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them.
— Genesis 6:1–4 (New International Version)
Many Christians consider these groups to be the different families of Adam and Eve's children. Another interpretation is that the Nephilim are the children of the "sons of God" and "daughters of humans", although scholars are uncertain.[46] The King James Version translates "Nephilim" as "giants" (or Gibborim). Ancient
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-style cabana rental.
“We have established an exciting mixed use commercial/residential development plan, which includes a complete refurbishment of the waterpark, which is already underway, plus a new Executive Hotel," Joe Ennis, director of services at Executive, said in a statement.
"We will be open for business this summer and look forward to welcoming back all of the waterpark’s loyal guests, as well as thousands of new guests to experience the rejuvenated Big Splash waterpark experience,” Ennis said in a release.
The Big Splash Waterpark is also planning new slide installations for the 2018 season.
An exact official opening date for the new waterpark has not been released.Federal agents raided the offices of Celerity Educational Group — a Los Angeles-based organization that runs a network of charter schools both in Southern California and Louisiana — on Wednesday, KPCC has confirmed.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Education, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office in L.A. were involved in the raid, which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times. The Times also reported a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman confirmed his agency's involvement in the raid.
"Celerity has been informed of this investigation and looks forward to cooperatively addressing any concerns raised by the investigating agencies," said Stefan Friedman, a Celerity spokesman, in a prepared statement. "Regardless, Celerity will continue to pursue the high educational standards of which it has always been proud."
The warrants for the raid are under seal, meaning federal officials have not explicitly informed Celerity representatives of the nature of the allegations they're investigating.
L.A. Unified School District officials, who currently oversee six of the seven California schools in Celerity's network, have recently raised concerns about ties between Celerity Educational Group; its former CEO, Vielka McFarlane; and a related entity: Celerity Global Development.
According to district documents, in 2012, the governing board for Celerity Educational Group handed over perhaps as much as $2.3 million in cash reserves over to Celerity Global, along with "day-to-day management" of the schools and effective control over the Educational Group's board. After the changes, district officials said it was no longer clear which charter schools employees actually worked for Celerity Global and which worked for Celerity Educational Group.
"As a result of these changes … Global is the organization that actually manages the charter school," L.A. Unified charter officials wrote last October — but, district officials said, Celerity never informed the district of the changes. When L.A. Unified officials requested what they believed to be "basic information" about the governance arrangements, it found the school's responses to be insufficient.
Among the things L.A. Unified officials said Celerity leaders couldn't adequately explain: checks totaling $5.6 million dollars written from Celerity Educational Group to Celerity Global and other entities with similar names.
McFarlane, who founded the network, is one link between Celerity Global and Celerity Educational Group. Tax forms from both organizations list her name — and district officials raised concerns her involvement in both organizations could raise potential conflicts of interest.
Though McFarlane has "removed herself from positions within [Celerity Educational Group]," district officials wrote, "checks were identified with her as an authorized signatory which suggests that she continues to be involved with the fiscal operations of the Celerity schools."
The district also flagged transfers of funds between Celerity's L.A.-area campuses, Celerity Educational Group, Celerity Global and yet another related entity, Celerity Development, LLC. District officials said neither Celerity Global nor Celerity Development, LLC, have disclosed their "financials" since Fiscal Year 2011-12.
"When Petitioner [Celerity Educational Group] refuses to provide basic information about the affiliated entity," officials in L.A. Unified's Charter Schools Division concluded last October, "it precludes a full assessment of whether conflicts of interests [sic] exist and calls into serious question the practices of the organizations."
As a result of these concerns, district officials recommended in October the L.A. Unified board decline to renew the charters for two Celerity schools — the Dyad campus in South L.A. and the Troika campus in Eagle Rock. Board members agreed by a 6-0 vote.
Charter schools receive public funding, but are operated by independent groups — non-profit organizations, mostly — not school districts. The charter group must apply to an "authorizer" — a local school district, county Office of Education or the State Board of Education — for permission to open. In exchange for freedom from some state public school regulations, the schools must apply to their authorizer every few years to renew their charters in order to remain open.
The Compton Unified School District oversees a seventh Celerity school. Celerity Educational Group is also linked with four charter schools in Louisiana.The Sims 4 doesn't have a story mode but you can create your own. For one of my sims, I chose to give him the geek, genius, and perfectionist
The Sims 4 doesn't have a story mode but you can create your own. For one of my sims, I chose to give him the geek, genius, and perfectionist traits as well as a job in the tech guru career. My goal with him was to work his way into the professional gaming branch. Using a combination of skill leveling and mood management, I was able to get my sim to the top of his field. Now all that sim does is livestream games and go into the office occasionally. Right now I have four different saves and they all have different goals I want them to complete. The one I am playing right now is the Grand Vampire, Best Selling Author, Criminal, Mother sim. This is the first sims game where console players can play as a vampire, at least from my knowledge, and it definitely Improved my experience. There are so many pros to being a vampire that I find myself making all of my sims vampires now. When you are a vampire there is no bladder or food needs. So your main focus is hygiene, social, fun, thirst, and your vampire energy. Social, hygiene, and fun can become no issue when you level up your vampire high enough to purchase the vampire traits that would keep those needs filled, leaving you with only thirst and vampire energy. This frees up tons of time for your sim to level up their skills uninterrupted aside from the occasional “drink.”
As far as the gameplay goes, it is pretty much the same as the previous Sims. Compared to The Sims 3 on console, they have added a number of new skills and that does change the game up some. The different neighborhoods is also nice because each neighborhood has its own personality and feel to them. When it comes down to the gameplay as a whole, it feels like the previous versions of The Sims that I grew up playing and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Like the old saying, "if it ain't broke, then don’t fix it" and I personally think what the developers are doing with The Sims is working just fine. If there is something that I do not agree with, it is the prices of the expansions. When you look on the PSN Store, you will see that getting all of them will cost you over $100. But then again, that's just me when it comes DLC and expansions in general. I have no issue with people spending additional money on a game if they are enjoying it and can afford it.
There are multiple games that I have yet to play in my backlog but I still find myself playing The Sims 4. Even though I am enjoying myself with this game, there are some issues with it. The main issue I have is that there are various glitches. Some glitches that I encountered while playing were tasks getting stuck in queue, the choice wheel not coming up when selecting an object, and traveling as a bat. When trying to cancel a task, it would get stuck and not remove from the queue. The task would just sit there no matter how many times I tried to cancel or overwrite it by selecting a new task. As for the choice wheel not coming up, it would happen at random times and there did not seem to be any specific actions that would trigger it. In order to get past these two issues, I would have my sim travel somewhere using their phone. When it comes to vampires, they have three alternative ways of getting around. I experienced no issues with the super speed or mist form, but when it came to moving as a bat there was one major problem. My sim would fly to work during the day and when they arrived it was like they were still standing outside because their energy would continually drop. Luckily my sim did not die, but it was annoying to have to hibernate to get all that energy back. One extra thing I have an issue with is the loading screens. There is a loading screen for everything. I can understand them needing a loading screen for visiting different neighborhoods but there is a loading screen for visiting your neighbor that lives on the same street. These are just some of the issues I came across while playing. I found myself keeping my sim at home and buying things just to avoid a loading screen a lot of the time. Hopefully in future iterations they find a way to reduce the number of loading screens, I do not recall The Sims 3 having so many loading screens but maybe that is just because I have not played the game in a long time.
I do enjoying playing The Sims 4 because there are so many different ways that you can play. The base game alone gives you 10 different careers to choose from and the expansions only further those options. From being able to choose your career path to creating different backstories and looks for you sim, I would say that The Sims 4 is definitely worth a play. Even with the various issues I came across during my playthrough, I would say the good definitely outweighs the bad. So if you are a fan of The Sims franchise or just someone looking for a casual simulation game, then I would say that The Sims 4 is a game worth picking up.
…Prep Time: 25 minutes (includes cooling time)
Cook Time: 60 minutes (for bread and pudding)
This dish is good for dessert after any meal. Apples and cinnamon make such a delicious combination of flavors. My mom used to make this at Thanksgiving and I so enjoyed this as a child and it was one of the family traditions I have continued. You can use any kind of apples, but Granny Smiths are the ones mom used to always use. Remember-- always make sure you use the best ingredients. Don't substitute for lesser quality, and you will never have a flop.
Ingredients for Apple Cinnamon Bread:
2 Medium Granny Smith apples peeled and chopped
1 Tablespoon water
3/4 Cups of unbleached flour
1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 Cups of brown maple sugar
3/4 Teaspoon baking soda
3/4 Teaspoon sea salt
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon of nutmeg
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla 2 Ener-G egg replacer
1/4 Cup of refined rice bran oil
1/2 Cup applesauce 1 Cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 Cup of applesauce
1/2 Cup raisins or cranberries(optional)
Ingredients for topping:
3 Cups of coconut milk
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of all spice
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon of maple syrup
2 Tablespoon of brown rice or date sugar
1/2 Cup of chopped walnuts
Cooking Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Place peeled and chopped apples in a microwave safe bowl.
3. Add the water and microwave for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
4. Combine apples to all the remaining bread ingredients and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour mixture into the greased loaf pan.
6. Bake for 40 minutes (until a knife put into the cake comes out clean).
7. Take out of oven, place on a wire rack and let stand for 15 minutes.
8. Cut bread into cubes about 1 inch thick and place in a baking dish.
9. Combine the ingredients for the bread pudding in a bowl.
10. Pour the pudding mixture over the cubed bread.
11. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until the liquid begins to bubble.
12. Remove from heat and let stand. Don't worry if there is still some liquid in the pan, it will become absorbed once you let the dessert sit.
This is great with vegan ice cream on the side or as a topper.
Image from Flickr.comMinister says yes to Baffinland, sends Mary River Phase 2 proposal to the NIRB
By NUNATSIAQ NEWS
(Updated 6:45 a.m., July 15)
Bernard Valcourt, the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, has sided with Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. in its dispute with the Nunavut Planning Commission.
In a letter dated July 13, Valcourt exempted Baffinland’s ambitious “Phase 2” proposal for the expansion of iron ore production and shipping at the Mary River mine from the North Baffin Regional Land Use Plan.
At the same time, he referred the proposal directly to the Nunavut Impact Review Board.
This follows a decision by the NPC this past April that rejected Baffinland’s proposal.
Under the new scheme, filed in November 2014, Baffinland would increase iron ore production from an annual maximum of 4.2 million metric tons of iron ore per year to a annual maximum of 12 million metric tons.
That means an expansion of their shipping season from ice-free months only — roughly June to October — to a 10-month period stretching between June and March each year, including the November to March period when ice forms on Eclipse Sound.
To do that, Baffinland proposes 150 voyages a year, floating fuel storage, ice management vessels and a big increase in haul truck traffic along the tote road between Milne Inlet and Mary River.
The NPC found the expansion plan’s potential impact on sea ice does not conform to the North Baffin Regional Land Use Plan.
But Baffinland, citing a provision in Article 11 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, reacted by asking Valcourt to exempt the proposal from the land use planning process, a request that the Qikiqtani Inuit Association immediately opposed.
This week, Baffinland got their answer — and it’s a yes.
Valcourt defended his decision by arguing that exempting the project from the land use plan is in line with the intent of the NLCA
“The ability to exempt a project proposal from the requirement that it conform to the applicable land use plan is an important part of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement’s integrated system of resource management,” Valcourt said.
Article 11.5.11 of the NLCA states that if the NPC determines a proposal does not conform to a land use plan, the developer may ask the minister for an exemption.
The minister is allowed to grant the exemption request as long as they make written reasons available to the NPC and to the public.
In those reasons, Valcourt rejected submissions from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., who each said an exemption would be inconsistent with the intent of the NLCA.
“First, it is difficult to see how a process explicitly included within a regulatory scheme could be inconsistent with the intent of that scheme. Second, a ministerial exemption does not bypass or circumvent the planning commission,” Valcourt said.
Valcourt also cited a leaked letter from Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna that suggested numerous jobs and economic benefits are at stake.
Taptuna told Valcourt that if the Mary River project fails, at least 260 jobs and millions in wages and benefits could be lost.
And Baffinland — beset by plunging iron ore prices — has already said the economic viability of the Mary River project depends on their Phase 2 expansion project going forward.
“Delays are costly to us all, and good opportunities can disappear,” Valcourt said.
Another option available to Baffinland was to ask the planning commission for an amendment to the North Baffin Regional Land Use Plan.
But Valcourt said that process would be too unwieldy and might raise broader issues not related to Baffinland’s specific proposal.
He also said the North Baffin Regional Land Use Plan is likely to be soon replaced by the NPC’s Nunavut-wide land use plan, which is entering its final stages.
On that point, Valcourt said the Hamlet of Pond Inlet does not support the idea of a land use plan amendment and wants Baffinland’s proposal to go directly to the NIRB.
“I understand the Mayor and Hamlet of Pond Inlet share the view that the impact assessment process is the best way to proceed, and would give community members and effective forum to consider and provide input on the project proposal in a timely manner,” Valcourt said.
July 13 land use exemption decision by Bernard ValcourtTHE HAGUE (Reuters) - Chemical weapons experts have determined that mustard gas was used in a Syrian town where Islamic State insurgents were battling another rebel group, according to a report by an international watchdog seen by Reuters.
Rebel fighters take positions at the frontline during what they said were clashes with Islamic State militants in the town of Marea in Aleppo's countryside October 3, 2014. REUTERS/Rami Zayat
A confidential Oct. 29 report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a summary of which was shown to Reuters, concluded “with the utmost confidence that at least two people were exposed to sulfur mustard” in the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, on Aug. 21.
“It is very likely that the effects of sulfur mustard resulted in the death of a baby,” it said.
The findings provide the first official confirmation of use of sulfur mustard, commonly known as mustard gas, in Syria since it agreed to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, which included sulfur mustard.
The report did not mention Islamic State, as the fact-finding mission was not mandated to assign blame, but diplomatic sources said the chemical had been used in the clashes between Islamic State and another rebel group taking place in the town at the time.
“It raises the major question of where the sulfur mustard came from,” one source said. “Either they (IS) gained the ability to make it themselves, or it may have come from an undeclared stockpile overtaken by IS. Both are worrying options.”
Syria is supposed to have completely surrendered the toxic chemicals 18 months ago. Their use violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
In a statement to Reuters, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the OPCW released three reports to member states on Oct. 29, adding “two of these reports are very disturbing. The OPCW has confirmed (chemical weapons) use in one investigation, and concluded likely use in a second.”
In addition to the incident involving the mustard agent, Kirby said, the OPCW confirmed that toxic chemicals, probably containing chlorine, were used in opposition-controlled territory in Idlib Province.
“Witnesses reported hearing helicopters overhead at the time the chemical munitions exploded. Only the Assad regime has helicopters,” he said, referring to President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The reports, which will be formally presented to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon later this month, add to a growing body of evidence that the Islamic State group has obtained, and is using, chemical weapons in both Iraq and Syria.
“If it is determined that a non-state actor such as ISIL was also using chemical weapons, such use would be consistent with ISIL’s record of complete disregard for human rights and international norms and values,” Kirby said, using an alternate acronym for Islamic State.
Kurdish authorities said earlier this month that Islamic State fighters fired mortar rounds containing mustard agent at Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq during clashes in August. They said blood samples taken from about 35 fighters who were exposed in the attack southwest of the regional capital of Erbil showed “signatures” of mustard gas.
SPECIAL SESSION
A team of OPCW experts has been sent to Iraq to confirm the findings and is expected to obtain its own samples later this month, one diplomat said.
A special session has been called by the OPCW’s 41-member Executive Council to discuss the Syrian findings and it will be held in The Hague on Nov. 23, sources at the OPCW told Reuters.
Sulfur mustard - which causes severe delayed burns to the eyes, skin and lungs - is a so-called Schedule 1 chemical agent, meaning it has few uses outside warfare.
Another report by the OPCW fact-finding mission to Syria said the team had so far been unable to substantiate claims from the Syrian government that its forces had been targeted by insurgents using chemical weapons.
The mission “cannot confidently determine whether or not a chemical was used as a weapon” by militants in the Jober area on Aug. 29, 2014, it said.
Syria agreed in September 2013 to destroy its entire chemical weapons program under a deal negotiated with the United States and Russia after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
The last of 1,300 tonnes of chemical weapons declared to the OPCW was handed over in June 2014, but several Western governments have expressed doubt that Assad’s government declared its entire arsenal.
Rebel fighters take positions at the frontline during what they said were clashes with Islamic State militants in the town of Marea in Aleppo's countryside October 3, 2014. REUTERS/Rami Zayat
With Syria’s civil war in its fifth year, chlorine has also been used illegally in systematic attacks against civilians, the OPCW found.
In the Idlib province south of Aleppo, the report said, there were several incidents between March and May of 2015 that “likely involved the use of one or more toxic chemicals”.
A U.N.-OPCW joint investigative mission has been assigned to determine who was behind those attacks.Some UK politicians are trying once again to pass mass surveillance laws after the Paris attacks. It's a misguided approach, says a computing researcher
(Image: Amer Ghazzal /Demotix/Press Association Images)
In response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, the UK government is redoubling its efforts to engage in mass surveillance.
Prime minister David Cameron wants to reintroduce the so-called snoopers’ charter – properly, the Communications Data Bill – which would compel telecoms companies to keep records of all internet, email and cellphone activity. He also wants to ban encrypted communications services.
Cameron seems to believe terrorist attacks can be prevented if only mass surveillance, by the UK’s intelligence-gathering centre GCHQ and the US National Security Agency, reaches the degree of perfection portrayed in his favourite TV dramas, where computers magically pinpoint the bad guys. Computers don’t work this way in real life and neither does mass surveillance.
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Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly, who murdered 17 people, were known to the French security services and considered a serious threat. France has blanket electronic surveillance. It didn’t avert what happened.
Imperfect information
Police, intelligence and security systems are imperfect. They process vast amounts of imperfect intelligence data and do not have the resources to monitor all known suspects 24/7. The French authorities lost track of these extremists long enough for them to carry out their murderous acts. You cannot fix any of this by treating the entire population as suspects and then engaging in suspicionless, blanket collection and processing of personal data.
Mass data collectors can dig deeply into anyone’s digital persona but don’t have the resources to do so with everyone. Surveillance of the entire population, the vast majority of whom are innocent, leads to the diversion of limited intelligence resources in pursuit of huge numbers of false leads. Terrorists are comparatively rare, so finding one is a needle in a haystack problem. You don’t make it easier by throwing more needleless hay on the stack.
It is statistically impossible for total population surveillance to be an effective tool for catching terrorists.
Even if your magic terrorist-catching machine has a false positive rate of 1 in 1000 – and no security technology comes anywhere near this – every time you asked it for suspects in the UK it would flag 60,000 innocent people.
Law enforcement and security services need to be able to move with the times, use modern digital technologies intelligently and through targeted data preservation – not a mass surveillance regime – to engage in court-supervised technological surveillance of individuals whom they have reasonable cause to suspect. That is not, however, the same as building an infrastructure of mass surveillance.
Mass surveillance makes the job of the security services more difficult and the rest of us less secure.All of the letters of our alphabet can be found in one powerful symbol.
Before showing how each letter can be formed, let’s first explore the symbol. Here it is in its most basic form.
This is the 8-spoked wheel. It is of incredible spiritual and religious significance for different peoples around the world.
It marks the 8 festivals of the turning of the year for pagan Celts.
Basing itself on this deep and mysterious connection between the Source of our individual lives and the source of the life of the planet, Druidry recognises eight particular times during the yearly cycle which are significant and which are marked by eight special festivals. Of these eight times, four are solar and four are lunar – creating thereby a balanced scheme of interlocking masculine and feminine observances. The solar observances are the ones that most people associate with modern-day Druids – particularly the Summer Solstice ceremonies at Stonehenge. ~ druidry.org
It is sometimes known as the Taranis Wheel:
The name Taranis derives from the Celtic (or Indo-European) root ‘taran’ meaning thunderer or thunder. A bronze figurine was found in Le Chatelet, France and is dated to the 1st to 2nd century BCE. It shows a wise, patriarchal being holding a lightning bolt and a solar wheel. As one who grew up in the Western traditions, this figure is almost instantly recognizable as Jupiter, only the solar wheel giving away the fact that this is a Celtic and not a Roman figure. ~ druidry.org
It is the wheel of Dharma for Buddhists, representing cycles of reincarnation and the 8-fold path of enlightenment. It’s a wheel for steering your ship through life.
The Buddha was the one who “turned the wheel of the dharma” and thus the wheel symbol is the Dharmachakra, or “wheel of law.” The Tibetan term for this symbol, chos kyi’khor lo, means “the wheel of transformation.” ~ religionfacts.com
If it was not clear enough yet, the wheel almost always represents the sun.
Another connection between the chariot wheel and the sun is seen with the Greeks, with Apollo carrying the sun in his chariot.
The symbol can be seen alongside the Assyrian sun god Shamash.
It is seen in St. Peter’s “Square” in the Vatican.
And on some “light of the world” symbols.
The letters for IXOYE have been shown to derive from the 6-pointed (Icthys) wheel.
But you will see they can easily be formed with the 8-pointed wheel as well.
There’s much, much more that could be said about this symbol’s history and significance, but the point of this article is to show you how all of the letters of our alphabet can be derived from it.
I added a few well-known symbols at the end. This all just dawned on me, so there are no other fancy graphics or videos (yet), just a computer print out with my crude markings. Some of the letters could be formed in a few different ways, such as the E looking like the one seen in the IXOYE image previously.
Do you think this is all a coincidence? I don’t. Many of the letters are perfectly formed, and none of them are even “questionable” or a stretch of the imagination. I honestly cannot believe this did not come to me, or anyone else, sooner. Perhaps others have already revealed how our letters emanate from the sun wheel, but I cannot find any clear precedent in my searches.
However, I did get a few very interesting tweets after I posted the alphabet on Twitter.
Instead of telling you what you ought to think about this all, I would like to ask you to let me know what you think. Is the sun-wheel the true basis of our alphabet? If so, who did the crafting and why? Who knows about this today and why would they keep it secret from the rest of us?
Please let me know in the comments.Mike Skinner signed off what was to be his final interview as the Streets with the comment: "I've got fans with a lot of tattoos, you know." It got him thinking. Why would anyone get an artist inked on to their skin? How do they feel years later if their fandom has slipped? And why the hell would anyone want Bruce Springsteen in 3D glasses tattooed anywhere on their body? He wanted answers. And so, as part of his guardian.co.uk/music takeover, he sent Rosie Swash on the hunt for people with band tats. Here's what she discovered...
Ryan Duffy, 28, New York, originally from New Jersey
Tattoo: Bruce Springsteen on calf
The Boss enjoying Avatar in 3D, perhaps? Photograph: guardian.co.uk/music
I've thought about getting a Springsteen tattoo since I was 18 and moved from NJ to NYC. I'd always thought about a Bruce tattoo because growing up in Jersey, he was a huge part of my childhood. He was handed down to me from my Dad. The design went through various iterations in my brain: "Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny" across my chest, a simple Jersey state outline with a Bruce banner across, etc. But I never got around to it until I was 25.
My friend Scott Campbell is an unbelievably talented artist who got his start tattooing, but has since moved on to fine art. He's hands down the best tattooist I've ever come across. Anyway, he sent out a note to a group of friends saying that he was preparing a piece for Art Basel in Miami and did we want to get our favorite celebrities tattooed on us, by him, for free. Only catch was they had to be wearing 3D glasses, which obviously wasn't a catch for me at all. So Bruce is part of a larger 3D-glasses-clad army: Frankenstein, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, etc.
The Boss reminds me of everything I loved – and still love – about New Jersey. Bruce obviously became a bit fashionable a few years ago with bands such as Arcade Fire and the Hold Steady citing him as an influence, but the reasons for it are undeniable: unbelievable songwriting, evocative lyrics and an enduring image.
That said, most folks love the tattoo, but some people seem to think it's the guy from Loverboy, which is OK too, because its a nice litmus test. If you can't tell the difference between the Boss and the guy from Loverboy, you can fuck right off. Do I regret getting it done? No, I love it.
Natalie Briscoe, 26, teacher, from the Wirral
Tattoo: Modern Life Is Rubbish (Blur) on left wrist
A no-nonsense reminder of teenage fandom Photograph:guardian.co.uk/music
Although the album Modern Life Is Rubbish was released in 1993, I only had this tattoo done a few weeks ago. I like tattoos that mean something to people, rather than just a random picture or symbol, and I've been a huge Blur fan since I was eight. I grew up listening to them. Not only was I too young to see them the first time round, but I was struck down with ME when I was 11 and was housebound for many months. It took years to get my life back. While I was recovering, I used to play Modern Life Is Rubbish all the time; it made a horrible time more bearable. Plus, the older I get, the more I understand how true the saying is.
I finally got to see Blur play Manchester in 2009 when they re-formed, which was an amazing night. It seemed fitting to make Blur a permanent fixture on my body, but it took me a while to get it done. I just decided one day to go ahead, so my decision was pretty spontaneous – but the idea had been in my head for a long time. I played around with fonts first because I wanted it to look a specific way and asked my Dad which type he preferred. My Dad is pretty laidback and he likes all my tattoos. My Mum was convinced I was going to get blood poisoning. She appreciates it, but she still doesn't like tattoos. But I don't have any regrets at all about getting this done. I love it.
Bryce Franich, 29 years old, from Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Tattoo: Willie Nelson, right arm
Bryce models... Bryce? Willie Nelson? Photograph: guardian.co.uk
About four years ago one of my good friends was working at a tattoo shop in Brooklyn. I spent a lot of time there and the owner (who couldn't remember my name) kept calling me Wyoming Willie because of my resemblance to Willie Nelson. My buddy thought that would be a hilarious tattoo and drew it up. He said he would never tattoo me again if I didn't get it right then and there... so I did.
My tattoo is also a self portrait, although it's commonly (and fittingly) mistaken for Willie Nelson. And honestly, what isn't there to love about Willie Nelson? He was just busted for pot possession – again! – and apparently with no real legal repercussions. His weed knocked Toby Keith and Johnny Knoxville on their asses. He declared bankruptcy while owing something like $1.5m to the IRS, then put out "The IRS Tapes". And with all proceeds going directly to the IRS the debt was payed off in three years! Amazing.
I've never met Willie but I've seen him play a handful of times, including last year in Wyoming. I sat at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (where he played in the 70s) for a couple of hours hoping he'd come in for a beer. No such luck. I don't regret my tattoo at all, most tattoos I love started as the absolute worst ideas.
Tony Sylvester, 37, label manager, writer, and singer in a band called 33, from London.
Tattoo: Johnny Cash/C.R.E.A.M.
Johnny Cash Rules Everything Around Me Photograph: guardian.co.uk/music
It was either me or tattooist Chad Koeplinger who came up
with the idea; Johnny Cash came first and the Wu-Tang Clan pun seemed too good to resist – C.R.E.A.M. stands for Cash Rules Everything Around Me, from 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album. It works because it appeals to my sense of humour, and I have a genuine reverence for both parties. There's something nice about making hitherto unseen connections through lightheartedness.
It probably took me minutes to decide to get it done, certainly less time than it took to do the actual tattoo. Why Cash and Wu-Tang? I admire the simplicity of Johnny's delivery and arrangements and the moral ambiguity in his storytelling; sometimes sacred, sometimes profane,
always entertaining. Shame they had to ruin it with that rotten film,
but that's the way of the world.
With Wu-Tang Clan, I'm a fan of their occulted view of the mundane and everyday, specifically seeing the trials of streetlife through the prism of martial arts and Oriental philosophy. But they never let these elements weigh down a good track. They're unparalleled in hip-hop.
There's certainly a connection between outlaw country and hip-hop; the central theme of both is money and women. The Wu and Cash could be seen as offering a little broader scope and a spiritual dimension to the mire; some content beneath the braggadocio. I'm not about to get a Gucci Mane tattoo, put it that way.
In my questionable yearn to look like a French criminal from the 20s, I'm steadily covering my body with tattoos that mark important events, people, rites of passage and sometimes just jolly nice imagery. I don't love all the tattoos I've had done, but the person who lives without regret is either shallow or lying. The tattooist Thomas Hooper once told me that you have to make sure you like what you have tattooed on the front of your thighs as they're the first things you see every morning when you get out of bed. Actually, he might have said when you sit on the toilet, but the point is the same. I've never regretted this tattoo for a second.
Sam Hart, 23, writer, from Brighton.
Tattoo: White Stripes lyrics, forearm
White Stripes Photograph: guardian.co.uk/music
My tattoo reads: "The coldest blue ocean water cannot stop my heart and mind from burning," from The Same Boy You've Always Known by the White Stripes. I knew I wanted lyrics as a tattoo because music is a huge part of my life, and these lyrics just spoke to me more than anything else I could think of. It was always going to be something Jack White had written as he is my musical idol and the White Stripes are my favourite band. I love the idea behind the name of the song as well, so it all just came together perfectly.
There are two meanings that I take from the lyrics. Firstly, it means that no matter what difficulties and hardships come my way (the cold water), nothing will keep me down. My heart and mind will always carry on through. And secondly, to flip it around, it can mean that no matter how much you can try and sooth a situation, to forget or try to move on, whatever is hurting you might never go away (the burning of the heart and mind, the pain). Sometimes it's just not right, or possible, to forget. So it has both positive and negative connotations for me.
I have a couple of tattoos (and I want more), but this one I regret the least. I think because it is relatively ambiguous and unknown it doesn't seem too corny, which can be a problem with a lot of tattoos. It only means something to me, which I like.
As told to Rosie Swash.Greetings, everyone!
Camate here continuing to operate the hype train that is heading straight to Heavensward at greased lightning speed.
The past couple of blogs have focused on exploring the new areas by land and air, but today we're going to spice things up a bit and take a look at a handful of the flashy, new job actions you'll be able to learn on the path to level 60.
I'll
|
. You'll notice not every civ's HC is shown here, that is because the amount of changes just wasn't worth the time. But let's not waste any further sentences and have a look at the HCs!
EUROPEAN-STYLE CIVS
First of all a few updates regarding homecities with European-style homecity layouts (yes, incl. Britain! ):
The HC cards Dance Hall and Wild Cards have been disabled until we find a better, more interesting concept for them.
Unlike in the original game the HC card Advanced Artillery now also researches Culverins Royale for free.
Swedish Fusilier cards will be replaced by cards of Irish Wild Geese, whose stats are identical.
Italian Elemeti cards will be replaced by cards of German Demilancers, whose stats are identical.
Finnish Hackapell cards will be replaced by cards of Croatian Crabat mercenaries, who are different.
A couple of cards that were so far unique to a certain civ may now be shared with multiple civs or be moved as new unique card to another civ.
First of all a few updates regarding homecities with European-style homecity layouts (yes, incl. Britain! ):
AMERICANS
The American HC got heavily reworked in 3 sections, the Market, the Harbor (Laclede's Landing) and the Military Academy having a total record of 27 exchanged and ~13 updated cards.
Market - NE 2.2
The smaller team resource crates in the Market were moved to the Swiss and got replaced with standard ones. American players will notice that all villager-themed immigrant cards were moved here from the Harbor. Additionally there are also new cards such as 2 Settler Wagons or Pennsylvania Dutch that sends a large group of Settler Wagons from the German Palatinate and researches Selective Breeding. The card on bottom is Mass Immigration with a new icon. German players might notice the Conestoga Wagons card coming from the German HC (which will not remain the only German card).
Generally I might add that the American civ will take and unite a couple of boni from the original AoE3 civs so that those ones can be updated and reworked with new, proper, historically inspired boni. That'll turn the Americans to some degree into a patchwork civ that's gonna profit from an exquisite selection of various AoE3 civ boni! That does not only make a lot of sense for the Americans from a socio-historical point of view but also if you remember that the European civs in AoE3 were actually designed as colonializers instead of regional countries embedded in their core territory.
Harbor (Laclede's Landing) - NE 2.2
The new Laclede's Landing appears much smaller in comparison to the old version (see below), but the impression that lots of card were removed is misleading, because most of these cards were actually moved to other places such as the Market (see above).
You'll see the Immigrant cards have been rew entirely redone and are no longer unit cards (white border) due to also (always) having (had) additional technological effects. Consequently they are no longer infinite in last age anymore. All immigrant cards were rebalanced, got new icons and not seldomly completely reworked. There are some cool aspect about these new cards I'd like to explain in more detail:
They grant the Americans a small civilization bonus from the country of origin.
The system behind these cards has been standardized: Immigrants have civil/economic effects and are free, Armies cost food and send military units and boosts. These are the 2 standard cards every immigrant civ gets.
The immigration civs are now the French, the Dutch and the Spanish with the following benefits:
Dutch Immigrants : Bank & Plantation gather rate; Dutch Army : Red Lancers & Mortars
Spanish Immigrants : Missionaries & villager HP; Spanish Army : Veteran Musketeers, Lancers & HI HP
French Immigrants : Sansculottes & villager+militia DMG; French Cuirassiers : Cuirassiers & HC HP; French Army : Grenadiers, Fusiliers & HI DMG
The immigrant card effects are based on actual needs/deficits of the American civ and work well when combined or selectively chosen for a particular strategy. For example Spanish and French Immigrants both benefit villagers while the Spanish and French Army boost Heavy Infantry. Furthermore they are also inspired by the historical reinforcements and benefits that these colonializers provided and had. The French for instance were the major military supporters of the American militia army (hence 3 shipments) and Dutchmen knew how to make profits in the New World (powerful eco immigrant card).
Indeed the Asian, Hunter, Eastern and Southern Immigrants were kicked since they were either out of NE's timeline or vastly overpowered. However, you now got also access to native americans and the powerful Dutch Raiding Fleet.
Harbor (Laclede's Landing) - NE 2.1.7b
Added for comparison purposes. The old Laclede's Landing had massively overpowered immigrant cards sending a lot of units (just check the numbers on the Austrian, Italian and Chinese flag icon) for often no more than just 1-2k food.
Military Academy - NE 2.2
The 2 obvious things: A new cavalry unit and 4 new, flagged icons marking the starting point for 2 further regular unit shipments. So what are those?!
The new cavalry unit is the Light Dragoon which is similar to the Mounted Rifleman it replaces, yet different (you'll get to see all new stats in the release notes). One important - and interesting - detail is the fact that Light Dragoons become available only in Age 3, the very first card (3 Light Dragoons) can already be sent in Age 2 though and that is for the simple reason the Americans now face a "cavalry vacuum" in Age 2 in which they have no trainable regular cavalry units at their disposal by default.
This funny and surely shocking fact brings me to mystery no.2, the Legion & Company cards! These cards send and activate a specific unit for the Americans:
German Hussar Company (Age 2): Sends 3 Hussars, activates Hussars.
Pulaski's Legion (Age 3): Sends 7 Uhlans, activates Uhlans.
Armand's Legion (Age 4): Sends 4 Veteran Dragoons, activates Dragoons.
Canadian Congress' Own (Age 4): Sends 7 Veteran Fusiliers, activates Fusiliers.
The historical American continental army (mainly consisting of militiamen) suffered - particularly in the beginning - from the severe lack of cavalry (and artillery) forces. It did thus force the Americans to adjust their strategy which is exactly what players of the NE Americans will have to do as well. You start with no regular cavalry trainable in Age 2, but you'll have to find a way to get along with it.
Native cavalry might be an option and the German Hussar Company Age 2 shipment as well (probably the better one). You may also skip both options though and try a FF to access Light Dragoons instead. You see, American gameplay will be notably different in NE 2.2, some things will be easier, others be a lot tougher than before. Yet there will always be a good option available for your problem in your homecity, a place full of gifts from badazz Europe! 'urope, FUCK YEA!
Actually I think this is a good example for a feature that is truly inspired and shaped by a historical reality as opposed to some feature that was filled with historical junk stories and clichés.
AUSTRIANS
The Austrian HC will profit from simplified and new cards. While the Austrians are already being a potent, versatile civ, there are still various things worth improving.
Cathedral
The greatest improvement in the Austrian Cathedral is the combination of the numerous cards for native allies. No other civ had so many cards to boost and profit from natives in all imaginable ways. That was both a privilege, but also a burden, especially for the deck. Furthermore the connections in the HC were not following a consistent logic and were therefore redone. Cards like Native Combat, Native Treaties, Native Alliance vanished in favor of one card that sounds similar ( Native Allies ), but harmonizes a lot better with the other 2 unique Austrian native cards Multinational Empire and Multinational Army.
And for the joy of all Austrian history freaks the Spanish Riding School (thenceforward located in Vienna!) is now member of the Austrian HC. May those Lipizzaner horses flood the map!
Harbor
It is not that well known that, even though landlocked to a large degree, the Austrian archdukes did maintain a little fleet to secure inland waterways, the so called Donauflotte (Danubian Fleet). This is a new card that benefits the build limit, speed, line of sight of Galleys and Galleons, but also reduces their hitpoints and the build limits of larger warships such as Monitors and Frigates. You heard that correctly, Austrians will get Galleys instead of Caravels. Those simply do better on rivers!
Ah yes, instead of Westphalians and Wurttembergers Austrians can now hire Greek and Bavarians native allies!
The American HC got heavily reworked in 3 sections, the Market, the Harbor (Laclede's Landing) and the Military Academy having a total record of 27 exchanged and ~13 updated cards. The smaller team resource crates in the Market were moved to the Swiss and got replaced with standard ones. American players will notice that all villager-themed immigrant cards were moved here from the Harbor. Additionally there are also new cards such as or that sends a large group of Settler Wagons from the German Palatinate and researches Selective Breeding. The card on bottom is with a new icon. German players might notice the card coming from the German HC (which will not remain the only German card). Generally I might add that the American civ will take and unite a couple of boni from the original AoE3 civs so that those ones can be updated and reworked with new, proper, historically inspired boni. That'll turn the Americans to some degree into a that's gonna profit from an That does not only make a lot of sense for the Americans from a socio-historical point of view but also if you remember that the European civs in AoE3 were actually designed as colonializers instead of regional countries embedded in their core territory. The new Laclede's Landing appears much smaller in comparison to the old version (see below), but the impression that lots of card were removed is misleading, because most of these cards were actually moved to other places such as the Market (see above). You'll see the have been rew entirely redone and are no longer unit cards (white border) due to also (always) having (had) additional technological effects. Consequently they are no longer infinite in last age anymore. All immigrant cards were rebalanced, got new icons and not seldomly completely reworked. There are some cool aspect about these new cards I'd like to explain in more detail: Indeed the and were kicked since they were either out of NE's timeline or vastly overpowered. However, you now got also access to native americans and the powerful. Added for comparison purposes. The old Laclede's Landing had massively overpowered immigrant cards sending a lot of units (just check the numbers on the Austrian, Italian and Chinese flag icon) for often no more than just 1-2k food. The 2 obvious things: A new cavalry unit and 4 new, flagged icons marking the starting point for 2 further regular unit shipments. So what are those?! The new cavalry unit is the which is similar to the it replaces, yet different (you'll get to see all new stats in the release notes). One important - and interesting - detail is the fact that Light Dragoons become available only in Age 3, the very first card (3 Light Dragoons) can already be sent in Age 2 though and that is for the simple reason the Americans now face a "cavalry vacuum" in Age 2 in which they have no trainable regular cavalry units at their disposal. This funny and surely shocking fact brings me to mystery no.2, the cards! These cards send and activate a specific unit for the Americans: The historical American continental army (mainly consisting of militiamen) suffered - particularly in the beginning - from the severe lack of cavalry (and artillery) forces. It did thus force the Americans to adjust their strategy which is exactly what players of the NE Americans will have to do as well. You start with no regular cavalry trainable in Age 2, but you'll have to find a way to get along with it. Native cavalry might be an option and the German Hussar Company Age 2 shipment as well (probably the better one). You may also skip both options though and try a FF to access Light Dragoons instead. You see, American gameplay will be notably different in NE 2.2, some things will be easier, others be a lot tougher than before. Yet there will always be a good option available for your problem in your, a place full of gifts from badazz Europe! 'urope, FUCK YEA! Actually I think this is a good example for a feature that is truly inspired and shaped by a historical reality as opposed to some feature that was filled with historical junk stories and clichés. The Austrian HC will profit from simplified and new cards. While the Austrians are already being a potent, versatile civ, there are still various things worth improving. The greatest improvement in the Austrian Cathedral is the combination of the numerous cards for native allies. No other civ had so many cards to boost and profit from natives in all imaginable ways. That was both a privilege, but also a burden, especially for the deck. Furthermore the connections in the HC were not following a consistent logic and were therefore redone. Cards like vanished in favor of one card that sounds similar ( ), but harmonizes a lot better with the other 2 unique Austrian native cards and. And for the joy of all Austrian history freaks the (thenceforward located!) is now member of the Austrian HC. May those Lipizzaner horses flood the map! It is not that well known that, even though landlocked to a large degree, the Austrian archdukes did maintain a little fleet to secure inland waterways, the so called (Danubian Fleet). This is a new card that benefits the build limit, speed, line of sight of Galleys and Galleons, but also reduces their hitpoints and the build limits of larger warships such as Monitors and Frigates. You heard that correctly, Austrians will get instead of. Those simply do better on rivers! Ah yes, instead of Westphalians and Wurttembergers Austrians can now hire Greek and Bavarians native allies!
BRITS
The Brits can now send the Royal Explorer card which is imagined after James Cook and allows the British Explorer to train Native Scouts instead of getting the Swashbuckler ability from the old Captain card. Longbowmen fans won't like this, but Longbowmen will be a lot more like Crossbowmen or Hand Cannoneers as the Yeomen and 20 Longbowmen card have been removed in order to prevent people from building huge Longbow armies in later ages when cannons and Napoleonic type of troops should dominate the battlefield.
The British got the Northwest Passage card from the French since expeditions to find/explore the Northwest Passage were mostly done by British navigators. Additionally the Brits can send Westphalian Allies and 4 Puckle Guns (renamed Gatling Guns)!
The Brits can now send the card which is imagined after and allows the British Explorer to train Native Scouts instead of getting the Swashbuckler ability from the old card. Longbowmen fans won't like this, but Longbowmen will be a lot more like Crossbowmen or Hand Cannoneers as the Yeomen and 20 Longbowmen card have been removed in order to prevent people from building huge Longbow armies in later ages when cannons and Napoleonic type of troops should dominate the battlefield. The British got the card from the French since expeditions to find/explore the Northwest Passage were mostly done by British navigators. Additionally the Brits can send Westphalian Allies and 4 Puckle Guns (renamed Gatling Guns)!
DANES
The Danes are already pretty fun (and almost done). Their HC evidently uses the European layout with the familiar cards. There are however some recombinations that may look like blasphemy to the hardcore AoE3 puritan! (Good! )
Military Academy
Danes are quite HP-heavy/tanky. Hence the Hitpoint boosters may not be a surprise neither should be the already announced Ridder unit (heavy healer cavalryman) nor the sneaky Snaphaner skirmishers. Age 2 can be a tough age for Danes, but I'm certain the truly skilled players among you will find a way to utilize their defensive capabilities for the offensive!
That being said, even though Danes are (usually) a peace-loving people, they do have some notable late-game punches both in their HC and other respective institutions. Having a choice between Rockets and Cannons is a nice thing and troops that can be hired for gold usually have a notable impact on the battlefield.
Harbor
Next surprise! Fluyts! (Yes, Fluyts!) And Sepoys. (Sepoys!) But only once. - If you're confused and maybe a bit disgusted now, then that's exactly where I want you to have you! It just takes some knowledge of Danish history to resolve this misunderstanding. No, Fluyts aren't Danish. Yes, I know you think Sepoys must be Indian. Welcome to history class, please open your book!
First the Fluyts. Once, when things weren't working so well for Denmark and its navy the Dutch proved to be reliable and powerful naval (and diplomatic) allies. The Prussians would be the equivalent (preferably) for landbased issues (see Military Academy). Now the Sepoys. The Danish actually called them Cipajen who were Indian Hindus/Tamils serving in the Danish colony of Tranquebar (today: Tharangambadi ). Other Danish colonies existed in the Carribean (hence the Caribs), but they didn't turn out as profitable as the privateering business they started (hence the Privateers). Must be those viking genes!
And yes, that card with the red tricorner is good for your docks.
The Danes are already pretty fun (and almost done). Their HC evidently uses the European layout with the familiar cards. There are however some recombinations that may look like blasphemy to the hardcore AoE3 puritan! (Good! ) Danes are quite HP-heavy/tanky. Hence the Hitpoint boosters may not be a surprise neither should be the already announced unit (heavy healer cavalryman) nor the sneaky skirmishers. Age 2 can be a tough age for Danes, but I'm certain the truly skilled players among you will find a way to utilize their defensive capabilities for the offensive! That being said, even though Danes are (usually) a peace-loving people, they do have some notable late-game punches both in their HC and other respective institutions. Having a choice between Rockets and Cannons is a nice thing and troops that can be hired for gold usually have a notable impact on the battlefield. Next surprise! Fluyts! (Yes, Fluyts!) And Sepoys. (Sepoys!) But only once. - If you're confused and maybe a bit disgusted now, then that's exactly where I want you to have you! It just takes some knowledge of Danish history to resolve this misunderstanding., Fluyts aren't Danish., I know you think Sepoys must be Indian. Welcome to history class, please open your book! First the Fluyts. Once, when things weren't working so well for Denmark and its navy the Dutch proved to be reliable and powerful naval (and diplomatic) allies. The Prussians would be the equivalent (preferably) for landbased issues (see Military Academy). Now the Sepoys. The Danish actually called them who were Indian Hindus/Tamils serving in the Danish colony of (today: ). Other Danish colonies existed in the Carribean (hence the Caribs), but they didn't turn out as profitable as the privateering business they started (hence the Privateers). Must be those viking genes! And yes, that card with the red tricorner is good for your docks.
DUTCH
The Dutch are - together with the Germans - one of the civs that got one of the least historically representative unit rosters in AoE3. With this screenshot you should be able to figure out what has changed in the Dutch military unit roster so far. (More history is yet to come, muahahaha! )
Military Academy
The Dutch are - together with the Germans - one of the civs that got one of the least historically representative unit rosters in AoE3. With this screenshot you should be able to figure out what has changed in the Dutch military unit roster (More history is yet to come, )
FRENCH
There's not much to say about the French HC yet. It passed some cards like Wilderness Warfare and Northwest Passage to other civs and dropped the archaic Crossbowmen in exchange for Arquebusiers ("Hand Cannoneers") and generally a more appropriate unit selection in the HC (i.e. Garde du Corps). With the updated Tirailleurs card you can now turn your Arquebusiers into Skirmishers and the new Dragonnades card gives French Dragoons a melee bonus vs. settlers and makes them more effective vs. buildings!
There's not much to say about the French HC yet. It passed some cards like and to other civs and dropped the archaic Crossbowmen in exchange for Arquebusiers ("Hand Cannoneers") and generally a more appropriate unit selection in the HC (i.e. Garde du Corps). With the updated card you can now turn your Arquebusiers into Skirmishers and the new card gives French Dragoons a melee bonus vs. settlers and makes them more effective vs. buildings!
GERMANS
No more Conestoga. No more War (Wagons)!
But Bavarians and Goons.
And Reichsarmee does now auto-upgrade Kreisarmeen (Circle armies) from Reichstag also to Imperial status in Age 5! x)
No more Conestoga. No more War (Wagons)! But Bavarians and Goons. And Reichsarmee does now auto-upgrade Kreisarmeen (Circle armies) from Reichstag also to Imperial status in Age 5! x)
INDIANS
+Archers. +Galleys.
-Jat Lancer. -Caravels!
+Archers. +Galleys. -Jat Lancer. -Caravels!
ITALIANS
The Italian HC is affected by a series of card replacements, so far I have removed 20 cards and added 24 new ones (these numbers will be balanced). Their HC got a lil face lift with new icons and layouts and all Italian HC sections received new titles named after historical places in Rome. Here are the new names:
- The Market has been named Piazza Navona.
- The Military Academy has been named Palazzo del Quirinale.
- The Cathedral has been named Basilica Papale di San Pietro.
- The Manufacturing Plant has been named Palazzo dei Conservatori.
- The Harbor has been named Porto di Civitavecchia.
Market (Piazza Navona)
The beautiful Piazza Navona has no gold crates, but instead sends the coins directly to your bank account. No villager needs to be assigned to crates in order to gather them. You might almost say it's a bit like online banking (just a bit slower).
Cathedral (Basilica Papale di San Pietro)
The Cathedral got cards from other (inappropriate) sections but also a less chaotic, but properly arranged layout. As you can see the city cards received some icon (and balancing) love. There are 2 new city cards, the Corsican Republic and the Kingdom of Sardinia and Piedmont. The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (activating Church techs) is now called Corsican Constitution.
Military Academy (Palazzo del Quirinale)
Most notable is the update of the Company cards which are now closer to Italian history and (usually) address the civs' incapabilities. The companies now also refer with name, effect and icon to actual (and notable) people in historical Italy such as Croatians, Greeks, Spanish, San Marinese, etc. instead of randomly calling them Star or Rose's Company. The character of Company cards being infinitely sendable has been preserved, but the cards now cost between 700-1000 gold each instead of the prior 500. They're still somewhat of a gift though considering the Italians' capability to make a lot of money. I won't spoiler the content of these cards here, but just list their names from top to bottom:
1. Greek Company
2. Spanish Company
3. San Marinese Company
4. Maltese Company
5. Croatian Company
6. French Company
7. Papal Company
The Palazzo del Quirinale also reflects the addition of new regular Chevauleger cavalrymen, who replace the Condottieri and take the role of Hussars as well as the addition of Dragoons who replaced Utili. Also Fusiliers and Arquebusiers are finally represented. Condottieri will only play a marginal role now as mercenary leaders (see below)
Harbor (Porto di Civitavecchia)
The main change in the Porto di Civitavecchia is the Duce (top right), a reworked Condottiere who receives shipments, trains and inspires nearby mercenaries. The Duce can also train some mercenaries and hence they act a bit like Japanese Daimyos which also can be sent from HC. Apart from that there are now Greek Allies and the unique Italian cards Venetian Arsenal and Merchant Fleet got new icons!
The Italian HC is affected by a series of card replacements, so far I have removed 20 cards and added 24 new ones (these numbers will be balanced). Their HC got a lil face lift with new icons and layouts and all Italian HC sections received new titles named after historical places in Rome. Here are the new names: - The has been named. - The has been named. - The has been named. - The has been named. - The has been named. The beautiful has no gold crates, but instead sends the coins directly to your bank account. No villager needs to be assigned to crates in order to gather them. You might almost say it's a bit like online banking (just a bit slower). The Cathedral got cards from other (inappropriate) sections but also a less chaotic, but properly arranged layout. As you can see the city cards received some icon (and balancing) love. There are 2 new city cards, the and the. The (activating Church techs) is now called. Most notable is the update of the cards which are now closer to Italian history and (usually) address the civs' incapabilities. The companies now also refer with name, effect and icon to actual (and notable) people in historical Italy such as etc. instead of randomly calling them or. The character of Company cards being infinitely sendable has been preserved, but the cards now cost between 700-1000 gold each instead of the prior 500. They're still somewhat of a gift though considering the Italians' capability to make a lot of money. I won't spoiler the content of these cards here, but just list their names from top to bottom: 1. Greek Company 2. Spanish Company 3. San Marinese Company 4. Maltese Company 5. Croatian Company 6. French Company 7. Papal Company The also reflects the addition of new regular cavalrymen, who replace the Condottieri and take the role of as well as the addition of who replaced. Also Fusiliers and Arquebusiers are finally represented. Condottieri will only play a marginal role now as mercenary leaders (see below) The main change in the is the (top right), a reworked Condottiere who receives shipments, trains and inspires nearby mercenaries. The Duce can also train some mercenaries and hence they act a bit like Japanese Daimyos which also can be sent from HC. Apart from that there are now Greek Allies and the unique Italian cards and got new icons!
OTTOMANS
The Ottomans now received an overdue update from PredatoR's Ottoman civ mod and myself. Therefore their HC mainly displays these changes and new additions.
Military Academy
You can finally see Azaps and the newly added Archer shipments! The HC layout was also improved, since the Ottoman Military Academy tended to be overcrowded with too many cards. There's now one card less for Hussar, Spahi, Cavalry Archer, Abus Gunner, Grenadier and Falconet in order to add the aforementioned units and other ones such as Tuareg Allies in the Harbor. Some people might remember the new icon for the Irregulars card that now also improves cavalry archers siege damage by 30%. ^^ Also, Janissaries obviously got a new icon (they're no longer white-bearded grandpas!).
A small detail has also changed: Grenadiers and Abus Gunners now share the same column and since Abus Gunners will be moved to Age 3 (due to Archers being early Anti-Inf) I added an Age 2 Abus Gunner card to compensate this a bit.
The Ottomans now received an overdue update from PredatoR's Ottoman civ mod and myself. Therefore their HC mainly displays these changes and new additions. You can finally see Azaps and the newly added Archer shipments! The HC layout was also improved, since the Ottoman Military Academy tended to be overcrowded with too many cards. There's now one card less for Hussar, Spahi, Cavalry Archer, Abus Gunner, Grenadier and Falconet in order to add the aforementioned units and other ones such as Tuareg Allies in the Harbor. Some people might remember the new icon for the card that now also improves cavalry archers siege damage by 30%. ^^ Also, Janissaries obviously got a new icon (they're no longer white-bearded grandpas!). A small detail has also changed: Grenadiers and Abus Gunners now share the same column and since Abus Gunners will be moved to Age 3 (due to Archers being early Anti-Inf) I added an Age 2 Abus Gunner card to compensate this a bit.
POLES
Polska! Lietuva! Reworking and converting the Polish stable to the historical developments was one of the trickiest things to accomplish with the unit design rules for a game like AoE3. The history of Polish cavalry is very dynamic and ambivalent, but can generally be said to have mainly transformed from heavy to light cavalry. Now we are all used from games that units upgrade from light to heavier versions, but some are historically versed enough to know that it would also be weird to start in Age 2 with Polish Napoleonic Uhlans and then end up with archaic, super heavy Winged Hussars, right? And what's even with the multitude of weapons that every Polish-Lithuanian cavalry trooper seemed to have carried parallely? Which weapon should they get? Should they all got lances, because it was their primary weapon? And how would people know what they were good against?
Right. There you have the dilemma!
Military Academy
You spot 3 new unit icons and therefore 3 new units! Or well, let's say reworked as two of their names - Pancerny and Lisowczyk - will continue to be used but for a unit whose role has turned over! Lisowczycy (left from Dragoons) are now unique Lithuanian cavalry archers and can also be improved with the Irregulars card (the unit card sizes are still WIP). Pancerni (next to Uhlans) became heavy Hussars and right between the Pancerni and Lisowczycy you can spot the Winged Hussars! The so called Husarze (sg. Husarz ) is a new Polish heavy lancer who is designed to crush units in tight formations with their splash damage. They are mainly (but not solely) available in HC and hence a bit like Spahis, but actually are more dangerous since they can be sent already in Age 2. Another interesting feature is that the Polish get a lot of different HC card types for Husarze. A plain unit shipment, a double, an infinite, a team one and a tech/booster.
Polska! Lietuva! Reworking and converting the Polish stable to the historical developments was one of the trickiest things to accomplish with the unit design rules for a game like AoE3. The history of Polish cavalry is very dynamic and ambivalent, but can generally be said to have mainly transformed from heavy to light cavalry. Now we are all used from games that units upgrade from light to heavier versions, but some are historically versed enough to know that it would also be weird to start in Age 2 with Polish Napoleonic Uhlans and then end up with archaic, super heavy Winged Hussars, right? And what's even with the multitude of weapons that every Polish-Lithuanian cavalry trooper seemed to have carried parallely? Which weapon should they get? Should they all got lances, because it was their primary weapon? And how would people know what they were good against? Right. you have the dilemma! You spot 3 new unit icons and therefore 3 new units! Or well, let's say reworked as two of their names - Pancerny and Lisowczyk - will continue to be used but for a unit whose role has turned over! Lisowczycy (left from Dragoons) are now unique Lithuanian cavalry archers and can also be improved with the card (the unit card sizes are still WIP). Pancerni (next to Uhlans) became heavy Hussars and right between the Pancerni and Lisowczycy you can spot the Winged Hussars! The so called (sg. ) is a new Polish heavy lancer who is designed to crush units in tight formations with their splash damage. They are mainly (but not solely) available in HC and hence a bit like Spahis, but actually are more dangerous since they can be sent already in Age 2. Another interesting feature is that the Polish get a lot of different HC card types for Husarze. A plain unit shipment, a double, an infinite, a team one and a tech/booster.
PORTUGUESE
Portugal also got its Crossbowmen entirely replaced with Arquebusiers both in main civ and HC. The Portuguese will get increasingly reworked into an infantry civilization. Most significant change is the loss of having the best Dragoon through the removal of the Genitours and Early Dragoons card. But don't worry, it'll be compensated!
Portugal also got its Crossbowmen entirely replaced with Arquebusiers both in main civ and HC. The Portuguese will get increasingly reworked into an infantry civilization. Most significant change is the loss of having the best Dragoon through the removal of the and card. But don't worry, it'll be compensated!
PRUSSIANS
Prussia now gets Skirmisher and more Dragoon cards and there are also some new icons!
Prussia now gets Skirmisher and more Dragoon cards and there are also some new icons!
RUSSIANS
All Strelet cards will get their unit count updated according to the stats of the new Strelez. Russians can now also hire Black Riders and Finnish Jääkäri instead of the Nootka Clubmen. Russian Cavalry Archers can now also profit from the Irregulars shipment.
All Strelet cards will get their unit count updated according to the stats of the new. Russians can now also hire Black Riders and Finnish Jääkäri instead of the Nootka Clubmen. Russian Cavalry Archers can now also profit from the shipment.
SPANIARDS
I felt that Spain needs some love and more strategic perspectives! It evidently is a civ that's supposed to be strong early on, but is too bad later on for my taste. Thus I replaced a couple of cards.
Military Academy (Torre del Oro) - NE 2.2
Notable additions are Musketeers and Dragoons, but there is also a Arquebusier card now. Most obvious change is the reduced amount of Pikemen and Rodelero cards, which made all the other additions possible. Rodeleros become truly archaic units now (without Royal Guard + Imperial upgrade), but with much better stats. Since the Infinite 10 Rodeleros (Age 3) card has been removed they got an Infinite 6 Rodeleros card (Age 2) in exchange. The Spanish Square card was replaced with the Spanish Tercio which sends 2 Pikes, 2 Muskets and 2 Arquebusiers. Spanish Dragoons can also profit from the Dragonnades shipment.
So you still see archaic units have their say in the Spanish HC, but modernizing doesn't just mean to wipe out all the justified archaic content of a civ, right? I think the new Dragoon and Musketeer shipments can contribute at paving Spain's way from Fortress into Industrial Age and beyond!
Military Academy (Torre del Oro) - NE 2.1.7b
Just added for comparison purposes. The old Spanish HC featured more Pikemen, Rodelero and Lancer cards.
I felt that Spain needs some love and more strategic perspectives! It evidently is a civ that's supposed to be strong early on, but is too bad later on for my taste. Thus I replaced a couple of cards. Notable additions are Musketeers and Dragoons, but there is also a Arquebusier card now. Most obvious change is the reduced amount of Pikemen and Rodelero cards, which made all the other additions possible. Rodeleros become truly archaic units now (without Royal Guard + Imperial upgrade), but with much better stats. Since the (Age 3) card has been removed they got an card (Age 2) in exchange. The card was replaced with the which sends 2 Pikes, 2 Muskets and 2 Arquebusiers. Spanish Dragoons can also profit from the shipment. So you still see archaic units have their say in the Spanish HC, but modernizing doesn't just mean to wipe out all the justified archaic content of a civ, right? I think the new Dragoon and Musketeer shipments can contribute at paving Spain's
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It was at that instant that I took the photograph." The Bank of England announced in 2013 that the famous portrait would be featured on the £5 note. Hide Caption 10 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs During a raid at a Miami home in 2000, armed federal agents confront Elian Gonzalez, 6, and one of the men who helped rescue the boy. Gonzalez watched his mother drown when the boat smuggling them from Cuba capsized. Under international law, U.S. authorities were required to return the boy to his father in Cuba. Alan Diaz's photograph of the saga's defining moment won a Pulitzer Prize. "The cry I heard that day I had never heard in my life," Diaz said a decade later. "A cry like that will haunt anyone forever." Hide Caption 11 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Mary Ann Vecchio screams as she kneels over Jeffrey Miller's body during an anti-war demonstration in 1970 at Kent State University. Student photographer John Filo captured the Pulitzer Prize-winning image after Ohio National Guardsmen fired into the crowd of protesters, killing four students and wounding nine others. A widely published version of the image was manipulated by an anonymous editor to remove the fence post above Vecchio's head, sparking a major controversy. Hide Caption 12 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs American athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos raise their fists and hang their heads while the U.S. national anthem plays during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Their black power salute became front page news around the world as a symbol of the struggle for civil rights. To their left stood Australian Peter Norman, who expressed his support by wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. Hide Caption 13 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki was near the finish line when 78-year-old runner Bill Iffrig was knocked down by the first explosion at the Boston Marathon on April 15. The bombings left three people dead and injured more than 100. Iffrig got up and finished the race. Tlumacki's image of the fallen runner was widely published and selected for the cover of "Sports Illustrated." Hide Caption 14 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Five decades after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains one of Hollywood's most adored sex symbols. Her sultry legacy is often traced back to the 1954 image of her posing over a New York City subway grate in character for the filming of "The Seven Year Itch." Monroe's then-husband, Joe DiMaggio, reportedly witnessed the spectacle and became enraged with jealousy. They divorced weeks later. Hide Caption 15 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Dorothea Lange's photograph of a struggling mother with her children in 1936 became an icon of the Great Depression. Lange was traveling through California, taking photographs of migrant farm workers for the Resettlement Administration, when she came across Florence Owens Thompson. "I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet," Lange recalled in 1960. The image was retouched to remove the woman's thumb from the lower right corner. Hide Caption 16 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs President Barack Obama and members of his national security team monitor the Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. It was a crucial moment in American history, and White House photographer Pete Souza captured the tension in the room. "It was probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of time, I think, in the lives of the people who were assembled," counterterrorism adviser John Brennan later told reporters. A classified document on the table was obscured by the White House. Hide Caption 17 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Alberto Korda photographed Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in 1960 at a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion in Havana, Cuba. The portrait, titled "Guerrillero Heroico," has been widely reproduced through the decades, evolving into a global symbol of rebellion and social justice. As a supporter of Guevara's ideals, Korda never sought royalties for the distribution of his image. Hide Caption 18 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Associated Press photographer Nick Ut photographed terrified children running from the site of a napalm attack during the Vietnam War in 1972. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped napalm on its own troops and civilians. Nine-year-old Kim Phuc, center, ripped off her burning clothes while fleeing. The image communicated the horrors of the war and contributed to the growing anti-war sentiment in the U.S. After taking the photograph, Ut took the children to a hospital in Saigon. Hide Caption 19 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs President Bill Clinton hugs Monica Lewinsky at a 1996 fund-raiser in Washington. At the time their relationship wasn't public, so the image fell into obscurity. But when the news of their affair broke, photographer Dirck Halstead recognized Lewinsky and recovered the photo from his archives. It eventually ran on the cover of Time magazine, and the Lewinsky scandal led to Clinton's impeachment. Hide Caption 20 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Aspiring photojournalist Charles Porter was working near the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 when "there was just a huge, huge explosion." He rushed to the scene and saw firefighter Chris Fields emerge from the rubble holding a dying infant, 1-year-old Baylee Almon. Porter's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the moment became a symbol of the Oklahoma City bombing, which claimed 168 lives. Hide Caption 21 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs In 1937, Sam Shere photographed the Hindenburg disaster while on assignment in New Jersey. The crash killed 36 people and ended the era of passenger-carrying airships, which were once hailed as the future of flight. "I had two shots in my (camera) but I didn't even have time to get it up to my eye," Shere later said. "I literally shot from the hip -- it was over so fast there was nothing else to do." Hide Caption 22 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Two days after President John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin. Photographer Robert H. Jackson, who covered the event's surrounding Kennedy's assassination, instinctively captured the moment and won a Pulitzer Prize. Ruby was later found guilty of murder. He appealed his conviction but died before the start of a new trial. Hide Caption 23 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Kevin Carter's 1993 photograph of a starving child in southern Sudan brought him worldwide attention -- and criticism. Carter said the girl reached a nearby feeding center after he drove the vulture off, but questions persisted about why he didn't carry her there himself. Months after winning a Pulitzer Prize for the image, the South African photographer committed suicide. He was struggling with depression and coping with the recent death of his close friend and colleague Ken Oosterbroek. Hide Caption 24 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs On Albert Einstein's 72nd birthday in 1951, photographer Arthur Sasse tried to get him to smile for the camera. Tired of smiling for pictures, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist stuck out his tongue instead. It went on to become one of the most recognizable images of Einstein, who reportedly liked the photograph so much he asked for nine copies. He signed one of the prints, which sold for more than $74,000 in 2009. Hide Caption 25 of 26 Photos: 25 of the most iconic photographs Firefighters George Johnson, Dan McWilliams and Billy Eisengrein raise a flag at the site of the World Trade Center in New York after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. The scene was immortalized by photographer Thomas E. Franklin and has been compared to the iconic image of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. CNN Films' "The Flag" examines what happened to the flag at ground zero and explores its impact in the aftermath of the tragedy. Hide Caption 26 of 26
Friedman, then 21 and a dental assistant, was in Times Square when the news of Japan's surrender to the United States was announced on a billboard, marking the end of the war.
Read MoreMojolicious::Plugin::OpenAPI is close to being stable so i figured it was time to migrate from our use of Mojolicious::Plugin::Swagger2. Here's the differences i found, with the observation that perhaps some of these were down to having an older version of Swagger2 (0.79, although Changes log suggests that might not be the case):
M::P::OpenAPI will, by default, validate response data. So you might find your swagger config and responses aren't in sync and/or you might bump into issues with how you have defined your response data (specifically null support).
M::P::OpenAPI doesn't support x-mojo-around-action, the idea of the new interface is to use the mojo router more directly.
M::P::OpenAPI expects the response information for all the various HTTP response code types that your app returns, most likely due to aforementioned response validation.
Each operationId within your swagger config must now be unique (as per the OpenAPI spec)
x-mojo-controller becomes x-mojo-to, and you can drop the top level of the namespace (the MyApp bit).
I have also updated the Swagger2-Markdown module to "support" multiple types in response object, although there are some issues there (see the commit message). I will probably get around to fixing that soon, although given how fast this stuff is currently moving other issues may arise sooner than that.
You may find the OpenAPI Spec useful if you're migrating, along with the Mojolicious::Plugin::OpenAPI::Guides::Tutorial. Note that my observations above may not be comprehensive either.Authorities in central Kansas were searching Thursday for two people accused in connection with a triple homicide.
Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton wrote in a posting on his department's Facebook page that 35-year-old Jereme Lee Nelson and 31-year-old Myrta Rangel are charged in arrest warrants with capital murder and three counts of first-degree murder. Their bond has been set at $1 million each, and the sheriff believes they are in Oklahoma.
The bodies of 33-year-old Travis Street, 37-year-old girlfriend Angela Graevs and the couple's Newton friend, 52-year-old Richard Prouty were found Sunday outside a home in a rural area near Moundridge. The victims had been shot.
Walton has said a passing motorist reported the killings after she said she was waved down by another driver in a maroon car and told two bodies were outside the home. Deputies ultimately found the three bodies, as well as the slain couple's unharmed, crying 18-month-old inside the residence, Walton said. That toddler now is in the custody of relatives.
The maroon vehicle's driver had a relationship with one of the victims, Walton said without elaborating. David Yoder, the county's prosecuting attorney, has said the motive for the killings appears to be drug-related.
Messages left Thursday with Walton and Yoder by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.Arsene Wenger says he doesn't need reminding about Alex Song's qualities because he had faith in him when others didn't.
The Arsenal manager brought the Cameroon international to north London in 2005 and gave him his Premier League debut at the age of 18.
It took time for Song to win over the fans and the critics - he was lambasted after struggling badly in a defeat at Fulham - but Wenger stuck with him and saw him emerge as the bedrock of Arsenal's midfield.
"We need to prepare quickly, focus quickly and that is an ability we want to show at West Ham" Arsene Wenger
Song left Emirates Stadium for Barcelona two years ago but, after struggling for game time, he was loaned to West Ham United in summer. Song has helped the Hammers rise to fifth place in the Premier League and is set to face Arsenal at Upton Park on Sunday.
"He didn't play on Friday against Chelsea," noted Wenger. "He was certainly rested for us. I think he was a very good player when he was here but he didn't play a lot when he was in Spain.
"I brought him here at the age of 17 and kept him despite all the opinions against him. You don't need to convince me he's a good player."
Arsenal's win over Queens Park Rangers on Boxing Day kept them in touch with the teams immediately above them in the Premier League table. West Ham are a point ahead of the Gunners, and fourth-placed Southampton are two clear.
Both can be reeled in over the next week with Arsenal travelling to Upton Park on Sunday and then St Mary's Stadium on New Year's Day. But Wenger does not expect the turn of the year to be decisive.
"I don't give importance to the table at the moment," he said. "There's 20 games to go.
"It's very tight and it's down to consistency now. We know every game now is down to consistency and reproducing the performances. We need to prepare quickly, focus quickly and that is an ability we want to show at West Ham.
"The plan is to sleep well and recover. We want to stay in the game. We'll train on Saturday morning and on Saturday night we go to the hotel. It's very quick and interesting as well."
Alexis Sanchez scores the opener against QPR
A run of five games in 14 days will require Wenger to shuffle his pack at times. He made two changes for the Boxing Day clash with QPR and will be forced into at least one change at West Ham with Olivier Giroud suspended for three matches. There could be more.
"[Laurent] Koscielny has a chance, he will have a test tomorrow," said Wenger. "He has a little chance. [Alex] Chamberlain has an even smaller chance.
"[Theo Walcott] was in the squad on Friday but it was difficult to bring him on when it was tight and we had to defend. He's not far away."Last June, Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian revealed that Edward Snowden was the NSA insider behind “one of the most significant leaks in US political history.” Snowden explained his motivations through Greenwald by saying, “There are more important things than money…. harming people isn’t my goal. Transparency is.” Such altruistic motivations were welcome news at the time but have come into question recently given that only a tiny fraction of the documents have been released nearly a year after Snowden started working with Greenwald. Perhaps more importantly, billionaire Pierre Omidyar is funding Greenwald’s slow release of those documents and Omidyar’s Paypal colleagues have highly suspicious links to NSA spying and other dangers to civil rights.
It was originally reported that the number of documents Snowden had stolen was in the thousands. Today, however, that number is said to be nearly two million. This calls into question Snowden’s early statement, as reported by Greenwald, that he “carefully evaluated every single document… to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest.” The huge, new number also reveals that less than one tenth of one percent of the documents (only about 900) have actually been released to the public.
How could Snowden have “carefully evaluated every single” one of what is now being said to be nearly two million documents? He only worked for Booz Allen Hamilton for a few months. According to NSA Director Keith Alexander, Snowden also worked directly for NSA for twelve months prior to that, which is interesting. But still, that would require carefully evaluating thousands of documents a day during that entire time. Didn’t he have a job apart from that?
Journalist Margie Burns asked some good questions back in June that have not yet been answered. She wondered about the 29-year old Snowden who had been a U.S. Army Special Forces recruit, a covert CIA operative, and an NSA employee in various capacities, all in just a few, short years. Burns asked “How, exactly, did Snowden get his series of NSA jobs? Did he apply through regular channels? Was it through someone he knew? Who recommended him? Who were his references for a string of six-figure, high-level security jobs? Are there any safeguards in place so that red flags go up when a subcontractor jumps from job to job, especially in high-level clearance positions?”
Five months later, journalists Mark Ames and Yasha Levine investigated some of the businesses in which Greenwald’s benefactor Omidyar had invested. They found that the actual practices of those businesses were considerably less humanitarian than the outward appearance of Omidyar’s ventures often portray. The result was that Omidyar took down references to at least one of those businesses from his website.
In December, whistleblower Sibel Edmonds wrote that Omidyar‘s Paypal Corporation was implicated in the as-yet-unreleased NSA documents from Snowden. Moreover, Edmonds had been contacted by an NSA official who alleged that “a deal was made in early June, 2013 between the journalists involved in this recent NSA scandal and U.S. government officials, which was then sealed by secrecy and nondisclosure agreements by all parties involved.”
Omidyar, the son of Iranian exiles, certainly has had some highly suspicious business associates at Paypal. Here are a few of the most influential of Omidyar’s Paypal colleagues.
Max Levchin, a co-founder of Paypal, has openly stated his support for NSA spying on Americans.
Alex Karp used the Paypal framework to start Palantir, the most important company providing spying technology to the NSA. Palantir’s advisors include Condoleezza Rice and former CIA director George Tenet. The word Palantir refers to the seeing stones used primarily by the dark lord Sauron in The Lord of the Rings novels. From 2005 to 2008 the CIA was Palantir’s patron and only customer.
novels. From 2005 to 2008 the CIA was Palantir’s patron and only customer. Peter Thiel has some interesting right-wing connections. Thiel started his career working for the CIA-linked law firm Sullivan & Cromwell and then Credit Suisse Group. In 2009, Thiel said, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible,”
These facts about Omidyar’s Paypal colleagues should raise the level of skepticism about his new media venture with Greenwald and the slow release of the documents stolen by Snowden. It’s clear that Snowden’s whistleblowing has been co-opted by private corporate interests. Are those involved with privatization of the stolen documents also colluding with government agencies to frame and direct national discussions on domestic spying and other serious matters?
The possibilities are endless, it seems. Presenting documents at a measured rate could be a way to acclimate citizens to painful realities without stirring the public into a panic or a unified response that might actually threaten the status quo. And considering that the number of documents has somehow grown from only thousands to nearly two million, the few insiders could release practically anything, thereby controlling national dialogue on many topics.
We live in an age of information war. It does not serve the public interest well to ignore that fact at any time based on pre-conceived notions of what corporations, governments or journalists are capable of. Let’s hope that Greenwald, who has done some good work revealing government misconduct, will immediately release all of the stolen documents, speak to the claims of an alleged deal made with government officials, and admit the risks with regard to Omidyar and his Paypal colleagues.The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada (regardless of the students' nationalities). It awards a scholarship and cash prizes ranging from $250 to $2,500 for the top students and $5,000 to $25,000 for the top schools, plus one of the top five individual scorers (designated as Putnam Fellows) is awarded a scholarship of up to $12,000 plus tuition at Harvard University (Putnam Fellow Prize Fellowship),[1] the top 100 individual scorers have their names mentioned in the American Mathematical Monthly (alphabetically ordered within rank), and the names and addresses of the top 500 contestants are mailed to all participating institutions. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious university-level mathematics competition in the world, and its difficulty is such that the median score is often zero (out of 120) despite being attempted by students specializing in mathematics.[2][3]
The competition was founded in 1927 by Elizabeth Lowell Putnam in memory of her husband William Lowell Putnam, who was an advocate of intercollegiate intellectual competition. The exam has been offered annually since 1938 and is administered by the Mathematical Association of America.[4]
Competition layout [ edit ]
The Putnam competition now takes place on the first Saturday in December, and consists of two three-hour sittings separated by a lunch break. The test is supervised by faculty members at the participating schools. Each test consists of twelve challenging problems. The problems cover a range of material in undergraduate mathematics, including elementary concepts from group theory, set theory, graph theory, lattice theory, and number theory.[5]
Each of the twelve questions is worth 10 points, and the most frequent scores above zero are 10 points for a complete solution, 9 points for a nearly complete solution, and 1 point for the beginnings of a solution. In earlier years, the twelve questions were worth one point each, with no partial credit given. The examination is considered to be very difficult: it is typically attempted by students specializing in mathematics, but the median score is usually zero or one point out of 120 possible, and there have been only four perfect scores as of 2010. In 2003, of the 3,615 students taking the exam, 1024 (28%) scored 10 or more points, and 42 points was sufficient to make the top percentile.
At a participating college, any student who wishes to take part in the exam may compete (limited by the number of exams a school receives); but the school's official team consists of three individuals whom it designates in advance. A team's score is the sum of the ranks of its three team members, with the lowest cumulative rank winning. It is entirely possible, even commonplace at some institutions, for the eventual results to show that the "wrong" team was picked—i.e. that some students not on the official team outscored an official team member. For example, in 2010, MIT had two of the top five scorers on the examination and seven of the top 24, while Caltech had just one student in the top five and only four in the top 24; yet Caltech took first place among teams while MIT took second.[6]
The top five teams win $25,000, $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000, in that order, with team members receiving $1,000, $800, $600, $400, and $200, respectively.
The top five individual scorers are named Putnam Fellows and awarded $2,500. The school with the first-place team receives an award of $25,000. Each first-place team member, as well as the winner of the Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Prize, receives $1,000. Sixth through 15th place individuals receive $1,000 and the next ten receive $250. The names of the top 100 students are published in the American Mathematical Monthly, and exam results are published in early April of the year following the exam.[7]
Many Putnam Fellows have gone on to become distinguished researchers in mathematics and other fields, including three Fields Medalists—Milnor, Mumford, and Quillen—and two Nobel laureates in physics—Feynman and Wilson.
Winners [ edit ]
Top-scoring teams [ edit ]
Teams ranked by historical performance [ edit ]
Below is a table of teams by the number of appearances in the top five and number of titles.
The following table lists Teams finishing in Top Five (as of 2017 competition):
For a recent analysis, the following table lists teams that finished in the top five since 2000 (as of 2017 competition):
The following table lists Teams with First place finishes (as of 2017 competition):
Putnam Fellows [ edit ]
Since the first competition, the top five (or six, in case of a tie) scorers on the examination have been named Putnam Fellows. Within the top five, Putnam Fellows are not ranked. Students are not allowed to participate in the Putnam Competition more than four times. For example, if a high school senior chooses to officially participate, he/she effectively chooses to forfeit one of his/her years of eligibility in college (see Gabriel Carroll). This makes it even more of a remarkable feat to become a Putnam Fellow four times. In the history of the Competition, only eight students have been Putnam Fellows four times, with twenty-three others winning the award three times. The following table lists these students:
The following table lists all Putnam fellows from 1938 to present, with the years they placed in the top five.[8]
Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Award winners [ edit ]
Since 1992, the Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Award has been available to be awarded to a female participant with a high score. The year(s) in which they were Fellows are in bold.
Name School Year (s) Dana Pascovici Dartmouth 1992 Ruth A. Britto-Pacumio MIT 1994 Ioana Dumitriu NYU 1995, 1996, 1997 Wai Ling Yee Waterloo 1999 Melanie E. Wood Duke 2001, 2002 Ana Caraiani Princeton 2003, 2004 Alison B. Miller Harvard 2005, 2006, 2007 Viktoriya Krakovna Toronto 2008 Yinghui Wang MIT 2010 Fei Song Virginia 2011 Xiao Wu Yale 2013 Simona Diaconu Princeton 2016 Ni Yan UCLA 2017 Danielle Wang MIT 2015, 2018NAME
Raisin - A REST API microframework for Perl.
SYNOPSIS
use HTTP::Status qw(:constants); use List::Util qw(max); use Raisin::API; use Types::Standard qw(HashRef Any Int Str); my %USERS = ( 1 => { first_name => 'Darth', last_name => 'Wader', password => 'deathstar', email => '[email protected]', }, 2 => { first_name => 'Luke', last_name => 'Skywalker', password => 'qwerty', email => '[email protected]', }, ); plugin 'Logger', fallback => 1; app->log( debug => 'Starting Raisin...' ); middleware 'CrossOrigin', origins => '*', methods => [qw/DELETE GET HEAD OPTIONS PATCH POST PUT/], headers => [qw/accept authorization content-type api_key_token/]; plugin 'Swagger'; swagger_setup( title => 'A POD synopsis API', description => 'An example of API documentation.', #terms_of_service => '', contact => { name => 'Artur Khabibullin', url => 'http://github.com/khrt', email => '[email protected]', }, license => { name => 'Perl license', url => 'http://dev.perl.org/licenses/', }, ); desc 'Users API'; resource users => sub { summary 'List users'; params( optional('start', type => Int, default => 0, desc => 'Pager (start)'), optional('count', type => Int, default => 10, desc => 'Pager (count)'), ); get sub { my $params = shift; my @users = map { { id => $_, %{ $USERS{$_} } } } sort { $a <=> $b } keys %USERS; my $max_count = scalar(@users) - 1; my $start = $params->{start} > $max_count? $max_count : $params->{start}; my $count = $params->{count} > $max_count? $max_count : $params->{count}; my @slice = @users[$start.. $count]; { data => \@slice } }; summary 'List all users at once'; get 'all' => sub { my @users = map { { id => $_, %{ $USERS{$_} } } } sort { $a <=> $b } keys %USERS; { data => \@users } }; summary 'Create new user'; params( requires('user', type => HashRef, desc => 'User object', group { requires('first_name', type => Str, desc => 'First name'), requires('last_name', type => Str, desc => 'Last name'), requires('password', type => Str, desc => 'User password'), optional('email', type => Str, default => undef, regex => qr/.+\@.+/, desc => 'User email'), }), ); post sub { my $params = shift; my $id = max(keys %USERS) + 1; $USERS{$id} = $params->{user}; res->status(HTTP_CREATED); { success => 1 } }; desc 'Actions on the user'; params requires('id', type => Int, desc => 'User ID'); route_param 'id' => sub { summary 'Show user'; get sub { my $params = shift; $USERS{ $params->{id} }; }; summary 'Delete user'; del sub { my $params = shift; delete $USERS{ $params->{id} }; res->status(HTTP_NO_CONTENT); undef; }; }; }; run;
DESCRIPTION
Raisin is a REST API microframework for Perl. It's designed to run on Plack, providing a simple DSL to develop RESTful APIs easily. It was inspired by Grape.
FUNCTIONS
API DESCRIPTION
resource
Adds a route to an application.
resource user => sub {... };
route_param
Defines a route parameter as a resource id which can be anything if type isn't specified for it.
route_param id => sub {... };
del, get, patch, post, put
Shortcuts to add a route restricted to the corresponding HTTP method.
get sub { 'GET' }; del 'all' => sub { 'OK' }; params( requires('id', type => Int), optional('key', type => Str), ); get sub { 'GET' }; desc 'Put data'; params( required('id', type => Int), optional('name', type => Str), ); put 'all' => sub { 'PUT' };
desc
Adds a description to resource or any of the HTTP methods. Useful for OpenAPI as it's shown there as a description of an action.
desc 'Some long explanation about an action'; put sub {... }; desc 'Some exaplanation about a group of actions', resource => 'user' => sub {... }
summary
Same as "desc" but shorter.
summary 'Some summary'; put sub {... };
Tags can be used for logical grouping of operations by resources or any other qualifier. Using in API description.
tags 'delete', 'user'; delete sub {... };
By default tags are added automatically based on it's namespace but you always can overwrite it using the function.
entity
Describes response object which will be used to generate OpenAPI description.
entity 'MusicApp::Entity::Album'; get { my $albums = $schema->resultset('Album'); present data => $albums, with => 'MusicApp::Entity::Album'; };
params
Defines validations and coercion options for your parameters. Can be applied to any HTTP method and/or "route_param" to describe parameters.
params( requires('name', type => Str), optional('start', type => Int, default => 0), optional('count', type => Int, default => 10), ); get sub {... }; params( requires('id', type => Int, desc => 'User ID'), ); route_param 'id' => sub {... };
For more see "Validation-and-coercion" in Raisin.
api_default_format
Specifies default API format mode when formatter isn't specified by API user. E.g. if URI is asked without an extension ( json, yaml ) or Accept header isn't specified the default format will be used.
Default value: YAML.
api_default_format 'json';
See also "API-FORMATS" in Raisin.
api_format
Restricts API to use only specified formatter to serialize and deserialize data.
Already exists Raisin::Encoder::JSON, Raisin::Encoder::YAML, and Raisin::Encoder::Text, but you can always register your own using "register_encoder".
api_format 'json';
See also "API-FORMATS" in Raisin.
api_version
Sets up an API version header.
api_version 1.23;
plugin
Loads a Raisin module. A module options may be specified after the module name. Compatible with Kelp modules.
plugin 'Swagger';
middleware
Adds a middleware to your application.
middleware '+Plack::Middleware::Session' => { store => 'File' }; middleware '+Plack::Middleware::ContentLength'; middleware 'Runtime'; # will be loaded Plack::Middleware::Runtime
mount
Mounts multiple API implementations inside another one. These don't have to be different versions, but may be components of the same API.
In RaisinApp.pm :
package RaisinApp; use Raisin::API; api_format 'json'; mount 'RaisinApp::User'; mount 'RaisinApp::Host'; 1;
register_decoder
Registers a third-party parser (decoder).
register_decoder(xml => 'My::Parser::XML');
See also Raisin::Decoder.
register_encoder
Registers a third-party formatter (encoder).
register_encoder(xml => 'My::Formatter::XML');
See also Raisin::Encoder.
run
Returns the PSGI application.
CONTROLLER
req
Provides quick access to the Raisin::Request object for the current route.
Use req to get access to request headers, params, etc.
use DDP; p req->headers; p req->params; say req->header('X-Header');
See also Plack::Request.
res
Provides quick access to the Raisin::Response object for the current route.
Use res to set up response parameters.
res->status(403); res->headers(['X-Application' => 'Raisin Application']);
See also Plack::Response.
param
Returns request parameters. Without an argument will return an array of all input parameters. Otherwise it will return the value of the requested parameter.
Returns Hash::MultiValue object.
say param('key'); # -> value say param(); # -> { key => 'value', foo => 'bar' }
include_missing
Returns all declared parameters even if there is no value for a param.
See "Declared-parameters" in Raisin.
session
Returns psgix.session hash. When it exists, you can retrieve and store per-session data.
# store param session->{hello} = 'World!'; # read param say session->{name};
present
Raisin hash a built-in present method, which accepts two arguments: an object to be presented and an options associated with it. The options hash may include with key, which is defined the entity to expose. See Raisin::Entity.
my $artists = $schema->resultset('Artist'); present data => $artists, with => 'MusicApp::Entity::Artist'; present count => $artists->count;
Raisin::Entity supports DBIx::Class and Rose::DB::Object.
For details see examples in examples/music-app and Raisin::Entity.
ALLOWED METHODS
When you add a route for a resource, a route for the OPTIONS method will also be added. The response to an OPTIONS request will include an "Allow" header listing the supported methods.
get 'count' => sub { { count => $count }; }; params( requires('num', type => Int, desc => 'Value to add to the count.'), ); put 'count' => sub { my $params = shift; $count += $params->{num}; { count: $count }; }; curl -v -X OPTIONS http://localhost:5000/count > OPTIONS /count HTTP/1.1 > Host: localhost:5000 > * HTTP 1.0, assume close after body < HTTP/1.1 204 No Content < Allow: GET, OPTIONS, PUT
If a request for a resource is made with an unsupported HTTP method, an HTTP 405 (Method Not Allowed) response will be returned.
curl -X DELETE -v http://localhost:3000/count > DELETE /count HTTP/1.1 > Host: localhost:5000 > * HTTP 1.0, assume close after body < HTTP/1.1 405 Method Not Allowed < Allow: OPTIONS, GET, PUT
PARAMETERS
Request parameters are available through the params HASH. This includes GET, POST and PUT parameters, along with any named parameters you specify in your route strings.
Parameters are automatically populated from the request body on POST and PUT for form input, JSON and YAML content-types.
The request:
curl localhost:5000/data -H Content-Type:application/json -d '{"id": "14"}'
The Raisin endpoint:
post data => sub { param('id') };
Multipart POST s and PUT s are supported as well.
In the case of conflict between either of:
path parameters;
GET, POST and PUT parameters;
contents of request body on POST and PUT;
Path parameters have precedence.
Query string and body parameters will be merged (see "parameters" in Plack::Request)
Declared parameters
Raisin allows you to access only the parameters that have been declared by you in "params" in Raisin block.
By default you can get all declared parameter as a first argument passed to your route subroutine.
Application:
api_format 'json'; post data => sub { my $params = shift; { data => $params }; };
Request:
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" localhost:5000/signup -d '{"id": 42}'
Response:
{ "data": nil }
Once we add parameters block, Raisin will start return only the declared parameters.
Application:
api_format 'json'; params( requires('id', type => Int), optional('email', type => Str) ); post data => sub { my $params = shift; { data => $params }; };
Request:
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" localhost:5000/signup -d '{"id": 42, "key": "value"}'
Response:
{ "data": { "id": 42 } }
By default declared parameters don't contain parameters which have no value
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− than anywhere else. And, it’s not just small businesses. One in three Fortune 500 businesses are now with T-Mobile.
Verdict: Whole new groups…and then some! But, there’s still work to do for consumers, businesses and everyone this industry has abused for years. And still oh so many industry pain points to fix!
What I said: “T-Mobile will - officially - become the No. 3 wireless company in America in 2015.”
What actually happened: We officially became No. 3 in US wireless in Q3 2015. I had expected to pass them a bit earlier (like I’ve said before – give them credit for swinging the bat, but I don’t need them to fail for T-Mobile to succeed!) and I could have claimed we were #3 sooner (based on their atypical accounting of customers), but I don’t need to. We are officially #3 and are completely focused ahead on the Duopoly! Enough said.
Verdict: Check this one off, too! T-Mobile is on fire, and we are doing it without dramatic promotions and copycat moves.
So, overall not a bad batting average for 2015, am I right? But there is still so much left to do! Look for my 2016 predictions coming tomorrow. Like a lot of what I say, some of it may sound crazy… but that’s what they said when I started this whole Un-carrier thing and that seems to be working out OK! Oh, and fair warning…. Verizon in particular won’t like some of my predictions tomorrow… So stay tuned - because this is going to be fun![social_buttons]
While riding an electric motorcycle powered by cordless-drill batteries, Scotty Pollacheck made drag racing history for the second time. He went from 0 to 60 mph in less than a second!
The KillaCycle® — originally designed and built in 1999 –uses a series of more than 1,200 batteries to power two motors which crank out 500 bhp. The bike can reach a jaw dropping 168 mph.
>>> also check out: “Norway May Ban Gas Cars After 2015”
All this gives the driver a G-force three times more than that faced by a skydiver during freefall!
“The powerful nano-phosphate battery cells are what makes the the bike go as fast as it does,” said racing team owner Bill Dube. He added, “If you think about it, the KillaCycle is just a giant cordless drill with wheels.”
So it is not suprising the KillaCycle has won the title of the world’s fastest battery powered vehicle. Those looking to disagree should know the bike cleared a quarter mile track in under eight seconds.
Dube says the secret of the bike’s speed is the battery cells, which are made by A123 Systems. These NanoPosphate batteries are game changer for electric vehicles.
The bike can be fully charged in four minutes and is charged by wind-powered generators. Nice! On a full charge the bike can seven runs down a quarter of a mile drag track.
“The KillaCycle is the result of years of effort. It was the first electric vehicle to break the eight seconds barrier in drag racing in November 2007,” says Dube and that “it was the first electric powered vehicle of any kind to go over 150 mph in a quarter of a mile in August 2000.”
Dube said the team is now working on a version of the KillaCycle which will be capable of producing an incredible 1,000 bhp.
Source [Daily Mail] Photos [KillaCycle.com]
Like this article? Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook.A brand new feature on this website is the introduction of weekly & fortnightly columns focusing on various leagues, countries and regions across the World. James Bufton analyses and gives his opinion here on the talking points in American soccer.
Kinnear’s home farewell tarnished by Lee Nguyen
Dominic Kinnear announced his decision to leave the Dynamo on the eve of Houston’s meeting with the Revolution, accepting the opportunity to return to San Jose and replace the outgoing Mark Watson for the 2015 campaign. Orange Crush qualified for the postseason in seven of the nine years Kinnear spent at the helm, building a dynasty under the guidance of the former USMNT defender wherein the team claimed successive MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007. While the relationship has run its course, the legacy of the unprecedented success yielded by the 47-year-old will be felt in Houston for decades to come.
There was no poetic goodbye to be had however, as the Revs returned to Foxborough with maximum points and a secured top-three finish, in large part thanks to the performance of Lee Nguyen. His second half brace capped a magnificent display in which the American-Vietnamese midfielder proved his MVP credentials to the rest of the league. While the likes of Robbie Keane, Bradley Wright Phillips, Obafemi Martins and the departing Landon Donavon have consumed most of this discussion for some time, perhaps none can rival the 28-year-old in terms of overall influence down the stretch.
Nguyen, who was waived by the Vancouver Whitecaps after three preseason appearances back in 2012, has produced the best form of his career this year, supplementing his seventeen goals with an additional five assists. He leads the league in game winners with eight in thirty one appearances and has hit the back of the net nine times in his last ten matches, representing an integral competent to New England’s late surge up the standings. For context, Jay Heaps’ side lost eight of the ten games prior to #24’s burst of momentum, claiming victory only once. Even if he is ultimately overlooked for MVP honours, there’s no denying the extraordinary manner to his season, an x-factor opponents will no doubt have to be very wary of in the playoffs.
EJ fires D.C. to record turnaround
D.C. United finished last season in the basement of the Eastern Conference, owning the worst regular season record [3-24-7] in the entire league with a cataclysmic goal difference of -37. This past Saturday, twelve months on from the business end of that abysmal campaign, DCU secured first place in the east along with a place in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League. Ben Olsen has masterminded the biggest one-year turnaround in MLS history, improving by an extraordinary 42 points, and, deservedly, is the number one candidate for the Coach of the Year award.
Olsen has done an unbelievable job resurrecting United and much of the reason behind that is how he’s integrated the three main offseason additions – Fabian Espindola, Davy Arnaud and Bobby Boswell – into the existing contingent of promising youth. It was Eddie Johnson however, a new addition himself reliant on the 37-year-old’s man management skills while on the periphery looking in, who delivered the goods in the 2-1 win over Chicago with the assist for the opener and eventual winner in the 53rd minute. Heroes can come in the unlikeliest of forms during this wild part of the campaign, as the late reemergence of EJ testifies.
Johnson’s talent is undeniable, but attached with that is the tendency to generate unwelcome distraction within the locker room and D.C. have experienced both the pros and the cons since signing the 30-year-old in December 2013. He encountered numerous difficulties to start the year, struggling to discover his scoring touch and consequently missed out on Jürgen Klinsmann’s World Cup squad, a rough patch not helped by some questionable behaviour on social media, however he has bounced back to find form at the ideal time. He’s capitalised on the injury to Luis Silva, impressing on an individual basis, yet more importantly has maintained a healthy relationship with Espindola, instigator-in-chief alongside Silva. This combination will hope to grow in force as the playoffs progress, and will give a selection headache to coach Olsen when Silva returns from injury.
Whitecaps maintain control of final playoff spot up for grabs
Portland, the sole contender to the Whitecaps for the fifth and final place at the postseason table in the west could not defeat a determined Nick Rimando at Providence Park on Friday night, falling to a 0-0 stalemate despite applying relentless pressure on the Real Salt Lake goal. This presented a convenient opportunity to their Cascadia neighbours, who they themselves headed into the final Earthquakes home game at Buck Shaw Stadium with impressive momentum having beaten conference rivals RSL, FC Dallas and Seattle in consecutive weeks.
San Jose went into the game under the leadership of long time assistant Ian Russell, who occupies the hot seat on an interim basis for the remainder of the year, after Mark Watson was relieved of duties in the week. Vancouver, who had never taken three points away from Santa Clara before, failed to do so again as the emotionally charged Quakes stayed resilient, halting all progress by any means necessary. The organisation will move into their brand new, 18,000-capacity arena in the offseason, costing a figure in the region of $70,000,000. It will be interesting to see how the team perform without the poorly maintained enclosed surface that served as a home-field advantage of sorts at Buck Shaw, a significant factor in nullifying its final away side on Saturday.
The Caps did not succumb to a loss however, and in doing so stay above the red line, a single point ahead of the trailing Timbers. It’s been a fascinating race for some time and looks to carry on in that respect next week as Caleb Porter takes his side to face Dallas, while Carl Robinson’s men host the Rapids. RSL’s result against Chivas could have a considerable effect on proceedings in Frisco, TX as a win for the reigning Western Conference champions would mean that only victory would secure third place for FCD. It’s anyone’s guess as to how the picture will look in seven days time.
Galaxy and Sounders battle to a tie in Supporters’ Shield showdown
The first leg of the home and home series between LA and Seattle to decide the Supporters’ Shield promised drama and sure enough delivered it on Sunday night, in what was Landon Donovan’s final regular season home match at the StubHub Center. Much of the talk surrounding the clash in the days leading up to the contest regarded Bruce Arena’s tactical duel with long time adversary Sigi Schmid, two of the most decorated coaches in the history of Major League Soccer. Arena has come out on top on the most occasions, boasting an 11-7-5 record in all competitions, and fans were treated to yet another classic between the two visionaries whose first meeting took place way back in 1988 with the Galaxy boss guiding the University of Virginia to a 3-0 victory over Sigi’s UCLA.
In a surprisingly open first half, both outfits creating their fair share of opportunities, the hosts broke the deadlock after a costly lapse of concentration from Brad Evans presented Baggio Husidić with his fifth goal this term. Husidić was involved on the goalscoring front yet again early into the second forty five, setting up a wonderful effort from Marcelo Sarvas to double the advantage. It would be fair to say that the Sounders didn’t deserve to trail by such a margin having adopted an effectively fluent approach, and the visitors reaped the rewards for their commitment to that positivity, halving the deficit through Clint Dempsey. Lamar Neagle levelled the scoreline soon thereafter to claw a draw from LA’s clutches and carry the impetus into next Saturday’s rematch at CenturyLink field.
Neagle has waited a long time to reach this standing in the Emerald City, spending two spells with the Sounders – in between stints with Charleston Battery, IFK Mariehamn and Montreal Impact – before signing for a third time in 2013. This season he has become somewhat of a secret weapon in Schmid’s game plan, adding an extra dimension going forward as an unknown quantity in comparison to the more heavily prepared against Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. He’s accumulated nine goals and nine assists, a career high, repaying the faith placed in him throughout this term. Heading into the playoffs it will be tantamount for opposition to keep an eye out for the effervescent 27-year-old, and learn a lesson from his equaliser in Los Angeles.
Sounders and Timbers announce USL Pro teams
In other news, Seattle and Portland have announced that USL Pro will be heading to Cascadia for the 2015 campaign. Sounders 2 will operate from the Starfire Sports facility in Tukwila, while Timbers 2 will play at the 5,000-capacity Merlo Field. This has garnered a positive response from fans and media alike, excited by the long-term prospects and widespread opportunity attached to this investment. This is testament to the league-wide devotion to the future of US soccer, the newfound emphasis may take time to produce the projected results but should prove very much worthwhile with the right backing.
Much of the attention afforded to the S2 project has resulted from the exciting initiative with regards to ownership, though the club itself will hold a majority stake, the supporter-operated Sounders Community Trust will assume 20%. SCT Chairman Paul Cox told this to the club website about the news: “From day one, Sounders FC has embraced the storied history of soccer culture in Seattle and has been progressive about involving supporters with the club. The formation of the Sounders Community Trust is the next step in that process, and represents a deeper connection to the sport in our community.”
Timbers General Manager Gavin Wilkinson acknowledged the success of the Galaxy II outfit and the benefits he and the team hope to replicate with their affiliated side going forward: “They moved players back and forth on a regular basis, all of their players got plenty of playing time, and it gave the coaching staff of the first team the opportunity to see how the players were performing and bring in players that were performing well, but for the young guys that were not quite ready, still get valuable games in.”
Talent Radar MLS Player of the Week: Brian Brown
This week’s Talent Radar MLS Player of the Week is Philadelphia Union’s 21-year-old attacker Brian Brown, who scored his second goal of the campaign and his second goal against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. Brown, handed his first start by interim head coach Jim Curtin, slotted the ball out wide to an in form Cristian Maidana before darting through the space vacated between Aurélien Collin and Seth Sinovic to meet the Argentine’s return delivery and convert with aplomb. Brown headed to the City of Brotherly Love in July, penning a loan deal from Jamaican side Harbour View FC until the end of the season, and is determined to offer more in 2015 if he’s offered the chance to do so at PPL Park: “MLS is a pretty good league, guys here are physically strong. For my first season, I would say it’s ok, but if I’m here next season it’s going to be way better for me.”
Written by James BuftonFor the third time over the last couple of years, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been forced onto the sidelines with yet another injury.
According to MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani, Khabib sustained the rib injury while participating in the portion of his training camp done in Russia. Soon afterwards, Khabib's father, Abdulmanap, took to Facebook to elaborate on the injury.
"This injury is a very unpleasant situation," said the renowned Dagestani coach. "We tried to figure out how to train and avoid injuries, not to disappoint our fans. But we failed. Khabib stopped a takedown while working in sparring when he got injured. We couldn't force everything."
Abdulmanap, who trains the likes of Islam Makhachev and Abubakar Nurmagomedov as well, also revealed that Khabib's training conditions this time around were far from ideal.
"Too much effort was spent on flights here and there, meeting youth, and we also always had many guests at home. This isn't a proper regime for training."
To add to Khabib's terrible luck, the injury was sustained one day prior to his flight to San Jose, California to continue training at the American Kickboxing Academy.
"We got the injury one day before flight to USA and 42 days before the fight. We planned to do 2 training camps - 21 days each. Khabib's weight was 85kg what I think was good regarding the time he had before the fight. One relief for us - is that wasn't his old injury, not his knee. A broken rib is a very common injury for wrestlers."
No timetable has been set for Khabib's return. Edson Barboza is scheduled to replace the inured Dagestani against Tony Ferguson in December.
Translation via Artem SafarovTRICHY: Three more cotton farmers belonging to Siruganpur village in Perambalur have been hospitalised in a continuing series of farm workers falling victim to harmful exposure of pesticides in Paerambalur and Ariyalur. Already, at least five farm workers have died in two months from medical ailments caused while spraying pesticides on BT cotton fields, investigations by advocacy groups have revealed.Perambalur GH sources identified the three farmers as Ajith, 22, Ayyakannu, 25, and Radhakrishnan, 62, all hailing from Siruganpur village. A few days ago, the farmers were spraying pesticide on their BT cotton field when the trio collapsed due to nausea and was subsequently admitted to the GH. “Ajith and Ayyakannu are in a stable state after treatments. They had breathing trouble as the pesticide got infused into the blood after heavy inhalation. Radhakrishnan was referred to Trichy GH for continuous monitoring,” a source in Perambalur GH said.Already four farmers in Perambalur district and one in Ariyalur district had lost their lives due to medical complications caused while spraying the pesticide. Though farmers had been falling sick time and again, activists said that the authorities concerned were yet to understand the gravity of the situation. They had not taken any efforts to conduct a scientific study and launch awareness measures on the issue.“More than 200 farmers have been hospitalised thus far in Perambalur district alone, but the district administration and agriculture department have not carried out the much-needed awareness activities to prevent cotton farmers from using Monocrotophos pesticide further. Government has to conduct a study so that loss of lives among the farming community can be prevented,” Saravanan Karunanidhi, joint secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), told TOI.A fact-finding committee of PUCL including Karunanidhi had even filed a complaint with National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on finding that five farmers had lost their lives because of using a particular type of pesticide in the cotton fields of Ariyalur and Perambalur. The PUCL’s representative also added that the families of the deceased farmers were yet to be provided financial assistance.U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with the wife of a jailed American pastor, Andrew Brunson, in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday night, a State Department official said on Friday.
Brunson is a missionary who has been held in Turkey since October on charges of being part of a terrorist organization, according to news reports.
”Secretary of State Tillerson wanted to make sure he met with Mrs. Brunson to share the most recent information he had on Pastor Brunson’s case,” the official said.
“The Secretary committed to staying in touch with Mrs. Brunson regarding the case moving forward,” the official said.
The pastor and his wife, Norine Brunson, were initially detained on immigration violation charges in October, when they were operating a small Christian church in the city of Izmir on Turkey’s western coast, media reports say.
Turkish media reports say Brunson has been charged with membership of the Gulenist Terror Organisation, the term which Turkish authorities uses to refer to the network of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Ankara accuses Gulen and his followers of being behind an attempted coup in Turkey last July. Gulen rejects the allegations.
Tillerson was in Ankara to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and senior government ministers for talks which focused on the conflict in neighboring Syria.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with Tillerson that Ankara expected Washington to take concrete steps on the extradition of Gulen, calling for his detention in the United States.China has long been paramount to Taiwan’s technology hardware firms. It first offered them a low-cost manufacturing base for electronics components sold to global brands like Apple (NASDAQ: APPL), and later, as some transitioned into branded consumer electronics, a huge market that shares geographic and cultural proximity with Taiwan.
The key Taiwanese firms in Apple’s supply chain have flourished. Hon Hai Precision Industry (TPE: 2317), also known as Foxconn, is the world’s top contract electronics maker and Apple’s largest supplier. From April to June, Hon Hai’s profits rose for the third consecutive quarter to $673 million ($NT20.19 billion). Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (TPE:2330) is the largest contract chip maker globally and produces the microprocessors in Apple’s smartphones and tablets. TSMC posted a record net profit in the third quarter of $2.51 billion (NT$76.3 billion).
But as China’s own companies move up the value chain, Chinese wages rise and the renminbi appreciates, many Taiwanese tech firms see their competitive advantages eroding.
Chinese firms have a strong edge in their home market, the world’s largest for technology products. Beijing provides its companies with low-interest loans, generous subsidies, government procurement and even judicial protection.
“Support from the Chinese government is the greatest asset Chinese tech firms have,” says Avril Wu, an assistant vice president at TrendForce, a Taiwan-based market-research firm.
Beijing also restricts foreign investment in the telecommunications sector, which is an oligopoly dominated by the state-owned carriers China Telecom (HKG: 0728), China Unicom (HKG:0762) and China Mobile (HKG: 0941). Beijing’s support, along with aggressive marketing and retail distribution strategies, have helped Chinese brands Lenovo (HKG: 0992), Huawei (SHE:002502) and Xiaomi grab smartphone market share from global competitors including Samsung and Taiwan’s HTC (TPE: 2498).
Losing in China
Two years ago, Ray Yam, who then headed HTC’s China operations, said the firm’s goal was to be one of the top two handset vendors in China by revenue by 2015.
At this point, that seems unlikely. HTC has flagged badly since 2011, when it sold one in ten mobile phones worldwide and was the global leader in Android smartphone shipments. In China, it has just a 5% share of the handset market, according to TrendForce.
“HTC’s new models lack innovation and outstanding features,” says Vanessa Zeng, a senior analyst at Forrester Research in Beijing. “Compared with domestic brands, its products are a poor value and its brand is not clearly defined. So HTC is losing from the standpoint of both retail channels and end users.”
Fu Cong, a 30-year-old account manager with a news distribution provider firm in Shanghai, bought an HTC smartphone in early 2013 and is unsatisfied with its performance. “It became very slow after a year of use,” he says. “I don’t see any clear advantage for HTC now either, since it is more expensive than domestic brands but uses the same Android operating system. I will consider buying a domestic brand in the future.”
HTC will struggle to gain traction in China, says Wu of TrendForce. Chinese brands better understand China’s consumers and equip their handsets with in-demand software and services, she says, adding: “HTC wants to position themselves as a premium brand and keep prices up to maintain profitability, but they have neither the resources nor wherewithal to do effective marketing. They are a hardware-oriented company.”
Chips on the table
MediaTek (TPE: 2454), Taiwan’s largest chip designer, also faces tough competition in China. MediaTek posted record profits of $420 million (NT$12.55 billion) for the quarter ending in June, as smartphone and tablet computer chip shipments rose. But Deutsche Bank downgraded its shares in September, citing unexpectedly tenacious competition in the China market.
US chipmaker Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) is China’s top mobile phone chip supplier, with a 50% share of the baseband market, compared to number two MediaTek, which has 25%, according to a Credit Suisse report. Qualcomm also holds 80% of China’s burgeoning 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) chip market, according to data compiled by Digitimes.
“MediaTek is having trouble developing a power-efficient 4G chip,” says Wu of TrendForce. “They are going to try to grab market share by undercutting competitors’ prices, which will hurt profitability throughout the industry.”
Meanwhile, local competition is intensifying, buoyed by funding from China’s state coffers. The Beijing-backed private-equity firm Tsinghua Unigroup acquired local chipmakers Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics a year ago for $1.78 billion and $907 million, respectively. Spreadtrum is China’s second-largest chip designer and RDA its third-largest.
In September, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) took a 20% stake in Unigroup for $1.5 billion. Intel aims to penetrate the mobile chip sector by allying with Chinese rivals dominant in that industry as growth slows in personal computers. This investment also gave both Spreadtrum and RDA access to the Intel Architecture for future system-on-a-chip projects.
Still, MediaTek is likely to hang on to its strong position in the Chinese market for now, says Arthur Liao, an analyst at Fubon Securities in Taipei. “Chinese firms are becoming more aggressive in the production of mobile chipsets, but it will be hard to threaten MediaTek in the next two to three years,” Liao says. “But in the long term, China intend to dominate the market.”
Ceding ground slowly
Indeed, Beijing has set its sights on the semiconductor industry. While China is the top consumer of chips in the world, accounting for 45% of global demand, imported integrated circuits comprise 90% of that consumption, according to the consultancy McKinsey & Company. To strengthen the competitiveness of domestic semiconductor firms, the Chinese government is forming a special task that aims to boost their revenue at a compound annual growth rate of 20% until 2020. Beijing could pour up to $170 billion (1 trillion renminbi) into that project over the next five to ten years, McKinsey says.
China also intends to develop a world-class chip packager and tester. Taiwan’s Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) (TPE: 2311) is currently the world’s number one chip packager.
Ultimately, China seeks to build a team of semiconductor national champions and will move aggressively to acquire other companies in pursuit of that goal, says Jeff Pu, an analyst with Yuanta Securities in Taipei. In September, China’s largest chip packager and tester Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology, flush with funding from Beijing, bid to acquire the Singapore chip packager and tester Stats Chippac Ltd. (STAT) (SGX:S24). “China wants to use acquisitions to leapfrog up the value chain of chip packaging, which has a low entry barrier,” Pu says. “Chinese firms could be competitive with ASE in one to two years.”
Liao of Fubon Securities believes TMSC, with its superior technology, will dominate chip making for the next two to three years. After that, he says, it may have to contend with formidable Chinese competitors.
But because of the strength of its global distribution network and importance in Apple’s supply chain, Foxconn will remain the world’s preeminent contract electronics manufacturer, Liao says.
Increasing automation will also help Foxconn keep costs down and reduce the possibility of worker unrest at its factories, says Pu.
Still, for most of Taiwan’s technology hardware companies, rising Chinese competition will be difficult to manage without government support, particularly given the lengths to which Beijing goes to strengthen the hands of its own firms.
Worryingly, amidst political gridlock between the ruling Kuomintang and opposition Democratic Progressive Party, the Taiwanese government appears unable to act on behalf of Taiwan’s technology industry, wrote Kirk Yang, Barclay’s Asia Pacific ex-Japan head of technology hardware research, in a report published in June. Yang said more projects like the Hsinchu Science Park, which was established in 1980 and became a center for global semiconductor manufacturing, are needed if Taiwan’s technology firms are to remain global leaders.
Unfortunately, that type of support from the beleaguered Taiwanese government is unlikely to be forthcoming, says Pu. “I don’t think that’s where their priorities are,” he says.
Image credit: Matthew FulcoGravity is only the latest of a long line of books and movies to seize upon the dangers—often deadly—of space travel. But actual astronauts never seem afraid to pierce the atmosphere and plunge into the icy depths beyond our planet. So, are storytellers taking liberties? Is space not quite so dangerous? Are astronauts actual super humans? No—they’re actually quite scared. But they go anyway.
Luca Parmitano is no stranger to the hostility of space. He nearly drowned in his own space suit just a few months ago. On his blog yesterday, he explained that, even though astronauts may seem stoic, they are very aware of how dangerous their jobs are. When asked whether he’s afraid, he says that he often wants to lie:
The temptation to answer simply “no” is great, everyone would breathe a sigh of relief and go on knowing that there are out of the ordinary men and women in the world who work without fear: astronauts. But super humans do not exist – and it is better this way. My humble opinion is that only fools say they are never afraid – and they are lying when they say it. Fear is a series of sensations, a primordial mechanism that has developed over millennia of evolution to preserve our lives. It would be a waste not to use such a tool. But like any tool, it can be used well or badly: a scalpel, in the expert hands of a surgeon, can save a life while the same scalpel can be lethal when used without skill and knowledge.
The urge to lie about your fear doesn’t just hit Parmitano. In 2011, Maggie Koerth-Baker interviewed astronaut Rex Walheim about going to space. A reader asked, “When you’re going through the selection process, hoping beyond hope to be chosen to train as an astronaut, would you admit to being afraid of anything, or would than seem not very astronaut-like? Is there a place in the training for people to admit to having fear?”
Wilheim’s answer was double-edged:
I think it would depend on how you talk about something like that. If you say, “I’m scared to death,” you might not make it. But you can say, “I’m concerned about my safety.” Frankly, if you’re not concerned about sitting on 10 stories of high explosives, you’re not thinking hard enough. The funny thing is, after 5 years of training, it actually doesn’t cross your mind too much.
As Wilheim suggests, many astronauts won’t fess up directly to being afraid like Parmitano does. In 2009, astronaut Wilson Rothman wrote a first person account of his trip to space on Gizmodo. He wrote:
I remember during one of my launch counts, the ladies were taking our pre-launch breakfast orders, going around the table. I was hearing things like, dry toast. A little yogurt. Cereal. You gotta be kidding me, what kind of pantywaists am I flying with? They got to me and I replied firmly and evenly, “Steak and eggs, medium rare and over easy.” Everyone looked at me funny. I stated the obvious. “Hey, we might go out tomorrow and get blown up. I’m going to have steak and eggs!”
Greg Johnson, the pilot of Endeavor, told ABC in 2011 that any astronaut who won’t fess up to being afraid is just lying. “I feel the risk, and I compare launching on the space shuttle a little like going into combat,” he told them. “Any sane astronaut will feel the fear, or concern just prior to liftoff. If they don’t admit they are lying to you.”
In every interview, though, astronauts repeat some variation of the same sentiment: yes, it’s scary, but it is also worth it.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Luca Parmitano Shared Exactly How It Feels to Start Drowning in SpaceA few thoughts.
This is classic argument from adverse consequences ( The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking As others point out, if she graduates high school, she can go to community college (at the very least). No, it’s not ivy-covered red brick quads shaded by ancient oaks, but if she’s committed, she’ll move on from there. Not everyone does move on from community college. Even some people who, given a more competitive and consuming environment, would have succeeded at a four-year college will fail at at two-year college. More schools are instituting the “no D” policy for graduating seniors because people were abusing the system. They realized that if they got into school, whether it’s Harvard or Kent State or a small college you’ve never heard of, they’re in as long as they graduate, so they do the minimum amount of work to get a D. Many of these schools will flex on this rule when they actually confront it, but others won’t; at most schools, there’s a waiting list of students who didn’t earn D grades but weren’t admitted first-round. Why should she hold privilege over these students? She must have had some reason for getting a D, but it doesn’t sound like it’s an intellectual limit. If she “earned” the D, as you state, she didn’t even both a significant proportion of the work. If she’s passing her other classes, then whatever that thing is, it’s not so traumatic as to cause her to fail out. Or perhaps it is, and she’s begging her grades from everyone. If there is a legitimate cause, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t have attempted to inquire about it. If she won’t open up, you can’t do anything about it. Making exceptions on the case of “There must be some reason, but I don’t know what it is,” sounds like bad policy. I passed calculus. I should not have. I’m sure that the grading rubric allowed me a passing grade (I certainly didn’t beg or even speak to any of the teaching staff), but I know I failed the final (I barely understood the final), and I know I left not knowing calculus. This was a bad outcome. If I had failed, I would have been forced to confront my failure, rather than run from it (I would have had to retake the course, or at least I would have retaken the course, and had the grades averaged). A mix of chance, some decent early-semester work, and a grading system that makes no sense allowed me to escape the lesson. All good lessons are expensive. Some are less painful in that they don’t have an immediate consequence like a change to one’s future, but they all are expensive. Giving her a passing grade will deny her the lesson. As you move later in life, lessons get more expensive. I tell my student at the beginning of every course, and when I catch them, that there are reasons behind academic integrity policies that go beyond ethics. In the professional world, if you claim work as your own when it isn’t (i.e., plagiarize) and you are caught, you’ll be fired. If you’re in a small enough or high-profile enough world, you’ll be blackballed and your career may end. I know this sounds self-serving, but I honestly feel obligated to fail a student who cheats to protect them. An F on a transcript is harsh. Losing a job is far worse. Losing a career can really destroy a life (an F on a transcript never has). If someone finds out, and they will because she’ll tell (trust me, she’ll tell), then there will be two consequences. The first one, which you may actually even see, will be that other students will try the same. The second, more insidious, more invidious issue is that you’ll confirm to other students that the world is stacked against them. I don’t know you or her, but having seen this many times, I can tell you that the people who get away with this are more often pretty, thin, white girls and tall, handsome, athletic boys. I don’t think that’s intentional, but there’s strong evidence that there are people more likely to elicit sympathy than others.
All of that said, there are extremes where I would at least consider alternatives. If I felt she were a stellar student and was really going to have a unique college experience, I would consider that, but about the only unique experience I can think of would be an official military service academy, and I would be very wary of sending someone into that situation whose integrity was in question. If she’s gonna go to Reed rather than Harvard, then I’m not even going to think about it (the same would apply to going to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville rather than University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign). No, she won’t go to Reed this year, but if she got into Harvard without this issue, she’ll get into somewhere good with this issue.
If she finally opened up about something that happened that caused her performance issue, and I believed she was sincere, and I felt that I could ethically justify giving her a second chance, I would consider that. If she just didn’t give a damn, she needs to learn that society can and will charge her heavily for that. So many college freshmen are “too cool for school.”
My tendency is always to force the lesson (this is truly a teachable moment), and to uphold the already-much-diminished virtue and reputation of the educational system (for precisely the reason that there’s precious little integrity to spare).
Ultimately, though, I would not do anything unless I thought it was ultimately in her best long-term interest as a person (not as a success or as a student, but as person) with integrity and values.
Good luck.KYIV, Ukraine—One year ago I was in Mariupol, Ukraine, when the first cease-fire was signed on Sept. 5, 2014.
Late that afternoon I visited the still smoldering battlefields outside the city. There had been a battle that day and the day prior, involving tanks and artillery. The aftermath was tragic. Many soldiers still
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Sanders is spreading these messages on national television and reaching tens of millions of people—breaking a series of corporate taboos. He is raising expectations.
What the radicals don’t get is that Bernie is opening a crack in an iron wall. This opening—glasnost is the Russian translation—can lead in many different directions. Ultimately, his policy proposals are not half as important as the shift in social power that his election will effect. His reforms will encourage social movements that are, ultimately, beyond his control. Indeed, when you look at all revolutionary change in retrospect, it accelerated in the face of reforms, openings and half-revolutions that preceded any radical break. In the spring of 1789 French elites held the Third Estate months before the storming of the Bastille prison. The Haitian slave insurrection took place when the establishment was in civil strife over reforms. In March 1917, the creation of parliamentary democracy preceded the Bolshevik seizure of power.
For more recent examples, just think about how anti-segregation protests in the South in the mid-1950s widened into national protests against patriarchal-capitalist-heteronormative-white supremacy only a decade later. There is a direct line between Rosa Parks’ success and the prominence of Malcolm X and Angela Davis. The historical examples are manifold. Remember a generation ago the glasnost in Russia led to mass protests and the fall of the USSR. In South Africa, the apartheid reformer de Klerk negotiated an end to that regime. Gorbachev and de Klerk had only intended to reform “the system.” Perhaps it’s worth recalling that President Lincoln was insistent in his inaugural address that he would not free any slaves in slave states. His election accelerated a struggle that was already in existence. Lincoln’s election tilted the balance of power toward emancipation when half a million slaves ran to the Union army’s lines, and the war became about slavery and not just preserving the Union.
The idea of an opening against corporate hegemony could also be called a “national reckoning.” Coates has stated that reparations are principally a means toward such a national reckoning, even more so than a distinct proposal of financial transfer to descendants of slaves. Bernie Sanders would be the only president to have said that the country was founded on racist principles. On national TV he explains how a policy of covert and overt regime change have been detrimental to this country and the world. Radicals miss the fact that Bernie represents exactly this national reckoning even if they don’t agree with his every stance.
When talking about the right wing, radicals like to stress how the likes of Donald Trump give the green light to street violence against black people, Mexicans and Muslims. Yet, they don’t ask how left politicians may give the green light to social movements they are sympathetic to. For instance, Bernie supported DREAMers on hunger strike. Bernie became critical of Rahm Emmanuel echoing Black Lives Matter demands. Bernie lent public support to CUNY workers’ rights before they voted to strike. Sanders’ political revolution would require mass mobilization of exactly these constituencies: African-American, Latinos and workers. Sanders calls for street mobilization as part of the political revolution.
Radicals argue that the masses get co-opted by elections. This just doesn’t line up with lived experience. They point to the enthusiasm around Obama’s 2008 victory as proof that politicians simply manipulate voters. That may be true, but it is untenable to say that social movements were co-opted by Obama. Since Obama’s election this country has witnessed a steep rise in social movements. Disappointment after Obama raised expectations may have partly fueled such a movement to the streets. Occupy Wall Street was unprecedented. The growth of Black Lives Matter and the DREAMers movement developed principally in the years since Obama came to office. The idea of electoral co-option sounds theoretically plausible, but it is simply a theory without standing in our reality. One socialist website even makes it seem that Bernie will undermine the revolutionary working class’s aspirations for syndicalist control of the economy. This kind of thinking is the result of a mind-body split. These radicals are clearly not experiencing the embodied world around them. Instead they seem to be using deductive logic based on theory, not sound history. It is worth noting that 1936 and 1946, in the midst of the New Deal—which much of Bernie’s platform alludes to—had some of the largest mobilizations of strikes in American history. People were not co-opted by the New Deal; they were emboldened by it.Ubisoft and HTC have teamed up to offer a pretty special deal for those looking to get an HTC Vive in the near future: a free copy of Star Trek: Bridge Crew.
The surprise move was announced this morning on HTC Vive’s Twitter account. This doesn’t appear to be a long-term deal like previous Vive bundles; the headset’s official site reveals that the bundle will run through to the end of June. You’ll find a promo code for the game inside your box.
Buyers will still get the traditional bundled games in Zombie Training Simulator and The Gallery Episode 1: Call of the Starseed.
Bridge Crew released this week. It’s a multiplayer experience in which fans get to live out their dream of comandeering iconic Star Trek vessels in one of four roles. With cross-play support across Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR players communicate to complete missions that will involve saving stranded survivors and taking out aggressive aliens.
We’d fully recommend checking out Bridge Crew if you already have a VR headset. Games Editor David Jagneaux gave the game 8/10 in our review, calling it a “triumphant recreation” of one of the series’ most iconic elements. “If you’re searching for a game that captures the esoteric and cerebral nature of Star Trek, though, then you’ll be a bit disappointed,” he noted. “Otherwise, live long and prosper with Star Trek: Bridge Crew!”
If you’ve been mulling over which VR headset to get, this might help sway you.
Tagged with: Star Trek: Bridge CrewMLS released their 2013 schedule on Wednesday, with the eighteenth edition of the league kicking off on March 2nd.
One of the new additions this season is Rivalry Week: in week 3, eight of the nine fixtures will take place between regional adversaries. Seattle will host Portland, Dallas play Houston and so on.
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The MLS schedulers appear to have given a knowing wink to the nation's potheads (which I believe is pronounced "po-theeds") with one particular fixture, the Sounders visit to Colorado. It takes place on 4/20, the date commonly associated with cannabis culture.
It's no coincidence that marijuana was legalized in Washington and Colorado on the most recent Election Day, meaning fans of both sides will be able to convene before the match (at 4.20pm) to celebrate, consume, listen to Dave Matthews Band records and remark on how amazing their hands are.
It's also worth noting that MLS headquarters in New York are at 420 5th Ave. COINCIDENCE? Probably! Either way, don't be surprised if the commentary from the game syncs up with the Wizard of Oz when played backwards.
H/T: BuzzfeedShow full PR text
Fair Labor Association Begins Inspections of Foxconn
CUPERTINO, California-February 13, 2012-Apple® today announced that the Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple's final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, at Apple's request. A team of labor rights experts led by FLA president Auret van Heerden began the first inspections Monday morning at the facility in Shenzhen known as Foxconn City.
"We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we've asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "The inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports."
As part of its independent assessment, the FLA will interview thousands of employees about working and living conditions including health and safety, compensation, working hours and communication with management. The FLA's team will inspect manufacturing areas, dormitories and other facilities, and will conduct an extensive review of documents related to procedures at all stages of employment.
Apple's suppliers have pledged full cooperation with the FLA, offering unrestricted access to their operations. The FLA's findings and recommendations from the first assessments will be posted in early March on its website, www.fairlabor.org. Similar inspections will be conducted at Quanta and Pegatron facilities later this Spring, and when completed, the FLA's assessment will cover facilities where more than 90 percent of Apple products are assembled.
Apple has audited every final assembly factory in its supply chain each year since 2006, including more than 40 audits of Foxconn manufacturing and final assembly facilities. Details of Apple's supplier responsibility program, including the results of more than 500 factory audits led by Apple throughout its supply chain over the past five years, are available at www.apple.com/supplierresponsibility.
In January, Apple became the first technology company admitted to the Fair Labor Association. The FLA conducts independent monitoring and verification to ensure that the FLA's Workplace Standards are upheld wherever FLA company products are made.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.The news that a Finnish Hearthstone tournament will be segregated by genders has blown up the gaming world today, and you can read about the particulars of the situation if you want to dig into the hows and whys of eSports competition splitting up the entrants by gender.
"[The International e-Sports Federation] is very close to get eSports recognised as a true sports like it should be. Part of that efforts is to comply with the international sports regulations. For example, chess is also divided into male / female leagues," the organization said in a statement.
This is destroying everything right with competitive gaming, and it's based on insecurity and backwards thinking.
Why this is wrong
Let me be clear: This is an example of an organization forcing outdated, sexist thinking on a game that is designed to avoid exactly this sort of bullshit. This is a problem with the organizations involved and their terrible ways of thinking of competition, and has nothing to do with the games that will be played.
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Hearthstone is a beautiful game, and it’s a game that already offers an incredibly level playing field. Anyone with some time to invest can put together a competitive deck, so money doesn’t hold people back. Latency doesn’t matter nearly as much as it does in fast-paced games, as players take turns making their moves and reaction time is less important than the ability to think through your strategy and react to your opponent. This also removes the need for a high-speed internet connection.
Physical strength doesn’t matter, so we don’t need to segregate sexes due to a perception of biological advantages. Reflexes don’t matter, so even differently-abled gamers who can operate some form of pointing device can play. The game is designed to minimize harassing behavior through its chat interface, and there is no content that’s offensive to younger players. It’s a game that’s welcoming and fun for nearly every age group, at every level of ability, regardless of gender.
Games that, through their very design, seek to give players a level playing field are rare, and should be celebrated by inviting everyone who wants to play to compete. To take such a well-designed and welcoming game and force segregation due to the outdated ideas of your organization is not just wrong, it’s offensive. It spits on the spirit of the game and the hard work done to avoid that sort of outmoded thought on competition.
Make no mistake, every win in a gender-segregated Hearthstone tournament comes with an asterisk. No champion can claim to be the best until they can beat everyone in a fair competition, not just the people who share their gender.
Hearthstone is different than "real" sports
The idea that legitimacy comes from emulating sports where the competition isn’t level is an example of an early scene being too ashamed of its own roots to stand on its own. It's emulating a system that may be needed in some sports and forcing it on games that in no way require it.
Every win in a gender-segregated Hearthstone tournament comes with an asterisk
Gender segregation in physical sports is based on the ideal of a completely level playing field. The segregation in other sports is meant to smooth over the innate advantages given to one group or another due to biological differences. Other forms of grouping are also meant to level competition, such as the use of weight classes in wrestling.
I’m not going to argue the merit of these methods of separating competitors, but the thought process behind them is sound: The playing field should be level, no competitor should have an unfair advantage and the field of play should show us the most skilled participant when facing an evenly matched competitor. Those are laudable goals, even if the mechanisms for achieving them can sometimes be flawed.
The onus is on you to make every player feel welcome, safe and invited
What’s so offensive about this situation is that the game itself presents a level playing field. There is no physical reason, no good excuse, for why men and women shouldn’t compete together to find the best player. The idea that a "separate but equal" women’s competition is welcoming is absurd on its face: If you can’t provide a welcoming environment for all players, regardless of gender, you have failed as an organization.
The onus is on you to make every player feel welcome, safe and invited. Segregating the genders is evidence that you have failed at that job, or simply don’t feel you’re up to the task.
Players are angry at the situation, and they should be. Video games in general, and Hearthstone in particular, provide a fun, merit-based way to compete with people of other genders, ages and physical abilities in such a way that your ability in the game and your intelligence in the game’s virtual combat will provide the winner.
Your muscles or gender provide you no relief, and no advantage. That’s something to be celebrated and embraced, not ignored due to the insecurity of an organization desperate to look like other, more "legitimate" sports.
If you don’t think games of intelligence, skill and cunning played against others who feel the same are legitimate already, get out of video games and make room for those of us who truly believe in eSports. Your baggage isn’t welcome in our games.Just in time for MotoringFile’s JCW month, MINI has taken some of the wraps off of it’s 2013 MINI JCW Countryman in Austria today. Rest assured we’re going to have plenty of hand-on details about the car shortly. But we wanted to get you some of the facts as they seem to have leaked out a little earlier this morning.
Consider this car as the next generation of JCW. That means that MINI has taken the criticism we and other media outlets have leveled against it and created something that is a bit more well rounded out of the box than previous JCWs.That means the JCW Countryman will come standard with a more aggressive suspension than the stock set-up on the Countryman Cooper S. Expect the car to sit 10 mm lower with stiffer spring rates and larger anti-rollbars. Additionally the engine will be the variable valve timing of the current JCW engine pumping the power up well over the 210 currently on tap.
Did Prodrive have any involvement in the Countryman JCW? As best we can tell the answer is no. We’ve also learned through sources that that winged Countryman spotted recently outside of Prodrive’s UK offices was simply Team Principle David Richards private car and not anything meant for public consumption. That means if you’ve been waiting for a hot Countryman, get your name on the list for the JCW. It should arrive during the summer of 2012.
Look for a full report on the car on MotoringFile shortly.CNN’S IRAN CORRESPONDENT: World Thinks That America Doesn’t Have A ‘Moral Leg To Stand On’ [VIDEO].
And as Ace notes, “This Is CNN: Oh, they did cover the Iran rallies. The pro-government Iran rallies, I mean.”
Meanwhile, as Stephen Miller writes at Fox News, “The New York Times simply described the protests as economic grievances, the same way Iranian state-run television described them,” adding:
How will the Obama Presidential Library wing look celebrating a nuclear deal with an oppressive Iranian regime that could possibly be deposed by security forces and the military joining with protesters, thirsty for democracy and a return to an Iran before the 1979 revolution? More to the point, how will it look if the Trump administration, of all things, facilitates and encourages such change in Iran? The prospect of this is not lost on the self-styled resistance and anti-Trump media, all too anxious to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Obama Library or hand a Nobel Prize to former Secretary of State John Kerry. Overseeing the fall of an oppressive, hardline Iranian regime that sponsors terror all around the globe – followed by the rise of a democratic Iran not interested in aggression against its neighbors – would be a foreign policy victory for President Trump, one of the biggest for a president since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Take a bow, Valerie Jarrett and Ben Rhodes: In order to buy an extra 15 minutes for the charade of Obama’s Iran deal, you’ve reduced the DNC-MSM to shilling for the Iranian mullahs. I’ve heard vague reports they’re not entirely woke when it comes to LGBT issues and intersectional feminism, but I’m sure that’s all just rumors and hearsay.Total Recall Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends.
There are plenty of legends in the world of video games whose names will fly off the tongues of casual fans. Nolan Bushnell. Trip Hawkins. Shigeru Miyamoto. Will Wright. Sid Meier.
It’s a shame, then, that so few can name another of the all-time greats, Danielle Bunten Berry.
The designer, born in 1949, is important to video games for any number of reasons, some trivial, some vital to the progression of the entire medium.
Her first game, 1978’s Wheeler Dealers, was the first ever PC game to be sold in a printed box instead of a sleeve or plastic bag, a necessity born of the game’s inclusion of a custom controller.
In 1983, Berry’s Ozark Softscape released one of the first games for Electronic Arts, and also one of the greatest cult hits in the history of the PC, MULE. A multiplayer...economic strategy...thing, MULE wasn’t a big seller, but it was very influential amongst developers, and retains a fanbase and community site even to this day.
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In 1984, Berry released the amazing open-world title The Seven Cities of Gold, a game she only made when she wasn’t allowed to make something very similar to what would become Sid Meier’s Civilization. Which wasn’t released until 1990.
In 1988 she designed Modem Wars, the world’s first PC game that could be played across multiple computers in an online environment.
In 1992, Berry designed Global Conquest, the world’s first PC game from a major publisher that could be played across four computers online.
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Then, sadly, things went a little off the rails. In the same year, Berry’s third marriage fell apart, and in November 1992 she did something she’d been contemplating for a while: born a man, she underwent sex reassignment surgery.
Following the procedure, she would never maintain as high a profile as she had enjoyed while a man, in part because she withdrew from frontline development.
In 1997, while working on a new, improved version of MULE for the internet age, Dani was diagnosed with lung cancer, and passed away a year later at the of 49.
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Her games were rarely successful in term of sales, with only Cities of Gold selling enough to be called a “hit”. Wheeler Dealers sold 50 copies. MULE, as important as it was, only sold 30,000.
But Berry’s legacy hasn’t been determined by sales. It can be measured in her influence on the industry and the developers who followed in her footsteps.
Nearly every game Berry designed or worked on turned out to be well ahead of its time, especially when it came to the possibilities for bringing multiple people together in the same game. That kind of vision made her a star to other developers.
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“That was something kind of visionary of his: that he kind of saw the day when games wouldn’t just be for hardcore gamers,” says Civilization creator Sid Meier, a friend of Berry through thick and thin. “People would play more casual games - people playing together, people playing on networks, people cooperating instead of being competitive. He kind of saw this evolution of gaming that was still pretty far off in the future.”
In 1998, just before she passed away, she was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Computer Game Developers Association. In 2007, she was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
And perhaps most touching, when completing the blockbuster The Sims, designer Will Wright dedicated the game to Berry.
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Dani Berry is survived by her three children, who now operate a company which trades under the name Ozark Softscape (Berry’s old development studio), and which manages her IP and “digital legacy”.
If you’d like to read more on Berry, this recent Arkansas Times piece gives a great insight into not just her legacy, but her personal life as well.
Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends. You’ll find Total Recall stories every Mon-Fri between 11pm and Midnight ET.A Belgian judge is to decide Thursday whether to keep Brussels attacks suspects Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem in preventive custody.
Both are said to have ties to the Brussels-based terrorist cell that is believed to be behind both the November 13 terror attacks on Paris, in which 130 died, and the March 22 Brussels attacks, which killed 32 people.
Abrini is the alleged “man in the hat,” who was captured on closed-circuit security footage walking alongside the two Brussels airport bombers shortly before their suicide attacks.
On Wednesday Belgian prosecutors said they released three people detained this week in the investigation of the Paris attacks.
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday that none of the individuals were charged. They were taken into custody on Tuesday during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle.
On Tuesday, two other men, identified as Smail F. and Ibrahim F., were charged with terrorist activities and murders in connection with last month’s Brussels bombings, Belgian federal prosecutors announced. Local media said the two are brothers.
Belgian authorities have faced sharp criticism over intelligence and security lapses linked to both the Brussels and Paris attacks, including the four months it took to capture top Paris terrorist suspect Salah Abdeslam.
Belgian police have made a series of arrests before and after the Brussels attacks, sometimes working alongside their French counterparts. Abdeslam was nabbed near his childhood home in Molenbeek days before the bombings at the Brussels airport and metro station. He is now being detained at a high-security prison in the town of Bruges.VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis’s suggestion that Donald Trump was “not Christian” because of his views on immigration was not a personal attack on the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Friday.
Lombardi told Vatican Radio that the pope’s comments, made to reporters during a flight back from Mexico in response to a specific question on Trump, were simply an affirmation of his long-standing belief that migrants should be helped rather than shut off behind walls.
“In no way was this a personal attack, nor an indication of how to vote,” Lombardi said.
Trump, the longtime Republican party front-runner in opinion polls, dismissed the pope as “disgraceful” for questioning his faith. He has said that if elected president in November, he would build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep out immigrants who enter illegally.
Lombardi said the pope believed people “should build bridges, not walls”. He added: “This is his general view, which is very consistent with courageously following the indications of the gospel on offering welcome and solidarity.”If a derelict ghost ship is still bobbing around the North Atlantic and if it has rats on board, they’re Canadian rats. Speculation that the 38-year-old cruise ship MV Lyubov Orlova, which snapped a Canadian Coast Guard tow line a year ago in the North Atlantic, is bearing down on a British or Irish coast has captured the imagination of headline writers.
The Lyubov Orlova, an empty Russian cruise ship, is shown in January 2012 as the ship was towed from St. John's harbor by a tugboat. Speculation is that the boat, which snapped a Canadian Coast Guard tow line a year ago in the North Atlantic, is bearing down on the British or Irish coast. ( Keith Gosse / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
“Ghost ship crewed only by CANNIBAL rats feared to be heading for Scottish coast,” warned the Scottish Daily Record. “Ghost ship full of cannibal rats could be about to crash into Devon coast,” the Plymouth Herald localized. Hedging its bets, ThisisCornwall.com declared, “Ghost ship full of diseased cannibal rats could crash into coast of Devon OR Cornwall.”
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“The ship has sunk,” a spokesman for the Irish Coast Guard told the Star. While admitting there is no 100 per cent proof — “You can’t prove a negative” — he said that two distress signals from the emergency position-indicating radio beacon are strong evidence. They only sound when immersed in water. He also discounted stories that the Irish Coast Guard was critical of its Canadian counterparts for letting the empty ship go while it was being towed. “It broke away. We weren’t ever critical of them.” Nevertheless, the spokesman was happy to explain where the headlines came from.
“It’s a good exaggeration. It was berthed in Canada for over a year and there were reports while it was in Canada that it was infested by rats.” Canadian rats.
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“There is an urban myth that when a ship is headed east and has rats on board, they eat themselves.” Canadian cannibal rats. The Lyubov Orlova, named for the first star of Soviet cinema and built in 1976 in what was then Yugoslavia, had been operating as an Arctic and Antarctic cruise ship when it was abandoned in 2010 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with unpaid debts and an unpaid crew. Sold to a shipping company in 2012, it was being towed to the Dominican Republic exactly one year ago when it broke away twice. The second time, they let it go. “The Lyubov Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment. The vessel has drifted into international waters,” the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement. The 4,250-tonne ship is, however, worth money as scrap metal, the Irish Coast Guard spokesman said. Hence the enthusiasm of a Belgium salvage hunter, Pim de Rhoodes, who told the British tabloid The Sun that he’s hopeful. The last signal from the EPIRB, which would have been on lifeboats that could have broken off, was 700 nautical miles off the Irish coast last March. “There have been two big storms since then,” the Irish Coast Guard spokesman said. “There’s been no sighting of it.” Or of the Canadian rats leaving a sinking ship.Who is Africa’s Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson? Its Rudy Giuliani or Bill de Blasio? The continent has seen emperors and still possesses an absolute monarch (in Swaziland), along with presidents, prime ministers, state governors and traditional leaders such as kings, chiefs and emirs, but that doesn’t leave much room for the humble city mayor.
A plan to change that took a step forward last week when the first African mayor awards were held in Luanda, Angola, with organisers hoping to boost the profile of this oft-ignored tier of African politics. They claim the annual ceremony “showcases excellence in urban development” at a time that much of the continent’s population growth is concentrated in cities – with Luanda itself a stark example of the gap between rich and poor.
But the inaugural event suffered some peculiar branding. Its formal name, apparently due to a last-minute change for reasons open to speculation, was the José Eduardo dos Santos African Mayor Awards. This gave the impression that it was more about promoting the Angolan president, who has ruled with an iron fist for the past 36 years, than the mayors, whose names did not even feature in the official press release save for a picture caption.
The mayors' names did not even feature in the official press release save for a picture caption
The winners were divided into three sections. In the large metropolis category – a million residents or more – Accra in Ghana, under mayor Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, defeated Cape Town in South Africa and Dakar in Senegal. Among medium-sized cities (more than 200,000 residents and less than a million), the winner was Kinondini in Tanzania, represented at the ceremony by Sarah Kyessi (the identity of the mayor remains a mystery to almost everyone outside Kinondini). In the small cities (up to 200,000 residents) category, the winner was Praia in Cape Verde under José Ulisses Correia e Silva.
The awards organiser and publisher of African Business magazine, Omar Ben Yedder, told guests at the ceremony: “The winning cities tonight are being led by individuals who are showing essential leadership qualities as they help build cities that work. And we will need more exemplary leadership, good governance and innovative thinking, whilst paying close attention to our culture and way of living when dreaming of the cities of tomorrow. Our leaders need to be close to the people, and our winners tonight are demonstrating these qualities.”
Yet even most Africa aficionados would be hard pushed to name the mayor of Luanda, or indeed the mayor of most cities on the continent. What about that great Nigerian megacity, Lagos? A headline on the African Arguments website in 2012 read: “Babatunde Fashola: the Mayor Bloomberg of Lagos State.” Technically, Fashola is the governor of Lagos state, rather than mayor of Lagos city.
In South Africa, the mayor of Durban is James Nxumalo, whose Twitter profile shows him wearing traditional mayoral chain, but he is far less influential in the region than Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini, whose recent remarks on immigrants caused a storm.
There is a more high-profile figure in Cape Town, which was shortlisted for the awards: Patricia de Lille, a mixed-race veteran of the struggle against apartheid. De Lille fits the mould of a maverick mayor, and has been a constant thorn in the side of the governing African National Congress. A sign on the wall of her office, where she has reportedly banned air conditioning, reads: “I prefer to do the talking myself, that way we avoid arguments.”
But perhaps the best known personality to date is the former mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamed Nur, who lived in London for two decades, running community organisations for Somali expats, money exchanges, an internet cafe and an unsuccessful campaign to become a Labour councillor in Camden. He once told the Guardian his blueprint for Mogadishu was the regeneration of King’s Cross.Two countries will establish joint diplomatic missions and share embassy offices overseas, William Hague is to announce
Britain and Canada will establish joint diplomatic missions and share embassy offices abroad, the foreign secretary, William Hague, is set to announce.
Hague will reveal more details of the plans when he meets his Canadian counterpart, John Baird, in Ottawa on Monday, a Foreign Office spokesman said.
The proposals involve "co-locating" embassies and sharing consular services in countries where one of the nations does not have an embassy, the spokesman said.
Hague and Baird will sign an agreement and hold a press conference on Monday afternoon to explain the plans in further detail.
Ahead of the meeting, Hague said: "As the prime minister said when addressing the Canadian parliament last year: 'We are two nations, but under one Queen and united by one set of values.' We have stood shoulder to shoulder from the great wars of the last century to fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and supporting Arab spring nations like Libya and Syria. We are first cousins.
"So it is natural that we look to link up our embassies with Canada's in places where that suits both countries. It will give us a bigger reach abroad for our businesses and people for less cost."If you have been following The Times’s cleareyed coverage, you know that Carter participated in a meeting in 2011 with a Sotheby’s specialist and Lee’s former agent, in which they came across the manuscript that turned out to be “Go Set a Watchman.” In The Wall Street Journal — where else? — Carter put forth the preposterous claim that she walked out of that meeting early on and never returned, thus sticking with her story that she only discovered the manuscript in 2014.
But the others in the meeting insisted to The Times that she was there the whole time — and saw what they saw: the original manuscript that Lee turned in to Tay Hohoff, her editor. Hohoff, who appears to have been a very fine editor indeed, encouraged her to take a different tack. After much rewriting, Lee emerged with her classic novel of race relations in a small Southern town. Thus, The Times’s account suggests an alternate scenario: that Carter had been sitting on the discovery of the manuscript since 2011, waiting for the moment when she, not Alice, would be in charge of Harper Lee’s affairs.
That’s issue No. 1. Issue No. 2 is the question of whether “Go Set a Watchman” is, in fact, a “newly discovered” novel, worthy of the hoopla it has received, or whether it something less than that: a historical artifact or, more bluntly, a not-very-good first draft that eventually became, with a lot of hard work and smart editing, an American classic.
The Murdoch empire is insisting on the former, of course; that’s what you do when you’re hoping to sell millions of books in an effort to boost the bottom line.
But again, an alternative scenario suggests itself. Lee has said that she wanted to write a “race novel.” Though her first effort had some fine writing, like many first-time novelists she also made a lot of beginners’ mistakes: scenes that don’t always add up, speeches instead of dialogue, and so on. So she took a character who was a racist in the first draft and turned him into the saintly lawyer Atticus Finch who stands up to his town’s bigotry in defending a black man. He becomes the hero of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (Which is also why it’s silly to view the Atticus Finch of “Go Set a Watchman” as the same person as the Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as many commentators have done. Atticus is a fictional character, not a real person.) Lee still wound up with a race novel, which was her goal. But a different and much better one.A FATHER and son have been found murdered with their throats slit in Paris.
Cops have launched a murder probe after the gruseome discovery today in Paris' upmarket 11th district. The knifeman reportedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar' at the time of the double killing before he was arrested by police, French TV channel RTL reported. Witnesses reportedly heard the man shouting as he launched the violent attack. The father's other son was arrested in connection with the attack.
AFP STABBING: A father and son have been found with their throats slashed in Paris
Paris knife attack: LIVE pictures from the scene A man has been arrested suspected of slitting his father and brother's throats in the 11th district of Paris 1 / 7 AFP/Getty Images French members of the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) police unit stand guard
The motive behind the attack is being probed by police. Cops swarmed the area of the Rue de Montreuil in the east of the French capital earlier today. Heavily armed police were pictured guarding the scene as officers set up a 200m cordon. The knifeman was arrested by police at the scene. According to RTL, he was detained in the car park of a nearby building.
AFP ARREST: The knifeman was detained y police at the scene
AFP FEAR: Cops rushed to the scene of the attack in Paris
A shocked resident told local newspaper Le Parisien: "I went down. I saw a body in the hall, a body in the yard and a third person sitting with the firemen and policemen around. "There was blood everywhere." According to reports, the man stabbed his brother and father before sitting down next to their bodies. Medics rushed to the scene and tried to save the victims, but they were pronounced dead from serious injuries. Residents in the block said the family had only recently moved in.
GOOGLE HORROR: The man was arrested after the attack in the 11th district
Pictures from the crime scene: SAVAGE stabbing in Hollywood Police cordon off a Jack in the Box restaurant on Sunset Boulevard after a man went beserk and stabbed three people. The attacker was shot dead by police. 1 / 9 AFP/Getty Images A police officer uses police tape to cordon off the area.Consumers expected big things from the Mario maker this week, including fresh franchises and new chapters in the Zelda, Pokemon, and Wii Sports series. But instead of wowing the masses with a massive lineup of must-buy games, Nintendo's (NTDOY) E3 press conference was unusually quiet. There were few game announcements, and even fewer surprises.
How could this happen? Why would Nintendo pass up the chance to show off its full lineup of Wii U games? Why didn't the company announce a price or release date for the new hardware? And why were there so many cheers coming from the audience?
Benzinga has uncovered the answers to these questions and more in our list of Five Things Nintendo Doesn't Want You to Know About its E3 2012 Press Conference.
5. Third-Party Developers Might be to Blame for Wii U's Crappy Software
If you were disappointed by Nintendo's E3 showing this week, you're not alone. But while many critics have
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Telephone numbers obtained from an Israel Art Student encountered at the Orlando D.O. have been linked to several ongoing DEA MDMA (Ecstasy) investigations in Florida, California, Texas, and New York. The Orlando D.O. has opened an investigation that is being coordinated with DEA HQs.
In general, these individuals appear to be organized in teams of 8 to 10 people, with one person described as the “Team Leader”. They are usually encountered in pairs or individually carrying a makeshift art portfolio. Several times, they have, been seen or
[1]
Their stories are remarkable only in their consistency. At first, they will state that they are art students, either from the University of Jerusalem, or the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem. Other times they will purport to be promoting a new art studio in the area. When pressed for details as to the location of the art studio or why they are selling the paintings, they become evasive. Some claim to be the artist who painted the artwork, others claim they {are} promoting the work of others or of Israel. Information has been received which indicates the art is actually produced in China. When told that they cannot solicit on federal facilities, they will claim that the paintings are not for sale, but that they are soliciting interest in the paintings, either for an art studio or for a future art sale.
An incident report by DEA Tampa has revealed much information relating to these individuals. DEA Agents at the Tampa District Office questioned the Team Leader of a group of 9 individuals at length. The Team Leader stated he purchases the paintings for $8 to $10 dollars from an individual in the Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida area. The paintings are then sold for $50 to $80 dollars. (Other offices have reported the paintings selling for $150-$200 dollars.) The individuals come to the U.S. on tourist visas, and finance their stay here by selling the paintings. The Hollywood, Florida area seems to be a central point for these individuals with several having addresses in this area.
There have been incidents where criminal and/or suspicious activity has been associated with these individuals. Two were arrested by FPS in Plantation, FL with counterfeit Social Security Cards. Baton Rouge, LA discovered a small amount (personal use amount) of marijuana in the residence of one group, and some of the individuals interviewed by DEA/Tampa admitted to smoking marijuana. Criminal records checks have revealed some arrest history on persons associated with these groups. Passport irregularities have been reported. A review of their passports shows travel to several other countries, to include Thailand, Laos, India, Kenya, Central and South America, Australia, Germany, Amsterdam, and Canada. One individual presented a Canadian citizenship card along with his Israeli passport. A report from EPA/Denver involved a female art student going to the house of an EPA Special Agent to sell art, and returning later to photograph the house. There is a report of one of these individuals being seen diagramming the layout of a federal facility. This information has not been directly reported to DEA, and has not been confirmed by first-hand observation.
When encountered at residences, some of these individuals are persistent in trying to get inside the home. Some have asked to use the telephone when leaving. Some employees
[2]
IS requested that all DEA Field Divisions canvas their employees to determine if these activities have occurred in their area. Additionally, information has been received from several other federal law enforcement agencies. The following is a summary, by DEA Division Offices, of the events that have taken place:
Atlanta Division
1. Sometime in July or August 2000, a woman claiming to be a student from a foreign country attempted to enter the Chattanooga, Tennessee Resident Office. The woman was attempting to sell homemade pins that she hand painted and put together herself. An Office Assistant advised the woman that she was on Federal Property and solicitation was prohibited. The Office Assistant claimed the woman was from the Middle East, but cannot recall the exact location.
2. In mid to late December 2000, a male and female subject described as being in their mid-twenties arrived at the residence of a Special Agent. The male subject spoke fluent English, however the female subject had a heavy accent. Both subjects claimed to be Israeli art students. The Special Agent examined some of the artwork, but became suspicious when the students would not provide him with a contact telephone number in case he should decide to buy something. Subsequently, the Special Agent saw some of the exact same artwork for sale at kiosk in the Mall of Georgia. The Special Agent questioned the salesperson about the origin of the artwork, but the salesperson was uncooperative.
3. During the first week of January 2001, an individual identifying himself as an Israeli art student attempted to bring artwork into the Columbus, Georgia Resident Office. The individual was not permitted to enter the office.
4. The following was received by the Montgomery, Alabama District Office:
On 3/27/2001, approximately 1:45 p.m., Montgomery District Office Group Supervisor John W. Wall was exiting the elevator on the first floor of our building enroute to a meeting. Our building is a small two-story office building that also contains the offices of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Geological Survey, Dyncorp and a small investment company (Newman Investments). As G/S Wall got out of the elevator, a white female was getting on. G/S Wall noticed she was carrying a large blue artist portfolio. GIS Wall engaged her in conversation and asked if she was in our building on government business to which the female stated that she was an art student from Austria and was promoting her work. G/S Wall asked if she was actually from Israel and the female later identified as Vanina Erika DARDIC, DOB 3/5/78, stated again that she was from Austria. DARDIC got on the elevator for the second floor and G/S Wall went to his OGV and notified me with instructions to re-interview the female.
5. Several minutes passed and DARDIC never came to our office. (Investigation later
[3]
6. At that point, agents set out on foot to find DARDIC. The agents observed another white female later identified as Ester SAGES, DOB 9/30/77, walking through the office complex, also carrying a large blue portfolio. SAGES was followed on foot a short distance to a van that was parked on a side road where the agents made contact with a white male, identified as Marcelo VALANSI, DOB 11/24/77. VALANSI took SAGES’ portfolio and placed it into the van, a 1984 GMC full-size custom van bearing Florida tag T11YZX, registered to Marcelo VALANSI at 901 SE 1st Ave., #2, Gainesville, Florida.
7. The agents approached SAGES and VALANSI, identified themselves and separated the two for interviews. VALANSI stated that he was an art student at the University of Florida and stated that they were traveling around to “‘promote” the work of new artists. Information revealed that VALANSI was registered at Santa Fe Community College in 1999 and not the University of Florida. VALANSI produced an ID card from Argentina, DNI 26,316,660, card #190961, and stated that he was on spring break from the University of Florida where he has been a student for three years. VALANSI stated his passport was in his hotel room at the Governor’s House Hotel, #180. VALANSI stated that he and approximately five other students had been in Montgomery about two days and planned to stay several more.
8. Ester SAGES produced an Israeli passport, #6470399, and stated that she had been in the U.S. approximately 3 weeks (Visa type R, class B1/B2). SAGES claimed to be an artist but does not attend school anywhere. SAGES admitted to having served in the Israeli Army for two years (mandatory service). SAGES identified her father as Elyahu SAGES (deceased) and her mother as Marjalit SAGES. SAGES gave the same story as being in Montgomery to “promote” the artists work.
9. While talking to VALANSI and SAGES, Vanina DARDIC walked up and was interviewed. DARDIC, provided an ID card from Argentina (DNI 26,473,227, card #J8557), but stated that she had dual citizenship (Argentina and Israel). DARDIC stated that she was born in Argentina to an Argentine father, Mario DARDIC, and an Israeli mother, Judith COHEN (maiden name). She moved to Israel when she was 12 years of age and served in the Israeli Army, DARDIC reported that she is the girlfriend of Marcelo VALANSI. DARDIC spoke English, Hebrew and Spanish. SAGES spoke English and, Hebrew. VALANSI spoke English and Spanish.
10. VALANSI was asked if the artwork was for sale, to which he stated “not really” that they were “promoting” their work and that it is important to artists that people like their work. VALANSI was asked if, hypothetically, someone liked his work and wanted to commission him to paint something, how would someone get in contact with him? VALANSI was very hesitant to provide a means of contact. When pressed, VALANSI provided Gainesville telephone #352-378-1435 as a contact number. He was asked how their group could afford to travel around “promoting” artwork if they derive no income
[4]
11. Ester SAGES stated that one of their stops in Montgomery was going to be the Jewish Federation Office which is located adjacent to where their van was parked (2820 Fairlane Dr., Montgomery, telephone #334-277-5820). All of the subjects were photographed, however SAGES initially did not want her picture taken.
12. EPIC was contacted for information on their entries into the U.S. EPIC queries indicated the following:
VALANSI, Marcelo (Argentina passport #26316660)
1). Admission date: 2/01/2001
Admission Class: F1 (Student)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: Tel Aviv Israel
Visa Issued: Buenos Aires (8/20/98)
Carrier: Al Israel Airlines (flt 201)
Intended address: 901 S.E. 1st Ave., Gainesville, FL 2). Admission date: 10/18/00
Admission to: 1/17/01
Admission Class: CP (Public Interest Parole)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: unk (most likely Columbia)
Carrier: Avianca (flt 8)
Intended address: 901 S.E. 1st Ave., Gainesville, FL
Departure date: 12/28/00 from Miami 3). Admission date: 11/12/99
Admission Class: WT/VW (Visitor w/o Visa)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: Santiago, Chile
Carrier: La Lan Chile (flt 500)
Intended address: 901 S.E. 1st Ave., Gainesville, FL
Departure date: unk 4). Admission date: 04/15/99
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: San Jose (Juan Santamari)
Carrier: LACSA (flt 620)
Departure date: unk 5). Admission date: 01/11/99
Admission Class: F1 (Student)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: unk
Carrier: La Lan Chile (flt 500)
Intended address: 901 S.E. 1st Ave., Gainesville, FL
[5]
Departure date: unk 6). Admission date: 9/23/98
Admitted to: 12/31/98
Admission Class: Fl (Student)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: unk
Carrier: A L Argentina (flt 1324)
Intended address: 617 E. University Ave., Gainesville, FL
Departure date: 12/19/98 7). Admission date: 05/04/98
Admitted to: 11/03/98
Admission Class: B2 (Visitor)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: Unk
Visa issued: Buenos Aires 5/11/90
Carrier: E U Empresa Ecuatoriana (flt 800)
Intended address: 617 E. University Ave., Gainesville, FL
Departure date: 08/10/98 8). Admission date: 1/02/97
Admitted to: 7/01/98
Admission Class: B2 (Visitor)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: unk
Visa issued: Buenos Aires 5/11/90
Carrier: La Lan Chile (flt 502)
Intended address: 143 6 Washington Ave., Miami, FL
Departure date: 03/13/98
13. SAGES, Ester (Israel passport 96470399)
1). Admission date: 3/03/01
Admission Class: B2 (Visitor)
Port of Entry: Newark International
Arrival from: Tel Aviv Israel
Carrier: Continental Airlines (flt 91) 2). Admission date: 12/23/99
Admitted to: 6/22/00
Admission Class: B2 (Visitor)
Port of Entry: Newark, N.J.
Arrival from: Tel Aviv Israel
Carrier: El Al Israel
Intended address: Attornet 161, New York City, New York
Departure date: 01/09/00 3). Admission date: 08/24/95
[6]
Admitted to: 2/23/96
Admission Class: B2 (Vishor)
Port of Entry: New York
Arrival from: Tel Aviv Israel
Visa issued: Buenos Aires 5/11/90
Carrier: El Al Israel
Intended address: Hotel Carlton, New York City, New York
Departure date: 9/20/95
14. DARDIC, Vanina Erika (Argentina passport #10581811)
1.) Admission date: 2/01/01
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from: London (Gatwick Int’l)
Visa issued: Buenos Aires 5/11/90
Carrier: Virgin Atlantic Airlines (flt 5) 2). Admission date: 10/18/00
Admission Class: CP (Public Interest Parole)
Port of Entry: Miami, FL
Arrival from.: Bogota, Columbia
Visa issued: Buenos Aires 5/11/90
Carrier: Avianca (flt 8)
Intended address: 901 S.E. 1st. Ave., Gainesville, FL
Departure date: 12/25/00 3). Admission date: 12/23/99
Port of Entry: New York
Carrier: Tower Air (flt 31)
(no further info)
15. Regarding the groups story as art students, specifically VALANSI stating that he is a student at the University of Florida out on spring break, RAC Dick McEnany, Gainesville R.O. inquired as to VALANSI’s status as a student. RAC McEnany advised that VALANSI was last registered in the spring of 1999. RAC McEnany also stated that spring break was already over for this year.
16. It is noted that in addition to the three subjects contacted, another group of three alleged art students were documented working another office complex on Perry Hill Road (Interstate Park) in Montgomery on the same day (3/27/2001). This group is known to have solicited several offices in that complex which are Department of Defense contractors (Maxwell Air Force Base is in Montgomery). Montgomery FBI agents made contact with that group at their hotel (La Quinta Inn) and identified them.
17. The local FBI office was contacted and provided with this information for follow-up as necessary. The FBI POC RAC Sharon Ormsby.
[7]
Boston Division
18. There have been no reports of suspicious activities by Israeli art students occurring, at DEA facilities or at the residences of any DEA Employee under the Boston Division.
Caribbean Division
19. No response.
Chicago Division
20. On or around June 26, 2000, a male and female claiming they were Israeli art students, visited the home of a Diversion Investigator. The male was described as Caucasian, 5'8", 160 lbs., dark brown hair, clean-shaven, brown eyes, and early 20’s. The female was described as 5'6", 160 lbs., long curly dark brown hair with blonde highlights, early 20’s. The students left the residence without incident.
21. On or around June 30, 2000, a second set of Israeli art students arrived at the home of the same Diversion Investigator. These students were confrontational when asked to leave and the police were called (16th District Chicago Police Dept.). The male was described as 5'6", 150 lbs., slim build, dark skin, no facial hair, very dark hair, early 20’s. The female was described as 5'8", slim build, brown shoulder length hair, and early 20’s. They did approach other homes iErdogan's spokesman said on Wednesday that if necessary, the government would hold a national referendum on an executive presidency.
"An issue like the presidential system can't be decided without the nation. If the mechanism requires a referendum, then we will hold a referendum," said Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for the Turkish presidency, at a press conference in Ankara.
"The executive presidency is not a question of our president's personal future. He has already entered the history books. The basic motivation is to make the system in Turkey as effective as possible," Kalin added.
The statement comes as Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept Sunday's snap elections after losing its 13-year majority in June.
The AKP gained 317 out of 550 seats in the Turkish parliament.
However, Erdogan's party is 13 seats shy of the 330 needed to change the constitution in favor of an executive presidency.
'Another league'
"We have a clear opinion that the presidential system will help Turkey jump to another league," Kalin said.
Erdogan's spokesperson said that Turkey's foreign policy would not change following Sunday's election.
Turkey will continue its "open-door" policy towards Syrian refugees, whether or not the EU provides financial assistance, said Kalin.
Kalin also said that Turkey would continue to fight the Kurdistan Workers' Party "with determination."
Stability?
The AK party, which Erdogan founded, won Sunday's election with almost half the vote
Earlier Sunday, Turkish authorities said they arrested nine suspected members of the "Islamic State" militant group for planning attacks on a political party in Ankara and an opposition newspaper, Cumhuriyet.
Since the summer of 2015, Turkey has boosted efforts to curb the "Islamic State" militant group's presence, launching airstrikes in Syria.
However, Ankara has also been criticized for launching military operations against the Kurds in northern Iraq and Syria, where the Kurdish forces made significant gains against the militant group.
ls/jil (Reuters, AFP, AP)0 0 0 9 0
VM Fleet is a collection of scripts that enables to deploy virtual machines which perform I/O to stress the underlying storage system. To achieve I/O, the VMs leverages DiskSpd which is a Microsoft tool.
When you implement an infrastructure based on Hyper-V, you usually want to get the maximum IOPS and MB/s that your storage can deliver. This tool helps you to get this information by stressing your storage. In this topic, we will see how to deploy a VM Fleet to benchmark the storage system.
Lab overview
Currently I’m implementing a hyperconverged solution for a Demo to present to customers. This solution is based on Windows Server 2016, Hyper-V and Storage Spaces Direct. To achieve this demo, Lenovo kindly lends me the following hardware:
3x x3650 M5 servers. Each node has the following part: 2x Xeon 2650v4 256GB of memories (DDR4) 1x SAS HDD 256GB for Operating System 1x SSD SAS 800GB for Storage Spaces Direct (Cache) 10x HDD SAS 500GB for Storage Spaces Direct (Capacity) 1x Simple HBA N2215 1x Mellanox Connectx-3Pro
1x Switch G8264
The goal of this lab is not to reach a maximum IOPS but to introduce the Microsoft Hyperconverged model.
Before deploying VM Fleet, I have deployed the hyperconverged cluster (you have an example for a 2-nodes here). The VM Fleet must be deployed after that your infrastructure is implemented.
Cluster preparation for VM Fleet
To deploy a VM Fleet, you need several Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) in the cluster. First you need a CSV per node. Be careful that the name is Cluster Virtual Disk (<Node Name>) as below. Otherwise some scripts will fail. Moreover, you need another CSV called Cluster Virtual Disk (Collect). This CSV will store VM Fleet scripts, flags, result and the gold image (VHDX).
To create the collect volume in my environment, I have run the following cmdlet:
New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "S2D*" -FriendlyName Collect -FileSystem CSVFS_ReFS -Size 50GB 1 New - Volume - StoragePoolFriendlyName "S2D*" - FriendlyName Collect - FileSystem CSVFS_ReFS - Size 50GB
Then rename the folder in C:\ClusterStorage with the CSV Name. Below you can find the script that you can run from a cluster node to rename folder regarding CSV name:
Rename-Item -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 -NewName HV01 Rename-Item -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 -NewName HV02 Rename-Item -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 -NewName HV03 Rename-Item -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 -NewName HV04 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rename - Item - Path C : \ ClusterStorage \ Volume1 - NewName HV01 Rename - Item - Path C : \ ClusterStorage \ Volume1 - NewName HV02 Rename - Item - Path C : \ ClusterStorage \ Volume1 - NewName HV03 Rename - Item - Path C : \ ClusterStorage \ Volume1 - NewName HV04
Next download the VM Fleet from Github. Click on Clone or download and choose Download ZIP as below. Then I extract the ZIP in C:\temp in the first cluster node.
Then you can install VM Fleet in the collect CSV. Because scripts come from Internet, you require to change the PowerShell execution policy:
#Change the PowerShell execution policy Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted # Prepare the cluster for VM Fleet.\install-vmfleet.ps1 -Source C:\temp\diskspd-master\Frameworks\VMFleet 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 #Change the PowerShell execution policy Set - ExecutionPolicy unrestricted # Prepare the cluster for VM Fleet. \ install - vmfleet. ps1 - Source C : \ temp \ diskspd - master \ Frameworks \ VMFleet
Once the script is finished, you can navigate to C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\Control. You should have something as below:
Then download DiskSpd and paste it in C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\Control\Tools.
From this moment, your cluster preparation is finished. Now a Windows Server 2012 R2 gold image is required for virtual machines.
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Prepare the Gold image
First of all, we need to create a virtual machine to prepare the image. To create the VM, I run the following script. The VM will be stored in C:\VirtualMachines of the node. To run this script, you need also the Windows Server 2012 R2 ISO stored in C:\temp. You can change the path to reflect your environment.
$VMName = "GOldVMFleet" # Create Gen 2 VM with dynamic memory, autostart action to 0s and auto stop action set. 2vCPU New-VM -Generation 2 -Name $VMName -SwitchName SW-10G-CNA -NoVHD -MemoryStartupBytes 2048MB -Path C:\VirtualMachines Set-VM -Name $VMName ` -ProcessorCount 2 ` -DynamicMemory ` -MemoryMinimumBytes 1024MB ` -MemoryMaximumBytes 4096MB ` -MemoryStartupBytes 2048MB ` -AutomaticStartAction Start ` -AutomaticStopAction ShutDown ` -AutomaticStartDelay 0 ` -AutomaticCriticalErrorAction None ` -CheckpointType Production # Create and add a 60GB dynamic VHDX to the VM New-VHD -Path C:\VirtualMachines\$VMName\GoldVMFleet.vhdx -SizeBytes 40GB -Fixed Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName -Path C:\VirtualMachines\$VMName\GoldVMFleet.vhdx # Rename the network adapter Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName | Rename-VMNetworkAdapter -NewName Management-0 # Add a DVD drive with W2016 ISO Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName # Mount the ISO of Windows Server 2012 R2 Set-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName -Path "C:\temp\en_windows_server_2012_r2_with_update_x64_dvd_6052708.iso" 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 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 $ VMName = "GOldVMFleet" # Create Gen 2 VM with dynamic memory, autostart action to 0s and auto stop action set. 2vCPU New - VM - Generation 2 - Name $ VMName - SwitchName SW - 10G - CNA - NoVHD - MemoryStartupBytes 2048MB - Path C : \ VirtualMachines Set - VM - Name $ VMName ` - ProcessorCount 2 ` - DynamicMemory ` - MemoryMinimumBytes 1024MB ` - MemoryMaximumBytes 4096MB ` - MemoryStartupBytes 2048MB ` - AutomaticStartAction Start ` - AutomaticStopAction ShutDown ` - AutomaticStartDelay 0 ` - AutomaticCriticalErrorAction None ` - CheckpointType Production # Create and add a 60GB dynamic VHDX to the VM New - VHD - Path C : \ VirtualMachines \ $ VMName \ GoldVMFleet. vhdx - SizeBytes 40GB - Fixed Add - VMHardDiskDrive - VMName $ VMName - Path C : \ VirtualMachines \ $ VMName \ GoldVMFleet. vhdx # Rename the network adapter Get - VMNetworkAdapter - VMName $ VMName | Rename - VMNetworkAdapter - NewName Management - 0 # Add a DVD drive with W2016 ISO Add - VMDvdDrive - VMName $ VMName # Mount the ISO of Windows Server 2012 R2 Set - VMDvdDrive - VMName $ VMName - Path "C:\temp\en_windows_server_2012_r2_with_update_x64_dvd_6052708.iso"
Once the VM is created, you can start it to run the Windows Server installation. Make sure to choose Server Core Installation.
Once Windows Server is installed, you are asked for a password. Keep this password, it will be useful later.
Once the server is ready, you can shut down the VM. We don’t need to sysprep the VM.
Shutdown -s -t 0 1 Shutdown - s - t 0
To finish, copy the VHDX to c:\ClusterStorage\Collect:
Copy-Item c:\VirtualMachines\GoldVMFLeet\GoldVMFleet.vhdx c:\ClusterStorage\Collect 1 Copy - Item c : \ VirtualMachines \ GoldVMFLeet \ GoldVMFleet. vhdx c : \ ClusterStorage \ Collect
Now you can delete the GoldVMFleet VM.
Deploy the VM Fleet
Now that the gold image is ready, we can deploy X VMs in the cluster. To create these VMs, I leverage the script Create-VMFleet.ps1 located in C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\Control.
To deploy the VM fleet, I run the following script:
.\create-vmfleet.ps1 -basevhd "C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\GoldVMFleet.vhdx" -vms 20 -adminpass <VM password> -connectuser <Host login> -connectpass <Host Password> 1. \ create - vmfleet. ps1 - basevhd "C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\GoldVMFleet.vhdx" - vms 20 - adminpass < VM password > - connectuser < Host login > - connectpass < Host Password >
This script means that I will deploy 20 VMs per CSV. I have three CSV (Collect CSV is not counted), so I will have 60 VMs.
Once the VM fleet is deployed, I run the following cmdlet to set the VMs to two vCPU and 8GB of static memories:
.\set-vmfleet.ps1 -ProcessorCount 2 -MemoryStartupBytes 8GB -DynamicMemory $False 1. \ set - vmfleet. ps1 - ProcessorCount 2 - MemoryStartupBytes 8GB - DynamicMemory $ False
To finish I check the health of my cluster to verify that all is ok to run the stress test:
.\Test-ClusterHealth.ps1 1. \ Test - ClusterHealth. ps1
Play with the VM Fleet
When the VM Fleet is deployed, all the VM are stopped. To start all VM you can run the following cmdlet:
.\Start-VMFleet.ps1 1. \ Start - VMFleet. ps1
When the VM are started, they are in state PAUSE IN FORCE. It is because the VM check the folder C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\Control\Flags. In this folder, a file called pause is created by default to force the stress test to be paused.
When a stress test is launched, the pause is clear and flags folder is filled with a go file and the test to run. The VMs see the go flag and run the test specified.
You can clear and set a pause with the following script:
# set a pause./Set-Pause.ps1 # Clear pause./Clear-pause.ps1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 # set a pause. / Set - Pause. ps1 # Clear pause. / Clear - pause. ps1
When you want to stop all VMs you can run the following script:
./Stop-VMFleet.ps1 1. / Stop - VMFleet. ps1
When you have finished benchmarking your storage, you can destroy the VM fleet:
./Destroy-VMFleet.ps1 1. / Destroy - VMFleet. ps1
Run a test
To start a sweep, you can use the Start-sweep.ps1 script. This script accepts the following parameters. These parameters are passed to DiskSpd to run the test.
b: list of buffer sizes (KiB)
t: list of thread counts
o: list of outstanding IO counts
w: list of write ratios
p: list of patterns (random: r, sequential: s, sequential interlocked: si)
warm: duration of pre-measurement warmup (seconds)
d: duration of measured interval (seconds)
cool: duration of post-measurement cooldown (seconds)
For example, I run the following script to launch a 100% read test:
.\Start-Sweep.ps1 -b 4 -t 2 -o 40 -w 0 -d 300 1. \ Start - Sweep. ps1 - b 4 - t 2 - o 40 - w 0 - d 300
When the test is running, you can launch the script Watch-Cluster.ps1. (The HV01 seems to be tired 😛 )
When the test is finished, you can find the result in C:\ClusterStorage\Collect\Control\result. After the test I erase the content of this directory. I also set a pause because sometime the pause is not well set and the second test fail.
Conclusion
Microsoft has built a powerful stress tool to evaluate the performance of the storage system. It is great in validation steps because you can verify that the storage can deliver the required IOPS and MB/s. VM Fleet is ease to deploy and the VM creation is automated. So the stress test is not time-consuming. I think it is a good practice to test the storage performance before going into production.
Related materials:
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No Ratings YetAn anti-Obama movie claiming — without evidence — that President Barack Obama's real father is an obscure African-American communist has been mailed to 1.5 million voters across the country, its creator told BuzzFeed Friday.
A reader in Ohio emailed this photo of his free copy of the film Dreams From My Real Father, which claims that the Chicago activist Frank Marshall Davis is actually President Obama's father. He received it in the mail this week.
The film's director and producer, Joel Gilbert, said that the film was sent out to more one million voters in Ohio; 200,000 after a mid-summer conference, and a million after that. He said that 50,000 copies had been sent to voters in Nevada and 100,000 to voters in New Hampshire.
"We're sending out bulk mailings to many states," Gilbert said. "Probably Illinois, New York, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana, we'll hit every state if we can to stimulate and force the national media to cover the story."
Gilbert declined to say how much his company, Highway 61 Entertainment, is spending to distribute the film for free, but said that the film was making a profit through online orders. He also wouldn't say how the company is funded and how they come up with the money to distribute so many free disks.
"We’re a private media company, a journalistic company that’s privately held and we don’t disclose the nature or makeup of our finances," he said.
He said "We’ve made 12 successful films and we are also making current revenue on the current film" and compared the company to Citizens United, but said that it wasn't a political group and didn't have donors.
Davis, who lived part of his life in Hawaii, features in Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father, as an old man. The notion that he could have been Obama's father — and thus that Obama's roots are in actual Communism — has been one of several variants of theories of Obama's parentage that thrive online without any documentary support.
Gilbert said that he had offered USA Today $90,000 for a full page ad and was told no (he also claimed that he had tried to place full-page ads in the New York Times and Washington Post). He did manage to get a full-page ad in the New York Post.
"I think it’s the story of the century," Gilbert said of his film. "Any one of these journalists could win a Pulitzer Prize if they covered it."
This story has been updated with a quote from Gilbert about how his company is funded.When he worked at The Seattle Times, former staff photographer Tom Reese took some of the most evocative and sensitive photos made at the newspaper of the natural world. I still remember his patience in the Hoh Rain Forest, spending an entire afternoon with me for a story on big leaf maples, getting just the right slant of light through the moss-padded trees, or the gilded glide of an autumn leaf, kiting to ground.
Gifted as he is at photographing Washington's beautiful places, he captures Washington's suffering landscapes with singular artfulness.
Since he has left the paper, Reese has done some remarkable independent work on the Duwamish, where his photos invite consideration, appreciation and wonder in a place so often overlooked as a trashed and forgotten landscape. Seattle's only river, the Duwamish is the subject of his powerful photo essay at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Copyright Tom Reese
Consuming, and Paying the Price: Despite progress cleaning up the Duwamish, garbage, toxics in storm water runoff, and industrial pollution still find their way into the river every day.
The exhibit opens April 5, 5-7:30 p.m. and runs through July 8.
Here's Tom on what fuels his ongoing attention to the Duwamish as a subject, from my interview with him this week:
"I am just fascinated at how humans relate to the environment. The Duwumish is such a microcosm of all the issues. And visually there is such a juxtaposition of what people have done and what nature there still is. I always look for layers and there is a lot to be found there. And the Duwamish is in the middle of where we live, and nobody knows about it.
"We define ourselves as the mountains and the Sound. But there is a river in Seattle. And it would be cool if it was more along the lines of how we would like it to be. Mostly, you just want people to care. The more people who care, the more likely positive things will come out of it."
Here, from the exhibit, is a preview of the narrative accompanying Tom's photo essay, provided by Tom, courtesy of the Burke Museum:
"Choosing Hope: Reclaiming the Duwamish River
Photo essay by Tom Reese
A downward spiral
The Duwamish River flows into Puget Sound at the southern end of Seattle's waterfront. While people have lived along its banks for at least 11,000 years, efforts to tame the wild river through settlement and industry have nearly destroyed it over the past century. Ten years ago the U.S. Environmental
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feedback to improve them further.
GETTING TACTICAL
Clear corners should allow you to see more of the game Added CDR to basic stats. Press c to display advanced stats above XP bar moved to the center of the screen All buffs back to the center divided into buff and debuff groups Ability icons are larger and have new clearer state change effects Items are displayed in the center to make it easier to track actives
When we say ”tactical”, we’re referring to information that supports your moment to moment - mainly combat - gameplay decisions, stuff like casting an ult or chugging a pot. It also covers the things being done to your champion, like being shielded by a friendly Janna or ignited by a less friendly one.
We’ve grouped these elements and placed them front and center because that’s a player’s main field of view. We’ve also amped up the visuals on state changes such as “just off cooldown” and “level up” to ensure you catch them without having to take your eye off the action.
THINKING STRATEGICALLY
CS, KDA, Team KDA, and time are grouped here to get all your info in one place Team frames moved here to keep tabs on your teammates status Enemy respawn timers dynamically display here so you don't have to hit tab after a team fight
Strategic information allows players to see the big picture. It helps you understand the state of the overall game and what’s going on across the map in order to make longer term decisions.
For example, maybe you’ve farmed enough gold to get a BF Sword on your first back. Before you B, you have a few questions to answer: how are the lanes pushing? Where’s their jungler? Did your support just hit 6? How are you tracking compared to your lane opponent? Is dragon up? Then later on, maybe you’ve just scraped through a teamfight and have other questions that need fast answers: who’s still alive on my team? How many did we kill? How long until the enemy respawns? What can we get before then?
In the current HUD, this information is scattered across the entire screen from the minimap to the top right corner, the left side, and even the TAB menu. With the HUD update, we’re grouping the answers to these questions around the minimap because players naturally head there for this kind of info. We think that this cluster creates a strategic command center of sorts and leads to better overall map awareness.
MOAR USABILITY AND CLARITY
Target frame now displays CS and KDA Side by side layout to better assist in lane comparison Towers destroyed (team vs team) now display Drag n drop players to line up lanes Items will auto sort by cost for easy comparison Larger, more readable numbers and icons
Finally, the update’s tackling some feature requests aimed at general usability. We’ve moved the scoreboard around so the two teams are listed horizontally, and added drag and drop so you can shift people around and line up midlane vs midlane, or move people around however you like. The new scoreboard also lists player items in order of cost, meaning you can figure out who’s packing the bigger punches, or who can take the most punishment out of the team’s tanks. Last but not least, we’ve squeezed in tower info onto the scoreboard, meaning you pretty much have all the important info on hand whenever you hit the tab key.
ROLLOUT
That’s about it for now! The HUD update’s going up with the next PBE patch, and we’d love as much feedback as possible from you guys.
FAQ
Yo, I Got Some Feed Back For You
First off, Scarizard, that’s not a question. Secondly, while we’re on PBE, your feedback will be critical in helping us improve further. Leave us your thoughts and comments on the PBE Boards here!
Is there any information that's going away?
Nope. Pretty much all the information contained in the current HUD is still there, and in fact, we’ve even added information (such as CDR, CS to target frames, and enemy respawn timers.) which should help you make better decisions.
Can I customize the HUD?
You can expect scale sliders and toggles for many individual elements which will allow you to pull the HUD back even more. Beyond that, our approach here will be similar to the overall HUD update: we'll provide customization in order to solve specific problems or in service of gameplay. This helps us prioritize our work while also feeding into our philosophy that a competitive game like League of Legends should always have a level playing field.
When is the new HUD coming to live?
Hopefully, after a few rounds of testing and player feedback on the PBE, we’ll be able to bring it to live servers!"
HUD Update Q&A on 6/4
"The Rioters behind the upcoming HUD update are hosting a Q&A session at 2 PM PDT on 6/4! Come along if you have any questions or feedback for the team, or, if this is the first time you’ve heard of any fancypants HUD update, click here for its microsite!"
Ashe Q Nerf on PBE
Meddler
"That's the thinking here. Where possible we'd like to create or preserve distinctive strengths on different champions, particular those within the same class (ADCs in this case). Jinx and Trist are both really good at destroying buildings, it's a defining characteristic for them. Ashe by contrast's distinguished from other ADCs most by the sheer amount of CC she brings. Since we feel Ashe is too strong at present we need to nerf her, we're trying to do so in ways that ensure that Ashe continues to offer a different impact on the game, and a really distinct experience for people playing her however.
Removing a character's strengths, or giving them strengths that overlap too much with other characters, risks creating a really homogenized game, where, even if you see a wide range of characters played, the difference between them's not very significant, so it still feels samey. Removing unnecessary strengths, if a champion is overpowered, is the approach we prefer as a result."
Diamond 5 LP Gain Changes
Riot Socrates
"Hey all,
Right now, some players in Diamond 5 receive unusually low LP gains and losses. We're releasing a change that should smooth out gains for most of the affected players. That said, a small number of D5 players close to being demoted will continue to see low gains until they climb back to a high enough MMR to move through Diamond.
There won't be any down time as we release this to each region."
Champion Mastery - "S+ is top 2% of players atm"
Riot Socrates
"S+ is top 2% of players atm. It's very hard to get."
"It looks at a bunch of performance metrics. It does care about cs (for non supports) and KDA. Keep in mind it's also champion and position specific so with someone like Jinx where you're expected to get a lot of kills the grade thresholds are way higher than say Bard."
Lich Bane and Iceborn Gauntlet Interaction
Xypherous
"So, for passives that don't stack - we try to come up with some kind of set favorable interpretation of which aspects of passives for you.
LB generally has the highest single target damage - so it gets applied as your single target. IBG should apply the AoE slow and applies physical damage in that area. If you have Tri-force and IBG, Tri-force gets used as the single target but IBG AoE still applies.
Likewise, if you somehow have Archangel's staff and Manamune, you'll get 8 Mana on spellcast and 4 Mana on Attack. It's the most favorable interpretation of the passives you have."
Graham McNeill joins Riot Games.
This afternoon's red post collection includes a look at the upcoming HUD update,on theQ PBE changes,with information on changes to LP gains in Diamond 5, and more!Continue reading for more information!Riot has announced an update to the HUD (Heads up Display or UI you see while in the game) will be heading to the PBE for testing!This new HUD is now on the PBE for testing As of the 6/2 PBE update Q has been tentatively changed so they the flurry attack no longer works on towers. When asked about the change,Here'swith a heads up on changes to Diamond 5 LP gains that have been pushed to live!In a reddit thread discussing how difficult it is to get an S+ rating in the new champion mastery system,As for tips on how to get a good post game score, he noted When asked how the interaction between owning bothandwork as they have unique passives that do not stack,While not a red post, fantasy author has announced he's joined Riot Games as a Senior Narrative Writer. McNeill is best known for his Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 novels Check out his personal website for the full announcement.>TWILIGHT'S ASCENSION [link] PART 3: [link] PART 4: [link] PART 5: [link] ____________________ Time for a multi-parter! Everybody loves multi-parters, right? Welcome to a quick little mini-series detailing our own little crazy-stupid interpretation of Twilight Sparkle's progression to Princesshood! We'll be learning all about the trials and tribulations of adapting to alicorn-ness, straight from- Don't say it....Straight from the- DON'T YOU DARE SAY- STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH!!! Oh my god I can't believe he actually said that. It's quite literally the worst pun in the world! Are you proud of yourself?! You know he is.____________________ My Little Pony is copyright of Hasbro and DHX and everyone else, please don't sue us. Please don't use this for any nefarious deeds, and link back here if you repost it somewhere.A Vassar College student, who was allegedly expelled after a fellow member of the rowing team accused him of rape, is now suing the school and claiming the accusation was false, Erin Calabrese and Bruce Golding of the New York Post reported.
Xiaolu “Peter” Yu claims he lost his virginity engaging in “clearly consensual sexual activity” with another student, Mary Claire Walker, in 2012. A year after the one-night stand, Walker accused him of rape.
Yu, a student from China, said Walker, whose father is a longtime geology professor at the college, knew it was his first time when they hooked up after a rowing team party on Feb. 18, 2012.
According to his suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, Walker told him “it’s okay, I know what to do.”
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The claim states that Walker put a condom on Yu and they had sex until his roommate showed up. It states that after that she “began to lament about her ex-boyfriend and stated that she was not ready to jump into ‘anything new.’”
It also says she acknowledged taking his virginity before she dressed and left Yu’s dormitory.
Yu claims all students at the once female-only college in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., are “invariably found guilty” if they are accused of rape.
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“Our student-conduct policies and procedures are closely reviewed by our attorneys, so they have strong legal grounding, and they’re also designed to consider the rights of all parties in matters like these,” spokesman Jeff Kosmacher told The Post.
The suit seeks unspecified damages for gender discrimination, breach of contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Yu said he later learned that the night he slept with Walker, two other girls on the rowing team attempted to contact campus security when they saw him walking to his dorm with Walker, “who appeared to be drunk.”
Kosmacher would not comment on Yu’s case, stating “all student-conduct matter at Vassar are confidential.”
Source: NY Post
undefinedJacob Waddell, the man who threw the catfish during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, likely is getting more than he bargained for.
The Predators fan was ejected from the series opener against the Penguins moments into the second period after throwing Nashville’s rallying cry on the ice. On Tuesday, details emerged that Waddell was arrested and has been charged on three separate crimes.
Paul Rasmussen from 1020 KDKA Morning News in Pittsburgh had the story.
Jacob Waddell is charged with disorderly conduct, disrupting a meeting and possession of an instrument of a crime. — Paul Rasmussen (@KDKAPRasmussen) May 30, 2017
Waddell reportedly brought the catfish from Nashville in a vacuum-sealed container that he put inside a pair of compression shorts. He then took the catfish out of his shorts in the bathroom at PPG Paints Arena before throwing it on the ice in the early stages of the second period. Waddell was ejected immediately for the act.
The three charges Waddell has been hit with are disorderly conduct, disrupting a meeting, and possession of an instrument of crime.
PPG Paints Arena does have a policy for fans throwing objects on the ice that states “guests not abiding by this Fan Courtesy Policy are subject to ejection from PPG Paints Arena and in some cases subject to criminal prosecution.”
Considering Waddell was ejected and missed two thirds of the game with tickets he likely paid a high price for, the charges seem somewhat over the top. Still, PPG Paints Arena — and by extension, the Penguins — have right to charge him as the rules on their website make it quite clear.
Who knows, however, if the charges will deter other Predators fans from throwing catfish on the ice.
Update: May 29, 11:50 p.m.
Several Nashville council members have voiced their support for Waddell on Twitter, and are looking to get him pardoned, according to The Tennessean.Aoi Honō, aka Blue Blazes, just wrapped up the past October. The television adaptation of Kazuhiko Shimamoto’s manga is an intensive, high octane history lesson on the founders of GAINAX, right as the magic was happening. I’m currently making my way through the sea of belly laughs and zaniness that I’ve come to love from Japanese dramas. But I mention this to pave the way for a point I would like to make. The opening cut of Blue Blazes should be recognizable to any anime fan. it made a splash that could not be ignored; who’s ripples are still felt today. I refer to Daicon III. In 1981, it opened the 20th annual Nihon SF Taikai, or Japanese Science Fiction Convention, held in Osaka. It is an impressive feat of animation, clocking in at about five minutes, credited to no more than three people, and a cast from nearly all aspects of Sci-Fi fandom. It was so impressive, that even the God of Manga himself, Osamu Tezuka, felt a tinge of disappointment when his characters weren’t included. Yasuhiro Takeda recounts the experience:
“Tezuka couldn’t make it in time for the opening, but he joined everyone for the nighttime party at the hotel. During the celebration, he heard some discussion about the opening anime and said he wanted to see it. So they scrambled around for the footage and showed it again, right there on the spot… I wasn’t there myself, but I heard that after Akai and Yagama showed Mr. Tezuka the film, he commented, “Well, there are certainly a lot of characters in the film. A lot of characters… However, there where also some that weren’t in the film.” …they hadn’t used a single one of Tezuka’s character in their film!” ~ Takeda,Yasuhiro (9 August 2005). The Notenki Memoirs: Studio Gainax & The Men Who Created Evangelion. pg 55 & 56
The proper follow up should detail their follow up project, Daicon IV, which broke every copyright law in existence, but we’ll save that for another time. I do, however want to fast forward to 1988, when GAINAX launched a six part OVA series titled GunBuster Toppu o Nerae! or GunBuster Aim for the Top! It was the directorial debut of the frog on the Science room’s dissecting table, Hideaki Anno, and also the studio’s second commercial release. Like it’s grandfather, Daicon III, it is a significant tool for us as we go through Evangelion.
the 3rd angel, Sachiel
” ‘Eva’ is a story that repeats. It is a story where the main character witnesses many horrors with his own eyes, but still tries to stand up again. It is a story of will; a story of moving forward, if only just a little.”
Gunbuster was dead in the water before Anno was brought on as the director. What does this mean? It means Anno is responsible for breathing life into Gunbuster! It means that there are tons of Anno-isims we can look at aside from Eva. Context is the guide to understanding, and both Daicon III and Gunbuster contains answers to some prevailing questions in Evangelion (one of which we’ll discuss as soon as Episode 3). Upon the last Understanding Evangelion, I received some feedback. To my surprise, there was a shared thought that both the first and second episodes should be viewed as one unit. I disagree with this notion for a couple of reasons, first being the name of the episode. Unfamiliar Ceiling, one of the most memorable motifs of the series, has always been a moment to reflect. It’s a moment when the story takes five, and the characterthe viewer are meant to reflect. But to further punctuate this, the fight we where left off in the episode prior is interrupted in the heat of battle; it was never meant to be viewed start to finish. When we do return to the fight in this episode, the fight doesn’t start immediately; Shinji has to learn how to walk. The fight itself is not consecutive, nor is it the focus of the episode. One thing made abundantly clear is that Shinji does things because he’s told to. Ritsuko advises to focus on walking, the first step is a success, but then Shinji utters the words himself. With no external command it becomes his idea; he stumbles and falls. The Angels are always vehicles for the pilots’ problems, Misato even ‘pins the blame’ on Shinji with the line “Shinji, get it together!” We establish that Shinji exerts no control on his life with the line from last episode “I mustn’t run away!” repeated several times. Yet he must take a step, under his own power, towardthe problem at hand. Facing the problem is the commonality in this episode; the fight, the metaphor. We also see a parallel between Shinji’s first steps piloting and those into his home. After the fight, during the PR broadcast, Misato makes an off-hand comment, “So it’s public scenario B-22.” Which struck me as peculiar, seeing how the name scheme for all Eva’s music is a letter followed by a number. For example, if you read up on synchronization and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s comments therein he mentions the A-10 nerve. If one where to then search though the track listing, the track listed as A-10 is ‘ Mother is the First Other ‘. Interesting. So, what is B-22? Surprisingly, it’s an upbeat keyboard version of ‘ Fly Me to the Moon ‘. Worth mentioning are the lines where Gendo and Shinji are compared. The similarities are what drive Shinji to obtain his father’s praise. Right now, it’s his drive in life. This is later explained in the Hedgehog’s Dilemma, and can be seen in Misato’s relationship with Kaji (which also parallels Shinji & Asuka’s relationship). These lines accumulate over time, and slowly we start to peace together overarching themes. Look for similarities, ’cause this show is littered with them, like Misato and the 3rd Angel I always chuckle when we meet Pen Pen. Intentional or not (and it most certainly is) is what’s behind Mistato’s beer. Dick jokes, classy. “Bad memories always seem to find me in the bath.” Shinji says to himself, staring at the ceiling. He comments on Mistao’s character, which also applies to him, seeing how they both cannot relate to their respective fathers. Likewise when Misato talks to herself in the bath she is commenting on Shinji, but also herself. This is compounded by the fact that she took Shinji in because she saw her problem in him. She didn’t want Shinji to be alone, she didn’t want to be alone. I’ll mention this more later when we get Asuka thrown into the mix, because with her comes Kaji, and then the adult/child trio is complete. But what we can pull away from this is that both look to the ceiling when they reflect. “But I guess I can’t be happy about it.” She says. “Another ceiling I don’t know.” He says. The S-DAT. In ancient Greece, storytelling developed in leaps and bounds, particularly in the tragedy. Before that was the Chorus. As many as 50 but no less than 12 people relayed to the audience what was happening though song and dance or perhaps through lines delivered in unison. Feelings and audience reactions thatwithout breaking the forth wall where demonstrated in commentary. Think of R2-D2 and C-3PO as a modern day Chorus. They comment on the events around them much like the audience would, while also providing information that normally we would not be privy to. We will see this again, and again… and again. It is one of the members in Evangelion‘s Chorus. The S-DAT is famous for letting us know the direction of the story, character progression, thought process, you name it. All the information you need is told to you in a simple changing of the track. Are we going forward, or are we regressing? A post from Anime News Network in early 2007 featured a statement Anno made at the beginning of the Rebuild series that perfectly describes the S-DAT:
And it moves forward. Finally we see the resolution of Angel Attack. Now that we have explored the themes the angel presented, it is defeated, and we catch a hint that there is more to Unit 1 that we are being told. But right after the flashback, after all the recollection, we see Misato drying off, the bath, the reflecting, it’s done. We no longer need to stare at the ceiling. Shinji lies wide eyed and in shock, as Misato opens the door to tell him one last thing. I’m going to get a little heavy handed here with the translation, just so we can get a better rounded and more full connotation. In the Platinum subs, Misato says: “You did a very praiseworthy thing today. You should be proud of yourself.” Bids him a goodnight, and “Hang in there.” Meanwhile, according to the Literal Translation Project: “You’ve done something admirable. You can hold your head high. Good night, Shinji-kun. Cheer up.” Both start off with the same feeling, be proud/you deserve praise; more or less giving him what he wants, praise, that others take pride in him. It’s the second part that differs enough to mention. ‘You should be proud of yourself’ vs ‘You can hold your head high’, the first seems to ‘pin the blame’ on Shinji, or connotate it is Shinji’s responsibility; the latter seems to be giving him permission. The third part, though expressing the same feeling, reflects more on Misato. ‘Hang in there’ begs the question of how much she can relate to his situation, while ‘Cheer up’ gives the impression she understands. It’s almost like she knows what we know, sees what we see when she says it, Shinji is thinking, “Is this what I have to do to earn the praise of others?” To close, let’s revisit my previous statement about the religious… ‘mask’ seems to be the best word… Eva wears. This article was brought to my attention where the following quote is taken: “Japan is a country where a lot of typhoons and earthquakes strike… a country where merciless destruction happens naturally. It gives you a strong sense that God exists out there.” As well as a comment given in Animerica back in 2002 stating: “I don’t belong to any kind of organized religion, so I guess I could be considered agnostic. Japanese spiritualism holds that there is kami in everything, and that’s closer to my own beliefs.” I hold by my previous statement that the religious mask doesn’t add anything more than mystic to the series, with the exception of one place, but that is a story for another day.
つづくRed Cross workers preparing food packages for prisoners of war
The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was first adopted in 1929, but significantly revised at the 1949 conference. It defines humanitarian protections for prisoners of war. There are 196 state parties to the Convention.
Part I: General provisions [ edit ]
Parties to GC I–IV and P I–III Parties to GC I–IV and P I–II Parties to GC I–IV and P I and III Parties to GC I–IV and P I Parties to GC I–IV and P III Parties to GC I–IV and no P
This part sets out the overall parameters for GCIII:
Articles 1 and 2 cover which parties are bound by GCIII
Article 2 specifies when the parties are bound by GCIII That any armed conflict between two or more "High Contracting Parties" is covered by GCIII; That it applies to occupations of a "High Contracting Party"; That the relationship between the "High Contracting Parties" and a non-signatory, the party will remain bound until the non-signatory no longer acts under the strictures of the convention. "...Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain bound by it in their mutual relations. They shall furthermore be bound by the Convention in relation to the said Power, if the latter accepts and applies the provisions thereof."
Article 3 has been called a "Convention in miniature." It is the only article of the Geneva Conventions that applies in non-international conflicts. [1] It describes minimal protections which must be adhered to by all individuals within a signatory's territory during an armed conflict not of an international character (regardless of citizenship or lack thereof): Non-combatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are hors de combat (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention, or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, including prohibition of outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment. The passing of sentences must also be pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognised as indispensable by civilised peoples. Article 3's protections exist even if one is not classified as a prisoner of war. Article 3 also states that parties to the internal conflict should endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of GCIII.
It describes minimal protections which must be adhered to by all individuals within a signatory's territory during an (regardless of citizenship or lack thereof): Non-combatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention, or any other cause, including prohibition of The passing of sentences must also be Article 3's protections exist even if one is not classified as a. Article 3 also states that parties to the internal conflict should GCIII. Article 4 defines prisoners of war to include: 4.1.1 Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict and members of militias of such armed forces 4.1.2 Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organised resistance movements, provided that they fulfill all of the following conditions: that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognisable at a distance (there are limited exceptions to this among countries who observe the 1977 Protocol I); that of carrying arms openly; that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. 4.1.3 Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognised by the Detaining Power. 4.1.4 Civilians who have non-combat support roles with the military and who carry a valid identity card issued by the military they support. 4.1.5 Merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law. 4.1.6 Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war. 4.3 makes explicit that Article 33 takes precedence for the treatment of medical personnel of the enemy and chaplains of the enemy.
to include: Article 5 specifies that prisoners of war (as defined in article 4) are protected from the time of their capture until their final repatriation. It also specifies that when there is any doubt whether a combatant belongs to the categories in article 4, they should be treated as such until their status has been determined by a competent tribunal.
Part II: General Protection of Prisoners of War [ edit ]
This part of the convention covers the status of prisoners of war.
Article 12 states that prisoners of war are the responsibility of the state, not the persons who capture them, and that they may not be transferred to a state that is not party to the Convention.
Articles 13 to 16 state that prisoners of war must be treated humanely without any adverse discrimination and that their medical needs must be met.
Part III: Captivity [ edit ]
This part is divided into several sections:
Section 1 covers the beginning of captivity (Articles 17–20). It dictates what information a prisoner must give and interrogation methods that the detaining power may use: "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion". It dictates what private property a prisoner of war may keep and that the prisoner of war must be evacuated from the combat zone as soon as possible.
Section 2 covers the internment of prisoners of war and is broken down into 8 chapters which cover:
General observations (Articles 21–24) Quarters, food and clothing (Articles 25–28) Hygiene and medical attention (Articles 29–32) The treatment of enemy medical personnel and chaplains retained to assist prisoners of war (Article 33) Religious, intellectual and physical activities (Articles 34–38) Discipline (Articles 39–42) Military rank (Articles 43–45) Transfer of prisoners of war after their arrival in a camp (Articles 46–48)
Section 3 (Articles 49–57) covers the type of labour that a prisoner of war may be compelled to do, taking such factors as rank, age, and sex into consideration, and that which because it is unhealthy or dangerous can only be done by prisoners of war who volunteer for such work. It goes into details about such things as the accommodation, medical facilities, and that even if the prisoner of war works for a private person the military authority remains responsible for them. Rates of pay for work done are covered by Article 62 in the next section.
Section 4 (Articles 58–68) covers the financial resources of prisoners of war.
Section 5 (Articles 69–74) covers the relations of prisoners of war with the exterior. This covers the frequency of which a prisoner of war can send and receive post, including parcels. The Detaining power has the right to censor all mail, but must do so as quickly as possible.
Section 6 covers the relations between prisoners of war and the detaining authorities: it is broken down into three chapters.
Complaints of prisoners of war respecting the conditions of captivity(Article 78) Prisoner of war representatives (Articles 79–81). Where there is no senior officer available in a camp the section stipulates that "prisoners shall freely elect by secret ballot, [a representative] every six months". The representative, whether the senior officer or an elected person, acts as a conduit between the authorities of the detaining power and the prisoners. The sub-section on "Penal and disciplinary sanctions" is subdivided into three parts: General provisions (Articles 82–88) Disciplinary sanctions (Articles 89–98) Juridical proceedings (Articles 99–108)
Part IV: Termination of Captivity [ edit ]
This part is divided into several sections:
Section 1 (Articles 109–117) covers the direct repatriation and accommodation in neutral countries.
Section 2 (Articles 118–119) covers the release and repatriation of prisoners of war at the close of hostilities.
Section 3 (Articles 120–121) covers the death of a prisoner of war.
Part V: Information Bureau and Relief Societies for Prisoners of War [ edit ]
The Information Bureau is an organisation that must be set up by the Detaining Power to facilitate the sharing of information by the parties to conflict and neutral powers as required by the various provisions of the Third Geneva Convention. It will correspond freely with "A Central Prisoners of War Information Agency... created in a neutral country" to act as a conduit with the Power to which the prisoners of war owe their allegiance. The provisions of this part are contained in Articles 122 to 125.
The central prisoners of war information agency was created within the Red Cross.
Part VI: Execution of the Convention [ edit ]
Consists of two sections.
Section 1 (Articles 126–132) General provisions.
Section 2 (Articles 133–143) Final provisions.
See also [ edit ]TOKYO -- SoftBank Group has reached a broad agreement to merge its Sprint unit with T-Mobile US, a long-sought-after move for the Japanese group that would create a rival to America's top two wireless carriers.
A deal could be announced as early as this month. Tokyo-based SoftBank owns 83% of Sprint, while German group Deutsche Telekom holds 64% of T-Mobile.
The parents are discussing merging the units via stock swap and are expected to start hammering out ownership ratios and other terms soon. Any merger plan would need the approval of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Nasdaq-listed T-Mobile is the bigger of the two units by market capitalization, at around $50 billion. Sprint trades on the New York Stock Exchange and has a value of around $28 billion.
T-Mobile ranks third among U.S. wireless carriers by subscribers, followed by Sprint in fourth. Together, the pair would muster 131 million subscribers based on figures as of March 31 provided by U.S.-based Strategy Analytics. That would put them virtually even with second-ranked AT&T and within striking distance of market leader Verizon Communications.
Opposition from the FCC frustrated SoftBank's bid to acquire T-Mobile in 2014, under the Obama administration. But the prospects for consolidation among U.S. carriers have brightened with the pro-deregulation stance of President Donald Trump.
SoftBank had considered merging Sprint with cable television provider Charter Communications, taking a potentially easier route to antitrust approval. But Masayoshi Son's group went back to pursuing a deal for T-Mobile as the better choice for generating synergies.
(Nikkei)By Basil El-Dabh, Luiz Sanchez, Rana Muhammed Taha, Joel Gulhane, Nouran El-Behairy, Nourhan Dakroury, Mohammed Nagi, Rawan Ezzat
30 June witnessed an unprecedented mobilisation of demonstrations across Cairo, after a massive and coordinated signature campaign (Tamarod) calling for President Mohamed Morsi to leave office. So far the protests have reached at least seven governorates, with the Ministry of Health counting over 200 injured and a death in Beni Suef. Clashes ensued at the primary Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Moqattam when a group attempted to set fire to the building, with Brotherhood defenders responding with birdshot.
Presidential palace marches
Marches from AL-Matariya, Al-Nour Mosque, Ghamra, and Al-Saa Square merged, leading tens, if not hundreds of thousands of protesters to the presidential palace, demanding the removal of the president. Many bystanders joined in with the chants as the march snaked through the streets.
Before the march began in Al-Saa Square, Mostafa Al Naggar, an opposition leader, read out rules for its participants. “Our march is free of any figureheads or any remnants of the fallen regime. Our march is to unify all Egyptians for one cause which is the early presidential elections. Whoever will deviate from those rules, we will deal with him personally,” proclaimed Al Naggar into a loud speaker.
In Al-Matariya neighbourhood, the crowds chanted “the people want the downfall of the Brotherhood,” as some held up images of sheep, an animal to which some critics of the Brotherhood liken its members and the president. Others held red cards and posters of Morsi’s face crossed out, and wrote Tamarod, or “Rebellion.”
A group of men held up a sign reading, “with Islam, against the Brotherhood,” while another held up a banner showing ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Field Marshall Mohamed Tantawi, and Morsi with nooses around their necks.
“We are coming to demand the removal of the president,” said protester Ahmed Ali. “[Morsi] has done nothing to fix this country and has betrayed it,” he added.
Mostafa Adel, one of the organisers, said, “We want this march to be peaceful. We are watching for any violence, and anyone who tries to create trouble will be kicked out.”
“There’s no petroleum, there’s no electricity, nothing was done in the past year” said protester Khaled Mohamed, “the Brotherhood tells us that we are attacking legitimacy, but I don’t see any legitmacy.”
The march from Al-Matariya arrived at the presidential palace at around 5.30pm, after merging with neighbouring marches from Ain Shams and other areas.
The area in front of the palace was blocked off, so most protesters were stuck either directly in front of the Heliopolis
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the matter. This shooter–Crytek’s "masterpiece"–is broken, and for a game with a heavy narrative focus, that’s a death sentence.
It’s a shame, because the rest of the game impresses. Gameplay is solid, presenting a beautiful world with more vertical freedom than the series has ever seen. The story manages to take nonsensical loose ends from past installments and tie them together into something resembling ‘meaningful.’
Despite these strong points, you should not buy Crysis 3 (yet), and PSU won’t be publishing a review of the game until Crytek addresses the issue.
If you own Crysis 3 on PS3, and have experienced this issue for yourself, let us know in the comments below. And, by all means, stay glued to PSU.com in the days and weeks to come for updates, including (we hope) our eventual review.Statement from the Nationals
Nationals Communications Blocked Unblock Follow Following May 8, 2013
The Washington Nationals wish to announce that all fans who purchased tickets for Tuesday night’s postponed game with the Detroit Tigers will be guaranteed their same seats for Thursday’s scheduled 4:05 p.m. makeup game, or will retain the option to exchange their tickets — as they have in the past — for any remaining regular or value home game during the 2013 season, subject to availability. Due to increased attendance at Nationals Park, “rain check” ticket holders are encouraged to contact the Nationals ticket office by phone or online to better ensure seating for those games. The Nationals apologize for any inconvenience.
Tickets for Tuesday’s game may be exchanged at the Nationals Park Box Office for any Regular or Value game during the 2013 regular season. Exchanged tickets will be issued from available inventory in the closest pricing category of equal or lesser value to the original seats.* For more information on exchanging tickets purchased through nationals.com or the Nationals telephone charge line, please call 888.632.NATS(6287).
On game days, the Nationals Park Box Office is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. until 30 minutes after the end of the game, and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. until 30 minutes after the end of the game. Box office hours on non-game days are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
*Subject to availability. Available game dates subject to change.A 26-year-old mother has been convicted of steadily giving her toddler cocaine over 14 months, finally administering a near-lethal dose that left him brain-damaged.
"It's difficult to see what would motivate her to give him cocaine, possibly to stop his crying, or to get him to sleep, or to control him. Was it to punish him or to get back at the father?" Justice Tamarin Dunnet said yesterday.
The Scarborough woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her son, also intentionally fractured a number of her son's ribs over time and failed to take him to hospital for a broken forearm, the judge said.
Cocaine levels discovered in the 2-year-old in testing at Hospital for Sick Children were so high that if he were an adult, he would be in the top 5 per cent of users, an expert testified.
Now aged 6 and living with his father and grandmother in Scarborough, the boy is happy but has permanent brain impairment, family members said outside court.The Los Angeles Lakers trade discussions with the Indiana Pacers over All-Star Paul George seem to have stalled, at least in part likely because Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle appear to not have much value around the league.
So with those two not fetching that much, and Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball as close to untouchable as possible after the Lakers shipped their other No. 2 pick, D’Angelo Russell, to Brooklyn, it seems more likely than not that the Lakers will be quiet on the trade front moving forward.
Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson seemed to confirm as much during Ball’s introductory press conference Friday.
“Are the Lakers close to another deal? No, not right now,” Johnson told Mark Medina of the Southern California News Group. “Of course we’ll look into improving the team in any way we can. But not right now.”
The only problem with the Lakers standing pat is how stuffed their roster is heading into free agency. As it stands right now, if the Lakers sign all four of their draft picks they’ll have 14 players under contract.
The team could easily shed two with Tarik Black’s salary not yet guaranteed for next season and David Nwaba’s 17-18 salary being a team option the Lakers have to decide on this week, but even if the Lakers moved on from both of those players they would only have a maximum of three roster spots to sign free agents to regular NBA deals, with two more two-way contracts as well.
The team’s logjam is especially heavy in the front court, where they just drafted Kuzma but also have Larry Nance, Jr. and Randle, with Luol Deng also needing to play the four to be effective and Brandon Ingram warranting some time there as well.
And as Lakers blogging godfather Darius Soriano of Forum Blue and Gold points out, the Lakers have a ton of youth on their roster too, with 11 players under 25 years old with three or fewer years in the NBA under their belts.
All this is to say: that’s a ton of relatively inexperienced players to go into the season with if the Lakers are hoping to make a dramatic jump forward in the standings. The Lakers have no incentive to tank, given that their 2018 first round pick goes to the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers depending on where it lands. It’s also clear this new front office regime wants nothing to do with being as bad as the team was last year again.
With all of that in mind, it’s hard not to see the team making another move at some point. Maybe George is the other shoe to drop, or maybe it’s another move. Whatever the case, while Johnson is saying no deals are “close,” it’s also hard to feel like some kind of move is that far away.
Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.Gawker is filing for bankruptcy protection and will sell itself rather than pay $140 million to Terry Bollea, who wrestled as Hulk Hogan.
The company says it plans to sell itself to publishing company Ziff Davis.
Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection about three months after Bollea won a lawsuit against the online gossip and news publisher. The sale will be conducted through bankruptcy court so other bidders could emerge.
The New York company said in the filing that it has as much as $500 million in debt and up to $100 million in assets.
Bollea sued Gawker after it posted a video of him having sex with the wife of Tampa shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, who was his friend at the time. Bollea was awarded $115 million in compensatory damages, plus $25.1 million in punitive damages.
It was later revealed that billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel had been secretly funding Bollea's lawsuit.
Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, has been a frequent target of Gawker writers, who have written unflattering pieces about Thiel's political beliefs and utopian goals.
One 2007 post outed Thiel as gay. Another Gawker site, Valleywag, ran a number of stories skewering Facebook, which provided a big chunk of Thiel's estimated $2.7 billion fortune.
A spokesman for Thiel said he had no comment on Friday.
In the filing, Bollea was listed as Gawker's biggest creditor.
Gawker founder Nick Denton said in a statement that Ziff Davis' e-commerce, licensing and video assets would be a good fit with Gawker's websites, which include tech site Gizmodo, sports site Deadspin, video game site Kotaku, celebrity and women-focused site Jezebel, news and gossip site Gawker, car site Jalopnik and self-help site Lifehacker.
In addition, a Pinellas County judge on Friday granted Gawker's motion to stay the $140.1 million judgment awarded to Bollea pending an appeals court review.
But there are conditions: Gawker stock shares from former editor A.J. Daulerio and Denton will be used as security.
The shares include nearly 6,000 from Daulerio and about 45 million from Denton, whose shares total about 30 percent of Gawker Media's stock.
"He is willing to pledge all of his shares to the court as security for any judgment following appeal," Gawker defense attorney Michael Berry said during Friday's hearing.
Attorneys representing Bollea drafted an order that would outline the conditions of Gawker's pledge. A copy of the order was not available Friday.
Berry said in court that Daulerio and Denton could not afford to pay the judgment, adding that it would mean "certain financial ruin" for them.
Daulerio does not own a home and has less money in his bank accounts than he owes in student loans, Berry said. Denton owns a condo, which he is seeking to rent to move into a less expensive home.
A Gawker spokesman said the proposed order gives Bollea and Thiel control of the media company's bank accounts and daily operations.Five particularly gruesome Hollywood blockbuster films have featured a character known as Hannibal Lecter, otherwise known by his descriptive nickname Hannibal the Cannibal. If legend is to be believed however, when compared with the exploits of one Mr Sawney Bean, it may appear more appropriate to rename him Hannibal the pussycat.
Little is known for certain about his early life, however Sawney Bean is believed to have been born in East Lothian in the late 15th century, and was a tanner by trade. The latter part of his life is a little better documented following his relocation across country to Ayrshire and his marriage.
The newly wed Mr and Mrs Sawney Bean set up home at Bennane Cave, by Ballantrae in Ayrshire, Scotland. Bennane Cave was rather an imposing abode, with tunnels penetrating the solid rock and extending for more than a mile in length. In addition, the accommodation featured lots of side passages where a young couple could extend into, and convert over the next 25 years, to accommodate a growing family. The cave’s entrance was flooded for several hundred metres, twice a day at high tide, a nice draught exclusion feature!
Lacking a trade, it was Sawney’s plan to support his new wife on the proceeds of robbery. It proved a simple enough matter to ambush travellers on the lonely narrow roads that connected the villages of the area. Then it dawned on him that in order to help make sure that he could never be identified for his crimes, he should murder his victims. To avoid those unnecessary visits to the shops for provisions whilst at the same time disposing of any evidence, he came on the bright idea of butchering the bodies to provide a high protein diet of human meat for himself and his wife.
The high protein diet seemed to have been effective as Mrs Bean began to produce little baby Bean’s. Fourteen little Beanie babies in total, each with a very unhealthy appetite for human flesh. As the Beanie babies grew up and in turn, through incest, produced Beanie babies of their own, their cooking pots increased in size dramatically. Over two decades, generations of Beanie babies grew up in Bennane Cave, refining their skills of murder and cannibal cuisine including, the now lost art of salting and pickling the flesh. Finds of curiously preserved but decaying body parts were discovered washed up on the surrounding beaches in the area.
The local authorities had by now established what must have been, and what must still be to this date, the longest missing persons list ever produced. Although mass searches of the area were carried in order to locate either the missing people or their murderers, nobody ever thought to search the depths of Bennane Cave.
As the years went by the family grew older and thanks to their high protein diet, bigger. And as the family grew so did their appetite. As many as half a dozen victims would be ambushed and killed at a time in military style operations by the Sawney Bean army. The bodies were taken back to the cave to be carefully prepared for the larder by the women folk.
Even in the best-planned operations however, things sometimes go wrong. It happened one evening for the Sawney Bean army, when they attacked a man and his wife as they were returning home from a nearby fair. One group pulled the women from her horse and had her stripped and disemboweled before the other group had chance to wrestle the man to the ground. Realising the fate that was about to fall him he fought desperately to escape, driving his horse into and over his attackers. As he fought for his life, a group of twenty or so people also returning from the fair happened upon the scene. After a brief and violent exchange the Sawney Bean army found itself, for the first time ever, at a numerical disadvantage and promptly retreated back to the cave to consider this situation. As they retreated they left behind the mutilated body of a woman as evidence, a score of witnesses and one very angry husband.
The man was taken before the Chief Magistrate of Glasgow, who after hearing the tale and putting this together with his longest missing persons list ever and the many reports of the mysterious pickled body parts, decided to take the matter straight to the top. King James I promptly arrived in Ayrshire with a small army of four hundred men and a pack of tracker dogs, and together with a band of local volunteers, launched one of the biggest manhunts the country had ever seen.
Like before, the search extended through the Ayrshire countryside and coastline and like before, nothing was discovered. That was however, until the dogs picked up the scent of decaying human flesh whilst passing a partly waterlogged cave. The manhunt was closing in!
By torchlight the troops entered Bennane cave and with swords drawn, they proceeded down the mile-long twisting passage to the inner depths of the Sawney Bean family lair. Nothing could have prepared them for the sight they witnessed that day. The damp walls of the cave were strewn with row upon row of human limbs and body parts, like meat hanging in a butchers shop. Other areas of the cave stored bundles of clothing, piles of watches and rings and heaps of discarded bones from previous feasts.
After a brief fight, the entire Sawney Bean family, all forty-eight of them, were arrested and marched off to Edinburgh by the King himself. Their crimes were considered so heinous that the normal justice system, for which Scotland is so renowned, was abandoned and the entire family were sentenced to death. The following day the twenty-seven men of the family met a fate similar to that of many of their victims, by having their legs and arms cut off and being left to slowly bleed to death, watched by their women. The twenty-one women were burned like witches in huge fires.
And so the ballad of Sawney Bean records their end:
They’ve hung them high in Edinburgh toon
An likewise a their kin
An the wind blaws cauld on a their banes
An tae hell they a hae gaen.*
Please note however that although the tale of Sawney Bean and his infamous family is recorded in several notable publications, factual documentation is lacking to validate the events.
* From “The Ballad of Sawney Bean” – Music and Lyrics
by Lionel McClelland. Published by Limetree Arts and Music. UK“Rural women, women of color, low-income women will be disproportionately affected the closure of the clinic,” said Margaret Chapman Pomponio, executive director of WV FREE. “It means that getting by day-to-day for marginalized women just got harder in West Virginia.”
Families in Appalachia, a mountainous region that extends from northern Georgia through western Pennsylvania, often face significant obstacles to accessing basic reproductive health care.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
When the Kanawha Surgicenter in Charleston closed on January 17, the Women’s Health Center in Charleston was left as the only abortion clinic in West Virginia.
A week later, the EMW Women’s Clinic in Lexington closed, leaving the EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville as Kentucky’s last abortion clinic.
Families in Appalachia, a mountainous region that extends from northern Georgia through western Pennsylvania, often face significant obstacles to accessing basic reproductive health care. The closing of these clinics will only increase the difficulty in accessing health services for those in a region plagued by generations of deep poverty.
The executive director of EMW in Lexington said in a statement that it was with “extreme sadness and deep regret” that the Lexington clinic would close. The statement, published on January 13 by the Kentucky National Organization for Women, said the organization had “diligently pursued obtaining a license” for the facility, but after a lengthy legal battle, was not able to secure the license.
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“Although we and our attorney believed we had fulfilled all the requirements to obtain the license, the Inspector General of [Kentucky] disagreed and denied us the license,” the executive director said. “Unfortunately, our landlord has also declined to renew our lease on the space we have occupied … since 1989.”
EMW does not publicly identify employees to maintain privacy.
Dr. Gorli Harish left a note on the front door of the Kanawha Surgicenter informing clients that the clinic would be closing, reported the Charleston Gazette-Mail. The clinic’s phone has since been disconnected, and its website has been taken down.
Kentucky and West Virginia join Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota as states that have one abortion clinic as reproductive rights come under persistent attack by federal and state Republican lawmakers.
The GOP’s lengthy anti-abortion campaign has led to a dramatic number of abortion clinic closures. At least 162 clinics that provided abortion services have either closed or stopped offering the procedure since 2011, with 21 clinics opening during that time, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Abortion clinic closures have a disproportionate affect on people living in rural areas, those with low incomes, and people of color.
Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, told the Huffington Post that while most urban areas still have “reasonable access to abortion care,” rural areas often lack adequate access to the medical procedure.
“The problem lies when women are in more rural areas, or some of these states where there are only one or two providers,” Saporta said.
In 2014, prior to the closure of the Lexington abortion clinic, 74 percent of Kentucky women between the ages of 15 and 44 lived in a county without a clinic. Also during that time, 90 percent of West Virginia women between the ages of 15 and 44 resided in a county without a clinic, according data from the Guttmacher Institute.
“It Means That Getting By Day-to-Day For Marginalized Women Just Got Harder in West Virginia.”
Margaret Chapman Pomponio, executive director of WV FREE, told Rewire that West Virginia’s large rural population and high rate of poverty already make it difficult for families seeking reproductive health care.
West Virginia has one of the country’s highest poverty rates, with 18 percent of the state’s residents living in poverty compared to 14.7 percent nationally, according to 2015 statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (ERS).
“Rural women, women of color, low-income women will be disproportionately affected the closure of the clinic,” Chapman Pomponio said. “It means that getting by day-to-day for marginalized women just got harder in West Virginia.”
Marcie Crim, executive director of the Kentucky Health Justice Network, said in an email to Rewire that having only one abortion clinic in the state poses significant challenges to people seeking abortion care—particularly in the state’s rural areas.
Kentucky’s poverty rate, at 18.3 percent, is higher than West Virginia’s, according to 2015 statistics compiled by ERS.
Since the Lexington clinic closed, Kentucky Health Justice Network has seen an increase in the number of transportation requests to the Louisville clinic, particularly from people living in Lexington and the eastern and southern portions of the state.
“Many low-income people don’t have the money or the car to get themselves to Louisville,” Crim said. “Many people don’t have a support system to help get them to their appointments or they don’t feel safe telling friends and family, so adding extra driving hours—extra obstacles—leaves folks in very difficult situations.”
Those in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, who now have to travel farther for abortion care, live in counties with crushing poverty.
Clay County, Kentucky, has the third highest poverty rate in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The county has some of the worst health outcomes of any county in the country. A resident of Clay County would now have to travel 170 miles to access abortion care in Louisville or travel 200 miles to access abortion care in Charleston.
A resident of McDowell County, West Virginia, would have to travel about 100 miles to Charleston to receive abortion care. However, even when the distance is shorter, challenges remain.
“Charleston is like a world away for a woman living in McDowell County for example,” Chapman Pomponio said. “Traveling out of state for abortion care is probably insurmountable.”
McDowell County, the poorest county in the state, is emblematic of the systemic poverty that has lingered in Appalachia for more than half a century. During 2014, when West Virginia had the highest number of drug overdose deaths in the country, McDowell County had the highest number of drug overdose deaths in the state.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) had a dramatic effect on decreasing the number of people without health insurance nationwide, and from 2013 to 2015 the percentage of residents in Kentucky and West Virginia without insurance was cut in half, according to Gallup.
Despite President Trump’s promise to repeal the ACA, known as Obamacare, residents of both Clay and McDowell counties overwhelmingly voted for him in November. Trump won 87 percent of the vote in Clay County and 75 percent of the vote in McDowell County.
‘Preventing Access to Safe, Legal Abortions Doesn’t Prevent Abortions’
When Republicans swept into power in state legislatures behind 2010’s Tea Party fervor, the new GOP majorities quickly set to work passing medically unnecessary laws designed to erode abortion care access.
The GOP takeover of West Virginia and Kentucky wasn’t completed until years later. Republicans would not gain control of the West Virginia legislature until the 2014 midterm elections. GOP legislators took over the Kentucky legislature in 2016.
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky and West Virginia have used these new majorities to push through several anti-choice measures, creating additional barriers to abortion besides the miles that must be traveled.
West Virginia’s former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) in 2016 vetoed a ban on abortion care after 20 weeks of pregnancy and a measure outlawing the most common method of second trimester abortion. Lawmakers in the legislature voted to override Tomblin’s vetoes.
When the Kentucky legislative session began on January 3, the new GOP majority fast-tracked legislation that would restrict access to abortion care.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) signed a pair of anti-choice bills, which banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and required an ultrasound prior to an abortion procedure. Bevin last year signed a law requiring state-mandated counseling prior to an abortion procedure.
“It can be as much as a five hour drive from parts of eastern Kentucky to Louisville and with the ‘informed consent’ law requiring 24 hours between the provider consultation and the procedure, that is extra challenging,” Crim said.
When women are able to travel to Louisville for abortion services, they must endure the constant presence of anti-choice protesters in front of the clinic. Volunteers escort patients past the protesters into the clinic.
Fausta Luchini, a volunteer escort at the Louisville clinic, told WAVE 3 that abortion clinic closures don’t stop people from having the procedure. “Women have been having abortions forever,” Luchini said. “It’s not like [closing] the clinics is going to keep them from having abortions, they just won’t be safe abortions.”
Joseph Spurgeon, leader of the anti-choice clinic protest group P82 Ministries, told WAVE 3 that he wants the last clinic in the state to shutter. “We are glad this is the last clinic,” Spurgeon said. “But we will be even happier when this place is paved over and there is a sign that says they used to murder babies here.”
Crim said it would be catastrophic if the Louisville clinic were to close.
“The most devastating impact would be folks attempting to self abort or getting unsafe abortions,” Crim said. “History has taught us that when safe, legal abortion access is severely limited, women seek out other methods to terminate pregnancies.”
Texas Republicans’ omnibus anti-choice law known as HB 2 forced more than half of the state’s abortion clinics to close. Reproductive rights advocates said that they started seeing signs of people taking matters into their own hands almost immediately after Republican lawmakers pushed through the law. A study by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) found that between 100,000 and 240,000 Texas women of reproductive age have attempted to end a pregnancy without medical assistance.
“Preventing access to safe, legal abortions doesn’t prevent abortions,” Crim said.”It just prevents safe abortions.”Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced late Friday that the social media platform will unveil a stronger set of rules against sexual harassment and threats of violence after women, led by actress Rose McGowan and others, boycotted the platform.
In a series of tweets, the Twitter CEO pledged to do more to ensure that women's voices are not silenced on the platform.
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"We see voices being silenced on Twitter every day. We’ve been working to counteract this for the past 2 years," Dorsey wrote. "We decided to take a more aggressive stance in our rules and how we enforce them."
Dorsey added that the new policies would be subject to stricter enforcement in the coming weeks.
"New rules around: unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorifies violence," Dorsey said. "These changes will start rolling out in the next few weeks. More to share next week."
Dorsey also retweeted part of Twitter's statement concerning the company's decision to ban McGowan's account on Wednesday, which sparked the boycott.
McGowan was banned after her account tweeted a private phone number, a violation of Twitter's terms of service.
"Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power. We stand with the brave women and men who use Twitter to share their stories, and will work hard every day to improve our processes to protect those voices," the statement read.
Actresses and others in the media responded, with model Chrissy Teigen voicing her support for the boycott on Thursday night.
"Ladies. Let's do this. #WomenBoycottTwitter. Not because of hate but because I love this platform and know it can be better," Teigen wrote.Welcome to Heroes of the Dorm, a free-entry Heroes of the Storm tournament open to college students in the United States and Canada! Team up with your fellow classmates and compete for an epic prize pool of over $500,000 in Scholarships & Prizing!
Registration:
Once you’ve registered an account on Compete and verified your Student Status, you can either create a new team or apply to join an open team from your school. The registration page will show you all other open teams from you school. If you don't see any open teams from your school when registering, we encourage you to create one for others to find you!
If the school email you used to verify your student eligibility is new to our system, please allow up to 24 hours for it to be whitelisted.
How To Watch:
Matches will be streamed on Facebook Live beginning on February 15th! Full broadcast schedule and information coming soon.
Bracket Challenge:
Once the Top 64 teams are determined you can support your favorite schools by filling out a Bracket Challenge!That US forces regularly use unmanned drones to attack terrorist targets in Pakistan is nothing new, but a report at the Guardian suggests that US special forces repeatedly put “boots on the ground” inside the country as part of the war against insurgents.
Citing a “former NATO officer” with “detailed knowledge of the operations,” the Guardian reported late Monday evening that the US launched “multiple clandestine raids” into Pakistan between 2003 and 2008, and that the Pakistani government was not informed of the raids.
The unnamed NATO source details four separate incidents in which US troops landed on Pakistani soil, including the only previously reported raid: A September, 2008, operation which targeted three houses inside Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, which reportedly killed 15 people.
Of the other three operations, two were attacks on suspected militants (one of which failed), and the third was a rescue operation to retrieve a Predator drone. The fact the US military would send in a clandestine force to extract the drone, rather than ask the Pakistani military for help, shows how uneasy the alliance between the US and Pakistan is, the Guardian reports.
Such operations are a matter of sensitivity in Pakistan. While public opinion has grudgingly tolerated CIA-led drone strikes in the tribal areas, any hint of American “boots on the ground” is greeted with virulent condemnation.
In recent months, news has been coming out about the extent of the US’s military involvement in Pakistan. Last month, The Nation reported that the Obama administration is using the controversial security contractor Blackwater to kidnap or kill “high-value targets” in Pakistan.
Erik Prince, the CEO and founder of the security firm, appeared to confirm his own deep involvement in the CIA’s role in the war on terrorism, telling Vanity Fair that he had been recruited as a CIA “asset.”
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A skinny banker transformed himself into a massive bodybuilder by scoffing 19 eggs and half a kilo of meat every day.
Guy Harding, 23, says he "fell in love" with weights at the age of 16, and has worked tirelessly at creating his perfect body image.
But seven years later, Guy's incredible muscles dominate most of his time outside work, with hours spent in the gym every single day.
The Lloyds Bank employee, from Devon, chows down on seven meals a day and even takes three lunch breaks while at work.
(Image: guycharding/Instagram)
(Image: Guy Harding)
His local gym has even given him a key to allow his 24 hours access.
Speaking about his commitment to lifting weights, Guy said: "I first got into bodybuilding at the age of 16 - this was going to the gym and picking up weights - the very basic.
"I fell in love and never looked back.
"Started real hard dieting and training in 2014, this is when the real results started happening."
(Image: Guy Harding)
(Image: guycharding/Instagram)
Guy has entered and won professional bodybuilding competitions by showcasing his sculpted body and popping veins.
To maintain his look, Guy gorges on three times the amount of food as an average person his age - amounting to around 6,000 calories a day.
He added: "I include two cheat meals a week which are normally pizza, burger or chips or a Chinese takeaway."
(Image: Guy Harding)
Guy, who lives with his girlfriend Cyprus, trains at the gym for two hours a day.
In an average session, he burns 600 calories during a weight session and 500 calories in an hour of cardio.
Despite achieving his ultimate muscles goals, Guy refrains from partaking in nearly all fun activities.
(Image: guycharding/Instagram)
He misses family meals, holidays, parties, and cannot go out with friends at night.
Guy said his love of bodybuilding means he doesn't feel missing out on spending time with family and friends is a "true sacrifice".
GUY'S DAILY DIET:
MEAL ONE
85g of oats, three whole eggs and six egg whites
MEAL TWO
180g of chicken or turkey and two whole wheat bagels
MEAL THREE
180g of chicken or mince meat, 200g of rice and spinach or broccoli
MEAL FOUR
100g of oats with 30g protein shake
MEAL FIVE
Two bagels, 100g of oats and a 30g protein shake
MEAL SIX
180g of chicken, 200g of sweet potato and vegetables
MEAL SEVEN
100g of egg whites, two scoops of casein proteinA Clayton County mother says a teenage boy shook her hand when he and a friend came to her house to visit her daughters Saturday night.
Minutes later, that same teenager allegedly shot and killed her 16-year-old daughter, V’ondra Olivaria.
“My baby was in her room thinking she was safe from the harmful stuff outside,” Yolanda Rincon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “But the devil let loose in this house.”
After hearing a single gunshot, Rincon said she ran out of her own room and saw 17-year-old Brandon Henry Williams holding a gun, a look of panic on his face.
“He scared me because I didn’t know if he was going to try to hurt us,” Rincon said.
Neither Rincon nor investigators believe Williams intended to shoot V’ondra. But Williams and 20-year-old Justin Vitto, who brought Williams to the home, allegedly ran away, leaving Rincon at her daughter’s side for what would be her final breaths.
“I could tell by looking at her it wasn’t good,” said Rincon, a mother of four.
A few hours later, a police officer told Rincon her second oldest child was dead. As she worried Monday night how she will pay for a funeral, Rincon remembered a bubbly, caring teenager who loved posting pictures on Instagram and was in the 11th grade at North Clayton High School. And in an instant, she was gone.
“He took my daughter’s life and he took his own life,” Rincon said. “Two lives gone for nothing.”
Sunday night, Williams was arrested, Officer Charlene Watson-Fraser with Clayton County police said. Williams, of Jonesboro, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct, possession of a handgun by a person under 18, obstruction and criminal trespassing and booked into the Clayton County jail. He was being held without bond Tuesday night.
Late Monday night, Vitto was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, jail records show. He was also being held Tuesday without bond.
Many of V’ondra’s classmates learned of her death Monday, and North Clayton Principal Derrick Dalton informed parents in a letter.
“We are profoundly saddened by her death,” Dalton wrote.
Grief counselors were at the school Monday, Dalton said.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized for V’ondra. Her mother hopes to raise enough money to bury her daughter in Maryland, the family’s home state.
Anyone wishing to make a donation for the family’s expenses can go to any Wells Fargo branch and donate to the V’ondra Olivaria Memorial Fund.Report, expected to be highly critical of Blair, had focused on claims he committed UK to invasion before telling parliament and public
Tony Blair has suggested that he will refuse to accept the verdict of the Chilcot inquiry if it accuses him of committing Britain to invading Iraq before he told parliament and the public.
In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, the former prime minister said he did not think anyone could say he did not make his position clear ahead of the 2003 war that led to the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Sir John Chilcot is due to publish his long-awaited report into the war on 6 July. It is expected to be highly critical of Blair and other political and military figures. During the inquiry hearings there was particular focus on evidence suggesting Blair had given a firm commitment to back President George W Bush’s decision to invade while he was publicly saying a final decision had not yet been taken.
Asked if he would accept Chilcot’s conclusions, Blair told Marr: “It is hard to say that when I haven’t seen it.”
He continued: “But I think when you go back and you look at what was said, I don’t think anyone can seriously dispute that I was making it very clear what my position was.”
Blair also said that when the report comes out, he would be taking to the airwaves to defend himself rather than going to ground.
“The thing that will be important when it does happen is that we have then a full debate,” Blair said. “And I look forward to participating in that. Make no mistake about that. It is really important we do debate these issues.”
Blair may not have seen the full report, but it is understood that he has seen the key passages criticising his conduct, as part of the Maxwellisation process that allows people facing criticism from a report like this to see and respond to its draft conclusions.
The Sunday Times recently quoted an unnamed source with knowledge of the report saying that Blair “won’t be let off the hook” over claims that he told Bush he would support an invasion of Iraq in 2002, a full year before the decision was publicly confirmed.
At the Hay literary festival in Powys, Wales, author Tom Bowers took aim at Blair on Sunday by suggesting that criticism of his role in the Iraq war would not go far enough.
Bower is the author of a scathing biography of Blair that portrays him as a man with few policies and no ideology. Bower told the festival: “Chilcot in my view will criticise the wrong people, the easy targets... the cabinet secretary, the chief of the defence staff, who was not told the truth. The man obviously to blame is Blair.
“He wil be criticised perhaps for undermining government, for having no plan for post-war Iraq... but he won’t be blamed for lying, that will not happen.”
Bower suggested that Chilcot himself was too close to the establishment, in that he was heavily involved in the second Iraq inquiry conducted by the cabinet secretary, Sir Robin Butler.
His book argues that Blair worked hard to gain power but had no idea what to do with it when he got it. It was a government without ideology and by its second term it was too late to get one as he was being weakened by Gordon Brown and was on the “treadmill to Iraq”, he says.
The Chilcot report is expected to be especially damning about the British and American failure to prepare for the aftermath of the
|
1,000ft dropping their bombs. The defences were initially caught off guard but by the time the third sub-flight had winged-over into the dive, the AA batteries were blazing into the sky. Sub-Lieutenant Day and Naval Airman Berry’s Roc was hit as it dived, and plunged into the sea in a wreath of black smoke. The others pressed home their attack and scored four direct hits and a number of near misses. The Commanding Officer praised the Hurricanes for their co-operation, on one of the few occasions when the dive bombers were fortunate enough to have proper fighter escort.
Shortly after this episode, 801 and 806 Squadrons would be released from Coastal Command control and return to Hatston on Orkney, there to carry out a series of long-range raids on Norway. Some of the Swordfish Squadrons remained for several months, bolstering Coastal Command’s anti-shipping and anti-submarine strength until the RAF was able to maintain this role unaided. While the lion’s share of the air operations over Dunkirk were carried out by the RAF, a small but highly significant contribution was made by the Fleet Air Arm which should not be ignored.
AdvertisementsPhil Lesh & Friends
April 15th 1999
Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA
Source Info: SBD > DAT > CDR > EAC > SHN
Disc 1:
Pre-set:
1. Hello Old Friends*
Set I:
2. Viola Lee Blues
3. Big Railroad Blues
4. Jack-a-Roe
Disc 2:
Set I (cont.):
1. Cosmic Charlie
2. Wolfman's Brother -> Space ->
3. Uncle John's Band -> Jam
Disc 3:
Set II:
1. Alabama Getaway
2. Sugaree>
3. Like a Rolling Stone >
4. I Know you Rider
5. Row Jimmy
Disc 4:
Set II (cont.):
1. Shakedown Street
2. The Wheel
3. Not Fade Away
Phil talking
Encore:
4. Tamborine Man
* Phil and Steve, with Phil's kids
Source Info: SBD > DAT > CDR > EAC > SHN
plus-circle Add Review
comment Reviews
Reviewer: jjohnson4180 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 16, 2015
Subject: There is video of this show! http://vimeo.com/846588
Absolutely epic! Absolutely epic! - January 16, 2015There is video of this show!
Reviewer: jalew - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 2, 2011
Subject: wowza one of the best weekends of my life. - February 2, 2011wowza
Reviewer: L. Rosley - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 31, 2011
Subject: It's a Dead Show -- by Phish! What many Deadheads always hoped to catch by only dreamed about. I wish I had seen this one! It really feels like a Dead show, and it's very well performed and sung. What's not to like? - January 31, 2011It's a Dead Show -- by Phish!
Reviewer: stowerider - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 30, 2007
Subject: Best jam band ever?? There's no way I can say anything that hasn't been said at one point or another about this incredible inception of musicians. Being a huge Kimock, GD & Phish fan, there is no better assembly of greatness possible. The only thing that might've made it better was to have Rodney Holmes on drums.
The Sugaree from this particular night is amazing. - May 30, 2007Best jam band ever??
Reviewer: JackStrawFromWichita - favorite favorite favorite favorite - June 16, 2005
Subject: Great Show This is a great show with Trey and Page from the first night back after Phil's liver transplant. Its great to hear his two sons singing on "Hello old Friends." The phishy jams during UJB and Shakedown put a new spin on things. I was laughing my ass off listening to Trey butcher the lyrics on The Wheel, it gets really bad! The other nights are even better (4/16 & 4/17). JackStrawFromWichita -- June 16, 2005Great ShowDAVIE — There is still learning to be done. Might as well make that clear first. In a league where Jason Taylor, looking up the steps to the Hall of Fame, wouldn’t claim to know it all, Ryan Tannehill won’t, either.
But look around, and listen, as training camp opened Thursday and it’s clear that Tannehill feels more comfortable being the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins than he ever has.
He knows more about coach Adam Gase, which is good.
He knows more about Gase’s offense, which is better.
“He’s already corrected me about three times on play calls,” Gase said after workout No. 1.
Knowing that this comfort business in their second season together may sound like a vague concept to outsiders, especially in July, both Gase and Tannehill pointed out how it can manifest itself when things get real in September.
Moments into the Dolphins’ first team drills of 2017, when defenses are always supposed to be ahead of offenses, DeVante Parker made a tough catch in the end zone. Fans saw a couple of similar connections between Tannehill and Parker, but what was easily overlooked was why. It fell on Tannehill to point out Kenny Stills shielded off a defender, allowing him to make one such throw.
“It’s not our first go-round, right?” Tannehill said. “We’ve spent the year in the offense last year, got to bring back almost all of our key pieces. There’s a lot of continuity there with the guys that we have, so we’re able to build on what we did last year. We’re not so much learning overall concepts. We’re trying to work on the details and master plays. When you get to do that, that’s when you become really good.”
Or, as Gase put it: “If something wasn’t quite right on what happened or the defense played something right, they knew how to talk to each other as far as, ‘Here’s what we’ve got to do to adjust this.’ They’re making those changes that most coaches have to make. They’re already coming to me, like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do this, this and this.’ It’s not only him. It’s that group, skill guys.”
But it starts with Tannehill. Asked what’s difference from last year’s opening day with Tannehill to this year’s, Gase said, “Everything about him. I see a guy that’s completely in control of the huddle.”
This is possible only because the left knee injury that ended Tannehill’s 2016 season in Game 13 isn’t an issue now. A mere two questions into his huddle with the media Thursday, the question of the knee came up. Having answered the question a hundred times in the spring, Tannehill laughed.
“If feels good,” he said. “Just like it did in the spring, so no changes. Even better.”
Problem was, there was a late comer who soon asked the same question.
“Just so everyone hears,” Tannehill said in an exaggerated declarative voice. “The knee is really good … ”
Which is when someone asked how the other knee was.
“The other knee’s feeling really good, too,” Tannehill said, laughing. “I appreciate you asking.”
Tannehill, in fact, was upbeat throughout. From the cheap seats came another question. It was Stills, asking if Tannehill received any special gifts Thursday, his 29th birthday.
“I got nothin’ special so far,” Tannehill said.
“You guys told him happy birthday, right?” Stills asked reporters.
“No, they didn’t,” Tannehill said. “I got no birthday wishes!”
Nearby were wife Lauren and son Steel.
“I got to see my little guy at practice,” Tannehill said. “That was a good birthday gift for me. It’s fun. Last year, he was just born, just a few days old at this time. So to bring him out here and have a smile with him, see him running around a little bit, it’s really fun for me.”
The kid, it seems, has a way to go before catching up with Pop.
“His throw is more like a spike,” Tannehill said. “So he’s got the spike down. The throw, not so much. So we’re working backwards there.”
Dad’s focus is on footwork, timing, accuracy and unloading passes quicker.
“Being the second year in the offense, it’s much easier for me to have that,” he said.
Three years ago, Tannehill ran 56 times for 311 yards. The past two seasons combined, he ran for just 305. Confidence in the knee is such that he and Gase have talked about turning him loose again, brace and all, and “use my feet as a weapon when things aren’t happening downfield. Be able to escape. Put pressure on the defense. Make them honor my feet. That’ll be something to work on throughout the year.”
Tannehill had the best passer rating of his career last season. For the first time, he played on a playoff team. Clearly, more is expected now.
“Expectations are up but that’s what you want,” he said. “You want to be putting that pressure on yourself.”
NEW: [MIAMI DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP PHOTO GALLERY]
Miami Dolphins center Mike Pouncey: I’ll play at least 4 more years
Miami Dolphins: What Adam Gase said Thursday
Miami Dolphins: Mike Pouncey, Reshad Jones sidelined at training camp
All eyes on these Miami Dolphins as training camp opens
Miami Dolphins injury: S Reshad Jones out for start of training camp
Get Dolphins stories right to your Facebook by liking this pageI'll base this review on the multiplayer, as that's the reason I bought it... The single player was ok, but a bit too short and the storyline wasn't very gripping.
Let's be honest, CoD isn't a terrible franchise, it just got repetitive each year and I've not bothered with it since ditching the peasantbox in 2012... Battlefield, however, is a breath of fresh air. It's similar to CoD (which is a good thing, despite people bashing the franchise), but it fills in all the blanks that CoD lacks, such as a variety of vehicles open to everyone without the need of a killstreak. You can parachute and use your gun in mid air, swim and even dive under the water. It has explosions that affect the map as buildings collapse, c4 and grenades causing craters in the ground etc!
Speaking of maps, they're huge! When I first joined a game, I was immersed... so much was going on around me, I had to stop just to take it all in and watch rather than play.
The graphics overall are gorgeous. Sure when you zoom in on some trees the textures are low res, but hey.
A lot of people complain about being able to connect to servers or get disconnected. For me, these issues rarely happen so it's no big deal. My only gripe is how long it can take to join a game (it's nothing major, like 1-2 minutes max?).
Overall it's a great game, I was hooked playing it for a week without fail, straight in from work. Just wish there were less serious game modes as well as the current ones, something like Sticks and Stones from CoD would be nice just for fun and a laugh.SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation on Tuesday aimed at closing the wage gap between men and women, a law that supporters say is among the strongest in the country.
California Governor Jerry Brown speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol in Sacramento, California March 19, 2015. REUTERS/Max Whittaker
Brown signed the California Fair Pay Act in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Richmond at the Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park, which honors women who worked in factories during World War Two.
“The inequities that have plagued our state and have burdened women forever are slowly being resolved with this kind of bill,” Brown, a Democrat, said at the signing event.
The bill, authored by Democratic state Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, prohibits employees from facing retaliation for discussing their pay rates at work.
It also allows workers to challenge disparities in pay between people doing similar jobs or doing the same jobs at different work sites for the same company.
“Today is a momentous day for California, and it is long overdue. Equal pay isn’t just the right thing for women, it’s the right thing for our economy and for California,” Jackson said.
Brown’s office said in a statement the bill was “among the strongest in the nation” and received bipartisan support.
The California Chamber of Commerce initially opposed the bill, but the business group said last week it ultimately came around because the legislation created a “fair balance” for workers and employers.
In 2013, a woman working full time in California made about 84 cents for every dollar a man earned, according to Equal Rights Advocates, a gender justice group. Disparities were particularly stark for Latina and African-American women, according to the group.
It said roughly 1.75 million households in California are headed by women, adding that the wage gap between the sexes costs families in the state some $39 billion annually.
“The win here is undeniable. We think of 2015 as the year of fair pay,” Equal Rights Advocates Executive Director Noreen Farrell said in a statement.
The bill was one of a package of reforms pushed by the state’s Legislative Women’s Caucus, which also aimed to make workplace scheduling more accommodating to families and increase aid to infants and children. Those bills have not been passed.
President Barack Obama’s administration has also made gender pay discrimination a priority, signing in 2009 the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and taking executive actions on the issue last year.Create a working compiler with the LLVM framework, Part 1
Build a custom compiler with LLVM and its intermediate representation
The LLVM (formerly the Low Level Virtual Machine) is an extremely powerful compiler infrastructure framework designed for compile-time, link-time, and run time optimizations of programs written in your favorite programming language. LLVM works on several different platforms, and its primary claim to fame is generating code that runs fast.
Other articles in this series View more articles in the Create a working compiler with the LLVM framework series.
The LLVM framework is built around a well-documented intermediate representation (IR) of code. This article—the first in a two-part series—delves into the basics of the LLVM IR and some of its subtleties. From there, you will build a code generator that can automate the work of generating the LLVM IR for you. Having an LLVM IR generator means that all you need is a front end for your favorite language to plug into, and you have a full flow (front-end parser + IR generator + LLVM back end). Creating a custom compiler just got simplified.
Getting started with the LLVM
Before you start, you must have the LLVM compiled on your development computer (see Related topics for a link). The examples in this article are based on LLVM version 3.0. The two most important tools for post-build and installation of LLVM code are llc and lli.
llc and lli
Because LLVM is a virtual machine (VM), it likely should have its own intermediate byte code representation, right? Ultimately, you need to compile LLVM byte code into your platform-specific assembly language. Then you can run the assembly code through a native assembler and linker to generate executables, shared libraries, and so on. You use llc to convert LLVM byte code to platform-specific assembly code (see Related topics for a link to more information about this tool). For directly executing portions of LLVM byte code, don't wait until the native executable crashes to figure out that you have a bug or two in your program. This is where lli comes in handy, as it can directly execute the byte code. lli performs this feat either through an interpreter or by using a just-in-time (JIT) compiler under the hood. See Related topics for a link to more information about lli.
llvm-gcc
llvm-gcc is a modified version of the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc) that can generate LLVM byte code when run with the -S -emit-llvm options. You can then use lli to execute this generated byte code (also known as LLVM assembly). For more information about llvm-gcc, see Related topics. If you don't have llvm-gcc preinstalled on your system, you should be able to build it from sources; see Related topics for a link to the step-by-step guide.
Hello World with LLVM
To better understand LLVM, you have to learn LLVM IR and its idiosyncrasies. This process akin to learning yet another programming language. But if you have been through C and C++ and their quirks, there shouldn't be much to deter you in the LLVM IR. Listing 1 shows your first program, which prints "Hello World" in the console output. To compile this code, you use llvm-gcc.
Listing 1. The familiar-looking Hello World program
#include <stdio.h> int main( ) { printf("Hello World!
"); }
To compile the code, enter this command:
Tintin.local# llvm-gcc helloworld.cpp -S -emit-llvm
After compilation, llvm-gcc generates the file helloworld.s, which you can execute using lli to print the message to console. The lli usage is:
Tintin.local# lli helloworld.s Hello, World
Now, take a first look at the LLVM assembly. Listing 2 shows the code.
Listing 2. LLVM byte code for the Hello World program
@.str = private constant [13 x i8] c"Hello World!\00", align 1 ; define i32 @main() ssp { entry: %retval = alloca i32 %0 = alloca i32 %"alloca point" = bitcast i32 0 to i32 %1 = call i32 @puts(i8* getelementptr inbounds ([13 x i8]* @.str, i64 0, i64 0)) store i32 0, i32* %0, align 4 %2 = load i32* %0, align 4 store i32 %2, i32* %retval, align 4 br label %return return: %retval1 = load i32* %retval ret i32 %retval1 } declare i32 @puts(i8*)
Understanding the LLVM IR
The LLVM comes with a detailed assembly language representation (see Related topics for a link). Here are the must-knows before you try to craft your own version of the Hello World program discussed earlier:
Comments in LLVM assembly begin with a semicolon ( ; ) and continue to the end of the line.
) and continue to the end of the line. Global identifiers begin with the at ( @ ) character. All function names and global variables must begin with @, as well.
) character. All function names and global variables must begin with, as well. Local identifiers in the LLVM begin with a percent symbol ( % ). The typical regular expression for identifiers is [%@][a-zA-Z$._][a-zA-Z$._0-9]*.
). The typical regular expression for identifiers is. The LLVM has a strong type system, and the same is counted among its most important features. The LLVM defines an integer type as iN, where N is the number of bits the integer will occupy. You can specify any bit width between 1 and 223- 1.
, where N is the number of bits the integer will occupy. You can specify any bit width between 1 and 223- 1. You declare a vector or array type as [no. of elements X size of each element]. For the string "Hello World!" this makes the type [13 x i8], assuming that each character is 1 byte and factoring in 1 extra byte for the NULL character.
. For the string "Hello World!" this makes the type, assuming that each character is 1 byte and factoring in 1 extra byte for the NULL character. You declare a global string constant for the hello-world string as follows: @hello = constant [13 x i8] c"Hello World!\00". Use the constant keyword to declare a constant followed by the type and the value. The type has already been discussed, so let's look at the value: You begin by using c followed by the entire string in double quotation marks, including \0 and ending with 0. Unfortunately, the LLVM documentation does not provide any explanation of why a string needs to be declared with the c prefix and include both a NULL character and 0 at the end. See Related topics for a link to the grammar file, if you're interested in exploring more LLVM quirks.
. Use the keyword to declare a constant followed by the type and the value. The type has already been discussed, so let's look at the value: You begin by using followed by the entire string in double quotation marks, including and ending with. Unfortunately, the LLVM documentation does not provide any explanation of why a string needs to be declared with the prefix and include both a NULL character and 0 at the end. See Related topics for a link to the grammar file, if you're interested in exploring more LLVM quirks. The LLVM lets you declare and define functions. Instead of going through the entire feature list of an LLVM function, I concentrate on the bare bones. Begin with the define keyword followed by the return type, and then the function name. A simple definition of main that returns a 32-bit integer similar to: define i32 @main() { ; some LLVM assembly code that returns i32 }.
keyword followed by the return type, and then the function name. A simple definition of that returns a 32-bit integer similar to:. Function declarations, like definitions, have a lot of meat to them. Here's the simplest declaration of a puts method, which is the LLVM equivalent of printf : declare i32 puts(i8*). You begin the declaration with the declare keyword followed by the return type, the function name, and an optional list of arguments to the function. The declaration must be in the global scope.
method, which is the LLVM equivalent of :. You begin the declaration with the keyword followed by the return type, the function name, and an optional list of arguments to the function. The declaration must be in the global scope. Each function ends with a return statement. There are two forms of return statement: ret <type> <value> or ret void. For your simple main routine, ret i32 0 suffices.
or. For your simple main routine, suffices. Use call <function return type> <function name> <optional function arguments> to call a function. Note that each function argument must be preceded by its type. A function test that returns an integer of 6 bits and accepts an integer of 36 bits has the syntax: call i6 @test( i36 %arg1 ).
That's it for a start. You need to define a main routine, a constant to hold the string, and a declaration of the puts method that handles the actual printing. Listing 3 shows the first attempt.
Listing 3. First attempt to create a hand-crafted Hello World program
declare i32 @puts(i8*) @global_str = constant [13 x i8] c"Hello World!\00" define i32 @main { call i32 @puts( [13 x i8] @global_str ) ret i32 0 }
And here's the log from lli :
lli: test.s:5:29: error: global variable reference must have pointer type call i32 @puts( [13 x i8] @global_str ) ^
Oops, that didn't work as expected. What just happened? The LLVM, as mentioned earlier, has a powerful type system. Because puts was expecting a pointer to i8 and you passed a vector of i8, lli was quick to point out the error. The obvious fix to this problem, coming from a C programming background, is typecasting. And that brings you to the LLVM instruction getelementptr. Note that you must modify the puts call in Listing 3 to something like call i32 @puts(i8* %t), where %t is of type i8* and is the result of the typecast from [13 x i8] to i8*. (See Related topics for a link to a detailed description of getelementptr.) Before going any farther, Listing 4 provides the code that works.
Listing 4. Using getelementptr to correctly typecast to a pointer
declare i32 @puts (i8*) @global_str = constant [13 x i8] c"Hello World!\00" define i32 @main() { %temp = getelementptr [13 x i8]* @global_str, i64 0, i64 0 call i32 @puts(i8* %temp) ret i32 0 }
The first argument to getelementptr is the pointer to the global string variable. The first index, i64 0, is required to step over the pointer to the global variable. Because the first argument to the getelementptr instruction must always be a value of type pointer, the first index steps through that pointer. A value of 0 means 0 elements offset from that pointer. My development computer is running 64-bit Linux®, so the pointer is 8 bytes. The second index, i64 0, is used to select the 0th element of the string, which is supplied as the argument to puts.
Creating a custom LLVM IR code generator
Understanding the LLVM IR is fine, but you need an automated code-generation system that dumps LLVM assembly. Thankfully, LLVM does have enough application programming interface (API) support to see you through this effort (see Related topics for a link to the programmer's manual). Look for the file LLVMContext.h on your development computer; if that file is missing, something is probably wrong with the way you installed the LLVM.
Now, let's create a program that generates LLVM IR for the Hello World program discussed earlier. The program won't deal with the entire LLVM API here, but the code samples that follow should prove that a fair bit of the LLVM API is intuitive and easy to use.
Linking against LLVM code
The LLVM comes with a nifty tool called llvm-config (see Related topics). Run llvm-config –cxxflags to get the compile flags that need to be passed to g++, llvm-config –ldflags for the linker options, and llvm-config –libs to link against the right LLVM libraries. In the sample in Listing 5, all the options need to be passed to g++.
Listing 5. Using llvm-config to build code with the LLVM API
tintin# llvm-config --cxxflags --ldflags --libs \ -I/usr/include -DNDEBUG -D_GNU_SOURCE \ -D__STDC_CONSTANT_MACROS -D__STDC_FORMAT_MACROS \ -D__STDC_LIMIT_MACROS -O3 -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-common \ -Woverloaded-virtual -Wcast-qual \ -L/usr/lib -lpthread -lm \ -lLLVMXCoreCodeGen -lLLVMTableGen -lLLVMSystemZCodeGen \ -lLLVMSparcCodeGen -lLLVMPTXCodeGen \ -lLLVMPowerPCCodeGen -lLLVMMSP430CodeGen -lLLVMMipsCodeGen \ -lLLVMMCJIT -lLLVMRuntimeDyld \ -lLLVMObject -lLLVMMCDisassembler -lLLVMXCoreDesc -lLLVMXCoreInfo \ -lLLVMSystemZDesc -lLLVMSystemZInfo \ -lLLVMSparcDesc -lLLVMSparcInfo -lLLVMPowerPCDesc -lLLVMPowerPCInfo \ -lLLVMPowerPCAsmPrinter \ -lLLVMPTXDesc -lLLVMPTXInfo -lLLVMPTXAsmPrinter -lLLVMMipsDesc \ -lLLVMMipsInfo -lLLVMMipsAsmPrinter \ -lLLVMMSP430Desc -lLLVMMSP430Info -lLLVMMSP430AsmPrinter \ -lLLVMMBlazeDisassembler -lLLVMMBlazeAsmParser \ -lLLVMMBlazeCodeGen -lLLVMMBlazeDesc -lLLVMMBlazeAsmPrinter \ -lLLVMMBlazeInfo -lLLVMLinker -lLLVMipo \ -lLLVMInterpreter -lLLVMInstrumentation -lLLVMJIT -lLLVMExecutionEngine \ -lLLVMDebugInfo -lLLVMCppBackend \ -lLLVMCppBackendInfo -lLLVMCellSPUCodeGen -lLLVMCellSPUDesc \ -lLLVMCellSPUInfo -lLLVMCBackend \ -lLLVMCBackendInfo -lLLVMBlackfinCodeGen -lLLVMBlackfinDesc \ -lLLVMBlackfinInfo -lLLVMBitWriter \ -lLLVMX86Disassembler -lLLVMX86AsmParser -lLLVMX86CodeGen \ -lLLVMX86Desc -lLLVMX86AsmPrinter -lLLVMX86Utils \ -lLLVMX86Info -lLLVMAsmParser -lLLVMARMDisassembler -lLLVMARMAsmParser \ -lLLVMARMCodeGen -lLLVMARMDesc \ -lLLVMARMAsmPrinter -lLLVMARMInfo -lLLVMArchive -lLLVMBitReader \ -lLLVMAlphaCodeGen -lLLVMSelectionDAG \ -lLLVMAsmPrinter -lLLVMMCParser -lLLVMCodeGen -lLLVMScalarOpts \ -lLLVMInstCombine -lLLVMTransformUtils \ -lLLVMipa -lLLVMAnalysis -lLLVMTarget -lLLVMCore -lLLVMAlphaDesc \ -lLLVMAlphaInfo -lLLVMMC -lLLVMSupport
LLVM modules, contexts, and more
An LLVM module class is the top-level container for all other LLVM IR objects. An LLVM module class can contain a list of global variables, functions, other modules on which this module depends, symbol tables, and more. Here's the constructor for an LLVM module:
explicit Module(StringRef ModuleID, LLVMContext& C);
You must begin your program by creating an LLVM module. The first argument is the name of the module and can be any dummy string. The second argument is something called LLVMContext. The LLVMContext class is somewhat opaque, but it's enough to understand that it provides a context in which variables and so on are created. This class becomes important in the context of multiple threads, where you might want to create a local context per thread, and each thread runs completely independently of any other's context. For now, use the default global context handle that the LLVM provides. Here's the code to create a module:
llvm::LLVMContext& context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module* module = new llvm::Module("top", context);
The next important class to learn is the one that actually provides the API to create LLVM instructions and insert them into basic blocks: the IRBuilder class. IRBuilder comes with a lot of bells and whistles, but I chose the simplest possible way to construct one—by passing the global context to it with the code:
llvm::LLVMContext& context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module* module = new llvm::Module("top", context); llvm::IRBuilder<> builder(context);
When the LLVM object model is ready, you can dump its contents by calling the module's dump method. Listing 6 shows the code.
Listing 6. Creating a dummy module
#include "llvm/LLVMContext.h" #include "llvm/Module.h" #include "llvm/Support/IRBuilder.h" int main() { llvm::LLVMContext& context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module* module = new llvm::Module("top", context); llvm::IRBuilder<> builder(context); module->dump( ); }
After running the code in Listing 6, this prints to the console:
; ModuleID = 'top'
You need to create the main method next. LLVM provides the classes llvm::Function to create a function and llvm::FunctionType to associate a return type for the function. Also, remember that the main method must be a part of the module. Listing 7 shows the code.
Listing 7. Adding the main method to the top module
#include "llvm/LLVMContext.h" #include "llvm/Module.h" #include "llvm/Support/IRBuilder.h" int main() { llvm::LLVMContext& context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module *module = new llvm::Module("top", context); llvm::IRBuilder<> builder(context); llvm::FunctionType *funcType = llvm::FunctionType::get(builder.getInt32Ty(), false); llvm::Function *mainFunc = llvm::Function::Create(funcType, llvm::Function::ExternalLinkage, "main", module); module->dump( ); }
Note that you wanted main to return void, which is why you called builder.getVoidTy() ; if main returned i32, the call would be builder.getInt32Ty(). After compiling and running the code in Listing 7, the result is:
; ModuleID = 'top' declare void @main()
You have not yet defined the set of instructions that main is supposed to execute. For that, you must define a basic block and associate it with the main method. A basic block is a collection of instructions in the LLVM IR that has the option of defining a label (akin to C labels) as part of its constructor. The builder.setInsertPoint tells the LLVM engine where to insert the instructions next. Listing 8 shows the code.
Listing 8. Adding a basic block to main
#include "llvm/LLVMContext.h" #include "llvm/Module.h" #include "llvm/Support/IRBuilder.h" int main() { llvm::LLVMContext& context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module *module = new llvm::Module("top", context); llvm::IRBuilder<> builder(context); llvm::FunctionType *funcType = llvm::FunctionType::get(builder.getInt32Ty(), false); llvm::Function *mainFunc = llvm::Function::Create(funcType, llvm::Function::ExternalLinkage, "main", module); llvm::BasicBlock *entry = llvm::BasicBlock::Create(context, "entrypoint", mainFunc); builder.SetInsertPoint(entry); module->dump( ); }
Here's the output of Listing 8. Note that because the basic block for main is now defined, the LLVM dump now treats main as a method definition, not a declaration. Cool stuff!
; ModuleID = 'top' define void @main() { entrypoint: }
Now, add the global hello-world string to the code. Listing 9 shows the code.
Listing 9. Adding the global string to the LLVM module
#include "llvm/LLVMContext.h" #include "llvm/Module.h" #include "llvm/Support/IRBuilder.h" int main() { llvm::LLVMContext& context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module *module = new llvm::Module("top", context); llvm::IRBuilder<> builder(context); llvm::FunctionType *funcType = llvm::FunctionType::get(builder.getVoidTy(), false); llvm::Function *mainFunc = llvm::Function::Create(funcType, llvm::Function::ExternalLinkage, "main", module); llvm::BasicBlock *entry = llvm::BasicBlock::Create(context, "entrypoint", mainFunc); builder.SetInsertPoint(entry); llvm::Value *helloWorld = builder.CreateGlobalStringPtr("hello world!
"); module->dump( ); }
In this output of Listing 9, note how the LLVM engine dumps the string:
; ModuleID = 'top' @0 = internal unnamed_addr constant [14 x i8] c"hello world!\0A\00" define void @main() { entrypoint: }
All you need now is to declare the puts method and make a call to it. To declare the puts method, you must create the appropriate FunctionType*. From your original Hello World code, you know that puts returns i32 and accepts i8* as the input argument. Listing 10 shows the code to create the right type for puts.
Listing 10. Code to declare the puts method
std::vector<llvm::Type *> putsArgs; putsArgs.push_back(builder.getInt8Ty()->getPointerTo()); llvm::ArrayRef<llvm::Type*> argsRef(putsArgs); llvm::FunctionType *putsType = llvm::FunctionType::get(builder.getInt32Ty(), argsRef, false); llvm::Constant *putsFunc = module->getOrInsertFunction("puts", putsType);
The first argument to FunctionType::get is the return type; the second argument is an LLVM::ArrayRef structure, and the last false indicates that no variable number of arguments follows. The ArrayRef structure is similar to a vector, except that it does not contain any underlying data and is primarily used to wrap data blocks like arrays and vectors. With this change, the output appears in Listing 11.
Listing 11. Declaring the puts method
; ModuleID = 'top' @0 = internal unnamed_addr constant [14 x i8] c"hello world!\0A\00" define void @main() { entrypoint: } declare i32 @puts(i8*)
All that remains is to call the puts method inside main and return from main. The LLVM API takes care of the casting and all the rest: All you need to call puts is to invoke builder.CreateCall. Finally, to create the return statement, call builder.CreateRetVoid. Listing 12 provides the complete working code.
Listing 12. The complete code to print Hello World
#include "llvm/ADT/ArrayRef.h" #include "llvm/LLVMContext.h" #include "llvm/Module.h" #include "llvm/Function.h" #include "llvm/BasicBlock.h" #include "llvm/Support/IRBuilder.h" #include <vector> #include <string> int main() { llvm::LLVMContext & context = llvm::getGlobalContext(); llvm::Module *module = new llvm::Module("asdf", context); llvm::IRBuilder<> builder(context); llvm::FunctionType *funcType = llvm::
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to exclude sensitive security agencies unless you know you’re in fact DECREASING security by this regulation. (tweet)
– It makes sense for the govt to prescribe minimum encryption *strength* for some uses. But NOT for it to prescribe algorithms and key length! (tweet)
– The govt draft policy on encryption gives “SSL/TLS” as examples of “products” exempt from registration. But they are standards not products! (tweet)
Abridged version of the DRAFT NATIONAL ENCRYPTION POLICY (original)
Cryptography is essential for– confidentiality, non-repudiability and integrity of information in transit and storage– To authenticate the asserted identity of individuals and computer systems.
– Who is this policy applicable to?
– all citizens and their personal usage.
– all Central and State Government Departments (including sensitive Departments / Agencies while performing nonstrategic & non-operational role)
– all statutory organizations, executive bodies
– business and commercial establishments, including public sector undertakings and academic institutions
– Who is this policy not applicable to?
– Sensitive departments/agencies of the government designated for performing sensitive and strategic roles.
Objectives of this policy:
1) To synchronize with the global usage of encryption for ensuring Security/confidentiality of data and to protect privacy without unduly affecting public safety and National Security.
2) To encourage wider usage of Digital Signatures.
3) To encourage the adoption of information security best practices by all entities and Stakeholders in the Government, public & private sector and citizens that are consistent with industry practice.
Use of encryption
Algorithms and key sizes for Encryption as notified under the provisions in this Policy only will be used by all categories of users. Government reserves the right to take appropriate action as per Law of the country for any violation of this Policy.
1. Businesses: for B2B, B2C and C2B sectors
1.1 Encryption algorithms and key sizes for businesses shall be prescribed by the Government through Notifications from time to time.
1.2 Storage in plain text: plain text version of encrypted data shall be stored by the user/organisation/agency for 90 days from the date of transaction and made available to Law Enforcement Agencies as and when demanded in line with the provisions of the laws of the country.
2. Foreign entities
2.1: In case of B2C and C2B segments: In case of communication with foreign entity, the entity located in India shall be responsible for providing readable plaintext along with the corresponding Encrypted information.
2.2: Service Providers (located within and outside India), using Encryption for providing services in India must enter into an agreement with the Government for providing such services in India.
The users of any group taking such services from Service Providers are also responsible to provide plain text when demanded.
3. Consumers:
3.1 Government will prescribe keys and key length: Consumers may use encryption for storage and communication, but the encryption algorithm and key sizes will be prescribed by the government.
3.2 All citizens performing personal functions are required to store the plaintexts of the corresponding encrypted information for 90 days from the date of transaction and provide the verifiable Plain Text to Law and Enforcement Agencies as and when required as per the provision of the laws of the country.
4. Security companies
4.1 All vendors of encryption products shall register their products with the designated agency of the Government.
4.2 The vendors shall submit working copies of the encryption software/hardware to the Government along with professional quality documentation, test suites and execution platform environments.
4.3 The vendors shall work with the designated Government Agencies in security evaluation of their encryption products.
4.4 The vendors shall renew their registration as and when their products are upgraded.
4.5 Mass use products like SSL/TLS are exempted from registration.
4.6 Encryption products may be exported but with prior intimation to the designated agency of
Government of India. Users in India are allowed to use only the products registered in
India.
5. Promotion of Research and Development (R&D) in Cryptography
5.1. R&D programs will be initiated for the development of indigenous algorithms and manufacture of indigenous products for Encryption, hashing and other cryptographic functions.
5.2 Continuous intensified R&D activities in the niche areas of technical analysis and evaluation of Encryption products will be strengthened.
5.3. Testing and evaluation infrastructure for Encryption products will be set up by the
Government.
5.4. Technical Advisory Committee: A Technical Advisory Committee will monitor the technology development in the area of Cryptography to make appropriate recommendations on all aspects of Encryption policies and technologies. It will carry out a continual follow-up of the National and International activities in basic and applied research in the science and technology of Encryption.(CNN) Student Farim Ahmad was in his final class of the day at Kabul's American University of Afghanistan when he heard the first blast. Other students, who had already finished, were gathering in the cafeteria.
Then came the smoke, fire and confusion.
Thirteen people were killed in an attack that began Wednesday evening at the university in the Afghan capital, Basir Mujahid, spokesman for the Kabul police chief, told CNN on Thursday. Two gunmen were killed after police entered a building hours after the shooting started.
A third attacker was killed when he detonated an explosives-laden car Wednesday night in front of the university wall, Mujahid said.
"It was a huge explosion," Ahmad, 28, a political science major, told CNN. "The windows of our class just shattered."
Ahmad and his classmates were trapped in a corridor outside their classroom before a security guard led them to an emergency exit. In their haste to get out, students tripped, fell and clambered over each other.
And still the nightmare wasn't over. "We heard heavy firing," he recalled. He said he's still in shock. "It was so close we thought they were right behind us." He said he saw one injured woman, a fellow student, her face a mask of blood.
Neighbors came out of their houses, he said, adding to the cacophony of screams. They told the students to get away from the area, lest they become targets themselves.
Night of terror
The 13 killed included seven students, three police, two security guards and a doorman. Thirty students were injured in the attack, for which no group has claimed responsibility.
Around 750 students were on campus at the time, the police spokesman said. Two professors, an American and an Australian, were abducted from the university earlier this month. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Ahmad said that after the kidnappings, students had been drilled in how to respond to a potential attack.
"The university administration is working closely with relevant authorities to assess the damage and to ensure that everyone is accounted for," a statement from the institution read.
"'My number one priority at this point is the safety and security of all faculty staff, and students," Mark English, the university's president, said in the statement.
The US Embassy in Kabul condemned the "heinous" attack on the university.
"We remain strongly committed to the people of Afghanistan who are dedicated to establishing lasting peace and security and building the brightest possible future for their children," Ambassador P. Michael McKinley said.
'An attack on education'
The gunmen detonated explosives and fired guns, witnesses said, causing some students and faculty to flee. Others hid inside buildings, a senior US State Department official told CNN.
The first blast occurred at 7:50 p.m. local time when students were gathering and eating together.
Ahmad described it as "an attack on education."
The State Department said Thursday it had no reports of US citizens being killed or seriously injured in the attack.
"At the same time our thoughts are with the families and friends of Afghan students, staff and security personnel who lost their lives," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.
Despite the name of the school, few Americans study there, a senior State Department official said, though a number of Americans are on the faculty. The school is regarded as a symbol of cooperation between Afghanistan and the United States.
Security personnel stand guard Wednesday night at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.
'Everyone started screaming'
Ahmad Samin said he was teaching a chemistry class Wednesday evening when the assailants struck.
The attackers opened fire and detonated explosives on the campus. Quickly, the lights went out in Samin's classroom.
"It was very dark, (and) everyone was running. Everyone started screaming," said Samin, who is a US citizen. "(It) was the scariest moment in my life. I was just thinking about my son and daughter who are in (the United States)."
Amid black smoke, he took off running with the students and other faculty, and "the smoke entered my mouth" as he fled, he said.
An injured Afghan man lies on a stretcher in an ambulance after Wednesday night's attack.
'Enormous and harsh sound'
Witnesses described a chaotic scene.
A student, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, told CNN he was attending a lecture class when he heard a "very enormous and harsh sound" -- an explosion roughly 50 meters from his classroom.
"Everyone looked around the room looking for an escape," he said. "We have an emergency exit area in the corner of the campus. It's like a gate that opens when people need to get out of campus. Everyone was running out of there."
A responder assists an injured man in an ambulance in the aftermath of the university attack.
He heard gunfire as they ran, then a second explosion. Both explosions came from the school's entrance, he said.
#AUAF - Gunfire still being heard as CRU slowly carry out clearance operation in order to avoid civilian casualties #Kabul — TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 24, 2016
"People were screaming for help. Everyone was screaming," he said.
He saw several people injured -- some from glass, others by bullets. A guard had injuries that appeared to be a result of one of the explosions, he said.
The student said he had heard from friends trapped in three buildings.
Bilal Sawary, a journalist in Kabul, said he'd heard from several people on campus.
"One of my family members who was there told me the attackers had maps, they were drinking Red Bulls, clearly aiming to stay as long as they could and some of them were tossing hand grenades," he said.
Security fears
A rash of kidnappings and Taliban bombings have heightened security fears in the Afghan capital.
Many countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, have longstanding travel advisories against all but essential travel to Afghanistan because of the security situation.ComingSoon.net’s SuperHeroHype has confirmed that Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 will feature the red, white and blue Iron Patriot armor. What is uncertain, however, is exactly who will be wearing it.
The armor made its first appearance in 2009’s “Dark Avengers” #1. Following the events of the “Secret Invasion” crossover, Norman Osborn was mistakenly heralded as an American hero and tasked with leading a group of government sanctioned-Avengers. Taking the technology from Stark Industries, Osborn designed his suit to represent the then-recently-deceased Captain America.
Because the character of Osborn is a Spider-Man villain and the rights rest at Sony Pictures, it’s pretty much a certainty that a different character will be donning the suit in the upcoming film.
Now in production in North Carolina, Iron Man 3 stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale, Ashley Hamilton and Jon Favreau. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on May 3, 2013.
UPDATE: We have now received the first photos of the costume on set! We can also reveal which actor may be underneath the suit which, due to the potential spoiler nature of the information, is discussed at the bottom of this page.
The armor looks to be donned by James Badge Dale, who plays Eric Savin in the feature film. First announced earlier this month, Savin becomes, in the comic books, the cyborg villain Coldbood. At this point it is unknown whether or not we’ll see the actor in multiple costumes or if Coldblood and Iron Patriot are being merged into one character.
(Photo Credit: SBMF/FameFlynet Pictures)Out of necessity, Elie Bouka has been focused on the 2016 CFL Draft a lot longer than his peers.
Last August, the University of Calgary Dinos defensive back was zeroing in on a Vanier Cup run, until he felt the unexpected phantom kick in the back of his leg that so many before him have endured.
The torn left Achilles tendon quickly ended his senior season in training camp and turned his entire attention towards getting healthy for the draft process that would begin to shape the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder’s professional career.
“You can ask everybody, when I got hurt, I got up myself and started walking and I’m like, ‘You know what? I tore my Achilles and it’s a journey for me that starts,’” Bouka recalled. “I had a smile on my face and things like that you don’t control. You’ve just gotta take it as an opportunity to grow. It was an opportunity for me to get closer to my teammates, focus on other areas of my life and train like I’ve never trained before.”
Six months later, with the smile and good-natured attitude still intact, Bouka is inching closer to a return to the football field at an important time.
While the 23-year-old won’t be taking part in any of the on-field activities at this week’s National CFL Combine in Toronto — the bench press is the only event he’ll try his hand at — Bouka is hoping to ease the minds of personnel executives and update them on a rehab process that is now entering the final stages.
“Things are going very, very good,” Bouka said this week as he boarded a flight to Toronto. “I met my surgeon last week and he says within the next six or eight weeks I should be good to go. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.
“My injury is not something they should be concerned about. I’ve been working hard to get to where I am and it’s something that’s just part of me.”
Bouka has been sprinting, jumping and changing directions on the injured left wheel for about a month now, and doctors expect him to be ready to go near the low end of the eight-to-10 month time frame normally associated with Achilles tears.
Ranked fourth in the CFL Scouting Bureau pre-season rankings prior to his injury, Bouka has been well of the radar for most of the winter.
Once a potential first-round pick this May, CFL teams are taking a wait-and-see approach with the converted receiver.
Bouka understands.
But he sees no reason why he won’t be ready to go full speed when CFL training camps open around the country May 29, giving general managers something to think about as the early rounds become the mid rounds on draft day May 10.
“I think that they way I’ve been progressing, there’s no doubt in my mind I’ll be ready to go by training camp,” Bouka said. “I started running after five months, so it’ll be about five months of running (by then).”
The injury is just the latest winding road for Bouka who, out of high school in Laval, had an offer to play cornerback at Utah State and an offer — which he originally accepted before changes to the coaching staff made him reconsider — from Weber State to play receiver.
Eventually, former Dinos head coach Blake Nill lured him west as a receiver, where he decided another 180-degree turn was what was best for his career one year into his U of C tenure.
Bouka walked into Nill’s office and asked to be moved to defensive back.
“It was my 15th season of football, so I felt like I needed a change, like I needed to do something to give me that little spark to play football,” said Bouka, who switched to the defensive side of the ball in 2013. “I decided, ‘You know what, let’s try to change positions and keep that passion going.’ That’s what I needed at the time. It’s not like I didn’t like playing receiver — I liked playing receiver — but I needed a change for myself, and I knew I could play the position.”
Raw.
Untapped.
Blank slate.
Project.
Versatile.
Those are some of the words being fairly used to describe Bouka, who also underwent surgery to repair a torn shoulder labrum in December 2014 and then went out and posted the two fastest 40-yard dash times — 4.47 and 4.41 — at last spring’s East-West Bowl.
“I’ve played wideout, slotback, corner, halfback, safety, returner, gunner, kickoff coverage,” said Bouka, with a deep breath in between rattling off the football resume that is bound to have teams taking some extra time to get to know him in the all-important interview process this week in Toronto. “I’ve played so many positions in my college career and now I’m playing a position I’ve only played for a year and a half and I’m already in the conversation of being one of the top players at my position.”Charles Cecil's influence in the games industry as a storyteller is longstanding. He's the founder and managing director of UK-based Revolution Software, with credits that includeand thegame series -- two highly admired and acclaimed properties in the adventure game genre.He's also just announced that he's working with the BBC and Sumo Digital on a series of videogame adaptations of the TV series Doctor Who.Cecil has been making games for 30 years, hugely acclaimed ones for 20. He's clearly confident in his abilities as a designer, and has a lot to be proud of -- but there are times when he sounds as if he can still barely believe he'sHere, we find out about his relationship with the adventure genre, as well as his newgame series, the opportunities of independent development, and the-based game he revealed, then went silent about, last year.Charles Cecil: I think that the whole idea of interactive narrative from a creative perspective, from a theoretical perspective, is actually fascinating. What we are doing is obviously pioneering a totally new form of entertainment, in the way that, if you think of other entertainment media -- television has a lot more to do with film, and obviously books and plays -- we have something quite extraordinary. And what I find fascinating is that while there are clearly huge opportunities, there are also great constraints.The opportunities are clear. Well-written videogames are incredibly compelling. What I think is quite interesting is that there was a period at one point where it was felt that people from outside the industry could write much better stories than we could, and so scriptwriters were brought in, and actually what everybody failed to realize is that the medium inherently has constraints. Like the way that we build empathy with characters is much easier, because in a non-linear medium it's all about looking at a character, and building an emotional bond with them -- an empathetic bond -- and then experiencing their emotion through that character.But clearly if you're controlling that character, then the relationship is different. Yes, there is an empathetic bond, but it's also much more associational. And that's why, certainly in our infancy as an industry, there's this sort of emphasis on licensed characters, because the great thing about a licensed character is you immediately inherit all the empathy that the character built in whatever medium it's come from.But the thing that's quite interesting -- and this is what I try to play around with quite a lot -- is in a film, or in any linear medium, you would have a disconnect between the information given to the audience, and the protagonist, so you create tension. The example I rather like is that, in a slasher move, you know the slasher is sitting behind the tree waiting for the teenage girls who are skipping along. They're wandering around, they're thrilled because they're going about, y'know, whatever they're doing, and there's an incredible tension created in the audience because you know that there's something waiting for them, even if you don't quite know what.In a game, obviously, you can't quite do that to the same extent, and so I think it's fascinating how you create the disconnect, and I think it's important to create that disconnect, because it allows a certain level of tension.Slightly more than rebooted�has considerable additional content�Oh, I think if you actually play it on the DS and on the iPhone, the tactility of it is absolutely wonderful. What we decided was that the point-and-click wasn't broken, so why change it? So fundamentally, a lot of it is very similar. But the ability to actually feel the screen and to play the game through the tactility of touching the screen with your finger or with the stylus -- I think it adds a lot. I think it's very exciting, and I had absolutely no idea it would work as well as I feel it has done.Part of the reason, of course, is that we were very happy and very prepared to just throw everything out and start again with the interface. And, universally, people have said that the interface we've come up with is infinitely better than the one thatdid. And, I mean, I think that's a fact. It is.And it's interesting, becausewas very ambitious, and very, very good, and I love what they've done with the art. But clearly that was a group of people who were probably scared to make brave decisions. They were happy to commission vast amounts of art so you could see what went before and what went now, but sometimes you just need somebody who's gonna sit there and say, "well, actually, it doesn't work very well, so let's throw it out and start again."And I think if you look at companies like LucasArts, who I admire enormously, their attitude towards fans who wanted to do tributes tois very, very different to the way that we handle it. But again, it's because ultimately we are a very small group, and we make a decision, and I think probably time will prove that we were right to be very relaxed in the way that we allowed people to create products as long as they didn't commercially exploit them -- and that's a line that I've been very clear that cannot be crossed.But beyond that, we see it as very flattering.-- I mean, great! I really admire the guys that did that. We provided them some sprites and stuff, but the rest of it they did absolutely by themselves.Oh, yes, it does. Look at something like, which is very simplistic, but it's much easier to play. I think point-and-click in the old sense� I have to say, I think point-and-click on iPhone actually works really, really well. But what I was quite pleased about is that one of the criticisms people made of theis that the new material felt very contemporary but the old material felt a little bit old-school. A couple of people said that, and I was thrilled, because it means that, actually, according to these people, we've successfully reinvented the point-and-click to feel contemporary.But I think as an interface it's perfectly relevant. I think obviously what people expect is different. Inwe had more close-up screens and more mini-games, and of course they were absolutely relevant to the gameplay, and I think they improved the overall feel of it. Part of what our next game is going to be is a partnership with [Watchmen co-creator andartist] Dave Gibbons, so it'll be very comic book orientated. And I think there's a lot you can do with comic books as well, particularly if you want to keep your memory footprint quite small so you can download stuff through Wi-Fi or mobile.No, no � Absolutely nothing to do with that.Yeah, I know, I need to get back on it. The reason I haven't done anything is that, over the last year, we finishedon DS and Wii, we've doneon iPhone, we've doneon iPhone, I consulted to Disney on a really nice little game based on A Christmas Carol, and obviously I've been working with the BBC on. So there just hasn't been time to do anything else.And I'm a great fan of One Big Game [the charitable publisher responsible for Chime, and also involved in this project], and I started down that road, and then everything went crazy, and everything's still crazy. I will - at some point very soon - return to it. I think it's a great idea, and I'm really excited by it, but I just haven't had a moment spare, not one moment, as you can imagine. I mean, that's a lot of stuff going on, a lot of it in parallel.Yes -- except that, actually, we've been working on that for a year. Over a year. So, you know, we're a long way down the road on that. I've got a few more months on that, but in the grand scheme of things we're definitely towards the end of that project.Yes, I will do. I'll have to be a little bit careful. I was approached by the BBC just over a year ago, and they were keen to reach an area of the audience - particularly males, younger males - who were not watching so much television. They feel that it's absolutely vital that they continue as the BBC to communicate with them. Their remit is to educate, to entertain and to inform.And we came up with this idea - well, it was their desire to do a Doctor Who game - for an adventure game that was every bit of the top quality - I mean, it looks superb - that was highly accessible - so it had a simple interface - and that was true to the brand, in that you know the Doctor wouldn't go around shooting things, you know. We've been very, very sympathetic to the brand's values, because obviously it's a very powerful brand and very important to the BBC.That's probably all I should reveal. Otherwise I'll get shot.Yes, definitely.Well, what I find exciting is that, like it was in the early 80s, you can have one boy or girl or two people sitting in a bedroom, and they can come up with something that really is amazing, and that they have passion about, and that could be hugely successful. We were getting to the stage where the barrier to entry and the risks were so high that, ultimately, there was no indie scene. Now there's a thriving indie scene, and it can only grow.I've been working now on games for 30 years, and so I guess I'm seen as a safe pair of hands. Now, a 16, 17, 18-year-old with passion and talent can blow everything apart and come up with something amazing, and I think that's very refreshing, and I think it's great for the business.Image copyright AFP Image caption A Spanish priest who was infected with Ebola in Liberia has been flown home for treatment
Liberia will receive an untested experimental drug, Zmapp, to treat people infected with Ebola, the Liberian government says.
The move came after a request to the US from Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the government said.
The news came as medical ethics specialists met in Geneva to explore the use of such new treatments.
The World Health Organization, which is hosting the meeting, says some 1,013 have died from Ebola in West Africa.
US government officials said their role had been to put Liberian officials in contact with Zmapp maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical.
'No cost'
The pharmaceutical company said its supply of the drug was exhausted after its supplies were sent to West Africa, AFP news agency reported.
The drug was "provided at no cost in all cases," the company added.
Zmapp has been used in the US on two aid workers who have shown signs of improvement, and a Roman Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, who is currently being treated in a hospital in Madrid.
However, the drug has only been tested on monkeys and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will announce the outcome of its emergency meeting on the role of experimental drugs on Tuesday.
No rock and hard place
Earlier, Ivory Coast announced it had banned all passenger flights from the three countries hit the worst by the spread of Ebola: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It is the second country, after Saudi Arabia, to impose such a ban in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
Image copyright AFP Image caption China has sent medical supplies worth 4.9m dollars to countries hit by Ebola
There is no cure for Ebola, which has infected 1848 people since the outbreak was first reported in Guinea in February.
The Liberian government was aware of the risks associated with Zmapp, but the alternative was to allow many more people to die, Information Minister Lewis Brown told the BBC on Monday.
"The alternative for not testing this is death, a certain death," he said,
"This is not even the rock and the hard place for us," he said, referring to the country's health services, which he says are overburdened with patients carrying the disease.
The situation has prompted poorly equipped health workers to abandon work and institutions to close to the public.
Ebola's initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Analysis: Will Ross, BBC News, Lagos
Image copyright EPA Image caption Many in Liberia say the government's response to the crisis has been inadequate
Nigeria has been an example of how controversial a clinical trial can become. In 1996 the US-based pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, carried out a drug trial during a meningitis outbreak in which about 12,000 people died from the disease in the northern state of Kano over six months.
Pfizer gave 100 children an experimental oral antibiotic called Trovan which it said had already been tested on more than 5,000 patients. Pfizer was sued by the government as well as by affected families after 11 children died and dozens were left disabled during the trial - some with brain damage.
The firm argued that meningitis had harmed the children and not the drug. But after lengthy legal battles a multi-million dollar settlement was made with Kano state and in 2011 four families received the first compensation payments.
One key difference between this Ebola outbreak and the 1996 case is that when Pfizer conducted the Trovan trials another meningitis drug was already widely used.
A trial gone wrong can have long-term effects: It is no coincidence that northern Nigeria is one of the few areas in the world where polio remains endemic as the Trovan trial added to suspicion of Western medicine.
Mr Brown said: "We think those who have been infected should be given the chance to have that tested on them if they give their consent to do so."
"We know there may be risks associated with it," the minister added, "but choosing a risk and choosing dying I am sure many would prefer to see that risk happen".
Soldiers have been deployed at checkpoints in two counties worst affected by the outbreak, Lofa and Bomi, to restrict people's movements.
Meanwhile, China has sent medical supplies worth 30m yuan ($4.9m; £2.9m) to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to help fight against the disease.
Separately, the Chinese ambassador to Sierra Leone said on Monday that eight Chinese medical workers who had been treating Ebola patients had been placed in quarantine for the past two weeks in the capital.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak in West Africa a global health emergency.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, confirmed a 10th case of Ebola on Monday.
Ebola virus disease (EVD)
Image copyright Science Photo LibraryThis started as a thread on Twitter about “things to look for” in the next six to eight months. Readers asked what could be done in response. I will try to meet that request in part two. (And here it is.) First we have to understand how deep and interconnected the problems are.
How bad is it? Pretty bad.
For a free press as a check on power this is the darkest time in American history since World War I, when there was massive censorship and suppression of dissent. I say this because so many things are happening at once to disarm and disable serious journalism, or to push it out of the frame. Most of these are well known, but it helps to put them all together. Here is my list:
1. An economic crisis in (most) news companies, leaving the occupation of journalism in a weakened state, especially at the state and local level, where newsrooms have been decimated by the decline of the newspaper business. The digital money is going to Google and Facebook, but they do not have newsrooms.
2. A low-trust environment for most institutions and their leaders, the same ones who are regularly featured in the news.
3. A broken and outdated model in political journalism, which tries to connect to the public through “inside” or access reporting about a class whose legitimacy is itself eroding. And since almost everyone got the result wrong in 2016, responsibility for this massive error is evenly distributed across the press, which means that no one is responsible for fixing what is broken.
4. An organized movement on the political right to discredit mainstream journalism, which stretches from Steve Bannon in the White House to Trump’s army of online trolls, with Breitbart, Drudge Report, talk radio and Fox opinion hosts mediating between the two, while the “alt reality” fringe feels newly emboldened. Its latest tactic is to shout down as “fake news” any work of reporting that conflicts with its worldview, leaving the term useless as a fraud alert. “Over the years, we’ve effectively brainwashed the core of our audience to distrust anything that they disagree with,” said John Ziegler, a conservative radio host, to a New York Times reporter. “Because the gatekeepers have lost all credibility in the minds of consumers, I don’t see how you reverse it.” In fact, no one knows how to fix this.
5. The rapid escalation of this drive-to-discredit as Trump gained traction with the electorate. Since 1970 it has grown from questioning the motives of people covering a Republican president in the speeches of Spiro Agnew, to countering liberal spin with the personalities at Fox News, to mistrusting all of the mainstream (or “drive-by”) media with Rush Limbaugh, and now to a place beyond that. Sean Hannity — who is probably closer to Trump than any other media figure — recently said on air: “Until members of the media come clean about colluding with the Clinton campaign and admit that they knowingly broke every ethical standard they are supposed to uphold, they should not have the privilege, they should not have the responsibility of covering the president on behalf of you, the American people.” In other words, the mainstream press should not be allowed to cover Trump. A few years ago that was a bridge too far. Now it’s a plausible test of poisoned waters.
6. After the debacle of 2016, trust in the news media as an institution feels lower than ever in living memory, while popular anger reaches an all-time high. The resentment is coming from the left, the right and what remains of the center. Pew Research Center: “Only about two-in-ten Americans (22%) trust the information they get from local news organizations a lot, whether online or offline, and 18% say the same of national organizations.” Gallup in September of this year: “Republicans who say they have trust in the media has plummeted to 14% from 32% a year ago. This is easily the lowest confidence among Republicans in 20 years.”
7. A homogeneity and coastal concentration in American newsrooms that can be described in many ways — lack of diversity is the most common, with disagreements on what kind of diversity is most desired — leaving the press ill-prepared to take creative action across a cultural divide. The situation was summed up in the most quotable line written by a journalist about Trump’s candidacy: “The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” (Salena Zito in The Atlantic.)
8. A figure in power who got there in part by whipping up hatred against the press, and who shows no signs of ending that abusive practice… coupled with a disturbing pattern in which Trump broadcasts through his Twitter feed outrageously false statements, the press reacts by trying to “check” them, and the resulting furor works to his advantage by casting journalists in the role of petty but hateful antagonist, with Trump as the man who takes the heat and “tells it like it is.”
9. The emergence of an authoritarian political style in which trashing the norms of American democracy (as when he cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, or suggested prosecution of his opponent) works to Trump’s advantage with a huge portion of his supporters, while failing to alarm the rest. This is especially troublesome because norms of democracy are what give the press its place in public life and representative government; if these can be broken without penalty that means the press can be shoved aside and not much will happen.
10. The increasingly dim prospect that there will be a fact-based debate to which journalists can usefully contribute when the leader of the free world feels free to broadcast transparently false or ignorant claims… coupled with the full flowering of the “we make our own reality” attitude (circa 2004) into a kind of performance art that simultaneously kicks up hatred of anyone trying to be evidence-based and liberates the speech of powerful actors from even the most minimal factual constraints.
11. An advanced stage of culture war, political polarization and asymmetrical mistrust of the press in which, instead of leading to greater public awareness and a gradual movement toward reform, sensational revelations, hard-hitting investigations and exposés of corruption are consumed as fuel in an accelerating political divide. In other words, Watergate-style journalism increasingly enflames and polarizes, rather than informing and alerting the public. The more damning and irrefutable the findings are, the more likely is this furious reaction, especially when Trump launches attacks on the journalists and news organizations doing the digging.
12. The success of “verification in reverse,” a method on the march, in which a knowing political actor takes facts that have been nailed down, and introduces doubt about them, which then releases energy (controversy, resistance, ready-to-hate news coverage) which in turn helps power a movement among those who wanted the established facts repealed, as it were. This is how Trump launched his political career. He became a birther. Wherever it succeeds, verification-in-reverse is a triumph over the craft of journalism, which has to be pro-verification or it may as well exit the stage.
13. Amusing ourselves to death, as Neil Postman’s 1985 book put it, in which the logic of entertainment overtakes adjacent but nominally distinct spheres that are supposed to be governed by their own logic, as when newsworthiness and the requirements of political debate are subordinated to entertainment values by media companies obeying commercial imperatives, while claiming a public service mantle. For journalists, this is the import of Jeff Zucker’s reign at CNN, and one of the lessons of Trump’s
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can be hit is if MLS achieves certain financial targets per the SUM Agreement.
Kessler quoted Sunil Gulati saying that both USSF and MLS make more money when they are jointed tied together on a deal than they do separately. Kessler suggested that whether or not you think Gulati has good motives is irrelevant. They are financially tied together, and you have to look at USSF’s actions through the lens of their financial interests.
Kessler argues that the PLS are arbitrary. At one point 8 teams was good enough for MLS to have Division I status. Time zones are another example of an arbitrary PLS rule.
Kessler recaps his positions:
The Professional League Standards constitute an agreement in the context of antitrust They are anti-competitive on their face as they block entry USSF violates trade association standards through their financial relationship with MLS. The SUM/MLS deal is a major source of USSF’s revenue, which impacts the interests of all board members. Mr. Garber and Mr. Gulati can influence the other board members even if they recuse themselves from voting. The organizations are very tied together USSF has not met the burden of showing the PLS are pro-competitive. They cannot justify specific rules. Kessler uses the time zone example, and says that one of the new NASL teams is in Detroit, which is in the Midwest region. Why does it matter if it is in the Central Time Zone or not? The biggest less restrictive alternative is to let the marketplace decide. Kessler points out that there are other countries in which soccer is not the number one sport, where rules like the PLS have not have promulgated. He gives South Africa as an example. Kessler feels the place of USSF is to make rules around issues like doping. He argues that what makes competition are new entrants. The PLS rig these barriers to entry in the way they apply and modify these rules
Russel Sauer now takes the microphone for USSF.
Kessler had made an example of a story of a 9 year old girl from San Francisco who became a Deltas fan and didn’t want to lose her team because of NASL’s sanctioning issues. Sauer asked if they had shared with her that the San Francisco team was folding and not playing next year based on Rishi Sehgal’s statements in a meeting with USSF in September.
Sauer makes the point that self-inflicted harm is not irreparable harm. He points out that NASL agreed to comply with US Soccer’s standards. He further adds that NASL’s own operating agreement section 2.08 outlines their intent to operate as a Division II league.
Sauer rattles off years in which NASL did not comply with standards. 2014 is the only year I caught in which they were compliant. Sauer asserts that the PLS have not changed on the issues that NASL did not comply with. In its opportunity to comment on the 2014 standards, NASL did not complain about the number of teams or the time zone issue.
Judge Brodie challenges Sauer to ask why she should not rely on NASL owner affidavits that they league would suffer irreparable harm.
Sauer suggests that Rocco Commisso has no basis upon which to say Division III teams make less revenue.
Judge Brodie asks if Sauer is suggesting that a league operate without USSF’s sanctioning without consequence. Sauer acknowledges there would be consequences to operating without sanctioning.
Sauer takes issue with the new teams that are said to be joining NASL, indicating it is the same old story from the NASL each year about new teams. Sauer says, “The North Carolina team indicated it was leaving” and suggests that the new proposed teams cannot survive on their own.
Sauer introduces some data on USL and NASL revenues and costs. He claims that USL Division III generated more ticket revenue on average. There is an indication he is using information from only the independent USL teams, not the MLS2 teams. Sauer claims that revenues are comparable between NASL in D2 and USL in D3, while costs are less and margins are better.
Judge Brodie asks for clarification that Sauer’s position is that because NASL could choose to operate as D3, their harm is self-inflicted.
Judge Brodie says a league that started as Division III moving up to Division II, and a league that started as Division II moving down to Division III are totally different situations.
The issue of waivers comes up and Sauer points out that USL has not been given any waivers for 2018 yet as it has not been sanctioned yet as Division II for 2018. Sauer points out that all of USL’s waiver requests are team waivers, and that it has not asked for any league waivers.
Judge Brodie asks why it matters if it is a team waiver or a league waiver. Sauer explains the difference from USSF’s point of view and Judge Brodie is satisfied she understands the nuance.
Sauer says that he can’t tell what the US soccer board will decide related to USL, but that USL demonstrated significant progress whereas NASL did not.
The issue of the Stevens Act comes up, and Sauer suggests that the Stevens Act does not limit USSF to regulating only amateur soccer.
Judge Brodie asks for clarification on whether Sauer is taking the position that Congress has given USSF the authority to regulate professional soccer. Sauer clarifies that the Stevens Act does not limit their authority. Sauer traces the USSF’s authority from the Olympic charter, from which FIFA draws its authority. USSF is recognized by FIFA. “Bottom line” is that USSF believes it has the authority to govern pro soccer and the Stevens Act does not limit it.
Sauer suggests that USSF will suffer a greater balance of hardship than the NASL because a ruling in favor of the injunction would delegitimize USSF’s ability to regulate soccer. Therefore any league that does not like a decision will challenge it in court, according to Sauer. He suggests that granting the injunction tells anyone they can fight a sanctioning decision in court.
At this point a 15 minute break is called.
****
Some frustration is overheard from the NASL leadership observing that Stephen Malik, the owner of North Carolina FC who sat on the US soccer board, betrayed the NASL is his efforts to strengthen his position to land an MLS franchise. It is also clear from the comments that certain NASL leaders such as Rocco Commisso are committed to seeing this legal action to the end regardless of whether the injunction ruling is in their favor.
****
After the break, Chris Yates from the USSF’s legal team takes the microphone.
Yates states that he believes they have debunked the NASL’s claim of conspiracy in their reply. He states that any USSF conflicts of interest should be measured by the standards of New York corporate law, since USSF is a New York corporation.
Yates cites a case about the American Quarter Horse Association which deals with the need to establish conflict of interest beyond the financial interests of a few members.
Judge Brodie points out that the NASL is suggesting that non-voting board members can influence voting members, and alleges that MLS/SUM/USSF being tied together has given away USSF’s impartiality.
Yates claims that revenue from SUM is less than 20% of US Soccer’s overall revenue. He suggests that USSF has completely proper governance consistent with US non-profit law. It is pointed out that Sunil Gualti, Carlos Bocanega, Don Garber, Collins, and Steven Malik and recused themselves from voting on the NASL’s Division II sanctioning. The vote was 9-1 against NASL, with John Paul Motta as the lone vote in favor of NASL. Yates calls the NASL’s claim “dead on arrival.”
Yates suggests that “US soccer has been achieving its mission” of growing the game. He points out that “the original NASL failed disastrously”, which is why the PLS are necessary and were implemented. He suggests that the USSF is not alone in having standards, and the English FA regulates stadia size and the financials of owners “because they don’t want leagues to fail.”
Yates suggests that objective standards have been there for a long time, and that NASL not liking those standards does not mean it is a violation of the Sherman Act.
Kessler is on the microphone again.
Kessler cites the Allied Tube antitrust case as a precedent and says that USSF has not stated non-partisan as a regulating body. Kessler suggests that the USSF is the only soccer governing body that has tied themselves financially to a competitor they intend to regulate. He suggests that USSF forfeited their impartiality when they did this.
Judge Brodie asks why the PLS are not pro-competitive.
Kessler points out that the burden for USSF is to go beyond “because I say so.” He suggests a line item justification. He suggests the reason for the PLS is because competition is seen as risky, which is fundamentally not a pro-competitive stance.
Kessler points out that FIBA (basketball governing body) does not regulate professional basketball. He uses the example of the ABA, which ultimately merged with the NBA in a free market environment.
Kessler takes issue with the USSF’s assertion that they have the balance of hardship because they will not get antitrust lawsuits from amateur leagues because the Stevens Act protects them on the issue of amateur soccer.
Kessler reminds Judge Brodie that all NASL seeks today is an injunction so they can continue with their plans for 2018 and with the lawsuit.
Kessler points out the curiosity that USSF has yet to make a decision on USL’s Division II sanctioning despite the 30 day extension for USL having passed by. Kessler suggests this is intentional, aimed at improving the optics of this situation to the court.
Kessler points out that the NASL is OK with USSF making rules about issues like doping, or how to handle concussions but not rules that restrict competition.
Kessler asserts that USL’s expenses are lower because they are paying players less and providing lower quality soccer. He points out that there are two international players in the courtroom (David Ochieng and Lucky Mkosana) who would not join a team in a Division III league. Kessler suggests that NASL has higher losses than USL because they are paying to provide a higher quality soccer product to eventually compete with MLS.
Kessler suggests that when NASL was denied Division I sanctioning when it applied in 2015, the basis was time zones and team waivers. The result of this denial was that NASL lost teams to MLS and USL. He points out that Malik of NCFC is joining USL because he wants to be in a Division II league.
Kessler suggests that this is not like the drug industry or a safety issue that USSF is regulating with the PLS. He points out that USSF’s economic ties with MLS make them conflicted.
Kessler recaps his positions:
The PLS are an agreement/contract in the context of the antitrust issue, and NASL was forced to comply with them because without a FIFA sanction you cannot run a credible league
The situation is anti-competitive because USSF is favoring one party more. They are not acting as an unbiased regulator. NASL believes the effect USSF claims of the PLS is not pro-competitive. They could have rules without requirements on numbers of markets and on time zones
Next steps: The USSF will submit more documents tonight or tomorrow morning functioning as a response to the documents NASL submitted in its reply to USSF prior. NASL got a slap on the wrist from Judge Brodie at the beginning for that, and USSF similar pushed the envelope by referencing items they will introduce in the next document dump in their presentation. Kessler will have the opportunity to write the court a letter that the court will consider pointing out any inaccuracies in USSF’s submissions.
Judge Brodie stated that she will aim to make a decision on the injunction this week.Catalans Dragons announce the signing of Sydney Roosters prop Sam Moa on a two-year contract from the start of the 2017 season
On signing with the Dragons, the New Zealand international said: “I am very excited and proud to join the Catalans team. After careful consideration, my family and I are pleased to call Perpignan our new home and we look forward to experiencing the French culture and lifestyle. Having done some travelling through France previously, we know we have a lot to look forward to."
"I am very much looking forward to playing the best football I can for the team and contributing to creating a positive culture at the club. It is an exciting time ahead and I thank the club for giving me and my family the opportunity to be a part of it.”
Moa, 30, started his career at Cronulla in 2008 before joining Hull FC where he spent 4 seasons, making 78 appearances and scoring 7 tries. He moved back to the NRL in 2013 with the Sydney Roosters, winning the Premiership in 2013 and the World Club Challenge in 2014 with the Roosters.
Moa has represented Tonga on 4 occasions before being selected for New Zealand for whom he has played 9 games and scored 2 tries with the Kiwis.
Moa battles with Amor in the 2016 Dacia World Club Series
Moa represented New Zealand at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup
Catalans Dragons Head coach Laurent Frayssinous said: “I’m delighted to sign a player of Sam’s calibre. He is considered by his former coaches and by his opponents as a tough player on the field and is exemplary off the field. He is extremely motivated to bring his experience here and to help the club to build a competitive team on and off the field.”Club CEO Christophe Jouffret concluded: “To recruit a leader such as Sam is a great news for the club. His experience, his winning culture and his knowledge of the Super League and the international stage will make him a leader of our team. His professionalism off the field is also recognised by all and I’m sure he will be a key player of our 2017 pack.”: 14 August, 1986: 183 cm: 105 kg: Prop: Tonga (2008, 2013): 4 appearances | New-Zealand (2013-16) : 9 appearances, 1 try: Cronulla Sharks, Hull FC, Sydney Roosters: Cronulla v Wests Tigers, 27/04/08: Cronulla (2008) : 1 appearance | Hull FC (2009-12) : 78 appearances, 7 tries | Sydney Roosters (2013-16) : 98 appearances, 8 triesVice President Mike Pence was needed in the Senate Tuesday to cast the tie-breaking vote on a motion to move forward with a bill to overhaul ObamaCare after two Republicans voted "no."
The votes by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, eliminated the GOP's margin for error on the motion. Every other Republican senator voted "aye," while every Democratic senator joined Collins and Murkowski in voting "no."
Collins and Murkowski are among several moderate Senate Republicans concerned about possible Medicaid cuts in any ObamaCare overhaul. In separate statements last week, both women opposed an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to pass legislation repealing ObamaCare without new legislation in place.
SUSAN COLLINS CAUGHT ON HOT MIC CALLING REP. FARENTHOLD 'UNATTRACTIVE' AND 'FAT'
Murkowski — who backed a Senate bill repealing ObamaCare in 2015 that was vetoed by then-President Barack Obama, the law's namesake — said the Senate should "take a step back and engage in a bipartisan process to address the failures of [ObamaCare] and stabilize the individual markets."
Collins, who did not vote for the 2015 repeal, said that ObamaCare is "so interwoven in our health care system that to repeal it completely with no idea what it's going to be replaced with is not the right approach."
As for potential political consequences of their votes, Murkowski is not due to come up for re-election until 2022. Collins' turn will come in 2020, though she has not ruled out stepping down to run for governor of Maine next year.Betsy DeVos's Department of Education just rescinded Title IX guidelines to protect survivors of campus sexual assault, in a letter that gets even the basic facts about federal policy dead wrong.
Betsy DeVos, the unqualified billionaire and GOP megadonor heading Donald Trump’s Department of Education, has long hinted she wants to roll back Title IX civil rights guidelines, which give campus sexual assault survivors a right to fair adjudication by school administrators.
At her confirmation hearing, DeVos refused to promise she would uphold the guidelines in their current form. And in July, she met with the National Coalition for Men, a so-called “men’s rights” group that attacks feminists, battered women, and rape survivors.
Most ominously, DeVos named Candice Jackson as the Education Department’s top civil rights attorney. Jackson, a libertarian legal activist who opposes the Civil Rights Act, has previously declared herself a victim of discrimination against whites, and recently claimed that “90 percent” of campus rape allegations “fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk’.”
And Friday, DeVos and Jackson confirmed the worst fears of women’s rights advocates, issuing a new memo that rescinds over 20 years of federal guidelines on campus sexual assault.
The memo falsely claims that the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter issued under the Obama administration “required schools to adopt a minimal standard of proof — the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard — in administering student discipline, even though many schools had traditionally employed a higher clear-and-convincing evidence standard.”
In fact, a preponderance-of-the evidence-standard — which requires most rather than all evidence to support the victim — has been required in campus adjudication since 1995, and even before that, most schools used this standard voluntarily. It is the same burden of proof used in civil suits. It makes no legal sense to require a higher burden for something that is not a criminal conviction.
But the memo gets even worse from there: DeVos and Jackson encourage schools to set up rape adjudication more like a criminal trial, allowing anyone accused of rape to “cross-examine” their accuser.
In an article for the American Prospect, Yale Law graduate and campus rape survivor Alexandra Brodsky explains why that is a terrible idea:
Unlike universities, which respond to sexual violence under a broad mandate of combating gender-based discrimination and hostility, the state prosecutes these crimes to vindicate its own rights, with little regard for the survivor’s desires or feelings … providing accused students (or their lawyers in their presence) the chance to directly question their alleged victim, likely would contribute to the kind of hostile environment that these proceedings are supposed to remediate. Schools have a responsibility to make sure that victims don’t need to live or study or even speak with their assailants. Their investigations should not create the very situations they were charged to prevent, nor dissuade survivors from coming forward.
The memo also suggests that schools should ban survivors from appealing the decisions of administrators — even if new evidence arises or if there was misconduct in the investigation — and gets rid of the requirement that investigations should be completed within 60 days.
As if all that were not enough, DeVos and Jackson are also rescinding the Obama administration directive that schools may not notify police without survivors’ consent. This could force survivors to be interrogated by law enforcement, or even by their rapist, which not all survivors are emotionally capable of doing.
And the impact of this change could be frighteningly vast: studies have found that 88 percent of survivors who reported an assault to their schools believe fewer people will come forward if police reports are mandatory.
Not only are the proposals in this memo horrific, they seem to be based on slut-shaming narratives about an epidemic of college women making false rape accusations and universities denying men due process. This is virtually the opposite of how it really works.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women on college campuses will be victims of sexual assault, and 90 percent of them never report it. Every change outlined in this memo will only serve to make these numbers worse.
Gender violence prevention group Know Your IX issued a scathing response to the new federal policy changes:
Today’s guidance allows schools to systematically stack campus investigations against survivors and push survivors out of school. The Department of Education is sending the message that they value survivors’ access to education less than that of the students who assault and abuse them. Before the Department of Education began taking sexual assault seriously, schools routinely violated survivors’ rights and pushed them out of school. Survivors stayed silent for fear that the act of reporting to our school would be more traumatic than the assault itself. The Dear Colleague Letter — which outlined strong procedural protections for survivors and accused students alike — made it possible for survivors to come forward, trusting that their school would handle their case fairly and provide them with the resources they needed to continue their educations. Today, DeVos betrayed that trust and put years of progress at risk.
The rollback of campus sexual assault protections is yet another example of what happens when neither the president nor the people working for him have any understanding or concern for the policies they are meant to enforce, and the people those policies are meant to protect.DHUBRI: In one of the worst boat tragedies in Assam, 103 people, including women and children, drowned and over 100 went missing when a packed steamer carrying over 300 passengers sank in the Brahmaputra river after being caught in a severe storm midstream in this district on Monday.
National Disaster Relief Force head Alok Jha said the bodies of 103 victims, including women and children, were recovered by the BSF and the NDRF personnel near Jaleswar.
Deputy commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita said about 25 people swam to safety after the double-decked ferry with over 300 people onboard was crossing the river from Dhubrighat when it capsized in the storm at 4.20pm.
The bodies of the victims were kept at the Dhubri civil hospital, he said, adding the fate of the remaining passengers was not immediately known.
The steamer had left Dhubri ferry ghat for Medartary in south bank of the district in the evening and capsized because of the impact of the storm.
The Army, BSF's water wing, National Disaster Force and police armed with mechanised boats have launched a massive rescue operation in the river but darkness, bad weather and strong current hampered search for possible survivors or the dead.
President Pratibha Patil expressed grief over the loss of life while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the state government of all help for relief and fund for families of the deceased.Singh spoke to chief minister Tarun Gogoi to convey his condolences. Gogoi has ordered an inquiry and asked the district administration to look after the survivors.In another boat capsize, 12 people were missing when a boat sank in the same river at Jaleswar, officials said.The district administration has issued a red alert in view of the storm."The storm has resulted in the tragedies and we are taking all measures," Kalita said.Eminönü's Yeni Valide Sultan Mosque celebrates 350th anniversary
Niki GAMM
Yeni Cami and the port of Istanbul from the late 18th century. Jean-Baptiste Hilaire. (Pera Museum)
Feb. 8, 1664. The Yeni Valide Sultan Mosque in Eminönü was officially opened for Friday prayers with a grand ceremony. Sultan Mehmed IV and Grand Vizier Fazıl Ahmed Paşa, as well as Valide Hatice Turhan Sultan and government officials, all participated. The Ottomans loved ceremonies and parades.But the mosque, which dominates the Eminönü area, was almost not made. Valide Sultans (mother queens) showed off their charitable inclinations by commissioning mosques, fountains and schools. It was expected of them. So when Valide Sultan Safiye took time off from her political machinations in 1597, she decided it would be a good idea to build a mosque in Eminönü, even though the usual imperial practice until then had been to locate mosques on top of hills from which they could be seen for miles around. Sources are not very clear about why she chose Eminönü, although it has been said she wanted to expand Islam. The land there was marshy as it might as well have been, because it is right at the entrance to the Golden Horn and it was where boats unloaded cargo for distribution throughout the Old City. At the same time, it was an area where Karai Jews lived; their homes and businesses were expropriated and they were paid twice what they were worth. But according to Henry Matthew in his book “Mosques of Istanbul,” the money was embezzled so the Jews returned to the area.The preparations were made in 1597 for Grand Vizier Hadım Hasan Paşa to lay the foundations for the Yeni Cami, but he was dismissed in 1598 and the ceremony had to be postponed. The foundations were eventually laid later in 1598, three years after Safiye Sultan’s son (Mehmed III) took the throne. The architect Davud Ağa, who was trained by Mimar Sinan, immediately ran into trouble because of the water-soaked ground. He died in 1599 and was replaced by Dalgıç Ahmed Çavuş. Matthew noted the architect apparently acquired his nickname Dalgıç (diver) “because he built a series of piers with bridges between them.” The death of Safiye Sultan’s son and the ascension of Ahmed I in 1603 put a stop to her power and since the latter wasn’t interested in her mosque project, all work on it stopped.For the next 57 years, the building was left to fall into ruins and was heavily damaged in a fire that broke out in 1660 and continued for 49 hours. Nearly 300 palaces and mansions, 360 mosques and masjids, more than 150 hans, hamams and caravanserai and 80,000 houses, stores, madrasahs and lodges burned in the districts of Beyazid, Süleymaniye, Şehzadebaşı, Fatih, Mahmutpaşa, Hocapaşa, Tahtakale, Sultanahmet, Unkapanı and Samatya. Approximately 4,000 people died.At this time, Sultan Mehmed IV was on the throne and his mother Turhan Hatice Sultan was the valide sultan. She could see the ruins of the mosque and much of the burned part of the old city from the harem at Topkapı Palace, so it must not have taken much convincing to persuade her to re-commission an architect to complete the job. Chief Architect Mustafa Ağa was chosen in 1661 and he followed the plan that Davud Ağa had drawn up nearly 60 years earlier.Yeni Cami, which was completed in 1663, was the last of the sultan mosques to be built. It consisted of the mosque, which was surrounded by a complex, as was usual in the Ottoman period. Yeni Cami’s complex included the mosque, two minarets, a kasır, mausoleum, fountain, bazaar, primary school, Quran school, madrasah, and outer walls with gates and shops. The outer walls no longer exist, pulled down probably prior to the 19th century if paintings and engravings are anything to go by. The primary school and Quran school no longer exist while the bazaar, what today is called the Mısır Çarşı, and Turhan Hatice Sultan’s mausoleum are now separated from the mosque by a road.The mosque has at times been compared with Şehzade Camii and Süleymaniye Camii, both works by the great Mimar Sinan. The main dome, which is seated on four pillars and four arches, is 36 meters high and 17.5 meters in diameter. Twenty-four windows pierce the dome. “The four half domes and myriad small domes and weight towers gathered around the main dome create a restless form,” Matthew said in “Mosques of Istanbul.”Yeni Cami is known for its internal decoration and tile workmanship. The tiles, which extend half way up the walls, are from İznik with the colors blue and light green predominating. There is one tile panel that depicts the Kaaba, similar to the ones that can be found in Topkapı Palace Museum. The minber, which was made from carved white marble, is particularly a valuable work of art.The kasır, or mansion, was attached to the mosque on the southeast side with an arch. Although it is known as the Hünkar Kasrı (The Sultan’s Mansion), it was built as a place so the valide sultans who came to the mosque to pray were able to rest. According to Sudi Yenigün in his book, “Sur İçi Camileri” (an Istanbul Belediye’s Culture, Inc. publication), entrance to the kasır, which overlooks the sea with its busy traffic, is either from Eminönü Square or from its left side. He added that Valide Turhan Sultans not only used it to rest, but during the month of Ramadan, she took up residence there.The top floor of the kasır has two rooms covered with domes and tiles from floor to ceiling. Three of the five inscriptions in the tiles are from the Quran and two are part of a commemorative poem by Asimi. The lower floor had rooms for servants. There are fireplaces covered with tiles, ceilings made of carved wood and doors and windows decorated with mother-of-pearl. As for the main room (iwan), it leads directly to the sultan’s lodge inside the mosque. Built on the remains of the Byzantine walls, there’s a small tunnel that leads from Eminönü Square to Bahçekapı.Dr. Jill Stein decided to get in on Saturday night’s political conversation by talking about the death of Fidel Castro. SPOILER ALERT: it didn’t go very well.
The Green Party candidate has been making waves lately as she raises funds for election recounts in three states. This has occurred despite the fact that multiple parties are questioning Stein’s motives and asking what a recount would actually change.
Tonight, Stein decided to change course and talk about the recently-announced death of Cuba’s former leader:
Fidel Castro was a symbol of the struggle for justice in the shadow of empire. Presente! — Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) November 27, 2016
While Stein holds a more-forgiving opinion, a lot of people have been condemning Castro and pointing to the evidence of how he turned Cuba into a brutal dictatorship. This being the case, Townhall editor and Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich had something to say about Stein’s tweet:
Hi @DrJillStein, who exactly is the person being oppressed in this photo? Fidel was a monster. pic.twitter.com/jBl9aMQ2K1 — Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) November 27, 2016
And by the way @DrJillStein, you're free to move out of the United States, the "shadowing empire," and to Cuba at anytime. — Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) November 27, 2016
And apparently, there were a lot of other people who also had something to say:
Oh jeez. I know twitter doesn't allow for a lot of nuance but please, go do some homework. https://t.co/xdjNeJGmJO — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 27, 2016
Also, he never had an election close enough to re-count. Or any election, actually. https://t.co/EWSbmgnXlA — Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) November 27, 2016
Like this idiot https://t.co/y1roYLJLYn — Alfred Spellman (@AlfredSpellman) November 27, 2016
This isn't just stupid. It's offensive to those massacred for standing up to tyranny & makes mockery of word Justice. #sicsempertyrannis https://t.co/wS2zNDFq3c — Chip Roy (@chiproytx) November 27, 2016
There it ishttps://t.co/ylNms3zsUE — Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 27, 2016
Jill Stein deleted her tweet praising Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel on his death. She hasn't deleted this: https://t.co/JozpOHjxra — (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 27, 2016
Jill stein is raising 9 billion dollars on Kickstarter for a second Fidel Castro autopsy. — Owen Benjamin (@OwenBenjamin) November 27, 2016
If you're a lefty who voted for Jill Stein, you got a two-fer: A Castro apologist and a drain on Clinton's vote total https://t.co/PRJSOjttjg — Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 27, 2016
You really can't make up crap like this. She actually said this of a tyrant who murdered thousands and enslaved millions for 5+ decades. https://t.co/8JC7EIfhdS — Alberto de la Cruz (@albertodelacruz) November 27, 2016
While you're at it, you should ask for a recount of the last Cuban election. 100% for the incumbent seems a bit fishy https://t.co/lFMtYSvNqx — Michael C Moynihan (@mcmoynihan) November 27, 2016
[Image via screengrab]
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>> Follow Ken Meyer (@KenMeyer91) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] and Shell are being told to tear up their membership of the American Petroleum Institute (API) in protest at the organisation's attempts to incite a public backlash against Barack Obama's energy and climate change bill.
The two oil companies are also being asked to bring a halt to their own political lobbying in Washington in letters sent to their chief executives from Greenpeace and the Platform environmental group.
"BP maintains its membership of the API through paying substantial fees based on the large size of BP's business. It is our concern that these fees are used by the API to undermine US government action on climate change and that BP's membership of the API contradicts its position on the issue," writes John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, in a letter to Tony Hayward, the BP boss.
The letter also questions the $8m (£4.8m) worth of spending on lobbying in Washington since the start of 2009, saying this runs against the commitment made by BP's former boss, Lord Browne, in 2002 that BP would from now on "make no political contributions from corporate funds anywhere else in the world". A similar letter has been sent to Peter Voser, the new boss at Shell.
The demands from Greenpeace follow revelations in the Guardian last Friday that the API was pumping money into a series of "citizen rallies" to put pressure on the Obama administration over its support for a climate change bill sponsored by Congressmen Henry Waxman and Edward Markey which comes before the Senate next month.
The proposed legislation, which has already successfully passed through the House of Representatives, marks a clear move by the US to adopt a greener political and economic agenda and ditch the kind of sceptical views on global warming that were the hallmark of the previous government run by George W Bush, himself a former oilman.
An email sent by Jack Gerard, president of the API, says the lobby group will provide "upfront resources" to pay for a highly experienced events company to organise the public protest meetings, but it says oil companies themselves should encourage their staff to go to some of the 20 rallies being considered.
"In the 11 states with an [oil] industry core, our member company local leadership – including your facility manager's commitment to provide significant attendance – is essential," the note says.
Greenpeace and Platform believe these actions are "astroturfing" – a determined attempt to create a false appearance of popular opposition to the Obama plans to control carbon emissions from oil while boosting wind and other cleaner technologies. The environmentalists remind Hayward and Voser that their companies were once members of the API-backed Global Climate Coalition in the US which successfully campaigned against it signing the Kyoto protocol on the grounds that there was not enough proof that global warming was being made worse by man-made carbon dioxide pollution.
After protests, BP and later Shell withdrew from the GCC and started to make tentative investments in renewable energy, notably wind farms in America, which continue today. The two companies are now actively involved in the United States Climate Action Partnership, which is seen by environmentalist campaigners to be playing a very positive role on driving forward the green agenda in a country only recently overtaken by China as the world's biggest carbon producer.
BP said it was "highly unlikely" it would pull out of the API, which was just one of hundreds of trade bodies to which it was affiliated. But it stressed that it was not involved directly in any of the planned public rallies. "Our views on climate change legislation are fairly well known," said a BP spokesman at its London headquarters. "We support action to counter emissions although we favour market mechanisms, like trading schemes."
Shell said tonight that it had told the API that it would not participate in the rallies but indicated it would not be leaving the organisation. "Our focus is on seeking common ground with stakeholders that can aid Congress in enacting a fair and effective cap and trade program. We will continue to express our position within API and other business and trade associations of which we are members," added a spokesman at its headquarters in The Hague.
Meanwhile ExxonMobil, a stalwart of previous opposition to Kyoto but a company that insists it is not a climate change denier, seems to support the API wholeheartedly. The part of the company's website devoted to the "ExxonMobil Citizen Action Team" gives pride of place to an official letter from the API opposing the Waxman-Markey legislation.
A note above from Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive of the world's biggest publicly quoted oil company, says: "Our elected officials make decisions that affect all of us. It is critical that we as a company, and more importantly as individuals, are part of the political process. By linking ExxonMobil employees and retirees to their elected officials, we can let our representatives know that the ExxonMobil family is an important force in civic life."What would you do if you won a $429.6 million Powerball jackpot? My (admittedly shallow and selfish) fantasy includes buying a private island and never having to deal
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years and say, their mercantilist, Confucian system lost. The Judeo-Christian liberal West won.” … The president has, if not fixed intellectual differences with Mr Bannon, different predilections, including his slavish regard for the military and business elites now stocking his cabinet, whom his former adviser derides. (“What did the elites do?” asks Mr Bannon. “These are the guys who gave us happy talk on Iraq, who let China into the WTO and said it would sign up to the rules-based order.”) When some of Mr Bannon’s early schemes failed—including the shabbily planned travel ban, now snarled up in the courts—Mr Trump turned increasingly to his more conventional advisers, including Mr Kushner and Mr McMaster. On trade and security in particular, they have edged him towards the mainstream. Whereas Mr Bannon urged the president to withdraw from NAFTA and Afghanistan, for example, he has launched a modest-looking review of the former and will send more troops to the latter. Increasingly isolated, Mr Bannon’s departure from the White House was predicted.
Read the rest here.It’s not easy being a football referee in Turkey these days.
Just about a week ago, an official was heavily beaten up by a fan of Trabzonspor after the club lost to Fenerbahce by a score of 4-0. The same situation almost repeated itself on Saturday just after the second-division game between Elazigspor and Karabukspor.
In the video below it can be seen how a Karabukspor fan has somehow been able to invade the pitch after the final whistle and attacks the referee by throwing objects at him. It seems at first sight that the official didn’t get seriously hurt, but the same can’t be said about the pitch invader.
A footballer took the matters in his own hands, as he threw a flying kick towards the fan, neutralizing him for good, albeit in a pretty brutal way.The first semester of my final year of college I took a stand against a speaker my university decided to bring to campus to talk about rape. I was supposed to promote the speaker at the chapel elective I was coordinating. This speaker does not talk about consent. He does not talk about rape culture. He is problematic.
So I said no. I said no for myself. I said no for my friends. I said no for my family. I said no for the people who did not get to say no. I said no because one very important time I said no, a man tried to teach me that I didn’t get to have a say.
But I am still saying no. No to rape. No to rape culture. No to injustice. No to silencing myself.
I tried to make it real for the people I worked for. I tried to help them understand that rape happens because we live in a culture that normalizes rape. I tried to help them see how my experiences have taught me to normalize rape. I told them I am not the only one.
The people I worked for told me I was too broken to coordinate the event. That I couldn’t be trusted. One day, maybe, but not right now.
They told me I was fighting too hard. They wanted to know why I didn’t love them. They told me to stop saying no.
Do you know what it’s like to have a pastor communicate to you that you are broken because you have experienced assault?CU linebacker foregoing final season, currently hiking Appalachian Trail
Addison Gillam has decided to forego his final season of eligibility and is currently hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. ( Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer )
After a career that included some sensational moments and personal trials, Colorado's Addison Gillam has elected to move on from football.
Gillam, an inside linebacker who was a key piece to CU's top-20 defense last season, has decided to forego his final season of eligibility and is currently hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail.
Last weekend, Gillam started a page on GoFundMe.com to raise money to pay for supplies during his journey. As of Thursday morning, he had received more than $1,200 in donations.
CU's compliance office would not comment on Gillam's situation specifically, but acknowledged that setting up a GoFundMe.com page violates NCAA rules if Gillam were to continue playing, stating, "It is not permissible for a student-athlete to set up their own crowd-funding website and use their name to solicit funds to purchase items without jeopardizing their eligibility."
Gillam, who earned a bachelor's degree in psychology last May and spent last season working toward a graduate degree, took what head coach Mike MacIntyre called "a sabbatical" during the spring. Gillam was on the roster throughout the spring, but is no longer enrolled in school and is now officially off the roster, according to CU.
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On his GoFundMe.com page, Gillam, who turns 23 on Friday, wrote that he's been playing football since he was 6 years old and hiking the Appalachian Trail offers him a new challenge.
"Living a specific schedule for such a long time that I wanted to experience something new and something that fits well into my interests," he wrote. "Following the hike I plan on getting a job as a firefighter and I believe this experience will be beneficial."
During his time at CU, Gillam had some great moments on the field, but also dealt with injuries and personal trials that nearly led him to leaving the game two years ago.
Gillam, who grew up in northern California, signed with San Jose State in 2012, when MacIntyre was still the head coach for the Spartans. Gillam was planning to grayshirt and enroll at San Jose State for the spring 2013 semester, but chose to come to CU after MacIntyre was hired by the Buffs in December 2012.
As a true freshman in 2013, Gillam was a unanimous first-team Freshman All-American. He led the team with 119 tackles, the most ever for a CU freshman. He's the only true freshman in program history to lead the team in tackles.
During the 2014 season, Gillam dealt with injuries, illness and some personal trials, but managed to play in 11 games and finish second on the team with 79 tackles. That season, Gillam and quarterback Sefo Liufau were the first permanent captains elected as sophomores in CU history.
As a junior in 2015, Gillam suffered a knee injury early in the second game and missed the remainder of the season, using it as a medical redshirt year.
CU eased Gillam back into action last season, and while he was still bothered by the knee injury, he played in all 14 games, splitting time with Rick Gamboa at inside linebacker.
Gillam played an integral role in CU's resurgent 10-4 season, helping the Buffs win the Pac-12 South division. Although 13th on the team with 393 defensive snaps played, he finished fifth with 66 tackles and a career-high four sacks.
Gillam's pass rush and crushing hits against Arizona State quarterback Manny Wilkins helped the Buffs to a convincing 40-16 win against the Sun Devils last season.
Gillam also had exceptional games in wins against Oregon State, Washington State and Utah, played well in a loss to USC and had a season-high 11 tackles in the Pac-12 title game against Washington.
For his career, Gillam recorded 270 tackles, which ranks 23rd in CU history. He also had 10.5 sacks, 26 tackles for loss and 35 third-down stops during his career.
Contact staff writer Brian Howell at [email protected] or twitter.com/BrianHowell33Last week, we learned that Speaker of the House John Boehner has no control over his majority. We've seen Boehner have trouble with his caucus before, of course -- a significant portion of these people are crazy -- but the failure of "Plan B" was different. In the past Boehner has had trouble whipping votes to support things that were destined to become law. Boehner couldn't get his caucus to support TARP because TARP was awful and was also definitely going to happen. Boehner couldn't get the votes for the 2011 debt deal because conservatives thought they'd eventually force an even better deal. But this was a totally symbolic gesture that never had any shot at passing the Senate or getting signed by the president. Boehner's "Plan B" was a stupid pointless empty gesture, and that is why its failure is actually slightly scary, in addition to being hilarious.
The point of "Plan B" was to give Republicans a means of blaming Democrats when everyone's taxes go up next year, while also giving them an opportunity to claim that they supported raising taxes on rich people. The problem was, Republicans really don't support raising taxes on rich people, and they feel so strongly about this that they didn't want to pretend to support a tax increase.
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What is especially silly about all of this is that in any sort of sensible political system none of it would be happening. A majority of Americans just voted for Democrats to control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, which would seem to indicate that a majority of American voters would just prefer it if Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi decided all of this for themselves. But that's not the way our archaic political system works, and instead we will watch this unpopular anthropomorphic Camel 100 carefully negotiate a compromise with the president that his party will refuse to support, until we either extend all tax cuts forever or "go over the cliff" and cause every Sunday show panelist in the country to hyperventilate until losing consciousness.
How did we get here? Keep in mind, your average congressperson is as dumb as your average regular person, and Republican members listen to the same talk radio and read the same right-wing blogs and watch the same Fox News as every other conservative. It's always been comforting to imagine that canny evil masterminds huddle in backrooms plotting how to use the right-wing media machine to manipulate the rubes into accepting whatever the corporate elites want, but the story now is that the canny masterminds have no control over the media operation they've built and the "grownups" cannot convince the true believers to do shit. There's really no talking sense into Michele Bachmann and Steve King, and every two years gerrymandered ultra-conservative districts send more and more Kings and Bachmanns to the House. And Republicans know that their safe districts are only safe from Democrats, not even-crazier Republicans.
John Boehner will probably be fine. He'll likely remain speaker even, mostly because no one else wants that horrible job. America might not be fine.
"Going over the fiscal cliff" will be a fun adventure at first, especially because it has been so long since America has had any sort of tax hike or defense budget cut, but shortly after the "cliff" comes the debt ceiling increase vote, and there is really no chance, at all, of the House raising the debt ceiling, under any circumstance. Maybe if the president agrees to block grant Medicare and return America to the gold standard. And promises to personally fire 100 teachers.
The idea that "going over the cliff" would give the president enough leverage to get a halfway decent deal -- with some stimulus up front and everything! -- depended on a House of Representatives capable of acting rationally. it's apparent that they are in fact prepared to intentionally tank the entire American economy.With the ability to stop the boat when we needed to, the bayboat became a weapon. I now had the ability to run MUCH farther in a day because of a 75-100 gallon fuel tank, but the major advantage was that I could now carry 50 gallons of livewell storage rather than 10 in my skiff. The bayboat could go pretty shallow, but it could also comfortably run out to the nearshore reefs and wrecks. Immediately, I was doing things I did not dream were possible in the skiff.
Our partnership with Yellowfin began in 2008. The first time I rode in a Yellowfin 24 Bay, I knew that fishing as I knew it just changed completely. This boat was on an entirely different level than anything I had ever been in before. The stepped hull and Mercury 350 Verado hp engine made the boat fast, really fast. It was also fuel efficient which increased my range even further. It could handle MUCH rougher water than the skiff or other bayboats I had been in while still floating in water that rivaled the draft of most skiffs. Offshore targets were suddenly possible on alot of days.
The biggest difference was that I could now carry 150 gallons of livewell storage! With this amount of bait, I could do anything that the offshore boats were doing on the days I could get there.
It was now possible to catch tuna in the morning and bonefish in the afternoon. The number of slams (Bonefish, Permit and Tarpon in one day) skyrocketed, and my mind went crazy with the possibilities in front of me.
Through this experience, I learned just how versatile the Bayboat can be. The versatility really comes from the ability to control a larger boat in shallow water through the new trolling motor technology like the MotorGuide xi5 motor and twin Power-Poles. Now, the MotorGuide xi5 motor has a anchor mode that can hold the boat in heavy current above a bridge or over a wreck in 250 feet of water.
The bayboat style is simply more versatile than most boats because it can go in shallow water, but also venture offshore. The real key to the versatility though is the control in shallow water, add to it the ability to use the motor in deep water to anchor or navigate and there is no other boat as versatile as the bayboat and specifically the Yellowfin 24 bay with twin Power-Poles and a MotorGuide xi5 motor.
Here is how I rigged up my last boat (click for post)
I hope that answers your question. Remember this; Every Boat Is A Compromise! There is no one boat that will do everything so you are always in some sort of compromise. Figure out what you want to do and find the boat that can most efficiently do it while still operating on the fringe. For me, there is no other choice than the Yellowfin 24 Bay. Whichever style you decide is right for you, remember to always stay safe and keep the limits of your vessel in mind. If you are using a bayboat, you may be able to go offshore in it on nice days...but never forget that it is a bayboat, not an offshore boat. The further offshore you go, the faster things can change. Make your decisions early and head for the dock if you think you could be in danger.MS Project - Status Reporting
If you are looking to generate a quick report with a button click then you can use Microsoft Project report to generate a report which has the following information - Project Key Parameters, Key Tasks, Project Phases Remaining Work, Late Tasks and Resource Work Load. Preparing a project status report with word or excel takes time as you will have to gather the relevant information and then update the report.
One Page MS Project Status Report
. The report generated from MS Project has the following sections -
Key Project Parameters Key Tasks Remaining Work in Project Phases Resource Work Load Report Late Tasks
Preparing a project status report with word or excel takes time as you will have to gather the relevant information and then update the report. It also takes time as you need to ensure that the content is right and you have covered all aspects of the report
Section # 1: Key Project Parameters
The project key parameters contain the following -
Project Name, Project Start and Finish Date.
and. % Complete - an overall progress indicator.
an overall progress indicator. Status - Status indicator for the entire project - can be Late, On Schedule or Future Task.
- Status indicator for the entire project - can be Late, On Schedule or Future Task. Cost - Estimated cost of the entire project. Based on the rate set for resources.
- Estimated cost of the entire project. Based on the rate set for resources. Actual Cost - Cost incurred on the project till date. Calculated from the amount of work completed.
- Cost incurred on the project till date. Calculated from the amount of work completed. Remaining Cost - The remaining cost of the project.
Section # 2: Key Tasks
The Key Tasks section contains information about the summary tasks or key project phases. The details included are task Name, Finish Date, % Complete and Status. The Status can be On Schedule, Late or Future Tasks.
Key Tasks
Section # 3: Remaining Work in Project Phases
This section of the report will help the readers understand how much work is left in each of the key phases of the project. You can choose to filter some of the phases. This section will give the project manager and stakeholders a picture of how much needs to be done and can help in understanding if the remaining time and resourcing are enough to complete the project in time.
Project Phases Remaining Work
Section # 4: Resource Work Load Report
Work (Assigned Work), Actual Work (Work Completed so far) and Remaining Work (work to be done). The resource workload report gives an idea about the workload for each of the resources. You may choose to filter some resources like managers and architect who are not full time on the project. The graph shows 3 different values -(Assigned Work),(Work Completed so far) and(work to be done).
Resource Work Load Report
Section # 5: Late Tasks
The late tasks report displays the tasks which are late. The report has task Name, Finish Date, % Complete and Resource Names. The late tasks report is very handy as it points which tasks are delayed and which resources are working on the late tasks.Jerusalem - A right-wing Israeli settlement group has been put in charge of two controversial new projects to develop the area around al-Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, the compound of holy sites that includes al-Aqsa mosque and the golden-topped Dome of the Rock.
Elad received planning approval this month to develop a huge visitors’ centre, called the Kedem complex, in a former car park just outside the Old City walls in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan. While the visitors’ centre will give Elad a base less than 20 metres from the Old City, a second project could extend its reach to the retaining wall of al-Aqsa mosque itself.
Al-Haram al-Sharif compound has been the most contested piece of territory in the Holy Land since Israel occupied Jerusalem’s Old City in 1967, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Tensions have been heightened recently, as extremist Jews have begun entering the compound in larger numbers, with quiet backing from Israeli officials. The groups have sought to overturn a long-standing rabbinical prohibition on praying on the Temple Mount.
TIMELINE: Al-Aqsa mosque
Israeli housing minister Uri Ariel, a hardline settler himself, chose Elad to manage an area known as the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, immediately south of the Western Wall. Renovations there will extend the prayer area for Jews. Last week, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court put Elad’s management of the park on hold until it ruled on the deal.
Yehudit Oppenheimer, director of Ir Amim, an Israeli group advocating fair treatment for Palestinians in Jerusalem, said the Kedem complex was the final piece Israel needed to secure its complete control over the area around al-Haram al-Sharif: "Now tourists will enter from Jaffa Gate [an entrance from West Jerusalem into the Old City], walk through the Jewish quarter, see the Western Wall, visit the City of David and get their information from the Kedem complex," she told Al Jazeera.
It is an organisation with a clear agenda to bring settlers into Palestinian parts of East Jerusalem. Now its control will reach right up to the limits of the mosques. - Kais Nasser, Palestinian lawyer
She said the experience would reinforce both the idea of Israel’s physical control of the area and a hardline nationalist narrative associated with Israel’s far right. "The sites and signs will look Israeli; all the information and tours will consolidate an exclusively Jewish narrative," Oppenheimer said. "Most Israeli and foreign tourists will have no idea that they are in Palestinian territory. It will feel to them like they are still in Israel."
Israeli authorities have already given Elad large areas of Silwan, even though it is located in occupied East Jerusalem, to excavate an archaeological park called the City of David, disrupting the lives of 35,000 Palestinians. Elad had helped some 300 settlers take over Palestinian homes in the area, creating armed encampments around the park, according to Ahmed Qaraeen, a Silwan community leader.
The City of David is the only example of a private organisation gaining control of a national park in Israel, giving it effectively governmental powers. Normally, an archaeological park would be jointly run by the Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority. Israel’s High Court backed the special arrangement with Elad in 2012 after receiving assurances that its work would be closely supervised by the Parks Authority. An internal report from the authority in January, however, revealed the promise was ignored and Elad had unchecked control over the City of David and provided almost all of the information and tours to visitors.
According to Kais Nasser, a Palestinian lawyer who represents "The Islamic Council within the Green Line", a coalition of Islamic groups inside Israel, allowing Elad to develop the two sites is "outrageous".
"It is an organisation with a clear agenda to bring settlers into Palestinian parts of East Jerusalem. Now its control will reach right up to the limits of the mosques," Nasser told Al Jazeera.
VIDEO: Row over Israeli calls for control of al-Aqsa
Last month, European Union diplomats in Jerusalem warned in an internal report leaked to the Israeli media: "There remains a significant risk that incidents at this highly sensitive site, or perceived threats to the status quo, may spark extreme reactions locally as well as across the Arab and Muslim world." They were especially concerned that changes by Israel might serve as a prelude to dividing control of the al-Haram al-Sharif compound, or to offering separate prayer times for Muslims and Jews.
That would echo what happened in Hebron, where extremist settlers were given rights over part of the Ibrahimi mosque – or what Israelis call the Tomb of the Patriarchs. The site quickly turned into a flashpoint that is remembered for the massacre of Muslim worshippers by a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, in 1994.
Israel wants to make sure visitors don’t interact with us or hear our stories. - Ahmed Qaraeen, community activist
Daniel Seideman, a lawyer who is an expert on Israeli policies in Jerusalem, said the Israeli government was increasing its efforts to create “settlement enclaves” in Palestinian neighbourhoods and thereby "Hebronise Jerusalem".
Elad’s visitor centre is expected to substantially increase the number of Israeli and foreign visitors to the City of David. The Jerusalem municipality, which backed the project, has said the Kedem complex was the cornerstone of its efforts to increase the number of tourists to the City of David to "some 20 million annually". Tourism to the site has grown quickly over the past decade, with the number of visitors rocketing from 25,000 in 2001 to some 500,000 today.
Uniquely, the new visitor centre, which will reportedly be more than 16,000sqr m, is to be built over important archaeological remains that have been excavated over the past decade.
"Elad says the building will protect these remains, but the reality is that they will inevitably be damaged. Nowhere else in the world would you find a site of this importance being treated this way," said Yonathan Mizrachi, head of Emek Shaveh, an organisation of Israeli archaeologists opposed to using archaeology for political ends.
The Jerusalem municipality was unavailable for comment.
Zeev Orenstein, a spokesman for Elad, denied suggestions that the Kedem complex would promote an exclusively Jewish narrative of Jerusalem. He said it would exhibit the "antiquities of the many civilisations that once inhabited ancient Jerusalem… in a way in which all people will be able to appreciate their significance".
OPINION: Saving al-Aqsa mosque
Community activists in Silwan, meanwhile, warned that their homes were being physically damaged by the excavations, some of which extend under their houses. Qaraeen, who lives a few metres from the intended site of the Kedem complex, said his home - like many in Silwan - was subject to a demolition order.
"The municipality says we cannot have planning permits because Silwan lacks a master plan. And yet this massive visitor centre can get planning approval from the municipality and the planning authorities, even though it is supposed to be in a national park. Elad is like a state within a state - different rules apply."
He added that Israel was trying to force Palestinians into "ghettos".
"None of us can get permits to create businesses, such as a restaurant or guest house, to benefit from the tourism. Israel wants to make sure visitors don’t interact with us or hear our stories."A middle-aged man spat in a baby's face and then ran off only to be hit by a car in a bizarre unprovoked incident in an inner Sydney street.
The four-month-old child was being pushed in a stroller on Crown Street in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills about 5.30pm on Saturday when the man leant inside the pram and spat, police said.
The child's grandfather then chased the man who ran away but collided with a car on nearby Foveaux Street.
The man got up and ran off again and was last seen heading south along Crown Street, a police spokesman said.
Police conducted patrols of the area but were unable to locate any trace of the man who is described as Caucasian, aged in his early 40s, with a slim build and bald head and was last seen wearing a tie-dyed shirt and shorts.President Trump hasn’t had a lot to congratulate himself for in the early months of his presidency.
The Senate tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act three different times. Trump had one infrastructure week hijacked when the FBI director he fired testified in front of Congress. He lost control of another infrastructure week when he decided to say some “very fine people” marched at a rally for white supremacists, KKK members, and neo-Nazis. He’s lost his press secretary, his chief strategist, a national security adviser, his chief of staff, and his communications director, plus he almost started a nuclear war.
Oh, and remember that one time his son tweeted out emails showing proof of a campaign meeting with a Russian government lawyer?
Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
Over the weekend, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. It has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, but the damage isn’t over yet. Houston is quite literally under water, and people have been trapped in their homes and their cars.
People are being brought to shelters in dump trucks, while others have driven hours to bring their boats to Houston to save lives. The rain is still pounding Texas and is expected to move into Louisiana to continue its reign of terror.
Amazing video sent to us @KHOU, freeway concrete barrier broke away on Hwy 59 at San Jacinto Bridge. #HoustonFloods pic.twitter.com/xMUfcIPj3Y — Daniel Gotera (@DTGoteraKHOU) August 29, 2017
The fatalities have already reached the double digits, and some have begun to express concern about how many more bodies will be found when the water finally recedes.
A flash flood emergency is still in effect around Beaumont, Texas where the heaviest rain from #Harvey is falling. https://t.co/IikETcy6xx pic.twitter.com/2OQKzdRAWl — AccuWeather (@breakingweather) August 29, 2017
The storm has come with unprecedented magnitude, and Trump is, to be blunt, gleeful. The president has, after seven long months, found something for which to congratulate himself.
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On Tuesday, Trump went to Texas for a briefing on the storm, where he introduced Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director William Brock Long as “a man who really has become very famous on television in the last couple of days.”
Trump thanking FEMA dir William Brock Long: "A man who really has become very famous on television in the last couple of days." #Harvey — Tasneem N (@TasneemN) August 29, 2017
In his comments after the televised briefing, Trump said in five years, 10 years, he wants people to look at the Trump administration’s response to natural disaster as “the way to do it.”
“We want to be looked at in five years, in 10 years from now as, this is the way to do it. This was of epic proportion. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this and I just want to say that working with the governor and his entire team has been an honor for us,” Trump said.
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He then thanked Gov. Greg Abbott (R), adding, “We won’t say congratulations. We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to congratulate. We’ll congratulate each other when it’s all finished, but you have been terrific. You really have. You’ve been my friend.”
Trump: "We'll congratulate each other when it's all finished." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/KmtyvxsTcL — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 29, 2017
A reporter from Houston also noted that something was mysteriously missing from Trump’s comments Tuesday: any mention of the dead or displaced.
.. Did POTUS mention Houston by name? The devastation, displaced, the dead? I watched most of his briefing in TX #khou11 #harvey — Jason Miles (@JMilesKHOU) August 29, 2017
The pool report, which is sent a document of the president’s day sent to all reporters covering him by those traveling with him, noted the same.
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“Reporters heard no mention of the dead, dying or displaced Texans and no expression of sympathy for them. The message was services are coming and Texans will be OK,” the report said.
David Axelrod, who worked as President Obama’s chief strategist, railed against Trump on Tuesday, tweeting that his remarks ended “without a word of concern or empathy from @POTUS for the many, many Americans who are trapped in a watery hell.”
Nope. Ends without a word of concern or empathy from @POTUS for the many, many Americans who are trapped in a watery hell. https://t.co/5cDpECdzW0 — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 29, 2017
In all of his public statements since Harvey made landfall, Trump has mentioned the victims just once.
“I want to begin today by extending my thoughts and prayers for those affected by Hurricane Harvey and the catastrophe of flooding and all of the other difficulties that they’re currently going through in Houston, in southeast Texas,” Trump said at a press conference Monday. “Now it’s looking more and more like the state of Louisiana will be also affected.”
But those brief remarks, as of Tuesday afternoon, are the extent of his empathy.
Trump, a notorious tweeter, has certainly addressed the storm, but all of his tweets have been about just how historic the storm is.
“Record setting rainfall,” he tweeted Saturday.
“Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen,” he tweeted Sunday.
“Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood!” he said Sunday afternoon.
“Even experts have said they’ve never seen one like this!” he added later.
Perhaps his most unsettling tweet came Sunday night. “HISTORIC rainfall in Houston, and all over Texas. Floods are unprecedented, and more rain coming. Spirit of the people is incredible.Thanks!” he said.
HISTORIC rainfall in Houston, and all over Texas. Floods are unprecedented, and more rain coming. Spirit of the people is incredible.Thanks! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017
Harvey has devastated Houston, and the president is striking the same tone he does when he tweets about the record-setting strength of the stock market. Every few hours Sunday he took a break from playing hurricane hype man to promote his friend’s book, talk about his promised wall, and gloat about winning Missouri.
But Trump might’ve reached peak tone deafness Tuesday afternoon when he climbed atop a firetruck, looked out at a group of hurricane victims, and made note of his favorite thing of all: crowd size.
“What a crowd, what a turnout,” Trump said from atop this firetruck, addressing hurricane victims. pic.twitter.com/0EdsLctHDi — Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) August 29, 2017
“What a crowd,” the president said to the group of hurricane victims. “What a turnout.”Some might lead you to believe “SEO is dead.” Google that search term and what comes back in return is over 800,000 search results. However, just because SEO has changed drastically over the past decade doesn’t mean it is dead, it simply means it has changed. Businesses now have to take new and unique approaches to SEO to win the never-ending game in SERPs. Many bootstrap companies and blogs build their entire business from the beginning off of organic search. While this may be risky, it still is a sign that organic search is alive and well. In this in-depth post, we are going to share with you 45+ WordPress SEO tips that we use here at Kinsta. These will help skyrocket your traffic and dominate your competition.
WordPress SEO Tips 2019 (Our Results)
70-80% of users ignore the paid ads, focusing on the organic results. – imFORZA
SEO, or search engine optimization, are the methods and or strategies used to rank a website and content higher in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, to result in more organic traffic. There are really two sides to SEO, the first is the technical part of it and the second can sometimes be more of a natural branding play among online businesses.
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Coming out on top with SEO depends on delivering a high-quality website experience with awesome content. For businesses, this winning play comes with following the basic ingredients of WordPress SEO best-practices. Just how well does it work? Well, the proof is always in the pudding! Here’s a screenshot of our “organic” analytics here at Kinsta. By organic we mean only traffic from search engines (this excludes social media, paid, etc.) As you can see we grew our traffic by 571% in under 13 months.
We also tripled a number the organic keywords our site ranks for by following the simple tricks and strategies below. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, just a little hard work, and consistency.
Check out these 45+ WordPress SEO tips and frequently asked questions for 2018 to help you achieve better results in SERPs (search engine ranking positions). And make sure to bookmark this post as we will be constantly updating it with tried and true strategies that have worked for us.
A good #SEO strategy involves sharing tips that are actually useful! Watch their impact. 👍 Click to Tweet
1. www vs non-www Domain
If you are just launching your website the very first question you might have is whether not you should go with www or not, and how this affects your WordPress SEO. It is very simple, there is no benefit SEO wise to having www in your domain. It will not affect your rankings in any way. But that is not to say you should always go with non-www. So why do websites still use www? There are a couple reasons:
Using www as part of your domain used to be the standard back in the day. But that is not necessarily true anymore. Even we don’t use www here at Kinsta. One reason you still might see www being used a lot is simply because changing it after using it for years can be complex and cause issues. So a lot of older brands simply continue to use it.
Another reason large companies with a lot of traffic might want to use www is due to DNS. Naked domains (non-www) technically can’t have a CNAME record used in order to redirect traffic for failover. However, there are workarounds to this issue.
So when it comes down to www vs non-www it is more a matter of personal preference. Perhaps you prefer shorter URLs in which case you could go with the non-www. Remember, no matter which version you choose you can setup redirects so that each is accessible. For example, if you visit www.kinsta.com, it simply redirects to kinsta.com.
In Google Search Console you can set your preferred domain to appear in Google as www or non-www. We recommend setting this option, however, if you are running a WordPress plugin such as Yoast SEO (which we will go into more below) this is not technically required as the plugin automatically adds canonical tags to let Google know which version to index.
2. Install a WordPress SEO Plugin
WordPress out of the box is pretty good already when it comes to SEO. However, we always recommend that people install an SEO plugin when they are working with their WordPress site. This allows you to have full control over optimizing what Google sees from your website. In terms of popularity, the free Yoast SEO and All-In-One SEO Pack plugins steal the show with their end-to-end optimization capabilities. We highly recommend the Yoast SEO plugin and in fact, a lot of this WordPress SEO checklist will have examples using this plugin.
Recommended reading: Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (And Must Have SEO Tools)
The Yoast SEO plugin allows you to write better content with page and keyword analysis, automatically generate XML sitemaps, enable breadcrumbs, add social and schema markup, as well as a multitude of other optimizations. As of writing this it has over 1 million installs with an impressive 5 out of 5-star rating. You can download their free WordPress plugin from the WordPress repository or follow the steps below to install it from within your WordPress dashboard.
Step 1
Under the plugins section of your WordPress dashboard click on “Add New.” Search for yoast seo and click on “Install Now.”
Step 2
Then click on “Activate.”
Step 3
You now have an “SEO” menu in which you can access the settings of the plugin. We will be digging into more of the Yoast plugin options further below.
And remember, the plugin doesn’t do SEO for you. It simply offers recommendations for you to make more data
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with criminal matters — but not in cases where drugs are swapped for sex.
“I definitely think there should be a bright line there,” said Haslam, a former federal drug prosecutor. “That’s just a no-no. You’re fueling every kind of problem this country is fighting right now: drug addiction, drug trafficking and, in some respects, sex trafficking.”
The AJC’s review of medical board disciplinary actions across the country found more than 450 cases in which doctors had sexual contact with patients while also prescribing controlled and addictive substances for them. In more than half, the physicians were allowed to continue practicing.
Although it’s rare for medical regulators to allow doctors convicted in drugs-for-sex cases to keep their licenses, the AJC found instances in Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky where physicians with convictions similar to Dekle’s were allowed to remain in practice.
Forfeiture disregarded
Dekle’s case raises particular questions because the jury not only found him guilty, it voted to require him to forfeit his medical license because of the role it played in his crimes.
Miriam Duke, one of the prosecutors in the case, said the forfeiture, while not legally binding on the Georgia medical board, should have sent the message that the government believed Dekle had no business being a doctor.
“My thinking was he would never practice medicine in the state of Georgia,” she said. “I certainly think the evidence warranted such a finding.”
Sheridan, one of three women who testified for the government, said learning that Dekle had regained his license “made me sick to my stomach.”
She finds it hard to forgive a man she says caused her to become addicted to sedatives and painkillers and then used that to fulfill his sexual needs.
“He hurt a lot of people,” she said in a recent interview. “(For) my children, it was horrible, because I wasn’t in any shape to take care of them.”
Dekle declined to be interviewed, writing in an email to the AJC: “There is no need for you to continue to contact my office in any way. I have absolutely nothing to say to you.”
Prescriptions bring scrutiny
In Cairo, a South Georgia town perhaps best known for its once-thriving cane syrup industry, Dekle has always been something of a local hero, a product of the surrounding farm country who went to medical school and returned.
His familiarity with the community and his reputation for treating people regardless of their circumstances helped him build a practice that quickly grew to include offices in both Cairo and nearby Thomasville.
But it wasn’t long before authorities began looking closely at the prescriptions he was writing and finding reason to be concerned.
In 1982, just a year after opening his practice, Dekle was indicted by a Grady County grand jury on four counts of unlawfully writing prescriptions for Demerol and morphine. Two related charges dealt with his record-keeping.
All felonies, the charges carried sentences that included heavy fines and prison, but the prosecution ended less than two weeks after the indictment was handed down when the county’s district attorney at the time declined to pursue it.
According to court records, the DA, Gilbert J. Murrah, based his decision on the fact that Dekle had agreed to a medical board order requiring him to surrender his permit to write prescriptions for controlled substances.
“The state believes that a nolle prosequi of said indictment is … in the best interests of the citizens of Grady County and the State of Georgia,” Murrah wrote in a motion seeking the dismissal of the charges.
Murrah, now practicing law in Bainbridge, did not respond to repeated inquiries from the AJC.
The medical board lifted its sanctions in 1987, but new and more serious allegations would later lead to another investigation, one that couldn’t be dismissed with the stroke of a pen.
“What (the medical board) previously uncovered was, yes, (Dekle) was illegally prescribing drugs,” Dorsey said. “But neither the local DA nor the medical board wanted to get into the whys and wherefores. In our case, we laid out the whys and the wherefores.”
Special to the AJC Site where Dr. Andrew Dekle practiced when he was indicted on 131 counts.
A cache of photos
Late on a November afternoon in 1994, Dorsey visited “The Health Center,” the clinic Dekle operated in Thomasville, armed with a search warrant. It was based on a woman’s allegations that Dekle had been providing prescription drugs for her if she agreed to have sex with him or let him take nude photos.
Dorsey quickly moved to an upstairs room that had a bed, a desk and a filing cabinet. In the cabinet, he found a box of condoms. He also found a box with two photo albums. In the albums, he found a cache of photos and negatives.
All told, he would later testify, there were between 400 and 450 photos of 16 or 17 women, most of them Dekle’s patients, in various sexually explicit poses.
“It was a little overwhelming but not shocking,” the agent said recently. “You had years of hearing different things but not knowing the depth of it.”
After identifying as many of the women as he could, Dorsey obtained their medical records and began to track their prescriptions. Plotting it all on a spreadsheet, he found that Dekle had prescribed immense amounts of addictive drugs for some of the women and had started doing it just two years after the medical board order stemming from the 1982 indictment was lifted.
One of the women who stood out was Sheridan, then living in Greeley, Colo., where she was in counseling and working to overcome her addiction.
Sheridan, who agreed to allow the AJC to identify her in this story, said Dorsey told her, “Do you know that between 1989 and 1991 you were prescribed enough pills to kill 200 people?”
A deal was worked out for her to testify.
“Every night when I go to bed I think about Dekle and only pray that time will help fade the memory,” she wrote in a narrative detailing her dealings with the doctor before testifying. “Please help me!”
‘Not the life I wanted’
“When I was as high as I was on pills, yes, I probably was smiling.” Cindy Sheridan response during cross-examination in Dr. Dekle’s trial
As a matter of law, the federal government’s case against Dekle was about dispensing controlled substances without a legitimate purpose. But as his trial played out over eight days in the old federal building in Thomasville, it quickly became apparent that the real story was something else: sex.
“You could not get away from it,” said Patti Dozier, a reporter for the Thomasville Times-Enterprise who covered the trial. “That’s what it was all about — sex for drugs.”
Sheridan testified that she was deeply depressed by what she was doing with Dekle but was so addicted to the sedative Xanax and the painkiller Lorcet that to keep up the flow of prescriptions she submitted to his demands.
Special to the AJC
Then using her married name, Cindy Beasley, she described for the jury how she consumed all 50 of the Xanax tablets from one prescription, hoping it would kill her. But her husband got her to the hospital in time for the pills to be pumped from her stomach. When she woke up and realized her suicide attempt had failed, she was so angry she pulled the IV tubes from her arms.
Special to the AJC
“This was not the life I wanted,” she testified. “I stayed depressed all the time. I was on pills all the time, and so I tried to just end it.”
When she was cross-examined, she was asked why, if she was so depressed, she was smiling in one of Dekle’s photos.
“When I was as high as I was on pills, yes, I probably was smiling,” she replied.
Another woman testified that Dekle gave her injections that combined a painkiller, Nubain, and a sedative, Vistaril, if she had sex with him or allowed him to take photos of her.
On one such occasion, she said, she posed for the married doctor after he called and said he had a roll of film from Christmas he wanted to finish.
“I was addicted to drugs and I wanted another high and I knew if I let him take the pictures, he would give me a shot,” she told the jury.
In his testimony, Dekle acknowledged having sex with Sheridan and other female patients as well as taking their photos. But he insisted those acts were unrelated to the prescriptions, which he described as medically justified.
“My testimony is that my conduct has not influenced the manner in which I cared for these patients,” he told the jury.
Community support
When Dekle was sentenced, his supporters flooded U.S District Judge W. Louis Sands’ office with letters.
“I think the community is always affected,” Sands said, addressing Dekle from the bench. “But in this situation, it is doubly so because of the expressions (of support) and the clear concern of people who obviously think a lot of you and are appreciative of what you have done … for the communities where you lived, where you grew up and where you later came back to serve.”
A former Grady County sheriff showed up to testify as a character witness, stating that he had known Dekle and his family “out in the okra field” since the 1960s.
Atlanta psychiatrist Gene Abel, who had been treating Dekle, testified that sending him to prison would halt the progress he had made.
“This man has had over 150 sessions of therapy,” Abel told the judge. “I hate to see him go into an environment where violence is kind of a frequent occurrence.”
None of it had an impact, however, as Sands granted the government’s request for an upward departure from the sentencing guidelines to account for Dekle’s treatment of Sheridan.
“The court believes by a preponderance of the evidence in … the psychological damage she has suffered,” the judge said.
The board weighs in
Georgia medical board records show Dekle voluntarily surrendered his license after he was sentenced to prison. When he initially applied for reinstatement after his release, he was rejected, but the board changed its stance six months later. Meeting minutes show the board reissued Dekle’s license after he appeared and “gave a statement” as well as answered questions, but the minutes make no mention of what was said.
As conditions of reinstatement, Dekle was placed on five years’ probation with restrictions that included continued psychotherapy and a limit of 40 working hours per week. Board records show he complied.
Dr. Eddie Cheeks, an Augusta OB/GYN who was the board’s president when Dekle was returned to practice, refused to discuss the decision, referring all comment to the current board.
The current chairman, Dr. John Antalis of Dalton, said in a recent interview that, while the board has leeway in deciding who can practice, it is presently “very, very hard” for a doctor convicted of a sex-related felony to be licensed in Georgia.
“In the five years I’ve been on the board, we’ve been pretty firm about felonies in general,” he said.
RYON HORNE / AJC Kim Johnson, who has known Dekle for more than 20 years as both a patient and a nursing student training in his office, says she knows he made some “bad choices,” but that he is “bigger than anything he did wrong.”
Putting aside the past
Patients contacted for this story said they know bits and pieces of Dekle’s criminal history but don’t particularly care about it. This is a doctor who goes the extra mile, they said, and that’s what matters most.
“He’s always been just a good friend,” said Sarah Touchet, a 75-year-old Cairo resident who has been a patient since the 1980s. “He’s taken care of a lot of people and never charged them a dime.”
Despite Dekle’s conviction, Touchet said she still doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.
Johnson, who has known Dekle for more than 20 years as both a patient and a nursing student training in his office, said she realizes he made “bad choices,” but she doesn’t believe that should outweigh his value as a physician.
“I know part of him, and, to me, that part of him is bigger than anything he did wrong,” she said.
Dorsey, who has lived in Cairo for 33 years, said he has friends who are Dekle’s patients, and, to a certain degree, he understands.
“You’ve got to realize the dynamics,” he said. “Take out this dark part of his life, he is a very smart, talented physician.”
But the veteran GBI agent said he, for one, can’t forget that dark side — the photos, the trial and the despair of the women who testified — and often wonders how it wasn’t enough to end a doctor’s career.
“You can expect a defendant to make any kind of run he can,” he said. “But that’s not possible without the board opening a window and letting him through. It’s that simple.”
— Staff videojournalist Ryon Horne contributed to this article.An interesting topic we often hear data science organizations talk about is “unit testing.” It’s a longstanding best practice for building software, but it’s not quite clear what it really means for quantitative research work — let alone how to implement such a practice. This post describes our view on this topic, and how we’ve designed Domino to facilitate what we see as relevant best practices.
If we knew what we were doing…
To get started, we believe the term “unit testing” isn’t applicable to all types of data science work. That’s because “testing” implies there is a correct answer to the thing you’re testing: a priori, you know what the result should be.
If you are creating a “fahrenheit to celsius conversion” function, you can look up the correct answers and verify that an input of 32 degrees fahrenheit should output 0 degrees celsius.
But we don’t have the luxury of knowing the right answer when we start out working on a new model or analysis. Let’s say you on an insurance data science team, and are building a model to predict the probability of default when someone applies for a loan; or the likelihood that a customer will churn; or the expected claims that will be filed by someone applying for insurance. There is no “correct” answer to a prediction that you can know ahead of time. Of course you have validation data sets, so you measure model performance in various ways. But whether or not a model is “good” or is “improved” is often a matter of interpretation.
Or as Einstein said:
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
There is plenty of data science work that involves building core library functions where there is a clearly defined correct answer — and by all means those functions should be unit tested.
But usually when people ask about “unit testing for data science,” they mean something else — and we think it’s all about quality control. The ultimate goal of unit testing in software is to ensure that your code hasn’t introduced problems before you use it somewhere it will have a larger impact. We see this kind of quality control being important in two places in typical data science workflow.
Human gatekeeping
If you or a colleague has made changes to some code and want to replace the old version, how do you know it hasn’t introduced any problems (let alone that it’s improved)? Unit tests help ensure this for software, along with code reviews of course. For data science work, we’ve found it critical to let reviewers inspect results from experiments.
Domino addresses this by automatically logging results when you run code, and letting you inspect those results. Results could be quantitative statistics like the F1-score, p-value, AUC, etc. Or they could be visual results, like an ROC curve. After iterating, when you have a version you like and want to review (or have a colleague review), you can compare them:
This “review” process can be used as a formal gate before merging a proposed change back into a project.
In the absence of a known “right” answer, we have found that quality control is best achieved through human inspection of results (both quantitative and visual).
Automatic deployment
Another common use case for unit testing in software is to ensure things work properly before deployment to a production environment.
In our case, Domino lets you deploy predictive models as APIs, so that other software systems can easily consume them. And one powerful feature we offer is the ability to schedule retraining tasks: you can run code that retrains your model on new data and automatically redeploys your updated model to production.
In a situation like this, you may want the deployment to fail if your updated model fails to meet certain conditions. To handle that, Domino will abort the deployment if your retraining script throws an error. This allows you to build any gatekeeping checks you want in your programming language of choice. For example, in R:
library(randomForest) library(jsonlite) df <- read.csv("./winequality-red.csv", h=T, sep = ";") df$quality <- factor(df$quality) cols <- names(df)[1:11] clf <- randomForest(df$quality ~., data=df[,cols], ntree=50, nodesize=4, mtry=8) runChecks <- function(clf) { finalErr <- clf$err.rate[length(clf$err.rate)] if (finalErr > 15) { stop("error rate too high") } } runChecks(clf) save(clf, file="classifier.Rda")
Our code here will train the model, then execute the runChecks function, which will fail if the error rate of the new model is too large.
Domino lets us schedule this “retrain.R” script and automatically deploy the resulting updated model as long as the scripts finish running successfully.
In this way, you can write your own “tests” to ensure that new models aren’t deployed unless they pass your checks, however you define them.
Conclusion
We think “unit testing” is a misguided term for data science workflows. Instead, we prefer to talk about how to achieve quality control and gatekeeping, both for humans and automated deployment processes. Given the nature of quantitative research — complex and without “right answers” known upfront — we think the best way to achieve these goals is to allow visual inspection and comparison of results by humans, and to let users define their own gatekeeping checks for automated deployments.
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Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be missing for three games after accepting a violent conduct charge from the English Football Association.
[ MORE: Watch full PL match replays ]
Ibrahimovic, 35, was involved in two separate incidents with Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last weekend and was charged retrospectively after referee Kevin Friend missed his elbow on Mings’ head in the first half.
The incident took place moments after Zlatan appeared to have his head stamped on by Mings, as the Bournemouth defender was also charged with violent conduct but it is believed he will contest his charge as his punishment could be up to six games.
After United and Ibrahimovic accepted his charge, the FA released the following statement confirming he will miss the next three domestic games against Chelsea in the FA Cup quarterfinal, plus the Premier League games against Middlesbrough and West Brom.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after he admitted an FA charge of violent conduct and accepted the standard penalty. “It follows an incident in or around the 44th minute of the game between Manchester United and AFC Bournemouth on Saturday (4 March 2017). The misconduct was not seen by the match officials at the time but caught on video.”
United will likely bring Marcus Rashford into the starting lineup in place of Ibrahimovic as the veteran Swedish striker copes with the highs and lows of life at the top.
Just over a week ago he was the hero for scoring twice, including a late winner, at Wembley as United beat Southampton to win the first major trophy of the Jose Mourinho era.
Now, he’ll be watching on from the sidelines as United head to the runaway PL leaders in the FA Cup and then come up against two gutsy opponents who they must beat to keep them top four hopes alive.
Follow @JPW_NBCSportsClaims and Reclaims: Finalization
Dominik Schiener Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 31, 2017
Background
During an attack on the IOTA network in October, some funds were found to be at risk of theft, due to users re-using their private keys. The IOTA team took the decision to protect IOTA token holders by taking those funds which were at risk into temporary custody through a snapshot.
Once the attack was stopped, the team worked on setting up a process for reclaiming the funds, and sending them back to the rightful owners. This process of receiving and validating the claims has been understandably complicated and sensitive — especially when taking into account the immutability of the IOTA distributed ledger. This effort has required the full attention of the entire core and legal teams of IOTA over the last few weeks. We are pleased to announce that we have finally come to the final step: sending out the reclaimed funds.
Sending back the Funds
As some community members have already noticed, we have already started sending out some of the claims (beginning with smaller ones) in batches. We will continue to do so over the course of the first week of January and aim to have all claims successfully processed by January 10th. Because this is a manual process, involving several validation and verification steps, we have limited the size of each batch to 30 claims.
Once all claims have been successfully processed, we will publish the list of claims with a full audit trail (an intrinsic component of the validation process), for the public to verify. We will also provide additional instructions for users that have not yet claimed their funds, on how they will be able to do so.
How do I know if my funds have been received?
The fastest solution, is it to simply check your address at one of the Tangle explorers (https://thetangle.org, https://iotasear.ch), or via the API (for those more technically-minded, with the getBalance API call). You can also log in to your GUI wallet and check if you have received a transaction, your balance should simply show up in your account.
Important: KYC for Multiple Claims
Several funds have been claimed multiple times (requested to be sent to different addresses). Considering that these could represent malicious attempts to steal funds from the rightful owners, the IOTA Foundation will be processing these claims only after having KYC’ed the claimants.
Because of this risk, the users of the following addresses should reach out to the IOTA Foundation at [email protected], in order to get their claims processed. Simply send us an email, with the address(es) that are owned by you, and we’ll then guide you through the process.
Closing Remarks
We understand that users were frustrated due to the prolonged process of regaining access to their funds, and we sincerely apologize for the delays. At IOTA, our priority is it to ensure that user funds are protected at all costs. We want IOTA to be a protocol that can be used with confidence, to transfer and store value. Because of this, we have taken this extraordinary step of taking user funds into custody during the attack.
We perceive that such steps may be necessary, especially during the growth stage of IOTA, and other crypto-currencies. All the best, and very much looking forward to an even better year 2018.Social Good
Over on Reddit, r/askmen user Dylan Benson (under his handle, u/IFUCKGRILLEDCHEESE), posted a heart-wrenching story a few weeks back in December in a thread titled “Any advice on how I can be strong and how to keep moving forward?”
An avid Redditor myself, I recall Benson’s thread. I commented. And in it, he told a story so upsetting many users were suspect the dude was trolling. Feeling compelled, I shared the thread to my own Facebook page — where many of my own friends expressed some skepticism due to the heavy and heartbreaking content.
As Benson reported in late December — well, here he is in his own, harrowing earlier words:
“My wife is dying. We are both 32, she is 22 weeks pregnant. Yesterday morning she was complaining of a headache and asked me to go to the store to get some Tylenol for her and when I came back she was unconscious on the bathroom floor. I called 911, the ambulance came and they tried to get my wife to respond and to breathe for almost an hour before we went to the hospital.”
He continued:
“At the hospital they discovered that my wife had a fluke random type of blood leak into the centre of her brain and that there was so much blood and damage that it is not reversible. My wife is now essentially legally brain dead. They performed a surgery on my wife’s brain to drain some of the excess blood from her brain and now they are going to try and keep her body alive for four more weeks; The thought process behind this is that if they can keep her body alive and growing our child until she is 26 weeks pregnant it will give our unborn son a 60 to 80% chance of surviving a C-section that time.”
Later, he pauses to add:
“It’s likely today that they will declare my wife legally brain dead. I can go visit her as much as I want over the next 4 weeks (hopefully it’s 4 weeks and this all works) but my wife is essentially gone … Ugh. I don’t know what to do or think. She is my rock. She does everything for us and I can’t believe I won’t get to talk to her again and now if this works, our son will grow up never meeting his wonderful mother.”
Benson concluded:
“Any advice on how I can try and stay strong, and anything you think I should be doing?”
In a previous update thread, he reflected:
“The toughest part about this is knowing that no matter what, the day he is born will be the same day I have to say goodbye to my wife, and that day now has a timeline attached to it, however I still don’t know when that day will come.”
Last night, r/askmen user u/MoeBetterBooze posted an update. Many Redditors were left unsure of what to make of the story, and things scarily looked quite touch and go for the baby per Benson’s original post.
The update thread, titled “Askmener /u/IFUCKGRILLEDCHEESE whose pregnant wife has been kept on life support to allow their son a chance is now a daddy,” explains that Benson had been featured in the local news, and that he posted to Facebook with an announcement.
The good news is Baby Redditor Iver Cohen Benson arrived safely into the world on Monday night, as reported by his dad on Facebook.
Benson explained:
“It’s earlier than we planned … Over the past six weeks, we made life-changing decisions all the time. So we had hoped to get to week 30 before delivering, but we made it as far as we could. On Saturday, when Robyn was 28 weeks and one day, the time was right for us and for Iver.”
//
Of the healthy but premature baby boy, Dylan gushes:
“It was the most incredible experience of my life so far … He just looks perfect. I’ve never been more proud, and getting to hold him yesterday was something I will never forget and something I look forward to doing every day.”
Below, Dylan Benson’s entire update regarding the birth of baby Iver and the loss of wife Robyn:
//
In the wake of Robyn’s sudden passing, a Baby Iver fund has been started to offset Dylan’s costs in raising the child.
[Image: Dylan Benson, Facebook]Iconic rap group Run DMC filed a $50 million infringement lawsuit against Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers Thursday for allegedly cashing in on the trio’s likeness without permission, TMZ first reported.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, naming more than 20 defendants who sell “Run DMC styled products” featuring fedoras and old-school black-framed sunglasses resembling Darryl “DMC” McDaniel.
Lawyers for the trio are arguing that the products confuse the public and have diluted group’s brand as one of the most popular well-known hip-hop group in history, adding that the products harm their ability to “utilize, market, promote and sell products with its registered trademark."
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According to Billboard, the lawsuit also claims that the group has generated more than $100 million from their intellectual property since the 1980s, including a $1.6 million partnership with Adidas.
In November, Amazon filed its first lawsuit against merchants who sell counterfeit products through their online marketplace in an effort to keep fakes off the site this holiday season.You can eat it, but don’t touch it.
The city’s Health Department warned Wednesday that workers and customers who handle live or raw fish or seafood from Chinatown markets in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan could be exposed to a bacteria that causes swelling and bumps on their hands and arms.
But the fish is safe to eat, officials added.
The department said it has identified an outbreak of a rare infection that enters the skin through a cut or other injury.
Customers and workers are encouraged to wear gloves while preparing the fish, especially people with cuts or abrasions.
The bacteria causing the infection is called Mycobacterium marinum and can be treated with antibiotics. If the infection isn’t treated correctly, it can worsen over weeks and require surgery.
Thirty cases have already been identified, said Health Department spokesman Levi Fishman.
He said the fish affected come from markets in Chinatown in Manhattan, Flushing in Queens and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.
Fishmongers in Manhattan’s Chinatown said they are usually careful about how they handle their products, but they also are now telling customers to keep their hands off.
“When we clean the fish, we wear rubber gloves and we use plastic bags to take up the fish,” said Asta Mak, 26 who works in The Haisein Co. fish shop on Grand Street. “We don’t touch with our hands. We don’t let the customers touch the fish. They point at what they want and we take it up for them.”
Jacque Even, 40, a chef from the Lower East Side, cooks fish at work and buys it twice a week to make at home. He usually touches the fish before making his purchase.
“I check it out before I buy,” Even said. “I touch it to feel the quality and make sure it is clean. I open the gill to see if it’s fresh. I’m going to have to stop doing that and point at what I want.”ESA commits to next stage of UK revolutionary rocket engine
Airbreathing engine The UK’s Farnborough airshow today saw ESA’s commitment to the next step in developing a revolutionary air-breathing rocket engine that could begin test firings in about four years. The Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, SABRE, is a unique engine designed to use atmospheric air in the early part of its flight to orbit before switching to rocket mode for its final ascent to space. The UK’s Reaction Engines Ltd has been working on SABRE for many years. Success could lead to single-stage-to-orbit spaceplanes. ESA is investing €10 million in SABRE, joining £50 million from the UK Space Agency. Since 2008, ESA has played an important technical management role.
SABRE contract signing In 2010, ESA independently reviewed SABRE’s viability, opening the way to UK government investment. Back in 2012, ESA oversaw the testing of a key element – the precooler that chills the hot airstream entering the engine at hypersonic speed. To render the air usable by the engine as oxidiser it needs to be cooled from 1000°C to –150°C in just a hundredth of a second – at the same time as avoiding the formation of potentially dangerous ice.
Precooler testing for SABRE engine A number of research and development projects followed through ESA, helping to demonstrate the feasibility of other elements, such as the novel rocket nozzles, air intake design and thrust chamber cooling. ESA also helped to refine the overall SABRE design, looking at how it could be manufactured. Today saw the contract signing by Franco Ongaro, ESA’s Director of Technical and Quality Management, and Mark Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of Reaction Engines Ltd, to commit the next stage of ESA funding towards SABRE.
“Reaction Engines and ESA have been working together since 2008 to make the SABRE concept a reality,” says Director Ongaro. “This new contract marks an important milestone in our continued collaboration to mature the design. It should take us to a point where we can expect to be testing a demonstrator engine in 2020.” In about two years, this latest phase should define the configuration of the engine as well as allow the detailed design of the prototype demonstrator engine to begin.
SABRE precooler Once the feasibility of the technology was demonstrated via individual elements in 2012, the next step is to build a ground demonstrator engine in 2020, which will bring all these elements together to verify the performance of the complete engine cycle. The end result of this made-in-Europe technology would be low-cost, reliable and reusable engines, potentially enabling future vehicles that could perform the equivalent job of today’s rockets while operating like an aircraft – revolutionising access to space.Crocs, the Niwot-based maker of brightly hued, comfy-ugly clown shoes, has had more than its share of PR disasters, from the hysterical reports of Crocs-shod kids
to the
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to
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But all of that's nothing, compared to getting your tootsies trampled by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Last week Crocs Inc. agreed to pay a fine of $230,000 and no longer refer to the "antimicrobial" properties of its shoes. Jim Martin, the EPA regional administrator in Denver, said his agency was determined to protect consumers "against companies making unverified public health claims."
That sounds a tad more serious than the situation may have warranted. Crocs, as we all know, is damned proud of its "revolutionary closed cell resin" and has always touted the fact that its shoes are easy to clean and odor-resistant. Calling them "antimicrobial" is, after all, just another way of saying that they probably don't stink as much as old tennies because completely synthetic shoes are less congenial to bacteria. By the same token, if everyone walked around in hermetically sealed moonsuits, the world would be a less smelly place.
But according to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act--FIFRA, to all you bureaucrats out there--products that claim to kill or repel germs ("antimicrobial") are considered pesticides. Crocs never bothered to register its footwear as a pesticide, for obvious reasons. (Hey, buddy, want to try a pair of our DDT specials?) Better to just pay the fine and expunge the word "antimicrobial" from the website.
It's an expensive lesson in overreaching, both by Crocs and the ever-vigilant EPA. Now, if the company could just get Manolo the Shoeblogger and his Gallery of the Horrors to make nice.Things have gotten worse between the Brooklyn Nets and forward Andrei Kirilenko in the last few weeks, reports Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
Kirilenko was a healthy inactive for the Nets' last three games and won't accompany the team on their two-game road trip this weekend.
The Nets have reportedly been in contact with the Philadelphia 76ers about a possible trade involving the 33-year-old forward, but Youngmisuk notes that if such a deal were to be consummated, the 76ers would in turn waive Kirilenko's $3.3 million contract. Since the Sixers are significantly under the cap, the Brooklyn Nets wouldn't need to receive equal salary enumerations in return.
In all likelihood, freeing up some money off Brooklyn's clogged books would come at the cost of attaching a second-round pick.
Last season - under former Nets head coach Jason Kidd - Kirilenko played 19 minutes per game as a versatile, veteran defender. This season, Kirilenko's minutes have dipped to just 5.1 per contest.
If he were to be waived, Kirilenko will likely garner significant interest from a number of contending teams looking to bolster their rotation with a heady, but limited, wing defender.Well I just finished my second esk8 build, I spent all the money I had on it after saving up for a couple of months, built the deck myself, designed and 3D printed a bunch of the parts myself, only to watch it explode in a giant fireball along with my hopes and dreams. Please learn from my mistakes and double check everything, I don’t even know what caused this to happen but it could have probably been prevented somehow… Having watched about $1200 of my money literally burn away in front of me, I think I’m pretty turned off from building another esk8 in the near future, but hopefully I can get back into it again when I’m able to find another job and save up for a while. I’m pretty dang sad. Anyway… here’s the pictures and stuff:
UPDATE: Here are some charred pictures of what remains. Poor thing :’(
What remains of the electronics:This article is over 2 years old
Global response: British PM says European countries need to stand together, while France ups border security force
France deploys 1,600 extra police
France is to deploy an extra 1,600 police officers at its borders following the Brussels attack, the country’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, has announced. “It is essential to maintain a vigilance,” he said in a televised address.
Security forces in France remain at a high state of alert after last year’s terror attacks there.
The apparently coordinated explosions in the Belgian capital on Tuesday came four days after the arrest after a Brussels shootout of the only known surviving suspect of the 10 Islamist attackers who killed 130 people in a string of suicide bombings and shootings in Paris in November.
All trains to Brussels stations from Paris have been cancelled. Similar measures were expected in other European countries.
UK response
In London, the prime minister, David Cameron, has said the countries of Europe need to “stand together” against terror following the attacks in Brussels, while UK police have stepped up patrols at key sites.
Cameron, who chaired
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to fund its library system anymore. With the loss of federal timber payments and a low property tax rate, thanks to voter passed measures 5 and 50, the county is taking in far less money than it needs to operate essential services. Douglas County Commissioner Gary Leif:
Leif: “We are on a clear path that in 3 ½ years, maybe less we’re going to be out of money. So what we have to do is figure out what is needed and what is necessary, and what we start charging for and what we can’t. And, unfortunately, the libraries was about a 3 million dollar hit.”
Leif says closing the libraries is the only option for the county. In the recent November election, a group tried to pass a special library funding district. But it failed 55 to 44 percent. The county’s branch libraries close April 1st. The main branch in Roseburg is open through May. Some cities hope to re-open soon under an agreement with the county.
Leif: “Unfortunately, it’s just a reading room model, which gives all of those libraries a way to keep themselves open on a volunteer basis.”
Leif is part of a task force that’s seeking long-term strategies for restoring library service. But he is leery of another county-wide ballot measure.
Leif: “But if it failed again, where would we be? So I would rather look at a model like Josephine County or possibly look at even a private vendor coming in and providing a service that may not be the perfect library system but at least it would let everybody stay open in a better model than a reading room.”
Reedsport plans to set up a reading room in its current library building.
Wright: “It’s not a good situation no matter how we look at it.”
Jonathan Wright is Reedsport City Manager.
Wright: “We will support the library however we can. Currently, the building is owned by the city. We maintain the services there. So, right now we’re looking at getting a volunteer coordinator and actually we have a young lady here that’s jumped forward and said she will take the responsibility.”
Wright says a dozen volunteers have also stepped up to help run the reading room. Joe Coyne is with the library advisory board and heads the Douglas county Library Foundation. He says the reading room will in no way replace a fully functioning library.
Coyne: “Without the wi-fi, without the people coming in without, people don’t come into the library to take a book off the shelf, sit down, read it, put it back and go home. It’s the magazines and the wi-fi that’s going to keep them here.”
The hope is to have computers and wi-fi available, but that’s still in the works. Coyne also wants to find a way for people to check out books. Even if it means going back to the old index card method. The community is raising money to fund the reading room, month to month.
State librarian MaryKay Dahlgreen says the mission of a public library is to provide a wide variety of information to everyone who seeks it, for free.
Dahlgreen: “It’s frankly one of the foundations of democracy to create a well-informed citizenry and I think now more than ever it’s important that there are resources out there that are very reliable.”
She says the reading room model might work as a stop-gap, but…
Dahlgreen: “I don’t think that model is sustainable at all.”
Dahgreen says public library funding has to come from public dollars. *Josephine County library supporters have placed a special library district measure on their May ballot. Dahlgreen says other Oregon counties have been through this. She points to Deschutes, Hood River and Curry County which have all found ways to bring their library systems back with public funding.
Dahlgreen: “The Douglas County library system, it’s heartbreaking, but I do deep in my heart, believe that they’ll figure out a way.”
Reedsport librarian Sue Cousineau is also optimistic.
Cousineau: “The Reedsport library will be here one way or another because the people in this area care so much about their library.”
Cousineau will stay on through April to help volunteers set up their reading room. Then, after 13 years running the Reedsport Library, she’ll be out of a job.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was relegated to the sidelines of the Syrian war on Friday as an all-out assault by Syrian government and Russian forces on opposition-held Aleppo threatened to unleash a new refugee wave and drive U.S.-backed rebels into the ranks of al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, U.S. officials and experts said.
People inspect a damaged site after airstrikes on the rebel held Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria September 23, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail
Moscow’s direct participation in the offensive left fading hope for U.S.-Russian peace efforts, raising the likelihood that U.S. President Barack Obama’s successor will inherit a worsening conflict.
Entering its sixth year, the Syrian civil war already has left some 250,000 people dead, uprooted more than 11 million and provided a base for Islamic State to launch and inspire attacks in the West.
“For the next president on Day One, this becomes the problem from hell,” said Frederic Hof, a former Obama adviser on Syria who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank. “It’s a problem that’s going to persist in one way or another throughout the first term of the next president and probably beyond.”
A U.S. official suggested White House plans to keep Syrian chaos under control as Obama leaves office have been upended.
“It was hoped that they could turn over a simmering mess to the next president,” said a U.S. official. “But what happened was that the simmering mess blew up and now they are going to have to figure out what to do.”
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Russian aircraft, long-range artillery and special forces advisers were directly participating with Syrian government forces in the drive to conquer eastern Aleppo, the largest urban stronghold of the U.S.-backed moderate opposition.
Shiite militiamen from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan also were involved in the assault on the devastated enclave, where an estimated 250,000 civilians were suffering the most intense airstrikes of the war, they said.
“The Russians are actively participating in the current offensive in Aleppo,” said one U.S. official. “It appears to be a no-holds barred attempt to crush the opposition.”
Russian aircraft were flying sorties at the same rate – about 40 per day - as they were before Washington and Moscow negotiated a failed ceasefire between the Syria government and opposition forces in February, the officials said.
Some U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of Obama’s refusal to intervene militarily in Syria and his lame duck status to seize as much territory as possible before the new U.S. president takes office.
These officials argue that Russia has not sincerely engaged in peace-making efforts and that Putin aims to weaken the opposition as rapidly as possible, a goal in which he is gradually succeeding.
Damascus announced the offensive on Thursday as Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov failed to salvage a ceasefire that collapsed on Monday. The ceasefire was supposed to lead to U.S.-Russian cooperation on airstrikes against Islamic State and al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, formerly known as the Nusra Front.
OBAMA’S OPTIONS
What course Obama will now take remained unclear.
“There doesn’t seem to be a Plan B right now,” Hof said.
Obama has sought to restrict U.S. involvement in Syria, repeatedly rejecting proposals by advisers for actions such as establishing a no-fly zone or arming the moderate opposition fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.
“One of the things that haunts me the most was our failure to ask ourselves about the consequences of inaction,” said one former senior official involved in Syria policy. “We were always focused on the consequences of action... But we should have also considered how doing nothing for several years might have an impact on U.S. credibility and the conflict more broadly.”
Obama has limited the U.S. role to supporting groups fighting Islamic State in northeastern Syria. He has pursued talks with Russia, which intervened on Assad’s behalf in September 2015, on a peace accord between U.S.-backed moderate rebels and Damascus.
Obama, however, no longer can count on securing a ceasefire that will keep a lid on the crisis until his successor is sworn-in on Jan. 20, experts said.
Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute think tank said he doubted that Obama would adopt a more robust policy.
“Given the posture the Obama administration has developed with regards to how it faces the war in Syria, I don’t see it shifting the strategy,” he said. “That would be the most extraordinary foreign policy shift in the last eight years.”
Obama, however, faces the prospect of a deepening humanitarian disaster, officials and experts said.
The fall of Aleppo could unleash a new wave of migrants fleeing toward Europe, which has been struggling since last year to accommodate more than 1 million refugees.
Moreover, U.S.-backed rebels, dismayed over what they saw as Obama’s abandonment of Aleppo, could begin joining al Qaeda’s Syrian branch. It is widely regarded as the most effective opposition group and has vehemently rejected a negotiated settlement with Assad, U.S. officials and experts said.
Lister, who maintains contacts with rebels inside Syria, said opposition leaders are growing disillusioned with U.S. efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution with Assad’s main military backer.
“Things are deteriorating so quickly now. The U.S. is losing leverage on the ground every week,” he said.Pygmy Hippopotamus
Much like competent shortstops in Mariners franchise history, Pygmy Hippopotamuses are extremely endangered and there may be fewer than 2,000 left in the wild. They are much less aggressive than their full-sized counterparts, and occasionally are prone to errors due to their peculiar center of gravity.
Rhinoceros
When encountering new environments or places in their order, rhinos can become aggressive, resulting in increased offensive potential. The name “Rhinoceros” means “nose horn” in Greek. When multiple “nose horns” gather together it is called a crash. When multiple Seagers gather together it is called the All-Star Game. This rhino went full speed ahead into second base in the 1st inning, and would be chased home later for the only successful charge of the day.
Lion
Female lions do all the hunting, but male lions are always the first to eat, and you can determine their age by how dark their manes are and how long they play through a quadriceps injury. When cornered or injured, lions are ferocious, and provide the strongest protection of their weaker cubs, no matter how futile the odds. This lion did its best, going 3-for-4, but narrowly had a hunt cut short by a home run poacher named Michael Taylor.
Ostrich
Ostriches have the largest eyes of any land animal, but their brains are also smaller than their eyes. Two thousand years ago the Roman Emperor Heliogabalus served 600 of those ostrich brains at a feast. Due to their flightless nature they tend to specialize in narrow skill-sets, but occasionally can develop into more well-rounded, occasionally temperamental creatures. When pressed into service they provide aggressive swings of their legs, beaks, and bats, resulting in 1-for-4 days in place of a bigger, stronger, prehistoric flightless bird.
Highland Cow
Their horns are sharp, but Highland Cows have a tendency to swing and miss that makes them less dangerous than other longhorn breeds, connecting once every three attempts, while missing wildly on the others. The long hair of Highland Cows is not simply for aesthetic purposes; it protects them from extreme temperatures and replaces the outer layer of fat often found on modern breeds, which makes their beef extremely low in fat and cholesterol. You can purchase a Highland Cow for under $1,000. For their cost, they continue to produce well, although a single goes down rough with two sour glasses of Highland strikeout milk with animals in scoring position.
Hungarian ‘Racka’ Sheep
In replacing cows, sheep are often valued for their utility, but struggle when substituted late to produce rapid results. Little is known of the Racka Sheep’s origins, except that it first evolved in the Hungarian plains. Both males and females have the distinctive spiral horns, and the breed is praised for its durability, and versatility because it can be used to produce wool, milk, and meat. Racka Sheep are a source of great pride in Hungary, and as such have been involved in a number of the government’s gene conservation efforts. Their long-hair and distinctive style make them quite popular, even if it is often superfluous and cannot avoid an out in a pinch-hitting situation.
Okapi
Strong and energetic, Okapis have the speed to leg out tough grounders and outrun throws and predators. Despite their striped appearance, Okapis are actually most closely related to giraffes and have the long, purple tongues to prove it. They were once referred to as “African unicorns” because explorers heard stories about them, but did not record seeing one in the wild until 1901. Mothers communicate with their calves through infrasonic calls that are impossible to hear with the human ear, while male okapis go 2 for 4 with competent outfield defense.
Basset Hound on a leash outside the zoo
Dogs are not allowed inside zoos, particularly not Basset Hounds who are trying their best but went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, and slobbered all over your pants before an interview.
Springbok
Springbok are considered one of the top ten fastest animals on land, with peak speeds of 50+ MPH. They are also well known for leaping high in the air, up to 13 feet, in an activity called pronking. When Springbok pronk they jump straight into the air, legs stiff and close together, and when their hooves touch the ground they immediately spring back up again. When they are unable to pronk with much force, however, they become increasingly vulnerable to predators and Tanners, and go 1-for-4.
Tarsier
Tarsier have the largest body-to-eye ratio of any land animal, which gives off the impression that they are constantly surprised to have found themselves starting regular season games for a major league baseball team. Their head is capable of rotating 180 degrees, which is useful when wanting to see how far Anthony Rendon home runs travel (hint: 391 feet, at 100 MPH). From 1921-2008 not a single, living Tarsier was seen.
Meerkat
The sociable, and endearing nature of meerkats is very well known- the species had a long-running television show on Animal Planet that garnered the channel some of its best ratings of all time. Though baseball is a very social game, meerkats might be better off seeking alternate forms of entertainment since they struck out on four pitches in a single pinch-hit appearance.
Jesus (Basilisk) Lizard
Yeah, yeah, “No religion,” but this is the name this lizard is best known as, because it has the ability to “walk” on water. In reality, when the Basilisk Lizard is threatened it leaps from a tree and lands in the water, at which point fringes of skin unfurl from their feet to create a flipper like effect, which then allows them to swiftly churn their legs and create tiny air pockets that keep them above the water. They can travel up to five feet like this, though it is alarmingly nerve-wracking to watch. Tonight they were not terribly threatened, and managed to pitch a single scoreless inning, with one strikeout.
Ring-Tailed Lemur
These lemurs are most commonly known for the PBS hit “Zoboomafoo,” their distinctive facial hair/stirrup socks combo, and for inexplicably possessing the most difficult-to-hit fastball in MLB in 2016. They were not exceptionally noteworthy tonight, with a quiet scoreless inning in the eighth. There are no firm facts, but it is believed that Ring-Tailed Lemurs floated to Madagascar on “rafts” of vegetation, and that they are capable of not giving up home runs during outings.
Softshell ‘Pancake’ Turtle
Soft-shell turtles have become an incredibly popular pet, and are frequently cited as being great display animals, but are very difficult to care for in captivity. They do not survive well in over-crowded spaces, or in late-inning high leverage situations. Soft-shell turtles are the species most commonly used in turtle soup, and most frequently cursed when the bullpen blows a lead. In an uncharacteristic outburst of emotion that was still in keeping with its demure nature, the Pancake Turtle said of his flock, “We’ve got to pick up our intensity. I’ve had about enough of this.”
So have we, pal.Jessie Engelman and her fiancé plan to wed later this year and sign a ketubah, the traditional Jewish marriage contract.
But neither is Jewish, nor are they evangelical Christians looking to honor their biblical connections to the faith.
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More non-Jewish couples have embraced Jewish marriage rituals over the last decade. Some stomp a glass, or a light bulb as a popular substitute. Others recite vows under a canopy, called a chuppah
But it is the ketubah, or a less Jewish cousin called a "Statement of Our Love," that often catches the eye of couples with no familial or cultural ties to Judaism.
The demand for "non-Jewish" ketubot increases every year at the sites JudaicConnection and ShopKetubah, both run by Cindy Michael in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The number of ketubah artists setting up shop online has exploded in recent years, making it that much easier for non-Jewish couples to embrace the practice.
Signing the Ketubah (Illustration: Shutterstock)
The ketubah is more than just fancy calligraphy. It's often poster-size and ornate, suitable for framing later, with artwork either as backdrop or accompaniment.
"Interestingly enough, some of the non-Jewish couples choose very traditional Jewish texts," Michael said.
She works with many ketubah artists who offer words of love and loyalty specifically for non-Jewish couples. One offers an Apache wedding blessing, and another uses inspirational text from New Age guru Kahlil Gibran.
"Many times they contact us after having attended Jewish friends' weddings," Michael said.
Ketubah featured in Catholic wedding
Jannine Medrana Malave and her husband, Nelson, had a traditional Catholic wedding. Their ceremony included touches reflecting her Filipino roots and his Puerto Rican ones, but they also had a ketubah in a round design with English and Hebrew, signed by, among others, the priest who married them.
The ketubah was a gift from two close friends they consider their "Jewish mothers," but it was Nelson's idea after he noticed the ketubot in the shop of the National Museum of American Jewish History, where Jannine works as director of donor relations and special events.
"We like to learn about other cultures and other traditions," said Jannine, 34. "It's hanging in our living room, next to our crucifix no less."
Non-Jewish wedding under a chuppah? (Illustration: Shutterstock)
Stephanie Caplan is a ketubah artist in New York. She's been doing custom work for non-Jewish clients who found her offline and through her website, TheKetubah.com, for several years. She recently added more affordable prints suitable for couples who want to celebrate but not practice the faith.
"I always felt it was something that everybody could have," she said. "I didn't see why it should just be for Jews. It can be the thing that reflects the spirit of the day, more than those 50,000 photographs you took at your wedding. It's just a nice energy."
That's what New York native Edward Cleveland Jr. and his wife, Maki, thought when they hired a ketubah maker.
"A lot of Jewish culture has become mainstream," he said. "People don't think of it as religious. They think of it as, `Isn't that a nice tradition?'"US NGO labels Turkey only ‘partly free,’ cites declines in freedoms
ISTANBUL
REUTERS Photo
Turkey is only a "partly free" country due to a serious decline in civil liberties and political rights, U.S. nongovernmental organization Freedom House has said in its annual Freedom in the World report. The report underlined the decline of civil liberties in Turkey as a major development, while sharply criticizing the rule of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.“[Erdoğan's] government has jailed hundreds of journalists, academics, opposition party officials and military officers in a series of prosecutions aimed at alleged conspiracies against the state and Kurdish organizations,” the report said.Turkey was labeled "partly free" by the report, receiving a score of 3/7 on political rights and 4/7 on civil liberties.Partly free countries are defined by the group as nations "in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties," an "environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife,” as well as single-party dominance in the political landscape.Partly free countries include Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Tunisia, Guatemala, Malawi, East Timor, Ecuador and others.THE Maniq have a word for it—and so do the Jahai. Each sort of smell in their environment, that is. Putting names to smells is reckoned—unlike, say, naming colours—to be notoriously difficult. But perhaps that is because all the relevant experiments have been done on city-dwelling Westerners.
Asifa Majid of Radboud University in the Netherlands, by contrast, works with hunter-gatherers—specifically, the Maniq and the Jahai, who live in the Malay peninsula. For them, as she told a session of the AAAS meeting devoted to olfaction and culture, things are rather different. The Jahai have particular words for smell types. These are not based on an odour’s source, like “lemony”, or on some evaluation of its properties, like “stinky”, but describe the sensory experience itself, as a colour’s name might to a Westerner.
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Dr Majid and her colleagues discovered this by administering what were, in essence, scratch-and-sniff tests to Jahai speakers. The answers often required just one word, and the average response time was just two seconds. A Dutch cohort given the same task performed miserably—taking 13 seconds, on average, to reach more equivocal answers. The Maniq, too, have a rich set of smell words, and smell is strongly involved in their culture. Bamboo for making water vessels, for example, is chosen because it has an appropriate smell. Brother and sister should not sit next to one another, lest their odours mix: a form of incest.
This finding challenges the long-standing idea that something about the way human brains are wired limits their ability to put words to smells swiftly. Dr Majid says that in the West, “nothing should have a smell unless you put it there,” and that there are many taboos surrounding talking about odours. The smell-rich environment, scent-centric cultural practices and evident lack of taboos enjoyed by the Jahai and Maniq are, she believes, correlated with their recall and use of smell-related words. It may simply be that having more smells around, and talking about them, ensures that the varieties of smell all have names.SEIU's "Fight for Fifteen" campaign organizers meet in Richmond, Virginia (Source: SEIU's Facebook page)
On Friday evening, just before 7 p.m., in a darkened hall in the Richmond Convention Center packed with more than 1,000 low-wage workers and union organizers, Olimpia Barajas-Ames gave the signal.
A mother of one and an organizer with the Child Care Fight for $15 campaign in Las Vegas, Barajas-Ames stood up, holding a sign that read, “$15 minimum wage and union rights for all means organizers too.” That was the tip-off for other union organizers to slap on stickers and don tee shirts indicating they want a union for employees who work on labor organizing projects spearheaded by the 1.9 million-member Service Employees International Union.
To outsiders, it may seem strange that union organizers are demanding a union of their own. But to Barajas-Ames and others who joined in the protest against SEIU, they are as much part of the precarious, low-wage workforce as workers at McDonald’s and Walmart are.
Jodi Lynn Fennell, also an organizer with the Child Care Fight for $15 campaign in Las Vegas, says, “Many SEIU organizers come from low-wage backgrounds. Childcare organizers come from childcare backgrounds. Fast-food organizers come from the fast-food industry. Many home healthcare organizers were once home healthcare aides themselves.”
For months, organizers in SEIU’s Fight for $15 campaign have been working with the Union of Union Representatives to demand representation. Currently, nearly 100 staff at SEIU are unionized under a contract with UUR that began 30 years ago. UUR launched an investigation of SEIU in 2015 and found it was outsourcing the work of its field organizers in violation of the contract. Earlier this year, many of SEIU’s field organizers formed an organizing committee to gain union representation and in April, 15 organizers submitted UUR membership cards.
The action by the Fight for $15 Staff Union Organizing Committee at the convention in Richmond, Virginia, is the latest tactic to pressure SEIU to recognize the union rights of all its organizers. After Barajas-Ames held up the sign for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and a union for organizers, she started walking toward the stage where SEIU president Mary Kay Henry was speaking.
Fennell, who joined, says, “Nearly 100 organizers and supporters gathered, moving up toward the stage peacefully. Our plan was simply to deliver a letter to Mary Kay Henry because she doesn’t make herself available to speak with us.”
Fennell wrote the letter that was to be presented to Henry. Fennell says last February, during a luncheon with Henry, the SEIU president said that “every worker deserves a union.” The letter called on SEIU to “lead by example” and “embody the movement’s basic principles of $15 and a union.” Fennell pointedly wrote, “If you say all workers must have a union, why is SEIU International denying my union rights and those of the entire Fight For $15 field staff?”
Fennell added that the UUR organizing campaign “is not about negativity. We want to enrich this movement with integrity so that we can strengthen the national Fight for $15.”
But they never got to hand the letter to Henry. Inside sources at SEIU say the union was prepared for such an incident, and sprang into action. Fennell says, “Security prevented us from getting to the stage.” Meanwhile, on the speakers’ platform, Henry stepped back and a group of African-Americans and Latino/as who sit on the national organizing committee for Fight for $15 stepped up.
One woman on stage with Henry grabbed the mic. She berated the staff organizers and their supporters below as cameras broadcast the convention. “Are you serious? Are you going to do this right now? Do you know what it is like to get paid $500 every two weeks? … You guys get paid enough. You have a chance to get a union. I don’t.”
As Henry stood smiling faintly behind the human wall, the speaker continued, “Do you know what it is like to have your kids homeless, sleeping in the back of a van? You will never know what that is like. They will never walk a day in our shoes.”
Fennell said of the accusatory remarks, “Everyone has different struggles, but this is not fighting over scraps. This is a movement about being in solidarity. We are not competing on who has it worse. We are not trying to pull each other down like crabs in a bucket.” She said her struggles include carrying $35,000 in student loan debt and nearly as much in medical debt.
Barajas-Ames says the UUR organizers stood before Henry for 15 minutes. As the speakers on stage led the crowd in chants of “$15 and a union,” Barajas-Ames says, “The security guards became hostile and aggressive, physically pushing us back. We stepped back and stood peacefully. Our signs were grabbed and torn up.”
Two child care workers at the convention who supported the action by the UUR organizing committee felt many in the audience were hostile: “They were all up in our face, chanting, ‘This is what democracy looks like.’ We had to jump over a table to get out.”
But that was just the beginning of the troubles for the members of the UUR organizing committee. Shortly afterward, Barajas-Ames and Fennell were personally called by the national director of the Child Care Fight for $15. The two organizers were told they would not be attending the events and protests on Saturday they had been organizing toward for months. Instead, they were to pack their bags as they were being flown out at 6 a.m. back to Las Vegas. Fennell claims the national director also told them, “We will be expecting you to pay for the cost of the hotel.”
Barajas-Ames and Fennell refuse to pay for the two nights they stayed at the Hilton Richmond Downtown, which would set each back more than $300. Barajas-Ames said that amount of money represented a car payment for her, while Fennell said it would be nearly 40 hours of work, as she often makes only $9 an hour given 60-hour workweeks and after out-of-pocket gas expenses. A total of five Fight for $15 organizers who support UUR were shipped home for trying to bring attention to their cause.
Fennell says, “This represents the exact same type of retaliation that corporations do to low-wage workers.”
A UUR representative claims this is part of a broader pattern. “SEIU has been fostering anti-union sentiment for months among the national organizing committee. We think they are creating divisions between the workers and the staff organizers’ campaign.”
UUR estimates more than 100 SEIU organizers who have been outsourced should be covered by its contract, although it has only identified 40 to 50 of them. Of this group, UUR says about 10 have left in the last six months because of the difficult working conditions or retaliatory actions by SEIU. UUR has already filed one “unfair labor practice” charge with the federal government and plans to file a second on August 14.
The outsourcing is blatant, the staff organizers claim. Fennell says her job is determined solely by SEIU. “I was hired by a regional director for SEIU. All my communication is with SEIU. I work in an SEIU office.” But her paycheck, like Barajas-Ames’s, comes from the “Ardleigh Group.” One former employee calls it a “faceless, shadowy” corporation that acts as a pass-through to hide employer responsibility. SEIU documents appear to show it using paper outfits to funnel money to the Ardleigh Group, which then pays workers on SEIU projects who say they are being denied their legal union rights.
UUR president Conor Hanlon told the Raw Story, “The treatment of the Fight for $15 Organizers fits the same pattern that we see from private-sector employers across the country which turn to franchises, temp agencies, and so-called independent contractors rather than hire employees directly. We believe that rather than participate in the disastrous race to the bottom SEIU should commit to its organizers who, like all workers, deserve a career path, fair treatment, and good pay and benefits.”
In addition to accusing SEIU of “evading responsibility of its employment practices,” UUR alleges that SEIU engages in discriminatory employment practices. These include “women are paid less than men, Black staff are paid less than non-black staff, and Latina/Latino staff are more likely to be hired as temporary employees rather than full-time employees.”
Fennell says SEIU’s habit of overworking and underpaying organizers leads to “extraordinarily high” turnover, which harms labor organizing and the goal of improved social services. “We feel passionate about creating affordable child care for all. We can serve our community better when we have the same worker rights as the child care workers who we are fighting for.”
Arun Gupta contributes to The Washington Post, YES! Magazine, In These Times, The Progressive, Telesur, and The Nation. He is author of the forthcoming, Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction: A Junk-Food Loving Chef’s Inquiry into Taste, from The New Press.MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Rodrigo Duterte blasted former US President Barack Obama anew, calling him "black" and "arrogant" in a speech before a Filipino community on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam.
Aside from Obama, Duterte also launched a volley of verbal tirades against his Western critics such some Europeans and Americans who called on the government to take steps to end drug-related killings and cases of human rights abuses alleged to have marred the government's war on drugs.
The chief executive said that he resented these international criticisms since he was the leader of a sovereign nation representing its people.
"Itong mga puti, mga taga-EU, itong mga ignorante ng mga Amerikano, pretending to be pati itong si Obama. Itim-itim mo mayabang ka. Siya man yun. (These white people, those from EU, the ignorant Americans, pretending to be, this Obama. You are so black and arrogant.) [He] reprimanded me. Why do you reprimand me? I'm the president of a country," Duterte angrily said.
One of many tirades
In September last year, the foul-mouthed leader called the then American leader "son of a b****" and warned Obama to be respectful should they meet at a regional forum in Laos.
"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte said then before departing for Laos.
READ: A year of colorful insults
Duterte's colorful remark came after Obama said that the US would not shy away from raising concerns over the way the war on drugs was being conducted despite recognizing the seriousness of the problem in the Philippines.
Obama canceled the planned meeting between him and his Philippine counterpart after Duterte issued the comments.
READ: Duterte regrets'son of a bitch' remark on Obama
While the Philippine leader said that these comments would have been acceptable had he still been the mayor of Davao City, he would not take the criticism sitting down.
"But do not reprimand me in public because I represent a country. Gaano kami kahirap, gaano kami kaliit, putang ina huwag mo kami ganunin. Kaya sinabi ko, 'Putang ina ka. You can go to hell' (No matter how small, no matter how poor, don't treat us like that. That's why I said, 'You son of b****. You can go to hell')," Duterte said to the applause of his Filipino audience.
READ: Duterte tells Obama 'you can go to hell' in new tirade
The chief executive also bragged that his invectives against Obama had made him popular wherever he went because he was the first one to say this to the American leader.
Own pat on the back
Lauding his own aggressive policy against narcotics, the firebrand leader said the surrender of hundreds of thousands of drug users happened only during his time in office.
"Tingnan mo si Trump he declared a national emergency last week. Ako early on sinabi ko I declared a national emergency. Kasi may problema tayo. Kailan ninyo nakita yan na nag-surrender by the thousands, by the hundreds of thousands? When I became president (Look at Trump. He declared a national emergency (on opioid) last week. We have a problem. When have you seen drug suspects surrender by their thousands? When I became president)," the president said.
READ: Duterte: UN rights chief a joker, idiot
Over the past year as president, Duterte has courted controversies over his remarks against local and international groups and world leaders who are critical of his campaign against narcotics.
Duterte won the presidency last year on the back of a strong anti-crime and anti-drugs platform. Critics contend that since he assumed the presidency thousands have died in the campaign on top of mounting cases of human rights abuses.
The president is currently attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Vietnam. He is expected to return to Manila this weekend to host the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.Now that the first Star Wars spinoff has an official title and an official leading lady, it’s about time for the project to get into gear and add a few more faces. Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn might just be the first name to join the cast opposite Felicity Jones, which is a very, very exciting prospect if you’ve paid any attention to Mendelsohn’s work at all.
According to Deadline, Mendelsohn is “circling” a leading role opposite Jones in Star Wars: Rogue One. Mendelsohn’s been acting since the ‘80s, but he didn’t really break through until the acclaimed 2010 Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom. Recently, he’s delivered similarly great performances in The Place Beyond the Pines and Starred Up, and he stars on the new Netflix series Bloodline.
So far, we still don’t know a whole lot about Star Wars: Rogue One. Godzilla director Gareth Edwards is at the helm, working off a script by Chris Weitz, who recently came on to replace Gary Whitta. We have been able to independently confirm the rumored plot: a group of bounty hunters who attempt to steal the plans to the Death Star.
“Rogue One” was the name given to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, which may also offer a clue to the film’s plot.
Star Wars: Rogue One is set for release on December 16, 2016.Zhu
Plup
Ken
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Okami
Shroomed
Prize Pool
Saturday Schedule - Smash at MLG Anaheim 2014
Pool A Final Standings: Sets (Games)
PPMD: 6 -1 (20 - 7) MEW2KING: 5 - 2 (17 - 8) LEFFEN: 5 - 2 (18 - 10) AXE: 5 - 2 (18 -10) HAX: 4 - 3 (15 - 12) COL BOL
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